OpenTelemetry sending autoinstrumented metrics in ASP.NET Core service

Question

I'm trying to get to grips with OpenTelemetry and AzureMonitor in an ASP.NET Core service.

I've covered the documentation a few times but cannot find definitive answers (yet)...

I have a shared library with an extension method to register itself as follows:

public static IServiceCollection RegisterMetrics(this IServiceCollection services, string appInsightsConnectionString, string serviceName)
{
    var meterName = $"{serviceName}.Meters";

    services.AddOpenTelemetry()
        .WithMetrics(options =>
        {
            options.SetResourceBuilder(ResourceBuilder.CreateEmpty().AddService(serviceName));
            options.AddMeter(meterName);
        })
        .UseAzureMonitor((options) =>
        {
            options.ConnectionString = appInsightsConnectionString;
        });

    services.TryAddSingleton<IMetricsFactory>(x => new MetricsFactory(meterName, x.GetRequiredService<IMeterFactory>()));

    return services;
}

This works in as much as I can later grab and use a MetricsFactory (my own wrapper around a MeterFactory) to create a counter and see the data being sent to App Insights.

All good.

What I'm struggling with is (what I think is) some of the 'autoinstrumentation' (StatsBeat?) data being send too (see image).

It's not clear how to turn this off. The documentation mentions setting an environment variable:

APPLICATIONINSIGHTS_STATSBEAT_DISABLED=true

I've done this, but the data still seems to be being sent...

Questions

1. Is the data seen in the image (HeartBeatState, http.client.xxxx, http.server.xxxx) actually the 'StatsBeat' data?

2. If it is StatsBeat data, then is it correct that this is zero cost as this page alludes to https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-monitor/app/statsbeat?tabs=dotnet ? (in which case I probably don't care about it being there)

3. Should setting the environment variable mentioned turn it off?

4. Is there a way, in code, to turn it off / disable it when registering?

Answer 1

1. Is the data seen in the image (HeartBeatState, http.client.xxxx, http.server.xxxx) actually the 'StatsBeat' data?

The metrics http.client.xxxx, http.server.xxxx are OpenTelemetry auto-instrumentation metrics, not StatsBeat.

As per this Ms Documentation Statsbeat is doesn't affect the cost and customers monitoring volume it is collected data for Microsoft's internal usage to improve the service and ensure reliability.

APPLICATIONINSIGHTS_STATSBEAT_DISABLED=true is only stops the Statsbeat data not OpenTelemetry metrics http.client.xxxx, http.server.xxxx.

After Configuring APPLICATIONINSIGHTS_STATSBEAT_DISABLED=true in my Program.cs class, I didn't find any Statsbeat metrics.

Below logs are completely related to OpenTelemetry metrics.