AWSSemanticConventions: "aws.region" should be renamed

[jordankay13]

Issue with OpenTelemetry.Instrumentation.AWS

Is this a feature request or a bug?

• [x] Feature Request
• [ ] Bug

What is the issue?

The AttributeAwsRegion in the AWSSemanticConventions is set to aws.region -- this name is dangerously close to cloud.region and is easy to misinterpret as a vendor-specific attribute not following the OpenTelemetry community norms about being vendor-agnostic.

The aws.region attribute is intended as "this is the region the resource you are interacting with lives in" The cloud.region attribute is intended as "this is the region you are executing your command from"

Can we please rename this to something more descriptive?

• aws.resource.region
• aws.target_region
• aws.sdk.region
• aws.command.region

Thank you for your consideration

[ppittle]

Similar discussion on this point in the Specification repository: https://github.com/open-telemetry/semantic-conventions/issues/1113

We noticed that the AWS SDK instrumentation in various languages sets a (client) span attribute named aws.region which is currently not part of the spec.

In my opinion, the Specification repository is the correct place to decide on a solution, and then that solution should be implemented here, as well as the other language sdks.

Alternatively, we could consider dropping aws.region altogether as it is not in the spec and doesn't appear in all languages?

@jordankay13 - thoughts?

[jordankay13]

100% agree the specification repo is the more appropriate location. I can add my voice to that linked issue.

I wouldn't want the attribute dropped. I think it's appropriate for some attribute to exist since cross region activity has a number of repercussions.

Thank you!