OpenTelemetry HTTP and HTTPS Instrumentation for Node.js

Note: This is an experimental package under active development. New releases may include breaking changes.

This module provides automatic instrumentation for http and https.

For automatic instrumentation see the @opentelemetry/sdk-trace-node package.

Installation

npm install --save @opentelemetry/instrumentation-http

Supported Versions

Nodejs >=14

Usage

OpenTelemetry HTTP Instrumentation allows the user to automatically collect trace data and export them to their backend of choice, to give observability to distributed systems.

To load a specific instrumentation (HTTP in this case), specify it in the Node Tracer's configuration.

const { HttpInstrumentation } = require('@opentelemetry/instrumentation-http');
const {
  ConsoleSpanExporter,
  NodeTracerProvider,
  SimpleSpanProcessor,
} = require('@opentelemetry/sdk-trace-node');
const { registerInstrumentations } = require('@opentelemetry/instrumentation');

const provider = new NodeTracerProvider({
  spanProcessors: [new SimpleSpanProcessor(new ConsoleSpanExporter())]
});

provider.register();

registerInstrumentations({
  instrumentations: [new HttpInstrumentation()],
});

See examples/http for a short example.

Http instrumentation Options

Http instrumentation has few options available to choose from. You can set the following:

Options	Type	Description
`applyCustomAttributesOnSpan`	`HttpCustomAttributeFunction`	Function for adding custom attributes
`requestHook`	`HttpRequestCustomAttributeFunction`	Function for adding custom attributes before request is handled
`responseHook`	`HttpResponseCustomAttributeFunction`	Function for adding custom attributes before response is handled
`startIncomingSpanHook`	`StartIncomingSpanCustomAttributeFunction`	Function for adding custom attributes before a span is started in incomingRequest
`startOutgoingSpanHook`	`StartOutgoingSpanCustomAttributeFunction`	Function for adding custom attributes before a span is started in outgoingRequest
`ignoreIncomingRequestHook`	`IgnoreIncomingRequestFunction`	Http instrumentation will not trace all incoming requests that matched with custom function
`ignoreOutgoingRequestHook`	`IgnoreOutgoingRequestFunction`	Http instrumentation will not trace all outgoing requests that matched with custom function
`disableOutgoingRequestInstrumentation`	`boolean`	Set to true to avoid instrumenting outgoing requests at all. This can be helpful when another instrumentation handles outgoing requests.
`disableIncomingRequestInstrumentation`	`boolean`	Set to true to avoid instrumenting incoming requests at all. This can be helpful when another instrumentation handles incoming requests.
`serverName`	`string`	The primary server name of the matched virtual host.
`requireParentforOutgoingSpans`	Boolean	Require that is a parent span to create new span for outgoing requests.
`requireParentforIncomingSpans`	Boolean	Require that is a parent span to create new span for incoming requests.
`headersToSpanAttributes`	`object`	List of case insensitive HTTP headers to convert to span attributes. Client (outgoing requests, incoming responses) and server (incoming requests, outgoing responses) headers will be converted to span attributes in the form of `http.{request\\|response}.header.header_name`, e.g. `http.response.header.content_length`

Semantic Conventions

Prior to version 0.54, this instrumentation created spans targeting an experimental semantic convention Version 1.7.0.

This package is capable of emitting both Semantic Convention Version 1.7.0 and Version 1.27.0. It is controlled using the environment variable OTEL_SEMCONV_STABILITY_OPT_IN, which is a comma separated list of values. The values http and http/dup control this instrumentation. See details for the behavior of each of these values below. If neither http or http/dup is included in OTEL_SEMCONV_STABILITY_OPT_IN, the old experimental semantic conventions will be used by default.

Stable Semantic Conventions 1.27

Enabled when OTEL_SEMCONV_STABILITY_OPT_IN contains http OR http/dup. This is the recommended configuration, and will soon become the default behavior.

Follow all requirements and recommendations of HTTP Client and Server Semantic Conventions Version 1.27.0 for spans and metrics, including all required and recommended attributes.

Metrics Exported:

Upgrading Semantic Conventions

When upgrading to the new semantic conventions, it is recommended to do so in the following order:

Upgrade @opentelemetry/instrumentation-http to the latest version
Set OTEL_SEMCONV_STABILITY_OPT_IN=http/dup to emit both old and new semantic conventions
Modify alerts, dashboards, metrics, and other processes to expect the new semantic conventions
Set OTEL_SEMCONV_STABILITY_OPT_IN=http to emit only the new semantic conventions

This will cause both the old and new semantic conventions to be emitted during the transition period.

Legacy Behavior (default)

Enabled when OTEL_SEMCONV_STABILITY_OPT_IN contains http/dup or DOES NOT CONTAIN http. This is the current default behavior.

Create HTTP client spans which implement Semantic Convention Version 1.7.0.

Server Spans (legacy)

When OTEL_SEMCONV_STABILITY_OPT_IN is not set or includes http/dup, this module implements Semantic Convention Version 1.7.0.

Attributes collected:

Attribute	Short Description
`ip_tcp`	Transport protocol used
`ip_udp`	Transport protocol used
`http.client_ip`	The IP address of the original client behind all proxies, if known
`http.flavor`	Kind of HTTP protocol used
`http.host`	The value of the HTTP host header
`http.method`	HTTP request method
`http.request_content_length`	The size of the request payload body in bytes
`http.request_content_length_uncompressed`	The size of the uncompressed request payload body after transport decoding
`http.response_content_length`	The size of the response payload body in bytes
`http.response_content_length_uncompressed`	The size of the uncompressed response payload body after transport decoding
`http.route`	The matched route (path template).
`http.scheme`	The URI scheme identifying the used protocol
`http.server_name`	The primary server name of the matched virtual host
`http.status_code`	HTTP response status code
`http.target`	The full request target as passed in a HTTP request line or equivalent
`http.url`	Full HTTP request URL in the form `scheme://host[:port]/path?query[#fragment]`
`http.user_agent`	Value of the HTTP User-Agent header sent by the client
`net.host.ip`	Like net.peer.ip but for the host IP. Useful in case of a multi-IP host
`net.host.name`	Local hostname or similar
`net.host.port`	Like net.peer.port but for the host port
`net.peer.ip.`	Remote address of the peer (dotted decimal for IPv4 or RFC5952 for IPv6)
`net.peer.name`	Remote hostname or similar
`net.peer.port`	Remote port number
`net.transport`	Transport protocol used

Useful links

For more information on OpenTelemetry, visit: https://opentelemetry.io/
For more about OpenTelemetry JavaScript: https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-js
For help or feedback on this project, join us in GitHub Discussions