OpenTelemetry Metrics Mapping
Overview
Datadog products and visualizations are built on metrics and tags that adhere to specific naming patterns. Metrics from OpenTelemetry components that are sent to Datadog are mapped to corresponding Datadog metrics, as applicable. The creation of these additional metrics does not affect Datadog billing.
The following diagram shows the process of mapping the metrics from OpenTelemetry into metrics that Datadog uses:
Use of the otel prefix
To differentiate the metrics captured by the hostmetrics receiver from Datadog Agent, we add a prefix, otel, for metrics collected by the collector. If a metric name starts with system. or process., otel. is prepended to the metric name. Monitoring the same infrastructure artifact using both Agent and Collector is not recommended.
Datadog is evaluating ways to improve the OTLP metric experience, including potentially deprecating this otel prefix. If you have feedback related to this, reach out your account team to provide your input.
Metrics mappings
Metrics mappings between Datadog and OpenTelemetry are defined on OTel integration pages. Select the integration you are using for more information.
Further reading
Additional helpful documentation, links, and articles:
