[processor/probabilisticsampling] encoded sampling probability (suppo…

…rt OTEP 235) (#31894)

**Description:** Creates new sampler modes named "equalizing" and
"proportional". Preserves existing functionality under the mode named
"hash_seed".

Fixes #31918

This is the final step in a sequence, the whole of this work was
factored into 3+ PRs, including the new `pkg/sampling` and the previous
step, #31946. The two new Sampler modes enable mixing OTel sampling SDKs
with Collectors in a consistent way.

The existing hash_seed mode is also a consistent sampling mode, which
makes it possible to have a 1:1 mapping between its decisions and the
OTEP 235 randomness and threshold values. Specifically, the 14-bit hash
value and sampling probability are mapped into 56-bit R-value and
T-value encodings, so that all sampling decisions in all modes include
threshold information.

This implements the semantic conventions of
open-telemetry/semantic-conventions#793, namely
the `sampling.randomness` and `sampling.threshold` attributes used for
logs where there is no tracestate.

The default sampling mode remains HashSeed. We consider a future change
of default to Proportional to be desirable, because:

1. Sampling probability is the same, only the hashing algorithm changes
2. Proportional respects and preserves information about earlier
sampling decisions, which HashSeed can't do, so it has greater
interoperability with OTel SDKs which may also adopt OTEP 235 samplers.

**Link to tracking Issue:** 

Draft for
open-telemetry/opentelemetry-specification#3602.
Previously
#24811,
see also open-telemetry/oteps#235
Part of #29738

**Testing:** New testing has been added.

**Documentation:** ✅

---------

Co-authored-by: Juraci Paixão Kröhling <[email protected]>

.chloggen/probabilisticsampler_modes.yaml

@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+# Use this changelog template to create an entry for release notes.
+
+# One of 'breaking', 'deprecation', 'new_component', 'enhancement', 'bug_fix'
+change_type: enhancement
+
+# The name of the component, or a single word describing the area of concern, (e.g. filelogreceiver)
+component: probabilisticsamplerprocessor
+
+# A brief description of the change.  Surround your text with quotes ("") if it needs to start with a backtick (`).
+note: Add Proportional and Equalizing sampling modes
+
+# Mandatory: One or more tracking issues related to the change. You can use the PR number here if no issue exists.
+issues: [31918]
+
+# (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: Both the existing hash_seed mode and the two new modes use OTEP 235 semantic conventions to encode sampling probability.
+
+# If your change doesn't affect end users or the exported elements of any package,
+# you should instead start your pull request title with [chore] or use the "Skip Changelog" label.
+# Optional: The change log or logs in which this entry should be included.
+# e.g. '[user]' or '[user, api]'
+# Include 'user' if the change is relevant to end users.
+# Include 'api' if there is a change to a library API.
+# Default: '[user]'
+change_logs: [user]

processor/probabilisticsamplerprocessor/README.md

@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+
 # Probabilistic Sampling Processor
 
 <!-- status autogenerated section -->
@@ -115,7 +116,9 @@ interpreted as a percentage, with values >= 100 equal to 100%
 sampling.  The logs sampling priority attribute is configured via
 `sampling_priority`.
 
-## Sampling algorithm
+## Mode Selection
+
+There are three sampling modes available.  All modes are consistent.
 
 ### Hash seed
 
@@ -135,7 +138,154 @@ In order for hashing to be consistent, all collectors for a given tier
 at different collector tiers to support additional sampling
 requirements.
 
-This mode uses 14 bits of sampling precision.
+This mode uses 14 bits of information in its sampling decision; the
+default `sampling_precision`, which is 4 hexadecimal digits, exactly
+encodes this information.
+
+This mode is selected by default.
+
+#### Hash seed: Use-cases
+
+The hash seed mode is most useful in logs sampling, because it can be
+applied to units of telemetry other than TraceID.  For example, a
+deployment consisting of 100 pods can be sampled according to the
+`service.instance.id` resource attribute.  In this case, 10% sampling
+implies collecting log records from an expected value of 10 pods.
+
+### Proportional
+
+OpenTelemetry specifies a consistent sampling mechanism using 56 bits
+of randomness, which may be obtained from the Trace ID according to
+the W3C Trace Context Level 2 specification.  Randomness can also be
+explicly encoding in the OpenTelemetry `tracestate` field, where it is
+known as the R-value.
+
+This mode is named because it reduces the number of items transmitted
+proportionally, according to the sampling probability.  In this mode,
+items are selected for sampling without considering how much they were
+already sampled by preceding samplers.
+
+This mode uses 56 bits of information in its calculations.  The
+default `sampling_precision` (4) will cause thresholds to be rounded
+in some cases when they contain more than 16 significant bits.
+
+#### Proportional: Use-cases
+
+The proportional mode is generally applicable in trace sampling,
+because it is based on OpenTelemetry and W3C specifications.  This
+mode is selected by default, because it enforces a predictable
+(probabilistic) ratio between incoming items and outgoing items of
+telemetry.  No matter how SDKs and other sources of telemetry have
+been configured with respect to sampling, a collector configured with
+25% proportional sampling will output (an expected value of) 1 item
+for every 4 items input.
+
+### Equalizing
+
+This mode uses the same randomness mechanism as the propotional
+sampling mode, in this case considering how much each item was already
+sampled by preceding samplers.  This mode can be used to lower
+sampling probability to a minimum value across a whole pipeline, 
+making it possible to conditionally adjust sampling probabilities.
+
+This mode compares a 56 bit threshold against the configured sampling
+probability and updates when the threshold is larger.  The default
+`sampling_precision` (4) will cause updated thresholds to be rounded
+in some cases when they contain more than 16 significant bits.
+
+#### Equalizing: Use-cases
+
+The equalizing mode is useful in collector deployments where client
+SDKs have mixed sampling configuration and the user wants to apply a
+uniform sampling probability across the system.  For example, a user's
+system consists of mostly components developed in-house, but also some
+third-party software.  Seeking to lower the overall cost of tracing,
+the configures 10% sampling in the samplers for all of their in-house
+components.  This leaves third-party software components unsampled,
+making the savings less than desired.  In this case, the user could
+configure a 10% equalizing probabilistic sampler.  Already-sampled
+items of telemetry from the in-house components will pass-through one
+for one in this scenario, while items of telemetry from third-party
+software will be sampled by the intended amount.
+
+## Sampling threshold information
+
+In all modes, information about the effective sampling probability is
+added into the item of telemetry.  The random variable that was used
+may also be recorded, in case it was not derived from the TraceID
+using a standard algorithm.
+
+For traces, threshold and optional randomness information are encoded
+in the W3C Trace Context `tracestate` fields.  The tracestate is
+divided into sections according to a two-character vendor code;
+OpenTelemetry uses "ot" as its section designator.  Within the
+OpenTelemetry section, the sampling threshold is encoded using "th"
+and the optional random variable is encoded using "rv".
+
+For example, 25% sampling is encoded in a tracing Span as:
+
+```
+tracestate: ot=th:c
+```
+
+Users can randomness values in this way, independently, making it
+possible to apply consistent sampling across traces for example.  If
+the Trace was initialized with pre-determined randomness value
+`9b8233f7e3a151` and 100% sampling, it would read:
+
+```
+tracestate: ot=th:0;rv:9b8233f7e3a151
+```
+
+This component, using either proportional or equalizing modes, could
+apply 50% sampling the Span.  This span with randomness value
+`9b8233f7e3a151` is consistently sampled at 50% because the threshold,
+when zero padded (i.e., `80000000000000`), is less than the randomess
+value.  The resulting span will have the following tracestate:
+
+```
+tracestate: ot=th:8;rv:9b8233f7e3a151
+```
+
+For log records, threshold and randomness information are encoded in
+the log record itself, using attributes.  For example, 25% sampling
+with an explicit randomness value is encoded as:
+
+```
+sampling.threshold: c
+sampling.randomness: e05a99c8df8d32
+```
+
+### Sampling precision
+
+When encoding sampling probability in the form of a threshold,
+variable precision is permitted making it possible for the user to
+restrict sampling probabilities to rounded numbers of fixed width.
+
+Because the threshold is encoded using hexadecimal digits, each digit
+contributes 4 bits of information.  One digit of sampling precision
+can express exact sampling probabilities 1/16, 2/16, ... through
+16/16.  Two digits of sampling precision can express exact sampling
+probabilities 1/256, 2/256, ... through 256/256.  With N digits of
+sampling precision, there are exactly `(2^N)-1` exactly representable
+probabilities.
+
+Depending on the mode, there are different maximum reasonable settings
+for this parameter.
+
+- The `hash_seed` mode uses a 14-bit hash function, therefore
+  precision 4 completely captures the available information.
+- The `equalizing` mode configures a sampling probability after
+  parsing a `float32` value, which contains 20 bits of precision,
+  therefore precision 5 completely captures the available information.
+- The `proportional` mode configures its ratio using a `float32`
+  value, however it carries out the arithmetic using 56-bits of
+  precision.  In this mode, increasing precision has the effect
+  of preserving precision applied by preceding samplers.
+
+In cases where larger precision is configured than is actually
+available, the added precision has no effect because trailing zeros
+are eliminated by the encoding.
 
 ### Error handling
 
@@ -153,9 +303,11 @@ false, in which case erroneous data will pass through the processor.
 
 The following configuration options can be modified:
 
+- `mode` (string, optional): One of "proportional", "equalizing", or "hash_seed"; the default is "proportional" unless either `hash_seed` is configured or `attribute_source` is set to `record`.
 - `sampling_percentage` (32-bit floating point, required): Percentage at which items are sampled; >= 100 samples all items, 0 rejects all items.
 - `hash_seed` (32-bit unsigned integer, optional, default = 0): An integer used to compute the hash algorithm. Note that all collectors for a given tier (e.g. behind the same load balancer) should have the same hash_seed.
 - `fail_closed` (boolean, optional, default = true): Whether to reject items with sampling-related errors.
+- `sampling_precision` (integer, optional, default = 4): Determines the number of hexadecimal digits used to encode the sampling threshold.  Permitted values are 1..14.
 
 ### Logs-specific configuration
 

processor/probabilisticsamplerprocessor/config.go

@@ -5,8 +5,11 @@ package probabilisticsamplerprocessor // import "github.com/open-telemetry/opent
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
+	"math"
 
 	"go.opentelemetry.io/collector/component"
+
+	"github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/pkg/sampling"
 )
 
 type AttributeSource string
@@ -35,6 +38,33 @@ type Config struct {
 	// different sampling rates, configuring different seeds avoids that.
 	HashSeed uint32 `mapstructure:"hash_seed"`
 
+	// Mode selects the sampling behavior. Supported values:
+	//
+	// - "hash_seed": the legacy behavior of this processor.
+	//   Using an FNV hash combined with the HashSeed value, this
+	//   sampler performs a non-consistent probabilistic
+	//   downsampling.  The number of spans output is expected to
+	//   equal SamplingPercentage (as a ratio) times the number of
+	//   spans inpout, assuming good behavior from FNV and good
+	//   entropy in the hashed attributes or TraceID.
+	//
+	// - "equalizing": Using an OTel-specified consistent sampling
+	//   mechanism, this sampler selectively reduces the effective
+	//   sampling probability of arriving spans.  This can be
+	//   useful to select a small fraction of complete traces from
+	//   a stream with mixed sampling rates.  The rate of spans
+	//   passing through depends on how much sampling has already
+	//   been applied.  If an arriving span was head sampled at
+	//   the same probability it passes through.  If the span
+	//   arrives with lower probability, a warning is logged
+	//   because it means this sampler is configured with too
+	//   large a sampling probability to ensure complete traces.
+	//
+	// - "proportional": Using an OTel-specified consistent sampling
+	//   mechanism, this sampler reduces the effective sampling
+	//   probability of each span by `SamplingProbability`.
+	Mode SamplerMode `mapstructure:"mode"`
+
 	// FailClosed indicates to not sample data (the processor will
 	// fail "closed") in case of error, such as failure to parse
 	// the tracestate field or missing the randomness attribute.
@@ -45,6 +75,14 @@ type Config struct {
 	// despite errors using priority.
 	FailClosed bool `mapstructure:"fail_closed"`
 
+	// SamplingPrecision is how many hex digits of sampling
+	// threshold will be encoded, from 1 up to 14.  Default is 4.
+	// 0 is treated as full precision.
+	SamplingPrecision int `mapstructure:"sampling_precision"`
+
+	///////
+	// Logs only fields below.
+
 	// AttributeSource (logs only) defines where to look for the attribute in from_attribute. The allowed values are
 	// `traceID` or `record`. Default is `traceID`.
 	AttributeSource `mapstructure:"attribute_source"`
@@ -61,11 +99,34 @@ var _ component.Config = (*Config)(nil)
 
 // Validate checks if the processor configuration is valid
 func (cfg *Config) Validate() error {
-	if cfg.SamplingPercentage < 0 {
-		return fmt.Errorf("negative sampling rate: %.2f", cfg.SamplingPercentage)
+	pct := float64(cfg.SamplingPercentage)
+
+	if math.IsInf(pct, 0) || math.IsNaN(pct) {
+		return fmt.Errorf("sampling rate is invalid: %f%%", cfg.SamplingPercentage)
+	}
+	ratio := pct / 100.0
+
+	switch {
+	case ratio < 0:
+		return fmt.Errorf("sampling rate is negative: %f%%", cfg.SamplingPercentage)
+	case ratio == 0:
+		// Special case
+	case ratio < sampling.MinSamplingProbability:
+		// Too-small case
+		return fmt.Errorf("sampling rate is too small: %g%%", cfg.SamplingPercentage)
+	default:
+		// Note that ratio > 1 is specifically allowed by the README, taken to mean 100%
 	}
+
 	if cfg.AttributeSource != "" && !validAttributeSource[cfg.AttributeSource] {
 		return fmt.Errorf("invalid attribute source: %v. Expected: %v or %v", cfg.AttributeSource, traceIDAttributeSource, recordAttributeSource)
 	}
+
+	if cfg.SamplingPrecision == 0 {
+		return fmt.Errorf("invalid sampling precision: 0")
+	} else if cfg.SamplingPrecision > sampling.NumHexDigits {
+		return fmt.Errorf("sampling precision is too great, should be <= 14: %d", cfg.SamplingPrecision)
+	}
+
 	return nil
 }

processor/probabilisticsamplerprocessor/config_test.go

@@ -26,6 +26,8 @@ func TestLoadConfig(t *testing.T) {
 			id: component.NewIDWithName(metadata.Type, ""),
 			expected: &Config{
 				SamplingPercentage: 15.3,
+				SamplingPrecision:  4,
+				Mode:               "proportional",
 				AttributeSource:    "traceID",
 				FailClosed:         true,
 			},
@@ -34,7 +36,9 @@ func TestLoadConfig(t *testing.T) {
 			id: component.NewIDWithName(metadata.Type, "logs"),
 			expected: &Config{
 				SamplingPercentage: 15.3,
+				SamplingPrecision:  defaultPrecision,
 				HashSeed:           22,
+				Mode:               "",
 				AttributeSource:    "record",
 				FromAttribute:      "foo",
 				SamplingPriority:   "bar",
@@ -68,7 +72,11 @@ func TestLoadInvalidConfig(t *testing.T) {
 		file     string
 		contains string
 	}{
-		{"invalid_negative.yaml", "negative sampling rate"},
+		{"invalid_negative.yaml", "sampling rate is negative"},
+		{"invalid_small.yaml", "sampling rate is too small"},
+		{"invalid_inf.yaml", "sampling rate is invalid: +Inf%"},
+		{"invalid_prec.yaml", "sampling precision is too great"},
+		{"invalid_zero.yaml", "invalid sampling precision"},
 	} {
 		t.Run(test.file, func(t *testing.T) {
 			factories, err := otelcoltest.NopFactories()

processor/probabilisticsamplerprocessor/factory.go

@@ -40,8 +40,10 @@ func NewFactory() processor.Factory {
 
 func createDefaultConfig() component.Config {
 	return &Config{
-		AttributeSource: defaultAttributeSource,
-		FailClosed:      true,
+		AttributeSource:   defaultAttributeSource,
+		FailClosed:        true,
+		Mode:              modeUnset,
+		SamplingPrecision: defaultPrecision,
 	}
 }