Database semantic convention stability migration guide

Due to the significant number of modifications and the extensive user base affected by them, existing database instrumentations published by OpenTelemetry are required to implement a migration plan that will assist users in transitioning to the stable database semantic conventions.

Specifically, when existing database instrumentations published by OpenTelemetry are updated to the stable database semantic conventions, they:

SHOULD introduce an environment variable OTEL_SEMCONV_STABILITY_OPT_IN in their existing major version, which accepts:
- database - emit the stable database conventions, and stop emitting the old database conventions that the instrumentation emitted previously.
- database/dup - emit both the old and the stable database conventions, allowing for a phased rollout of the stable semantic conventions.
- The default behavior (in the absence of one of these values) is to continue emitting whatever version of the old database conventions the instrumentation was emitting previously.
Need to maintain (security patching at a minimum) their existing major version for at least six months after it starts emitting both sets of conventions.
May drop the environment variable in their next major version and emit only the stable database conventions.

Summary of changes

This section summarizes the changes made to the HTTP semantic conventions from v1.24.0. to v1.28.0 (RC).

Database client span attributes

Change	Comments
`db.connection_string`	Removed
`db.user`	Removed
`network.transport`	Removed
`network.type`	Removed
`db.name`	Removed, integrated into the new `db.namespace`
`db.redis.database_index`	Removed, integrated into the new `db.namespace`
`db.mssql.instance_name`	Removed, integrated into the new `db.namespace`
`db.instance.id`	Removed, replaced by `server.address` or integrated into `db.namespace` as appropriate
`db.statement` → `db.query.text`	Clarified, SHOULD be collected by default only if there is sanitization that excludes sensitive information
`db.operation` → `db.operation.name`
`db.sql.table` → `db.collection.name`
`db.cassandra.table` → `db.collection.name`
`db.mongodb.collection` → `db.collection.name`
`db.cosmosdb.container` → `db.collection.name`
New: `db.operation.batch.size`
New: `db.response.status_code`
New: `db.operation.parameter.<key>`	Opt-In
New: `error.type`

References:

Database client span names

The recommended span name has changed to {db.operation.name} {target}, where the {target} SHOULD describe the entity that the operation is performed against and SHOULD adhere to one of the following values, provided they are accessible:

db.collection.name SHOULD be used for data manipulation operations or operations on database collections
db.namespace SHOULD be used for operations on a specific database namespace
server.address:server.port SHOULD be used for other operations not targeting any specific database(s) or collection(s)

References:

Database client operation duration metric

This is a required metric. There was no similar metric previously.

See Metric db.client.operation.duration v1.28.0 (RC).

Experimental connection metrics

Database connection metrics are still experimental, but there have been several changes in the latest release.

Database client connection count

Metric changes:

Name: db.client.connections.usage → db.client.connection.count
Attributes: see table below

Attribute change	Comments
`pool.name` → `db.client.connection.pool.name`
`state` → `db.client.connection.state`

References:

Database client connection idle max

Metric changes:

Name: db.client.connections.idle.max → db.client.connection.idle.max
Attributes: see table below

Attribute change	Comments
`pool.name` → `db.client.connection.pool.name`

References:

Database client connection idle min

Metric changes:

Name: db.client.connections.idle.min → db.client.connection.idle.min
Attributes: see table below

Attribute change	Comments
`pool.name` → `db.client.connection.pool.name`

References:

Database client connection max

Metric changes:

Name: db.client.connections.max → db.client.connection.max
Attributes: see table below

Attribute change	Comments
`pool.name` → `db.client.connection.pool.name`

References:

Database client connection pending requests

Metric changes:

Name: db.client.connections.pending_requests → db.client.connection.pending_requests
Attributes: see table below

Attribute change	Comments
`pool.name` → `db.client.connection.pool.name`

References:

Database client connection timeouts

Metric changes:

Name: db.client.connections.timeouts → db.client.connection.timeouts
Attributes: see table below

Attribute change	Comments
`pool.name` → `db.client.connection.pool.name`

References:

Database client connection create time

Metric changes:

Name: db.client.connections.create_time → db.client.connection.create_time
Unit: ms → s
Attributes: see table below

Attribute change	Comments
`pool.name` → `db.client.connection.pool.name`

References:

Database client connection wait time

Metric changes:

Name: db.client.connections.wait_time → db.client.connection.wait_time
Unit: ms → s
Attributes: see table below

Attribute change	Comments
`pool.name` → `db.client.connection.pool.name`

References:

Database client connection use time

Metric changes:

Name: db.client.connections.use_time → db.client.connection.use_time
Unit: ms → s
Attributes: see table below

Attribute change	Comments
`pool.name` → `db.client.connection.pool.name`

References:

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