Run the collector, specifying the configuration file using the --config parameter:

otelcontribcol_linux_amd64 --config collector.yaml

To run the OpenTelemetry Collector as a Docker image and receive traces from the same host:

1. Choose a published Docker image such as otel/opentelemetry-collector-contrib.

2. Determine which ports to open on your container so that OpenTelemetry traces are sent to the OpenTelemetry Collector. By default, traces are sent over gRPC on port 4317. If you don’t use gRPC, use port 4318.

3. Run the container and expose the necessary port, using the previously defined collector.yaml file. For example, considering you are using port 4317:

   $ docker run \
       -p 4317:4317 \
       --hostname $(hostname) \
       -v $(pwd)/otel_collector_config.yaml:/etc/otelcol-contrib/config.yaml \
       otel/opentelemetry-collector-contrib
   

To run the OpenTelemetry Collector as a Docker image and receive traces from other containers:

1. Create a Docker network:

   docker network create <NETWORK_NAME>
   

2. Run the OpenTelemetry Collector and application containers as part of the same network.

   # Run the OpenTelemetry Collector
   docker run -d --name opentelemetry-collector \
       --network <NETWORK_NAME> \
       --hostname $(hostname) \
       -v $(pwd)/otel_collector_config.yaml:/etc/otelcol-contrib/config.yaml \
       otel/opentelemetry-collector-contrib
   

   When running the application container, ensure that the environment variable OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT is configured to use the appropriate hostname for the OpenTelemetry Collector. In the example below, this is opentelemetry-collector.

   # Run the application container
   docker run -d --name app \
       --network <NETWORK_NAME> \
       --hostname $(hostname) \
       -e OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT=http://opentelemetry-collector:4317 \
       company/app:latest
   

Using a DaemonSet is the most common and recommended way to configure OpenTelemetry collection in a Kubernetes environment. To deploy the OpenTelemetry Collector and Datadog Exporter in a Kubernetes infrastructure:

1. Use this full example of configuring the OpenTelemetry Collector using the Datadog Exporter as a DaemonSet, including the application configuration example.

   Note especially some essential configuration options from the example, which ensure the essential ports of the DaemonSet are exposed and accessible to your application:

   # ...
           ports:
           - containerPort: 4318 # default port for OpenTelemetry HTTP receiver.
             hostPort: 4318
           - containerPort: 4317 # default port for OpenTelemetry gRPC receiver.
             hostPort: 4317
           - containerPort: 8888  # Default endpoint for querying Collector observability metrics.
   # ...
   

   If you do not need both the standard HTTP and gRPC ports for your application, it is fine to remove them.

2. Collect valuable Kubernetes attributes, which are used for Datadog container tagging, report the Pod IP as a resource attribute, as shown in the example:

   # ...
           env:
           - name: POD_IP
             valueFrom:
               fieldRef:
                 fieldPath: status.podIP
           # The k8s.pod.ip is used to associate pods for k8sattributes
           - name: OTEL_RESOURCE_ATTRIBUTES
             value: "k8s.pod.ip=$(POD_IP)"
   # ...
   

   This ensures that Kubernetes Attributes Processor which is used in the config map is able to extract the necessary metadata to attach to traces. There are additional roles that need to be set to allow access to this metadata. The example is complete, ready to use, and has the correct roles set up.

3. Provide your application container. To configure your application container, ensure that the correct OTLP endpoint hostname is used. The OpenTelemetry Collector runs as a DaemonSet, so the current host needs to be targeted. Set your application container’s OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT environment variable correctly, as in the example chart:

   # ...
           env:
           - name: HOST_IP
             valueFrom:
               fieldRef:
                 fieldPath: status.hostIP
             # The application SDK must use this environment variable in order to successfully
             # connect to the DaemonSet's collector.
           - name: OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT
             value: "http://$(HOST_IP):4318"
   # ...
   

To deploy the OpenTelemetry Collector and Datadog Exporter in a Kubernetes Gateway deployment:

1. Use this full example of configuring the OpenTelemetry Collector using the Datadog Exporter as a DaemonSet, including the application configuration example.

   Note especially some essential configuration options from the example, which ensure the essential ports of the DaemonSet are exposed and accessible to your application:

   # ...
           ports:
           - containerPort: 4318 # default port for OpenTelemetry HTTP receiver.
             hostPort: 4318
           - containerPort: 4317 # default port for OpenTelemetry gRPC receiver.
             hostPort: 4317
           - containerPort: 8888  # Default endpoint for querying Collector observability metrics.
   # ...
   

   If you do not need both the standard HTTP and gRPC ports for your application, it is fine to remove them.

2. Collect valuable Kubernetes attributes, which are used for Datadog container tagging, report the Pod IP as a resource attribute, as shown in the example:

   # ...
           env:
           - name: POD_IP
             valueFrom:
               fieldRef:
                 fieldPath: status.podIP
           # The k8s.pod.ip is used to associate pods for k8sattributes
           - name: OTEL_RESOURCE_ATTRIBUTES
             value: "k8s.pod.ip=$(POD_IP)"
   # ...
   

   This ensures that Kubernetes Attributes Processor which is used in the config map is able to extract the necessary metadata to attach to traces. There are additional roles that need to be set to allow access to this metadata. The example is complete, ready to use, and has the correct roles set up.

3. Provide your application container. To configure your application container, ensure that the correct OTLP endpoint hostname is used. The OpenTelemetry Collector runs as a DaemonSet, so the current host needs to be targeted. Set your application container’s OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT environment variable correctly, as in the example chart:

   # ...
           env:
           - name: HOST_IP
             valueFrom:
               fieldRef:
                 fieldPath: status.hostIP
             # The application SDK must use this environment variable in order to successfully
             # connect to the DaemonSet's collector.
           - name: OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT
             value: "http://$(HOST_IP):4318"
   # ...
   

4. Change the DaemonSet to include an OTLP exporter instead of the Datadog Exporter currently in place:

   # ...
   exporters:
     otlp:
       endpoint: "<GATEWAY_HOSTNAME>:4317"
   # ...
   

5. Make sure that the service pipelines use this exporter, instead of the Datadog one that is in place in the example:

   # ...
       service:
         pipelines:
           metrics:
             receivers: [hostmetrics, otlp]
             processors: [resourcedetection, k8sattributes, batch]
             exporters: [otlp]
           traces:
             receivers: [otlp]
             processors: [resourcedetection, k8sattributes, batch]
             exporters: [otlp]
   # ...
   

   This ensures that each agent forwards its data via the OTLP protocol to the Collector Gateway.

6. Replace GATEWAY_HOSTNAME with the address of your OpenTelemetry Collector Gateway.

7. To ensure that Kubernetes metadata continues to be applied to traces, tell the k8sattributes processor to forward the Pod IP to the Gateway Collector so that it can obtain the metadata:

   # ...
   k8sattributes:
     passthrough: true
   # ...
   

   For more information about the passthrough option, read its documentation.

8. Make sure that the Gateway Collector’s configuration uses the same Datadog Exporter settings that have been replaced by the OTLP exporter in the agents. For example (where <DD_SITE> is your site, ):

   # ...
   exporters:
     datadog:
       api:
         site: <DD_SITE>
         key: ${env:DD_API_KEY}
   # ...
   

To use the OpenTelemetry Operator:

1. Follow the official documentation for deploying the OpenTelemetry Operator. As described there, deploy the certificate manager in addition to the Operator.

2. Configure the Operator using one of the OpenTelemetry Collector standard Kubernetes configurations:

   • Daemonset deployment - Use the DaemonSet deployment if you want to ensure you receive host metrics.
   • Gateway deployment

   For example:

   apiVersion: opentelemetry.io/v1alpha1
   kind: OpenTelemetryCollector
   metadata:
     name: opentelemetry-example
   spec:
     mode: daemonset
     hostNetwork: true
     image: otel/opentelemetry-collector-contrib
     env:
       - name: DD_API_KEY
         valueFrom:
           secretKeyRef:
             key:  datadog_api_key
             name: opentelemetry-example-otelcol-dd-secret
     config:
       receivers:
         otlp:
           protocols:
             http:
               endpoint: 0.0.0.0:4318
             grpc:
               endpoint: 0.0.0.0:4317
       hostmetrics:
         collection_interval: 10s
         scrapers:
           paging:
             metrics:
               system.paging.utilization:
                 enabled: true
           cpu:
             metrics:
               system.cpu.utilization:
                 enabled: true
           disk:
           filesystem:
             metrics:
               system.filesystem.utilization:
                 enabled: true
           load:
           memory:
           network:
       processors:
         k8sattributes:
         batch:
           send_batch_max_size: 100
           send_batch_size: 10
           timeout: 10s
       connectors:
         datadog/connector:
       exporters:
         datadog:
           api:
             key: ${env:DD_API_KEY}
       service:
         pipelines:
           metrics:
             receivers: [hostmetrics, otlp]
             processors: [k8sattributes, batch]
             exporters: [datadog]
           traces:
             receivers: [otlp]
             processors: [k8sattributes, batch]
             exporters: [datadog]