Clarification on StatsD Timing Unit Conversion (ms to s)

[devkoriel]

Hi everyone,

I hope you're all doing well. I have a question regarding the design decision where Vector converts StatsD timing values from milliseconds (ms) to seconds (s). According to the official documentation, "StatsD timings are emitted as distributions. Timings in milliseconds (ms) are converted to seconds (s)." While I understand that this conversion might have been implemented with a specific rationale in mind, I’m curious about the background and reasoning behind it.

Points for Clarification

• Design Rationale:
  Could someone explain the main reasons for converting the timings from ms to s? Was this decision driven by consistency, compatibility with certain sinks, or some other technical factor?

• Impact on Downstream Systems:
  Our current setup uses platforms like Datadog and Grafana, and this conversion has required adjustments in our pre-existing dashboard queries. Understanding the rationale might help us better manage these changes or plan for future updates.

• Alternative Approaches:
  Has there been any discussion on allowing users to opt out of this conversion or to maintain the original units? If not, what are the challenges or potential issues that prevented such flexibility?

I appreciate any insights or context the community can provide regarding this implementation detail. Thanks for taking the time to help clarify this matter!

Best regards,
Jinsoo Heo

[pront]

Hi @devkoriel, I suppose you are referring to this: https://vector.dev/docs/reference/configuration/sources/statsd/#statsd-timings

I am not aware of the rationale but I am a not a fan of implicit conversions. An easy non-intrusive improvement would be to add a new configuration option that controls the conversion. It could be be a bool or an Option<Unit>. Then, users can choose to not convert the timings at all. Feel free to create a feature request https://github.com/vectordotdev/vector/issues for easier tracking.

[devkoriel]

Hi @pront,

Thank you for the feedback. I agree that an implicit conversion might not be ideal for every use case. I'll take the initiative to create a feature request on GitHub and work on a PR to add a configuration option that allows users to control the conversion. Along with this, I'll ensure that the documentation is updated accordingly to reflect the new option.

Thanks again for the suggestion, and I look forward to contributing to an even more flexible Vector configuration!

Best regards,
devkoriel