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Section 3 · Choose and fix metric labels

Three questions to ask before adding a label to a metric

Estimated time: 1 min

Before you add a label

For every label, ask:

  • Will I aggregate or filter by it? If nobody queries by this dimension, it’s pure cost.
  • Is the value set bounded? Think tens of values, not thousands.
  • How does it multiply? Check the label against the labels already on the metric. Three bounded labels can still combine into thousands of series.