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docs: add request size limitation #782

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bf06381
docs: add request body size limitation
pellared Mar 31, 2026
793b460
change values to reflect otlpreceiver
pellared Mar 31, 2026
807839a
add PR number
pellared Mar 31, 2026
816c226
reword server-side paragraph
pellared Mar 31, 2026
03dcdb9
client limits are configurable
pellared Mar 31, 2026
11d249b
fix
pellared Mar 31, 2026
d4d3651
Update docs/specification.md
pellared Mar 31, 2026
bae5c02
Update CHANGELOG.md
pellared Mar 31, 2026
d450703
refine spec
pellared Apr 1, 2026
df579c7
Merge branch 'main' into content-size-server
pellared Apr 7, 2026
94aba0b
docs: update request size limits
pellared Apr 8, 2026
17bad7a
refine docs
pellared Apr 8, 2026
8fffa49
docs: clarify client request size limitations and handling of discard…
pellared Apr 8, 2026
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1 change: 1 addition & 0 deletions CHANGELOG.md
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Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ The full list of changes can be found in the compare view for the respective rel

### Added

- docs: add request size limitation for HTTP body and gRPC messages. [#782](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-proto/pull/782)
- docs: add response size limitation for HTTP body and gRPC messages. [#781](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-proto/pull/781)

### Changed
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33 changes: 33 additions & 0 deletions docs/specification.md
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Expand Up @@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ nodes such as collectors and telemetry backends.

- [Protocol Details](#protocol-details)
* [OTLP/gRPC](#otlpgrpc)
+ [OTLP/gRPC Request](#otlpgrpc-request)
+ [OTLP/gRPC Concurrent Requests](#otlpgrpc-concurrent-requests)
+ [OTLP/gRPC Response](#otlpgrpc-response)
- [Full Success](#full-success)
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -113,6 +114,24 @@ acknowledgements described in this protocol happen between a single
client/server pair and do not span intermediary nodes in multi-hop delivery
paths._

#### OTLP/gRPC Request

The server MUST enforce a message size limit when receiving the request,
including after decompression, to mitigate possible excessive memory usage
caused by a misconfigured or malicious client sending an oversized request.
The server implementations typically enforce a default incoming message size
limit of 4 MiB. However, it is RECOMMENDED to use 32 MiB as the default limit.
Implementations MAY allow this limit to be configured. If the limit is
exceeded, the gRPC server implementations MUST report a
`RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED` code to the caller which the client MUST treat as a
non-retryable error.

The client SHOULD limit the size of the request message, including before
compression, to avoid overwhelming the server. It is RECOMMENDED to use 32 MiB
as the default limit. Implementations MAY allow this limit to be configured. If
the limit is exceeded, the client MUST NOT make the request and SHOULD record
the fact that the request was discarded.
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@pellared pellared Apr 14, 2026 •
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There was a discussion during the SIG meeting regarding splitting the request instead of only dropping. I think nothing is against adding later adding a sentence like:

In such scenario, the discarded request MAY be spitted into smaller requests that are below this limit.


#### OTLP/gRPC Concurrent Requests

After sending the request the client MAY wait until the response is received
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -481,6 +500,20 @@ The client MAY gzip the content and in that case MUST include
Non-default URL paths for requests MAY be configured on the client and server
sides.

The server MUST limit the size of the request body when parsing it, including
after decompression, to mitigate possible excessive memory usage caused by a
misconfigured or malicious client sending an oversized request. It is
RECOMMENDED to use 32 MiB as the default limit. Implementations MAY allow this
limit to be configured. If the limit is exceeded, the server MUST respond with
`HTTP 413 Content Too Large`. The client MUST NOT retry the request when it
receives `HTTP 413 Content Too Large` response.

The client SHOULD limit the size of the request body, including before
compression, to avoid overwhelming the server. It is RECOMMENDED to use 32 MiB
as the default limit. Implementations MAY allow this limit to be configured. If
the limit is exceeded, the client MUST NOT make the request and SHOULD record
the fact that the request was discarded.

#### OTLP/HTTP Response

The response body MUST be the appropriate serialized Protobuf message (see
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