I'm waiting for the day where it makes sense that Open Telemetry has hierarchical attributes (labels). Right now, I don't see this day coming. Flat labels like in Prometheus are still so much better. - ThreadSky

metalmatze.de • 11 days ago

I'm waiting for the day where it makes sense that Open Telemetry has hierarchical attributes (labels).
Right now, I don't see this day coming.

Flat labels like in Prometheus are still so much better.

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hashimcolombowala.com•9 days ago

Feels like an age old argument where we need to ask ourselves whether the added complexity of hierarchical labels is worth it. Might be worth it for larger systems to make it easier for devs to make more context specific queries?

vonneudeck.com•11 days ago

When are hierarchical labels ever better than flat ones?

metalmatze.de•11 days ago

Yes. Exactly my point. I'm waiting for it to make sense. 🤷‍♂️

vonneudeck.com•11 days ago

No I mean in all contexts.

geoffcampbell.bsky.social•10 days ago

I must be misunderstanding the context here, because I can't conceive of any moderately-sized data space that doesn't use some form of hierarchy - DNS to pick a trivial example.
Can you expand a little?

vonneudeck.com•10 days ago

You apply set theory and you can have any hierarchy you want

vonneudeck.com•10 days ago

The tradeoff is between hierarchy at write or hierarchy at read. And obviously at read is so much better and more flexible for figuring things out.

geoffcampbell.bsky.social•10 days ago

Is this one of those angels-on-pinheads discussions so beloved in the IT industry?

vonneudeck.com•10 days ago

It is a tradeoff that heavily depends on implementation effectiveness, bandwith available and data size. Hence people tend to have *opinions* that are not always the most well informed for each specific context.

But that sets are more versatile than hierarchies is agreed upon by almost everyone.

geoffcampbell.bsky.social•10 days ago

Nope, still don't follow you. Any pointers to examples?

vonneudeck.com•10 days ago

Metric labels are key value pairs.
If you want to not drown in a flood you ask for the Venn diagram of example "machine=A", "interface=eth0" and "protocol=TCP"

That nails it down a lot.

geoffcampbell.bsky.social•10 days ago

Oh, OK. Those are two entirely separate concepts in my aging model of the IT universe, approximately database vs namespace.
That's cool.

thorfour.dev•10 days ago

Taps sign

https://bsky.app/profile/thorfour.dev/post/3lhvriaqhl22k

felixge.de•11 days ago

martindotnet.bsky.social•9 days ago

What's the benefit of hierarchal attributes over namespaced like we have now?

I'm referring to the benefit to the end user using the telemetry, not the developer writing the code.

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