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Enrich your observability signals

  • Latest Dynatrace
  • Upgrade guide
  • Published Jul 24, 2026

Identify signals without proper enrichment and close gaps using central enrichment rules, OpenPipeline, and other post-ingest mechanisms. This stage runs after data ingestion has started and is iterative: validate coverage, fix gaps, re-validate until the enrichment ratio meets your defined threshold.

Why upgrade?

Metadata enrichment is the most critical preparation step in the entire upgrade: every downstream stage depends on dt.security_context and related attributes being consistently applied before IAM, segments, or cost allocation can be configured correctly. Gaps in enrichment propagate into misconfigured access control, broken segmentation, and inaccurate cost attribution.

  • All signals carry the required metadata: logs, traces, metrics, and events enriched with Primary Grail Fields and Tags give the platform the context it needs to configure team access, partition data by cost center or product, and surface the right signals to the right people
  • Foundation for access control and cost allocation: with enrichment in place, IAM, segments, and bucket routing can all be configured correctly the first time

What will you do?

This stage is iterative. Validate coverage, fix gaps, then re-validate, repeating the cycle until enrichment meets the agreed threshold.

  1. Validate that observability components meet minimum version requirements for enrichment
  2. Measure enrichment coverage across all signal types using the Enrichment Coverage dashboard
  3. Close enrichment gaps using central enrichment rules, OpenPipeline, and other post-ingest mechanisms

Before you begin

At a glance

  • Estimated effort: 1–4 days
  • Estimated timeline: 1–3 weeks

Prerequisites

Scope your upgrade to Latest Dynatrace: scope document signed off and classic configuration inventory complete.

Key stakeholders

RoleInvolvementResponsibility

Dynatrace Admin

Required

Configures enrichment rules, OpenPipeline processors, and central enrichment

Data Owner

Recommended

Owns the source-of-truth for dimension mappings

Application Teams

Recommended

Confirm their data is enriched correctly and flag gaps

FinOps / Security

Optional

Use enriched dimensions for cost allocation and access control validation

Enrich your observability signals

1. Validate observability component compatibility

Confirm that all observability components meet the minimum version requirements to support Primary Grail Fields and Tags enrichment.

  1. Review the minimum version requirements for enrichment support, for example, OneAgent 1.337 or above (1.343 preferred).
  2. Identify components below the minimum version threshold.
  3. Coordinate upgrades for out-of-date components before proceeding to the next step.

Verify: All observability components at or above the minimum required version for primary_tags.* enrichment.

2. Validate enrichment coverage

Run the Enrichment Coverage dashboard to measure signal coverage and pinpoint which signals or resources are missing required metadata.

  1. Run the Enrichment Coverage dashboard in your Dynatrace environment.
  2. Measure coverage for dt.security_context, dt.cost.costcenter, dt.cost.product, and primary_tags.* across all signal types (logs, traces, metrics, events).
  3. Identify which signals or resources are missing the required metadata, for example, host X doesn't have the Primary Grail Fields defined.
  4. Document gaps by signal type, technology, and responsible team.

Verify: Enrichment coverage report generated with all gap areas identified before starting remediation.

Validate enrichment coverage first: insufficient enrichment at this step results in poorly configured access control, segmentation, and cost allocation across all downstream upgrade stages. Do not skip or abbreviate the coverage validation.

3. Close enrichment gaps

Apply central enrichment rules, OpenPipeline processors, and other post-ingest mechanisms to close the gaps identified in the previous step. Repeat the validate → close → re-validate cycle until coverage meets the agreed threshold.

  1. For each gap, select the appropriate enrichment mechanism: central enrichment rules for host and process properties, OpenPipeline for logs and traces, or direct source-level configuration for application teams.
  2. Implement enrichment rules and processors for each gap category.
  3. Re-run the Enrichment Coverage dashboard to confirm coverage improved.
  4. Repeat the validate-fix cycle until the enrichment ratio meets the agreed success threshold.

Verify: Enrichment coverage for dt.security_context, dt.cost.costcenter, dt.cost.product, and primary_tags.* at or above the agreed threshold across all signal types.

Refresh your lookup tables regularly: enrichment maps not refreshed after team or product changes attribute data to retired owners. Agree on a refresh cadence with the data owner before closing this stage.

Account for backfill limitations: enrichment applies only to signals ingested after the rule is active. Historical queries may show inconsistent dimensions for signals ingested before enrichment was in place.

Stage complete when:

  • All observability components are at or above the minimum required version for primary_tags.* enrichment
  • Enrichment coverage for dt.security_context, dt.cost.costcenter, dt.cost.product, and primary_tags.* is at or above the agreed threshold across all signal types

With enrichment validated across all signal types, you have the metadata foundation that every downstream stage depends on. The next stage is Upgrade management zones to IAM and segments: configure access boundaries and dynamic segment-based filters using the enrichment attributes you've now applied consistently.

Documentation and best practices

The following resources support your work in this stage. Documentation covers platform concepts, configuration reference, and related guides; best practice cards provide implementation guidance from Dynatrace experts.

  • Primary Grail fields

    Reference for configuring primary_tags.* enrichment across OneAgent, Kubernetes, and OpenTelemetry sources.

  • Tags and metadata

    Overview of Dynatrace tagging, including central enrichment and tag strategies for enrichment at scale.

  • Best practices for metadata enrichment

    Enrich all observability signals with Primary Grail Fields and Tags to enable IAM, segmentation, and cost allocation.

  • Best practices for cloud enrichment

    Propagate cloud attributes and custom-defined tags into Dynatrace signals using the latest cloud connection.

  • Best practices for enrichment with central enrichment rules

    Configure central enrichment rules and prepare observability components for centralized metadata enrichment.

  • Best practices for RUM data access controls

    Configure RUM data access permissions, restrict sensitive fields, and set up bucket access for user events and sessions in Grail.

Ready for more?

When enrichment coverage meets the agreed threshold, you're ready to configure the access boundaries that IAM, segments, and filtering all depend on. The enrichment metadata you've applied here will directly drive segment definitions and IAM policy scope in stage 3.

Continue to Upgrade management zones to IAM & segments.

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