topic Re: Entity Selector for matching OpenTelemetry service name in Open Q&A

Entity Selector for matching OpenTelemetry service name

DanielS — Wed, 08 Oct 2025 14:54:45 GMT

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to identify and tag some services that we're ingesting traces from OpenTelemetry. When defining an entitySelector based on strings, it's usually straightforward — for example:

type(SERVICE),serviceType("UNIFIED")

However, I'm trying to match the name [Built-in] OpenTelemetry service, and while I’ve managed to get somewhat close using exists clause, I can’t figure out how to dereference a list to properly match the name in this case.

Has anyone dealt with this before or knows how to write an entitySelector that successfully matches the name [Built-in] OpenTelemetry service?

Thanks in advance!

Re: Entity Selector for matching OpenTelemetry service name

Julius_Loman — Wed, 08 Oct 2025 15:56:27 GMT

@DanielS that's not possible using entitySelector as you have limited options for properties/attributes described here. Maybe you can use relationships in the entitySelector? (I don't know your environment and use case).

Re: Entity Selector for matching OpenTelemetry service name

PierreGutierrez — Wed, 08 Oct 2025 17:14:40 GMT

Hi @DanielS

I understand what you want to achieve, however, to help you more accurately, we need to access the environment or deploy OpenTelemetry-ingested services and replicate the case.

However, I'll share a tip on how you could run "entitySelector" simulations to make it work faster and more accurately. I hope it helps.

in the SLO Wizard, exist a part of "Entity Selector" there you can create a query and receive help of the autocomplete wizard to know if work your sentence.

I hope it's helpful 💪

Re: Entity Selector for matching OpenTelemetry service name

DanielS — Wed, 08 Oct 2025 18:48:01 GMT

Thanks, Julius! I suspected that was the case, but I didn’t want to leave any doubts. I understand now that exists will do the trick. Appreciate your help!

Re: Entity Selector for matching OpenTelemetry service name

DanielS — Wed, 08 Oct 2025 18:50:02 GMT

Thanks, Pierre! Indeed, the furthest we can get seems to be with exists — it's not exactly what I was aiming for, but it works, at least partially.

That said, I loved the SLO autocomplete trick — I didn’t know about it. Super helpful!