APM data follows the<type>-<dataset>-<namespace> naming scheme. Thetype anddataset are predefined by the Elasticsearch apm-data plugin, but thenamespace is your opportunity to customize how different types of data are stored in Elasticsearch. There is no recommendation for what to use as your namespace—it is intentionally flexible. For example, you might create namespaces for each of your environments, likedev,prod,production, etc. Or, you might create namespaces that correspond to strategic business units within your organization.

By type, the APM data streams are:

Traces

Traces are comprised ofspans and transactions. Traces are stored in the following data streams:

• Application traces:traces-apm-<namespace>
• Sampled application traces:traces-apm.sampled-<namespace>
• RUM and iOS agent application traces:traces-apm.rum-<namespace>

Metrics

Metrics include application-based metrics, aggregation metrics, and basic system metrics. Metrics are stored in the following data streams:

• APM internal metrics:metrics-apm.internal-<namespace>
• APM transaction metrics:metrics-apm.transaction.<metricset.interval>-<namespace>
• APM service destination metrics:metrics-apm.service_destination.<metricset.interval>-<namespace>
• APM service transaction metrics:metrics-apm.service_transaction.<metricset.interval>-<namespace>
• APM service summary metrics:metrics-apm.service_summary.<metricset.interval>-<namespace>
• Application metrics:metrics-apm.app.<service.name>-<namespace>

Application metrics include the instrumented service’s name—defined in each APM agent's configuration—in the data stream name. Service names therefore must follow certain index naming rules.

Service name rules

• Service names are case-insensitive and must be unique. For example, you cannot have a service namedFoo and another namedfoo.
• Special characters will be removed from service names and replaced with underscores (_). Special characters include:

  '\\', '/', '*', '?', '"', '<', '>', '|', ' ', ',', '#', ':', '-'

Important

Additional storage efficiencies provided bySynthetic_source are available to users with anappropriate license.

Logs

Logs include application error events and application logs. Logs are stored in the following data streams:

• APM error/exception logging:logs-apm.error-<namespace>
• Applications UI logging:logs-apm.app.<service.name>-<namespace>

APM supports rerouting APM data to user-defined APM data stream names other than the defaults. This can be achieved by using areroute processor in ingest pipelines to set the data stream dataset or namespace. The benefit of separating APM data streams is that custom retention and security policies can be used.

For example, consider traces that would originally be indexed totraces-apm-default. To set the data stream namespace from the trace’sservice.environment and fallback to a static string"default", create an ingest pipeline namedtraces-apm@custom which will be used automatically:

[  {    "reroute": {      "namespace": [        "{{service.environment}}",        "default"      ]    }  }]

To find other ingest pipelines from the Elasticsearch apm-data plugin that are called by default, go to theIngest Pipelines management page in the navigation menu or using theglobal search field, and search forapm. Default APM ingest pipelines will follow the pattern*-apm*@default-pipeline.

For more custom APM ingest pipeline guides, seeparse data using ingest pipelines.

• Data streams define not only how data is stored in Elasticsearch, but also how data is retained over time. SeeIndex lifecycle management to learn how to create your own data retention policies.
• SeeManage storage for information on APM storage and processing costs, processing and performance, and other index management features.