Skip to main content

OTEL-049: sending_queue.queue_size below 10

Severity: warn (advisory)

Rule Details​

The sending queue is sized in number of batches, not items — so 10 is already a small number. Going below 10 means one slow export keeps the queue full, back-pressure kicks in immediately, and the Collector drops data that would otherwise have been retried. Tune based on your target backend's recovery time, but do not go below 10.

This rule fires when sending_queue.queue_size < 10.

Options​

FieldConstraint
sending_queue.queue_sizeShould be ≥ 10

Examples​

Avoid
exporters:
  otlp/backend:
    endpoint: backend:4317
    sending_queue:
      enabled: true
      queue_size: 5            # too small
Prefer
exporters:
  otlp/backend:
    endpoint: backend:4317
    sending_queue:
      enabled: true
      queue_size: 5000
      num_consumers: 10

When Not To Use It​

A tiny development exporter where data loss on failure is fine.

  • OTEL-048 — sending_queue explicitly disabled
  • OTEL-050 — sending_queue.queue_size above 50000
  • OTEL-051 — sending_queue.num_consumers below 2

Version​

Available since augur v0.1.0.

Further Reading​

Resources​