Configuring DogStatsD on Agent Data Plane

The DogStatsD implementation on ADP has been redesigned in Rust for better resource guarantees and efficiency. Because the architecture is different from the original implementation, certain configuration values may behave differently, be planned but not yet implemented, or not apply at all. This page documents those nuances.

ADP is designed to be transparent: customers configure DogStatsD the same way they always have. The sections below call out the cases where that is either not yet true, or not quite possible.

If you find an error on this page, please open an issue.

Unsupported Settings

Being Worked On

The following settings are not yet supported in ADP but are planned with GitHub issue links for tracking.

Config Key	Description	Issue
dogstatsd_experimental_http.enabled	Enable experimental HTTP/H2C DSD listener	#1682
dogstatsd_experimental_http.listen_address	Bind address for experimental HTTP DSD listener	#1682
dogstatsd_pipe_name	Windows named pipe path	#1466
dogstatsd_windows_pipe_security_descriptor	Windows named pipe ACL descriptor	#1466
observability_pipelines_worker.metrics.use_v3_api.series	OPW metrics v3 series API opt-in	#1468
serializer_experimental_use_v3_api.compression_level	V3 API zstd compression level	#1468
serializer_experimental_use_v3_api.series.endpoints	Endpoints enabled for V3 series API	#1468
serializer_experimental_use_v3_api.series.shadow_sample_rate	V3 series shadow mode sample rate	#1468
serializer_experimental_use_v3_api.series.shadow_sites	V3 series shadow mode enabled sites	#1468
serializer_experimental_use_v3_api.series.validate	Dual-send v2+v3 series for validation	#1468
serializer_experimental_use_v3_api.sketches.endpoints	Endpoints enabling v3 sketches API	#1468
serializer_experimental_use_v3_api.sketches.validate	Dual-send v2+v3 sketches for validation	#1468
tls_handshake_timeout	HTTP TLS handshake timeout	#178
use_v3_api.series.enabled	Global default for series intake API version	#1468
use_v3_api.series.endpoints	Per-URL override map for series intake version	#1468
vector.metrics.use_v3_api.series	OPW metrics v3 series API opt-in (legacy alias)	#1468

Not Planned

The following settings exist in the core agent but are not planned for ADP, typically because ADP's architecture is fundamentally different or the feature is platform-specific.

Config Key	Description	Reason
aggregator_buffer_size	Channel buffer depth for aggregator queues	See below
aggregator_flush_metrics_and_serialize_in_parallel_buffer_size	Parallel flush: series/sketch buffer size	See below
aggregator_flush_metrics_and_serialize_in_parallel_chan_size	Parallel flush: channel size	See below
aggregator_use_tags_store	Enable shared tag deduplication store	See below
config_id	Fleet Automation config ID tag	Core Agent uses this only on Agent HA telemetry metrics.
data_plane.telemetry_enabled	ADP telemetry toggle	See below
data_plane.telemetry_listen_addr	ADP telemetry listen address	See below
dogstatsd_host_socket_path	Host UDS socket dir for DSD	Not read by DSD server; admission controller only.
dogstatsd_mem_based_rate_limiter.enabled	Memory-based rate limiter toggle	See below
dogstatsd_mem_based_rate_limiter.go_gc	Memory rate limiter GC percent	Go GC-specific; ADP uses memory_limit instead.
dogstatsd_mem_based_rate_limiter.high_soft_limit	Memory rate limiter high soft limit	Go GC-specific; ADP uses memory_limit instead.
dogstatsd_mem_based_rate_limiter.low_soft_limit	Memory rate limiter low soft limit	Go GC-specific; ADP uses memory_limit instead.
dogstatsd_mem_based_rate_limiter.memory_ballast	Memory rate limiter heap ballast size	Go GC-specific; ADP uses memory_limit instead.
dogstatsd_mem_based_rate_limiter.rate_check.factor	Memory rate limiter check factor	Go GC-specific; ADP uses memory_limit instead.
dogstatsd_mem_based_rate_limiter.rate_check.max	Memory rate limiter check max interval	Go GC-specific; ADP uses memory_limit instead.
dogstatsd_mem_based_rate_limiter.rate_check.min	Memory rate limiter check min interval	Go GC-specific; ADP uses memory_limit instead.
dogstatsd_mem_based_rate_limiter.soft_limit_freeos_check.factor	Memory rate limiter FreeOS check factor	Go GC-specific; ADP uses memory_limit instead.
dogstatsd_mem_based_rate_limiter.soft_limit_freeos_check.max	Memory rate limiter FreeOS check max	Go GC-specific; ADP uses memory_limit instead.
dogstatsd_mem_based_rate_limiter.soft_limit_freeos_check.min	Memory rate limiter FreeOS check min	Go GC-specific; ADP uses memory_limit instead.
dogstatsd_no_aggregation_pipeline_batch_size	No-aggregation pipeline batch size	Fixed in ADP topology.
dogstatsd_packet_buffer_flush_timeout	Packet buffer flush timeout	ADP decodes inline.
dogstatsd_packet_buffer_size	Datagrams per packet buffer	ADP decodes inline.
dogstatsd_pipeline_autoadjust	Auto-adjust pipeline workers	ADP uses async tasks.
dogstatsd_pipeline_count	Parallel processing pipelines	ADP uses async tasks.
dogstatsd_queue_size	Packet channel buffer size	ADP uses async tasks.
dogstatsd_stats_buffer	Internal stats buffer size	ADP does not expose the core agent's packet-per-second expvar endpoint, so there is no persistent stats endpoint buffer to configure.
dogstatsd_stats_enable	Enable internal stats endpoint	See below
dogstatsd_stats_port	Internal stats endpoint port	ADP does not expose the core agent's packet-per-second expvar endpoint, so dogstatsd_stats_port has no effect.
dogstatsd_telemetry_enabled_listener_id	Per-listener telemetry tagging	Not feasible to thread listener identity through ADP's async decode pipeline.
dogstatsd_workers_count	Number of DSD processing workers	ADP uses async tasks.
enable_json_stream_shared_compressor_buffers	Pre-allocate shared compressor buffers	ADP does not use a shared compressor buffer pool; Rust request builders own fixed-capacity scratch and compression buffers.
entity_id	Agent pod entity ID	ADP internal DogStatsD telemetry uses OpenMetrics.
forwarder_requeue_buffer_size	In-memory re-queue buffer size	See below
heroku_dyno	Heroku dyno telemetry mode	See below
logging_frequency	Transaction success log interval	The core agent uses logging_frequency to throttle repetitive successful transaction logs. ADP logs successful forwarder operations below the default info level, so there is no matching info-level success-log stream to throttle. This key is intentionally unused.
use_dogstatsd	Master DogStatsD enable toggle	Core Agent evaluates and sets data_plane.dogstatsd.enabled.

aggregator_buffer_size

The core Agent uses aggregator_buffer_size to size bounded Go channels feeding the aggregator and DogStatsD time sampler workers.

ADP has no equivalent operator-facing setting. Its aggregate transform receives data through the Saluki topology interconnects, which are configured at topology construction time rather than by per-component Agent config keys. The default event interconnect capacity is 128 buffers, and each event buffer can hold up to 1024 events.

Setting aggregator_buffer_size has no effect in ADP.

aggregator_flush_metrics_and_serialize_in_parallel_buffer_size

The core Agent uses aggregator_flush_metrics_and_serialize_in_parallel_buffer_size during aggregator flushes, not for the aggregator's input queues. It controls how many flushed series or sketch objects are grouped into each internal buffered-channel slice while one goroutine produces flushed metrics and another goroutine serializes them.

ADP has no equivalent flush-and-serialize iterable pipeline. The aggregate transform emits aggregated Metric events into the Saluki topology through EventsBuffer batches, and downstream encoder components serialize those events independently of the aggregate transform.

The closest internal ADP buffering is topology-wide: EventsBuffer can hold up to 1024 events, and event interconnects default to 128 buffers. These are not configured through aggregator_flush_metrics_and_serialize_in_parallel_buffer_size, and setting this key has no effect in ADP.

aggregator_flush_metrics_and_serialize_in_parallel_chan_size

The core Agent uses aggregator_flush_metrics_and_serialize_in_parallel_chan_size during aggregator flushes, together with aggregator_flush_metrics_and_serialize_in_parallel_buffer_size. The buffer size controls how many flushed series or sketch objects are grouped into each internal slice, while the channel size controls how many of those slices can queue between the flush producer goroutine and the consumer goroutine that serializes them.

ADP has no equivalent flush-and-serialize iterable pipeline. The aggregate transform emits aggregated Metric events into the Saluki topology through EventsBuffer batches, and downstream encoder components serialize those events independently of the aggregate transform.

The closest internal ADP buffering is topology-wide: EventsBuffer can hold up to 1024 events, and event interconnects default to 128 buffers. These are not configured through aggregator_flush_metrics_and_serialize_in_parallel_chan_size, and setting this key has no effect in ADP.

aggregator_use_tags_store

The core Agent uses aggregator_use_tags_store to enable an aggregator-local, ref-counted tag store. The store deduplicates repeated tag slices across aggregator contexts: contexts retain shared tag entries while active, release them when they expire, and periodic shrinking removes entries that are no longer referenced.

ADP does not have an aggregator-local tag store and does not need this toggle. Metrics reach the aggregate transform with Saluki Context values that already carry ADP-native tag structures. Tag reuse is handled before aggregation by the context resolver, the tags resolver, and SharedTagSet structural sharing.

Related ADP-specific tuning is exposed through context/tag-set resolver settings such as dogstatsd_cached_tagsets_limit, not through aggregator_use_tags_store. Setting aggregator_use_tags_store has no effect in ADP.

data_plane.telemetry_enabled

Deprecated. ADP previously read this key to enable its internal Prometheus telemetry endpoint, but no longer does so. The key is silently ignored.

data_plane.telemetry_listen_addr

Deprecated. ADP previously read this key to configure the address of its internal Prometheus telemetry endpoint, but no longer does so. The key is silently ignored.

dogstatsd_mem_based_rate_limiter.enabled

The Core Agent exposes 11 keys under this prefix to apply backpressure when the Go process approaches its memory limit. They work by manipulating Go's garbage collector (debug.SetGCPercent, debug.FreeOSMemory), allocating a large heap ballast to adjust GC heuristics, and blocking goroutines to slow packet ingestion. None of these mechanisms have an equivalent in Rust, and ADP does not use a Go runtime.

ADP takes a different approach to the same problem using explicit static memory accounting and a process-level RSS limit. All 11 dogstatsd_mem_based_rate_limiter.* keys are not planned. See Memory Management for details.

DogStatsD statistics (dogstatsd_stats_enable / dogstatsd_metrics_stats_enable)

The core agent has two DogStatsD statistics mechanisms with different scopes. dogstatsd_stats_enable enables packet-level throughput statistics from a ring buffer, exposed as Go expvar data on dogstatsd_stats_port (default 5000). Operators must configure an OpenMetrics check to scrape that endpoint before the data is submitted. dogstatsd_metrics_stats_enable enables runtime-toggleable metric-level debug statistics that track count and last-seen time per unique metric and tag combination. That data powers the core agent's dogstatsd-stats CLI command and HTTP endpoint.

ADP does not mirror the packet-level statistics config path. Instead, ADP provides an on-demand metric-level view through a DogStatsD statistics destination that is always wired into the topology, but only collects data during a time-bounded request. To collect statistics, run agent-data-plane dogstatsd stats --duration-secs N or call the privileged /dogstatsd/stats?collection_duration_secs=N API. The handler waits for the requested collection window, then returns count and last-seen time per metric context inline as JSON. The CLI uses the same API and renders the result as either summary or cardinality analysis.

ADP also exposes aggregate DogStatsD counters through its internal telemetry scrape endpoint. This endpoint is separate from /dogstatsd/stats: it does not return the per-metric count and last-seen map, and it is not controlled by the core agent's dogstatsd_stats_* keys. See Scraping internal telemetry for endpoint details and scrape examples.

ADP does not expose the core agent's packet-per-second expvar endpoint or a persistent per-metric DogStatsD statistics endpoint to scrape. You do not need to set up scraper configuration for this per-metric data. The config keys dogstatsd_stats_enable, dogstatsd_stats_buffer, and dogstatsd_stats_port have no effect in ADP. See #1352.

forwarder_requeue_buffer_size

ADP does not implement forwarder_requeue_buffer_size. The core Agent uses this setting to size a separate count-bounded handoff channel from forwarder workers to the retry manager. ADP's endpoint I/O loop handles send failures that need to be retried and owns the retry queue, so ADP does not need a separate queue for worker-to-retry-manager communication. Those failures are re-enqueued into the low-priority retry queue, which is bounded by payload bytes via forwarder_retry_queue_payloads_max_size and optional disk persistence settings. See #1755.

heroku_dyno

The heroku_dyno setting affects the core Agent's self-telemetry heartbeat. It changes the Agent flavor used by the core Agent aggregator so the running heartbeat is emitted as datadog.heroku_agent.running.

ADP does not run in the supported Heroku Agent package path: the Heroku Agent package excludes the agent-data-plane dependency, and the Heroku Datadog launch script starts the core Agent, trace Agent, and optionally process Agent without launching an agent-data-plane process. ADP also does not emit the core Agent's datadog.<agentName>.running series.

Because the affected heartbeat is core-Agent-owned and ADP is not part of the supported Heroku deployment path, ADP does not implement heroku_dyno. See #1753.

Behavioral Differences

The following settings are recognized by both ADP and the core agent, but with different behavior or default values.

Config Key	Description
aggregator_stop_timeout	Timeout (s) for aggregator flush on stop
dogstatsd_mapper_cache_size	Mapper result LRU cache size
dogstatsd_metrics_stats_enable	Enable per-metric debug stats
forwarder_apikey_validation_interval	API key check interval (minutes)
forwarder_high_prio_buffer_size	High-priority request queue size
forwarder_num_workers	Concurrent forwarder workers
forwarder_stop_timeout	Timeout (s) for forwarder graceful stop
log_level	Log verbosity directives
min_tls_version	Minimum TLS version for HTTPS connections
multi_region_failover.enabled	Enable multi-region failover mode
serializer_zstd_compressor_level	Zstd compression level
skip_ssl_validation	Skip TLS cert validation
statsd_forward_host	UDP packet forwarding destination host

aggregator_stop_timeout

The core Agent uses aggregator_stop_timeout as the shutdown grace period for the aggregator's final flush. During shutdown, the core Agent tries to flush aggregated metrics, events, service checks, and related data to the forwarder before stopping. If dogstatsd_flush_incomplete_buckets is enabled, the same timeout also bounds draining in-flight DogStatsD time sampler batches before that final flush.

ADP uses aggregator_stop_timeout together with forwarder_stop_timeout to configure its topology-wide graceful shutdown timeout. The default is 2 + 2 = 4 seconds. Set data_plane.stop_timeout to override the combined timeout directly.

Support is partial because ADP does not apply this timeout only to an aggregator component. Shutdown is coordinated by the Saluki topology: sources stop first, downstream inputs close, and the aggregate transform performs its final flush when its input stream ends. Whether open aggregation windows are included is controlled by aggregate_flush_open_windows, also aliased as dogstatsd_flush_incomplete_buckets.

dogstatsd_mapper_cache_size

ADP and the core agent both cache mapper results to skip regex evaluation on repeat metric names. With the default value of 1000, and with any positive integer, behavior matches the core agent: results are cached in an LRU keyed by the original metric name, including a negative-cache entry for names that match no profile.

The two implementations diverge when this setting is 0. In the core agent, 0 is rejected by the underlying LRU library, which causes the entire mapper to be silently disabled: mapping profiles configured by dogstatsd_mapper_profiles are not applied. In ADP, 0 disables the result cache only; mapping profiles still run, so each metric pays the regex evaluation cost without amortization.

If you previously set dogstatsd_mapper_cache_size: 0 in the core agent to turn off the mapper, clear dogstatsd_mapper_profiles instead when running ADP.

dogstatsd_metrics_stats_enable

See dogstatsd_stats_enable

forwarder_apikey_validation_interval

ADP supports forwarder_apikey_validation_interval for Datadog intake forwarding. The value is in minutes, defaults to 60, and falls back to that default for non-positive values.

ADP validates configured API keys when the forwarder starts, periodically at the configured interval, and after API-key-related runtime config updates. Validation controls readiness only: confirmed invalid keys can make the forwarder not ready, but the forwarder keeps running and transient validation failures do not prove that keys are invalid.

Support is partial because ADP only tracks additional_endpoints domains present at forwarder startup. Runtime updates can rotate keys for those domains, but brand-new domains are not added or validated until restart.

forwarder_high_prio_buffer_size

ADP implements forwarder_high_prio_buffer_size and matches the core agent's default of 100. The value sizes ADP's per-endpoint high-priority pending queue.

forwarder_num_workers

ADP uses forwarder_max_concurrent_requests to control endpoint concurrency. forwarder_num_workers is still read for HTTP connection pool sizing but no longer controls the maximum number of concurrent requests per endpoint.

forwarder_stop_timeout

The core Agent uses forwarder_stop_timeout as the shutdown grace period for the forwarder.

ADP uses forwarder_stop_timeout together with aggregator_stop_timeout to configure its topology-wide graceful shutdown timeout. The default is 2 + 2 = 4 seconds. Set data_plane.stop_timeout to override the combined timeout directly.

Support is partial because ADP does not apply this timeout only to a forwarder component. It bounds graceful shutdown for the full Saluki topology.

log_level

ADP accepts log_level as the startup logging control. A plain level applies to ADP-owned and Saluki-owned targets only, including agent_data_plane, saluki_*, and runtime crates under lib/.

log_level: debug

This keeps third-party dependencies such as hyper, tokio, and tonic at their default filtering unless you opt them in.

To control dependency logs or set a global fallback, use advanced EnvFilter directives in log_level. ADP applies those directive strings as configured:

log_level: warn,agent_data_plane=debug,hyper=warn

min_tls_version

ADP supports min_tls_version for Datadog intake forwarding through the shared Datadog forwarder. The default is tlsv1.2, which allows TLS 1.2 and TLS 1.3. To require TLS 1.3 only, set min_tls_version: tlsv1.3 or DD_MIN_TLS_VERSION=tlsv1.3.

The core agent also accepts tlsv1.0 and tlsv1.1. ADP accepts those values for configuration compatibility, but clamps them to TLS 1.2 because ADP uses rustls, which does not support TLS 1.0 or TLS 1.1.

This setting does not affect ADP IPC, local privileged APIs, ADP control-plane clients, OTLP proxying to the core agent, or unrelated HTTP clients.

multi_region_failover.enabled

ADP supports multi-region failover for metrics. When multi_region_failover.enabled and multi_region_failover.failover_metrics are both true, ADP forwards metrics to the primary Datadog endpoint and to a second MRF endpoint.

To enable the MRF metrics branch at startup, configure multi_region_failover.api_key and one of multi_region_failover.site or multi_region_failover.dd_url. If the MRF endpoint configuration is incomplete, ADP skips the MRF branch and continues forwarding to the primary endpoint.

ADP does not fall back to the primary api_key, site, or dd_url for MRF traffic. multi_region_failover.enabled and endpoint selection are resolved at startup. multi_region_failover.failover_metrics, multi_region_failover.metric_allowlist, and multi_region_failover.api_key can refresh from live configuration after the MRF branch is enabled.

Config Key	Behavior	Default
multi_region_failover.enabled	Enables multi-region failover mode.	false
multi_region_failover.failover_metrics	Enables metrics forwarding to the failover region when MRF is enabled.	false
multi_region_failover.metric_allowlist	Exact metric names to forward to MRF. Empty or unset forwards all metrics.	[]
multi_region_failover.api_key	API key for the failover-region endpoint.	unset
multi_region_failover.site	Datadog site for the failover region, used as https://app.mrf.<site>.	unset
multi_region_failover.dd_url	Explicit failover intake URL. Takes precedence over site when set.	unset

serializer_zstd_compressor_level

ADP defaults to level 3 vs Agent level 1. ADP intentionally compresses better. Key is recognized by both; default divergence is intentional.

skip_ssl_validation

ADP supports skip_ssl_validation for Datadog intake forwarding through the shared Datadog forwarder. The default is false, which preserves normal server certificate validation. When enabled, this setting affects the Datadog intake clients used by metrics, logs, traces, events, and service checks that flow through the shared forwarder.

This setting does not affect ADP IPC, local privileged APIs, ADP control-plane clients, OTLP proxying to the core agent, or unrelated HTTP clients. In FIPS builds, ADP rejects skip_ssl_validation: true because disabling TLS certificate validation is not FIPS-compliant.

statsd_forward_host

ADP supports DogStatsD forwarding when both statsd_forward_host and statsd_forward_port are set. ADP forwards each framed DogStatsD message over UDP to the configured destination before parsing, filtering, mapping, or aggregation. Forwarding does not preserve the core Agent's packet-buffer grouping, so forwarded UDP datagrams may be split differently while carrying the same DogStatsD messages. ADP logs setup failures and tracks send failures through telemetry.

Compatibility Unknown

The following settings need further investigation. ADP behavior may differ from the core agent in ways that are not yet fully characterized.

Config Key	Description	Issue
forwarder_low_prio_buffer_size	Low-priority request queue size	#1362
telemetry.dogstatsd.aggregator_channel_latency_buckets	Histogram buckets: DSD aggregator channel lag	#1679
telemetry.dogstatsd.listeners_channel_latency_buckets	Histogram buckets: listener channel latency	#1679
telemetry.dogstatsd.listeners_latency_buckets	Histogram buckets: listener processing	#1679
telemetry.dogstatsd_origin	Per-origin processed-metrics telemetry	#1679

ADP-Only Settings

The following settings are specific to ADP and have no equivalent in the core agent.

Config Key	Description	Default
aggregate_context_limit	Max contexts per aggregation window
aggregate_flush_interval	Aggregator flush period
aggregate_passthrough_idle_flush_timeout	Passthrough buffer flush delay
aggregate_window_duration_seconds	Aggregation window size
apm_config.obfuscation.sql.dbms	SQL obfuscation DBMS dialect
apm_config.obfuscation.sql.dollar_quoted_func	Preserve dollar-quoted SQL functions
apm_config.obfuscation.sql.keep_sql_alias	Preserve SQL aliases in obfuscation
apm_config.obfuscation.sql.replace_digits	Replace digits in SQL obfuscation
apm_config.obfuscation.sql.table_names	Collect table names during obfuscation
counter_expiry_seconds	Idle counter keep-alive duration	300
data_plane.stop_timeout	ADP graceful shutdown timeout (s)	derived
dogstatsd_allow_context_heap_allocs	Allow heap allocations for contexts
dogstatsd_autoscale_udp_listeners	Bind multiple UDP sockets via SO_REUSEPORT
dogstatsd_buffer_count_max	Max receive buffers	256
dogstatsd_buffer_count	Baseline receive buffers	128
dogstatsd_cached_contexts_limit	Max cached metric contexts
dogstatsd_cached_tagsets_limit	Max cached tagsets
dogstatsd_mapper_string_interner_size	Mapper string interner capacity
dogstatsd_minimum_sample_rate	Floor for metric sample rates
dogstatsd_permissive_decoding	Relaxes decoder strictness	true
dogstatsd_string_interner_size_bytes	Explicit byte budget for context interner
dogstatsd_tcp_port	TCP listen port for DSD
flush_timeout_secs	Encoder flush timeout (secs)
memory_limit	Process memory limit
memory_slop_factor	Memory accounting slop fraction	0.25
otlp_allow_context_heap_allocs	Allow heap allocations for OTLP contexts
otlp_cached_contexts_limit	Max cached OTLP metric contexts
otlp_cached_tagsets_limit	Max cached OTLP tagsets
otlp_config.receiver.protocols.http.transport	OTLP HTTP receiver transport
otlp_config.traces.enable_otlp_compute_top_level_by_span_kind	Enable OTLP top-level-by-span-kind
otlp_config.traces.ignore_missing_datadog_fields	Ignore missing Datadog fields in OTLP
otlp_config.traces.string_interner_size	OTLP trace string interner capacity
otlp_string_interner_size	OTLP context interner capacity
serializer_max_metrics_per_payload	Max metrics per payload

data_plane.stop_timeout

ADP uses data_plane.stop_timeout as the topology-wide graceful shutdown timeout. If this key is unset, ADP defaults to aggregator_stop_timeout + forwarder_stop_timeout.

dogstatsd_minimum_sample_rate

ADP enforces a minimum sample rate on incoming metrics to prevent memory exhaustion from extremely low sample rates on histograms and sketches. Sending metrics with a very high inverse sample rate (for example @0.0000001) can cause unbounded memory growth in a sketch; this setting prevents that. The default is conservative enough that normal clients are unaffected.

dogstatsd_permissive_decoding

By default, ADP parses DogStatsD packets with the same leniency as the core agent, accepting packets that technically violate the spec. Setting this to false enables strict mode, which rejects non-conformant packets. Strict mode is not available in the core agent.

memory_limit / memory_slop_factor

ADP uses an explicit process memory limit (memory_limit) rather than relying on Go's garbage collector. The memory_slop_factor reserves a fraction of the limit to account for allocations not tracked by ADP's internal accounting. When memory usage approaches memory_limit, ADP's global limiter begins exerting backpressure (see enable_global_limiter).

memory_slop_factor

See memory_limit above.

Transparent Settings

The following settings work in ADP with the same behavior as the core agent.

To enable syslog logging, set log_to_syslog: true. Console logging remains controlled by log_to_console; enabling syslog does not disable console or file logging. If syslog_uri is empty while syslog logging is enabled, ADP uses the platform default local syslog socket: unixgram:///dev/log on Linux and unixgram:///var/run/syslog on macOS. Set syslog_rfc: true when the receiving syslog daemon expects the Agent's RFC-style header.

DogStatsD metric debug log

ADP supports the core agent's DogStatsD metric debug log. To write this file, set dogstatsd_metrics_stats_enable: true. dogstatsd_logging_enabled also must be true; it defaults to true, so most configurations only need to enable dogstatsd_metrics_stats_enable.

When dogstatsd_logging_enabled is true, ADP connects an extra DogStatsD destination to the decoded metric stream. The destination writes one line per metric sample with the metric name, tags, count, and last-seen time while dogstatsd_metrics_stats_enable is true. When dogstatsd_metrics_stats_enable is false, the destination drains decoded metrics and drops them. This lets runtime configuration changes start and stop the debug log without rebuilding the topology. This feature is for support and troubleshooting. It does not change normal metric forwarding, and it does not replace the on-demand /dogstatsd/stats API.

Use these settings to control the file:

Config Key	Behavior
dogstatsd_log_file	Output path. If empty, ADP uses the platform default DogStatsD stats log path.
dogstatsd_log_file_max_rolls	Number of rotated files to keep. Defaults to 3.
dogstatsd_log_file_max_size	Maximum active file size before rotation. Defaults to 10Mb.
dogstatsd_logging_enabled	Controls whether ADP wires the debug log destination into the topology. Defaults to true.

The default dogstatsd_log_file path is /var/log/datadog/dogstatsd_info/dogstatsd-stats.log on Linux and other Unix platforms, /opt/datadog-agent/logs/dogstatsd_info/dogstatsd-stats.log on macOS, and %ProgramData%\datadog\logs\dogstatsd_info\dogstatsd-stats.log on Windows.

This debug log differs from the dogstatsd_capture_* settings. The debug log records decoded metric summaries after DogStatsD parsing. The capture settings record raw DogStatsD traffic for packet-level investigation, and they remain tracked separately under #1381.

Payload debug logging (log_payloads)

ADP supports log_payloads for debugging metric, event, and service check payload contents before they enter Datadog encoders. To see these logs, set log_payloads: true and run with debug-level logging enabled.

When enabled, ADP logs decoded payload objects: scalar series metrics, sketches/distributions, events, and service checks. These logs can contain high-volume customer data, including metric names, tags, host and container metadata, event text, and service check messages. Use this setting only while diagnosing payload content.

ADP does not dump the exact encoded JSON or protobuf HTTP request body, and it does not log compressed wire payload bytes.

Config Key	Description
additional_endpoints	Dual-ship to extra endpoints
agent_ipc.grpc_max_message_size	Max inbound gRPC message size for IPC client
allow_arbitrary_tags	Relax backend tag validation via HTTP header
api_key	API key for endpoint auth
apm_config.obfuscation.credit_cards.enabled	apm_config.obfuscation.credit_cards.enabled
apm_config.obfuscation.credit_cards.keep_values	apm_config.obfuscation.credit_cards.keep_values
apm_config.obfuscation.credit_cards.luhn	apm_config.obfuscation.credit_cards.luhn
apm_config.obfuscation.elasticsearch.enabled	apm_config.obfuscation.elasticsearch.enabled
apm_config.obfuscation.elasticsearch.keep_values	apm_config.obfuscation.elasticsearch.keep_values
apm_config.obfuscation.elasticsearch.obfuscate_sql_values	Obfuscate SQL values in ES queries
apm_config.obfuscation.http.remove_paths_with_digits	Strip numeric segments from HTTP paths
apm_config.obfuscation.http.remove_query_string	apm_config.obfuscation.http.remove_query_string
apm_config.obfuscation.memcached.enabled	apm_config.obfuscation.memcached.enabled
apm_config.obfuscation.memcached.keep_command	apm_config.obfuscation.memcached.keep_command
apm_config.obfuscation.mongodb.enabled	apm_config.obfuscation.mongodb.enabled
apm_config.obfuscation.mongodb.keep_values	apm_config.obfuscation.mongodb.keep_values
apm_config.obfuscation.mongodb.obfuscate_sql_values	Obfuscate SQL values in MongoDB queries
apm_config.obfuscation.opensearch.enabled	apm_config.obfuscation.opensearch.enabled
apm_config.obfuscation.opensearch.keep_values	apm_config.obfuscation.opensearch.keep_values
apm_config.obfuscation.opensearch.obfuscate_sql_values	Obfuscate SQL values in OpenSearch queries
apm_config.obfuscation.redis.enabled	apm_config.obfuscation.redis.enabled
apm_config.obfuscation.redis.remove_all_args	apm_config.obfuscation.redis.remove_all_args
apm_config.obfuscation.valkey.enabled	apm_config.obfuscation.valkey.enabled
apm_config.obfuscation.valkey.remove_all_args	apm_config.obfuscation.valkey.remove_all_args
autoscaling.failover.enabled	Enable autoscaling failover metric routing
autoscaling.failover.metrics	Metric names forwarded to DCA for failover
bind_host	Global listen host fallback
cluster_agent.auth_token	Bearer token for Cluster Agent requests
cluster_agent.enabled	Enable Cluster Agent communication
cluster_agent.kubernetes_service_name	Cluster Agent Kubernetes service name
cluster_agent.url	Cluster Agent HTTPS endpoint
cmd_port	Core Agent CMD API port for ADP gRPC IPC
cri_connection_timeout	CRI container runtime connection timeout (s)
cri_query_timeout	CRI container runtime query timeout (s)
data_plane.api_listen_address	Unprivileged API listen address
data_plane.dogstatsd.aggregator_tag_filter_cache_capacity	Tag-filter deduplication cache size
data_plane.log_file	ADP log file path
data_plane.otlp.proxy.logs.enabled	Proxy OTLP logs to Core Agent
data_plane.otlp.proxy.metrics.enabled	Proxy OTLP metrics to Core Agent
data_plane.otlp.proxy.traces.enabled	Proxy OTLP traces to Core Agent
data_plane.remote_agent_enabled	Enable remote agent mode
data_plane.secure_api_listen_address	Privileged API listen address
data_plane.use_new_config_stream_endpoint	Use new config stream endpoint
dd_url	Override intake endpoint URL
dogstatsd_buffer_size	Receive buffer size (bytes)
dogstatsd_capture_depth	Traffic capture channel depth
dogstatsd_capture_path	Traffic capture file location
dogstatsd_context_expiry_seconds	Context cache TTL (seconds)
dogstatsd_disable_verbose_logs	Suppress noisy parse error logs
dogstatsd_entity_id_precedence	Entity ID over auto-detection
dogstatsd_eol_required	Require newline-terminated messages
dogstatsd_flush_incomplete_buckets	Flush open buckets on shutdown
dogstatsd_log_file	DSD dedicated log file path
dogstatsd_log_file_max_rolls	DSD log file max roll count
dogstatsd_log_file_max_size	DSD log file max size
dogstatsd_logging_enabled	Enables DSD metric logging
dogstatsd_mapper_profiles	Metric mapping profile definitions
dogstatsd_no_aggregation_pipeline	Enable no-agg timestamped path
dogstatsd_non_local_traffic	Accept non-localhost UDP/TCP
dogstatsd_origin_detection	Enable UDS origin detection
dogstatsd_origin_detection_client	Honor client origin proto fields
dogstatsd_origin_optout_enabled	Allow clients to opt out origin
dogstatsd_port	UDP listen port
dogstatsd_so_rcvbuf	Socket receive buffer size
dogstatsd_socket	UDS datagram socket path
dogstatsd_stream_log_too_big	Log oversized UDS stream frames
dogstatsd_stream_socket	UDS stream socket path
dogstatsd_string_interner_size	String interner capacity
dogstatsd_tag_cardinality	Default tag cardinality level
dogstatsd_tags	Extra tags added to all DSD data
enable_payloads.events	Allow sending event payloads
enable_payloads.series	Allow sending series payloads
enable_payloads.service_checks	Allow sending service check payloads
enable_payloads.sketches	Allow sending sketch payloads
env	Agent environment name
forwarder_backoff_base	Retry backoff base (secs)
forwarder_backoff_factor	Retry backoff jitter factor
forwarder_backoff_max	Retry backoff ceiling (secs)
forwarder_connection_reset_interval	HTTP conn reset interval (secs)
forwarder_flush_to_disk_mem_ratio	Mem-to-disk flush ratio
forwarder_http_protocol	HTTP version selection (auto/http1/http2)
forwarder_max_concurrent_requests	Max concurrent HTTP requests
forwarder_outdated_file_in_days	Days before retry files are deleted
forwarder_recovery_interval	Backoff recovery decrease factor
forwarder_recovery_reset	Reset errors on success
forwarder_retry_queue_capacity_time_interval_sec	Retry queue time-based capacity
forwarder_retry_queue_max_size	Retry queue max size (deprecated)
forwarder_retry_queue_payloads_max_size	Retry queue max size (bytes)
forwarder_storage_max_disk_ratio	Max disk usage ratio for retry
forwarder_storage_max_size_in_bytes	Max on-disk retry storage size
forwarder_storage_path	On-disk retry storage directory
forwarder_timeout	Forwarder HTTP request timeout
histogram_aggregates	Histogram aggregate statistics
histogram_copy_to_distribution	Copy histograms to distributions
histogram_copy_to_distribution_prefix	Prefix for hist-to-dist copies
log_format_rfc3339	Use RFC 3339 timestamps in log output
log_payloads	Debug-log decoded payload contents before encoding
metric_filterlist	Metric name blocklist
metric_filterlist_match_prefix	Blocklist uses prefix matching
multi_region_failover.api_key	API key for the failover-region endpoint
multi_region_failover.dd_url	Failover intake URL
multi_region_failover.failover_metrics	Enable metrics forwarding to failover region
multi_region_failover.metric_allowlist	Metric name allowlist for MRF forwarding
multi_region_failover.site	Datadog site for the failover region
no_proxy_nonexact_match	Domain/CIDR no_proxy matching
observability_pipelines_worker.metrics.enabled	Route metrics to OPW instance
observability_pipelines_worker.metrics.url	OPW metrics intake URL
origin_detection_unified	Unified origin detection mode
otlp_config.logs.enabled	otlp_config.logs.enabled
otlp_config.metrics.enabled	otlp_config.metrics.enabled
otlp_config.receiver.protocols.grpc.endpoint	otlp_config.receiver.protocols.grpc.endpoint
otlp_config.receiver.protocols.grpc.max_recv_msg_size_mib	Max OTLP inbound gRPC message size (MiB)
otlp_config.receiver.protocols.grpc.transport	otlp_config.receiver.protocols.grpc.transport
otlp_config.receiver.protocols.http.endpoint	otlp_config.receiver.protocols.http.endpoint
otlp_config.traces.enabled	otlp_config.traces.enabled
otlp_config.traces.internal_port	otlp_config.traces.internal_port
otlp_config.traces.probabilistic_sampler.sampling_percentage	OTLP trace sampling percentage
provider_kind	Provider kind static tag
proxy.http	HTTP proxy URL
proxy.https	HTTPS proxy URL
proxy.no_proxy	Hosts bypassing proxy
serializer_compressor_kind	Payload compression algorithm
serializer_max_payload_size	Max compressed payload size (generic)
serializer_max_series_payload_size	Max compressed V2 series payload size
serializer_max_series_points_per_payload	Max data points per series payload
serializer_max_series_uncompressed_payload_size	Max uncompressed V2 series payload size
serializer_max_uncompressed_payload_size	Max uncompressed payload size (generic)
site	Datadog site domain
sslkeylogfile	Write TLS session keys to file
statsd_forward_port	UDP packet forwarding destination port
statsd_metric_blocklist	List of metric names to block/drop
statsd_metric_blocklist_match_prefix	Treat blocklist entries as prefixes
statsd_metric_namespace	Prefix prepended to all metric names
statsd_metric_namespace_blacklist	Prefixes exempt from namespace
syslog_rfc	Use RFC-style syslog header
syslog_uri	Syslog destination URI
use_proxy_for_cloud_metadata	Proxy cloud metadata endpoints
use_v2_api.series	Send series via V2 protobuf endpoint
vector.metrics.enabled	Route metrics to OPW (legacy alias)
vector.metrics.url	OPW metrics intake URL (legacy alias)
vsock_addr	vsock address for Agent IPC endpoint