OpenTelemetry

Plugin: otel.plugin Module: otel

Overview

This plugin enables the Netdata Agent to receive OpenTelemetry metrics and logs via the OTLP/gRPC protocol from any compatible source — collectors, SDKs, or instrumented applications.

Metrics are automatically visualized as Netdata charts with full alerting support. Logs are stored in systemd-compatible journal files and can be explored through the Netdata Logs tab.

The plugin listens on a configurable gRPC endpoint for incoming OTLP data.

Incoming metrics are mapped to Netdata charts using YAML mapping rules placed in the chart configs directory (default /etc/netdata/otel.d/v1/metrics/). Each file can contain entries that match metrics by instrumentation scope and metric name, and control how data point attributes translate to chart instances and dimensions. Per-metric overrides for the collection interval and grace period are also supported. Without a matching rule, the plugin creates charts using default settings. Charts with no incoming data are automatically expired and removed.

Incoming logs are written to journal files with configurable rotation and retention policies.

This collector is only supported on the following platforms:

• Linux

This collector only supports collecting metrics from a single instance of this integration.

Default Behavior

Auto-Detection

The plugin starts automatically and listens on 127.0.0.1:4317 for incoming OTLP/gRPC connections.

Limits

The default configuration for this integration does not impose any limits on data collection.

Performance Impact

The default configuration for this integration is not expected to impose a significant performance impact on the system.

Setup

Prerequisites

OpenTelemetry data source

An OpenTelemetry Collector, SDK, or instrumented application configured to send OTLP data to the Netdata agent’s gRPC endpoint.

Configuration

Options

The plugin is configured via otel.yaml in the Netdata configuration directory.

via File

The configuration file name for this integration is otel.yaml.

You can edit the configuration file using the edit-config script from the Netdata config directory.

cd /etc/netdata 2>/dev/null || cd /opt/netdata/etc/netdata
sudo ./edit-config otel.yaml

Examples

Basic configuration

Listen on default endpoint with default settings.

endpoint:
  path: "127.0.0.1:4317"
metrics:
  chart_configs_dir: /etc/netdata/otel.d/v1/metrics/
  interval_secs: 10
  grace_period_secs: 60
  expiry_duration_secs: 900
  max_new_charts_per_request: 100
logs:
  journal_dir: /var/log/netdata/otel-journals

Metric mapping file

Place YAML files like this in /etc/netdata/otel.d/v1/metrics/ to control how OTLP metrics are mapped to Netdata charts. This example maps metrics from the OpenTelemetry Collector hostmetrics receiver.

metrics:
  "system.network.connections":
    - instrumentation_scope:
        name: .*hostmetricsreceiver.*networkscraper$
      dimension_attribute_key: state

  "system.cpu.utilization":
    - instrumentation_scope:
        name: .*hostmetricsreceiver.*cpuscraper$
      dimension_attribute_key: state

  "system.memory.usage":
    - instrumentation_scope:
        name: .*hostmetricsreceiver.*memoryscraper$
      dimension_attribute_key: state
      interval_secs: 5

TLS-enabled configuration

Listen with TLS enabled for secure connections.

endpoint:
  path: "0.0.0.0:4317"
  tls_cert_path: /etc/netdata/ssl/cert.pem
  tls_key_path: /etc/netdata/ssl/key.pem
metrics:
  chart_configs_dir: /etc/netdata/otel.d/v1/metrics/
  interval_secs: 10
  grace_period_secs: 60
  expiry_duration_secs: 900
  max_new_charts_per_request: 100
logs:
  journal_dir: /var/log/netdata/otel-journals

Metrics

Metrics are dynamically created based on the OpenTelemetry data received. The specific metrics depend on the OTLP sources sending data to the plugin.

Alerts

There are no alerts configured by default for this integration.