[receiver/prometheusreceiver] Use _created metric, if present, to s…

…et StartTimeUnixNano on Sum, Histogram, Summaries (#17498)

Use _created metric, if present, to set StartTimeUnixNano on Sum, Histogram, Summary metrics.
Resolves #12428

.chloggen/prw-receiver-use-created-metric.yaml

@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+# One of 'breaking', 'deprecation', 'new_component', 'enhancement', 'bug_fix'
+change_type: bug_fix
+
+# The name of the component, or a single word describing the area of concern, (e.g. filelogreceiver)
+component: receiver/prometheusreceiver
+
+# A brief description of the change.  Surround your text with quotes ("") if it needs to start with a backtick (`).
+note: Use `_created` metrics, if present, to set `StartTimeUnixNano` for Sum, Histogram and Summary metrics.
+
+# One or more tracking issues related to the change
+issues: [12428]
+
+# (Optional) One or more lines of additional information to render under the primary note.
+# These lines will be padded with 2 spaces and then inserted directly into the document.
+# Use pipe (|) for multiline entries.
+subtext: |
+  If the `_created` metric was present in the Histogram, Summary or Counter
+  metric family, only then its values is used to set `StartTimeUnixNano` on the
+  relevant OTLP metric and dropped afterwards. Otherwise, it is converted to the
+  monotonic OTLP Sum metric.
+  This behaviour is disabled by default. Use the `receiver.prometheusreceiver.UseCreatedMetric`
+  to enable it.

receiver/prometheusreceiver/README.md

@@ -50,6 +50,16 @@ you must escape them using `$$`.
 prometheus --config.file=prom.yaml
 ```
 
+**Feature gates**:
+
+- `receiver.prometheusreceiver.UseCreatedMetric`: Start time for Summary, Histogram 
+  and Sum metrics can be retrieved from `_created` metrics. Currently, this behaviour
+  is disabled by default. To enable it, use the following feature gate option:
+
+```shell
+"--feature-gates=receiver.prometheusreceiver.UseCreatedMetric"
+```
+
 You can copy and paste that same configuration under:
 
 ```yaml

receiver/prometheusreceiver/factory.go

@@ -28,10 +28,20 @@ import (
 // This file implements config for Prometheus receiver.
 
 const (
-	typeStr   = "prometheus"
-	stability = component.StabilityLevelBeta
+	typeStr                = "prometheus"
+	stability              = component.StabilityLevelBeta
+	useCreatedMetricGateID = "receiver.prometheusreceiver.UseCreatedMetric"
 )
 
+func init() {
+	featuregate.GetRegistry().MustRegisterID(
+		useCreatedMetricGateID,
+		featuregate.StageAlpha,
+		featuregate.WithRegisterDescription("When enabled, the Prometheus receiver will"+
+			" retrieve the start time for Summary, Histogram and Sum metrics from _created metric"),
+	)
+}
+
 var errRenamingDisallowed = errors.New("metric renaming using metric_relabel_configs is disallowed")
 
 // NewFactory creates a new Prometheus receiver factory.

receiver/prometheusreceiver/internal/appendable.go

@@ -47,11 +47,12 @@ func NewAppendable(
 	gcInterval time.Duration,
 	useStartTimeMetric bool,
 	startTimeMetricRegex *regexp.Regexp,
+	useCreatedMetric bool,
 	externalLabels labels.Labels,
 	registry *featuregate.Registry) (storage.Appendable, error) {
 	var metricAdjuster MetricsAdjuster
 	if !useStartTimeMetric {
-		metricAdjuster = NewInitialPointAdjuster(set.Logger, gcInterval)
+		metricAdjuster = NewInitialPointAdjuster(set.Logger, gcInterval, useCreatedMetric)
 	} else {
 		metricAdjuster = NewStartTimeMetricAdjuster(set.Logger, startTimeMetricRegex)
 	}

receiver/prometheusreceiver/internal/metricfamily.go

@@ -57,6 +57,7 @@ type metricGroup struct {
 	hasCount     bool
 	sum          float64
 	hasSum       bool
+	created      float64
 	value        float64
 	complexValue []*dataPoint
 	exemplars    pmetric.ExemplarSlice
@@ -141,7 +142,12 @@ func (mg *metricGroup) toDistributionPoint(dest pmetric.HistogramDataPointSlice)
 
 	// The timestamp MUST be in retrieved from milliseconds and converted to nanoseconds.
 	tsNanos := timestampFromMs(mg.ts)
-	point.SetStartTimestamp(tsNanos) // metrics_adjuster adjusts the startTimestamp to the initial scrape timestamp
+	if mg.created != 0 {
+		point.SetStartTimestamp(timestampFromFloat64(mg.created))
+	} else {
+		// metrics_adjuster adjusts the startTimestamp to the initial scrape timestamp
+		point.SetStartTimestamp(tsNanos)
+	}
 	point.SetTimestamp(tsNanos)
 	populateAttributes(pmetric.MetricTypeHistogram, mg.ls, point.Attributes())
 	mg.setExemplars(point.Exemplars())
@@ -196,7 +202,12 @@ func (mg *metricGroup) toSummaryPoint(dest pmetric.SummaryDataPointSlice) {
 	// The timestamp MUST be in retrieved from milliseconds and converted to nanoseconds.
 	tsNanos := timestampFromMs(mg.ts)
 	point.SetTimestamp(tsNanos)
-	point.SetStartTimestamp(tsNanos) // metrics_adjuster adjusts the startTimestamp to the initial scrape timestamp
+	if mg.created != 0 {
+		point.SetStartTimestamp(timestampFromFloat64(mg.created))
+	} else {
+		// metrics_adjuster adjusts the startTimestamp to the initial scrape timestamp
+		point.SetStartTimestamp(tsNanos)
+	}
 	populateAttributes(pmetric.MetricTypeSummary, mg.ls, point.Attributes())
 }
 
@@ -205,7 +216,12 @@ func (mg *metricGroup) toNumberDataPoint(dest pmetric.NumberDataPointSlice) {
 	point := dest.AppendEmpty()
 	// gauge/undefined types have no start time.
 	if mg.mtype == pmetric.MetricTypeSum {
-		point.SetStartTimestamp(tsNanos) // metrics_adjuster adjusts the startTimestamp to the initial scrape timestamp
+		if mg.created != 0 {
+			point.SetStartTimestamp(timestampFromFloat64(mg.created))
+		} else {
+			// metrics_adjuster adjusts the startTimestamp to the initial scrape timestamp
+			point.SetStartTimestamp(tsNanos)
+		}
 	}
 	point.SetTimestamp(tsNanos)
 	if value.IsStaleNaN(mg.value) {
@@ -268,13 +284,21 @@ func (mf *metricFamily) addSeries(seriesRef uint64, metricName string, ls labels
 			mg.ts = t
 			mg.count = v
 			mg.hasCount = true
+		case strings.HasSuffix(metricName, metricSuffixCreated):
+			mg.created = v
 		default:
 			boundary, err := getBoundary(mf.mtype, ls)
 			if err != nil {
 				return err
 			}
 			mg.complexValue = append(mg.complexValue, &dataPoint{value: v, boundary: boundary})
 		}
+	case pmetric.MetricTypeSum:
+		if strings.HasSuffix(metricName, metricSuffixCreated) {
+			mg.created = v
+		} else {
+			mg.value = v
+		}
 	default:
 		mg.value = v
 	}

receiver/prometheusreceiver/internal/metricfamily_test.go

@@ -72,6 +72,12 @@ var mc = testMetadataStore{
 		Help:   "This is some help for a histogram",
 		Unit:   "ms",
 	},
+	"histogram_with_created": scrape.MetricMetadata{
+		Metric: "hg",
+		Type:   textparse.MetricTypeHistogram,
+		Help:   "This is some help for a histogram",
+		Unit:   "ms",
+	},
 	"histogram_stale": scrape.MetricMetadata{
 		Metric: "hg_stale",
 		Type:   textparse.MetricTypeHistogram,
@@ -84,6 +90,12 @@ var mc = testMetadataStore{
 		Help:   "This is some help for a summary",
 		Unit:   "ms",
 	},
+	"summary_with_created": scrape.MetricMetadata{
+		Metric: "s",
+		Type:   textparse.MetricTypeSummary,
+		Help:   "This is some help for a summary",
+		Unit:   "ms",
+	},
 	"summary_stale": scrape.MetricMetadata{
 		Metric: "s_stale",
 		Type:   textparse.MetricTypeSummary,
@@ -140,6 +152,49 @@ func TestMetricGroupData_toDistributionUnitTest(t *testing.T) {
 				return point
 			},
 		},
+		{
+			name:                "histogram with startTimestamp from _created",
+			metricName:          "histogram_with_created",
+			intervalStartTimeMs: 11,
+			labels:              labels.FromMap(map[string]string{"a": "A"}),
+			scrapes: []*scrape{
+				{at: 11, value: 66, metric: "histogram_with_created_count"},
+				{at: 11, value: 1004.78, metric: "histogram_with_created_sum"},
+				{at: 11, value: 600.78, metric: "histogram_with_created_created"},
+				{
+					at:         11,
+					value:      33,
+					metric:     "histogram_with_created_bucket",
+					extraLabel: labels.Label{Name: "le", Value: "0.75"},
+				},
+				{
+					at:         11,
+					value:      55,
+					metric:     "histogram_with_created_bucket",
+					extraLabel: labels.Label{Name: "le", Value: "2.75"},
+				},
+				{
+					at:         11,
+					value:      66,
+					metric:     "histogram_with_created_bucket",
+					extraLabel: labels.Label{Name: "le", Value: "+Inf"}},
+			},
+			want: func() pmetric.HistogramDataPoint {
+				point := pmetric.NewHistogramDataPoint()
+				point.SetCount(66)
+				point.SetSum(1004.78)
+
+				// the time in milliseconds -> nanoseconds.
+				point.SetTimestamp(pcommon.Timestamp(11 * time.Millisecond))
+				point.SetStartTimestamp(timestampFromFloat64(600.78))
+
+				point.ExplicitBounds().FromRaw([]float64{0.75, 2.75})
+				point.BucketCounts().FromRaw([]uint64{33, 22, 11})
+				attributes := point.Attributes()
+				attributes.PutStr("a", "A")
+				return point
+			},
+		},
 		{
 			name:                "histogram that is stale",
 			metricName:          "histogram_stale",
@@ -310,6 +365,79 @@ func TestMetricGroupData_toSummaryUnitTest(t *testing.T) {
 				return point
 			},
 		},
+		{
+			name: "summary_with_created",
+			labelsScrapes: []*labelsScrapes{
+				{
+					labels: labels.FromMap(map[string]string{"a": "A", "b": "B"}),
+					scrapes: []*scrape{
+						{at: 14, value: 10, metric: "summary_with_created_count"},
+						{at: 14, value: 15, metric: "summary_with_created_sum"},
+						{at: 14, value: 150, metric: "summary_with_created_created"},
+					},
+				},
+				{
+					labels: labels.FromMap(map[string]string{"a": "A", "quantile": "0.0", "b": "B"}),
+					scrapes: []*scrape{
+						{at: 14, value: 8, metric: "value"},
+					},
+				},
+				{
+					labels: labels.FromMap(map[string]string{"a": "A", "quantile": "0.75", "b": "B"}),
+					scrapes: []*scrape{
+						{at: 14, value: 33.7, metric: "value"},
+					},
+				},
+				{
+					labels: labels.FromMap(map[string]string{"a": "A", "quantile": "0.50", "b": "B"}),
+					scrapes: []*scrape{
+						{at: 14, value: 27, metric: "value"},
+					},
+				},
+				{
+					labels: labels.FromMap(map[string]string{"a": "A", "quantile": "0.90", "b": "B"}),
+					scrapes: []*scrape{
+						{at: 14, value: 56, metric: "value"},
+					},
+				},
+				{
+					labels: labels.FromMap(map[string]string{"a": "A", "quantile": "0.99", "b": "B"}),
+					scrapes: []*scrape{
+						{at: 14, value: 82, metric: "value"},
+					},
+				},
+			},
+			want: func() pmetric.SummaryDataPoint {
+				point := pmetric.NewSummaryDataPoint()
+				point.SetCount(10)
+				point.SetSum(15)
+				qtL := point.QuantileValues()
+				qn0 := qtL.AppendEmpty()
+				qn0.SetQuantile(0)
+				qn0.SetValue(8)
+				qn50 := qtL.AppendEmpty()
+				qn50.SetQuantile(.5)
+				qn50.SetValue(27)
+				qn75 := qtL.AppendEmpty()
+				qn75.SetQuantile(.75)
+				qn75.SetValue(33.7)
+				qn90 := qtL.AppendEmpty()
+				qn90.SetQuantile(.9)
+				qn90.SetValue(56)
+				qn99 := qtL.AppendEmpty()
+				qn99.SetQuantile(.99)
+				qn99.SetValue(82)
+
+				// the time in milliseconds -> nanoseconds.
+				point.SetTimestamp(pcommon.Timestamp(14 * time.Millisecond))
+				point.SetStartTimestamp(timestampFromFloat64(150))
+
+				attributes := point.Attributes()
+				attributes.PutStr("a", "A")
+				attributes.PutStr("b", "B")
+				return point
+			},
+		},
 		{
 			name: "summary_stale",
 			labelsScrapes: []*labelsScrapes{
@@ -453,6 +581,29 @@ func TestMetricGroupData_toNumberDataUnitTest(t *testing.T) {
 		intervalStartTimestampMs int64
 		want                     func() pmetric.NumberDataPoint
 	}{
+		{
+			metricKind:               "counter",
+			name:                     "counter:: startTimestampMs from _created",
+			intervalStartTimestampMs: 11,
+			labels:                   labels.FromMap(map[string]string{"a": "A", "b": "B"}),
+			scrapes: []*scrape{
+				{at: 13, value: 33.7, metric: "value"},
+				{at: 13, value: 150, metric: "value_created"},
+			},
+			want: func() pmetric.NumberDataPoint {
+				point := pmetric.NewNumberDataPoint()
+				point.SetDoubleValue(33.7)
+
+				// the time in milliseconds -> nanoseconds.
+				point.SetTimestamp(pcommon.Timestamp(13 * time.Millisecond))
+				point.SetStartTimestamp(timestampFromFloat64(150))
+
+				attributes := point.Attributes()
+				attributes.PutStr("a", "A")
+				attributes.PutStr("b", "B")
+				return point
+			},
+		},
 		{
 			metricKind:               "counter",
 			name:                     "counter:: startTimestampMs of 11",