OpenTelemetry

OpenTelemetry

Plugin: otel.plugin Module: otel

Overview

Receive OpenTelemetry metrics and logs over OTLP/gRPC from Collectors, SDKs, and instrumented applications. The plugin converts supported metrics into Netdata charts and indexes logs for exploration in the Logs tab.

The plugin accepts gauges, sums, explicit-bucket histograms, and summaries. It does not currently ingest exponential histograms. Monotonic cumulative and delta sums are rate-normalized; non-monotonic cumulative sums behave as gauges.

For a maintained Collector configuration and end-to-end verification steps, see Ingest OpenTelemetry Metrics and Logs. The separate OpenTelemetry Logs integration explains how received logs appear in Netdata.

The plugin starts automatically and listens on a configurable OTLP/gRPC endpoint. OTLP/HTTP is not supported, so senders must use the gRPC exporter and port 4317, not the HTTP exporter and port 4318.

Each metric name becomes a Netdata chart context prefixed with otel.. YAML mapping rules can match a metric name and instrumentation scope, select a data point attribute for dimension names, and override chart timing. User mapping files take priority over the stock hostmetrics mappings compiled into the plugin. Metrics without a matching mapping still create charts using default settings.

Invalid user mapping files are logged and skipped without disabling the stock mappings. Charts expire after their configured inactivity period.

This collector is only supported on the following platforms:

• Linux
• macOS

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 OTLP/gRPC connections.

Limits

Each export request can create at most 100 new charts by default. This is a per-request throttle, not a total cardinality limit. By default, log timestamps are accepted from up to 24 hours in the past through 10 minutes in the future; records without a timestamp use their arrival time. Log retention is configured per tenant and is bounded by whichever limit is reached first: retained file count, retained indexed-data size, or age.

Performance Impact

Resource use depends on the number and cardinality of received metrics, log volume, retention, and query activity. Keep unbounded attributes out of metric identities and dimension names.

Setup

Prerequisites

A Netdata installation that includes the OpenTelemetry plugin

Official Linux packages, static builds, containers, and supported macOS packages include the plugin. Linux source installs using netdata-installer.sh require a compatible Rust toolchain and --enable-plugin-otel; on macOS, the installer enables the plugin automatically when it finds a compatible Rust toolchain.

An OTLP/gRPC data source

Configure an OpenTelemetry Collector, SDK, or instrumented application to export metrics or logs to the Agent endpoint. Use the gRPC exporter. The default loopback endpoint accepts only senders on the same host.

Configuration

Options

Edit otel.yaml with edit-config. A user file can contain only the fields that differ from the stock configuration. Configuration resolves in this order: stock file, user file, then environment variables. Restart the Netdata Agent after changing otel.yaml or any NETDATA_OTEL_CFG_* environment variable.

The absolute paths shown below are the defaults for standard Linux packages. The installed stock configuration resolves its configuration and log directories for the installation layout, so macOS and custom-prefix installations use different paths. Use edit-config with otel.yaml to inspect the installed values.

Environment overrides use the NETDATA_OTEL_CFG_ prefix. Most names are the uppercase option path with dots replaced by underscores. For example, endpoint.tls_cert_path becomes NETDATA_OTEL_CFG_ENDPOINT_TLS_CERT_PATH. For the default log policies, omit the default path segment: logs.retention.default.max_age becomes NETDATA_OTEL_CFG_LOGS_RETENTION_MAX_AGE. Named per-tenant policy overrides are YAML-only.

Configuration is strict. Unknown YAML fields, unknown NETDATA_OTEL_CFG_* variables, malformed values, and the former experimental schema prevent the plugin from starting. The effective configuration is logged at startup; remote_storage.uri is redacted in that log.

endpoint.path

The default IPv4 loopback address accepts only local senders. To accept remote senders, bind a non-loopback address and protect the endpoint with TLS or mutual TLS and network access controls.

endpoint.tls_ca_cert_path

Setting a CA certificate enables mutual TLS and therefore also requires the server certificate and key. Clients must present a certificate signed by this CA.

metrics.chart_configs_dir

User mappings take priority over the stock mappings compiled into the plugin. Files are processed in filename order. An invalid file is logged and skipped.

metrics.interval_secs

Timing must satisfy 0 < interval <= 3600, interval < grace, and grace <= expiry. Because the stock configuration explicitly sets all three values, set compatible values together when changing the global timing. An invalid resolved timing configuration logs a warning and falls back to the plugin’s hardcoded chart defaults.

metrics.max_new_charts_per_request

This limits a single request’s cardinality burst. It does not cap the total number of charts that successive requests can create.

base_dir

Retention limits govern retained indexed files. Write-ahead logs, catalogs, and remote-read cache can make total usage below this directory exceed logs.retention.*.max_total_size.

remote_storage.enabled

Sealed indexed files are uploaded in addition to being kept under local retention. When a query needs a remotely cataloged file that is no longer local, the plugin downloads it through the bounded remote-read cache.

remote_storage.uri

Put non-secret backend options in the query string. Never put credentials in this file or URI. For S3, use the standard AWS environment, credentials file, or instance-role mechanisms available to the Netdata service account.

auth.enabled

This is tenant selection, not credential authentication. When disabled, logs use the default tenant. When enabled, trust the header only behind TLS or mutual TLS and suitable network controls. Metrics are not tenant-scoped.

logs.retention.default.max_total_size

This is not a cap on all plugin disk use. Write-ahead logs, catalogs, and cache are additional.

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

Accept remote senders with mutual TLS

Bind beyond loopback only when the endpoint is protected. This example requires each sender to present a certificate signed by the configured CA.

endpoint:
  path: "0.0.0.0:4317"
  tls_cert_path: /etc/netdata/ssl/server-cert.pem
  tls_key_path: /etc/netdata/ssl/server-key.pem
  tls_ca_cert_path: /etc/netdata/ssl/client-ca.pem

Configure log retention for one tenant

Per-tenant entries inherit omitted fields from default. The key must match the sender’s X-Scope-OrgID value when tenant selection is enabled.

auth:
  enabled: true
logs:
  rotation:
    production:
      max_file_size: "100MB"
  retention:
    production:
      max_total_size: "10GB"
      max_age: "30 days"

Metric mapping file

Without a mapping, all data point attributes contribute to chart identity and the dimension is named value. A mapping selects one string attribute as the dimension name and removes it from chart identity, grouping data points that differ only by that attribute into one multi-dimension chart. Place user mapping files in metrics.chart_configs_dir; omit instrumentation_scope when the metric name alone is unambiguous.

metrics:
  "system.cpu.time":
    - instrumentation_scope:
        name: .*hostmetricsreceiver.*cpuscraper$
      dimension_attribute_key: state
      interval_secs: 5
  "system.network.io":
    - instrumentation_scope:
        name: .*hostmetricsreceiver.*networkscraper$
      dimension_attribute_key: direction
  "redis.cpu.time":
    - dimension_attribute_key: state

Troubleshooting

The plugin does not start

Check the Agent journal for otel-plugin configuration errors. User YAML and NETDATA_OTEL_CFG_* variables are validated strictly, so a typo or an option from the former experimental schema stops startup. For a source install, confirm that a compatible Rust toolchain is available; Linux installs using netdata-installer.sh also require --enable-plugin-otel.

The endpoint is reachable but no data appears

A successful TCP connection proves only that something is listening. Confirm that the sender uses OTLP/gRPC on port 4317; OTLP/HTTP on port 4318 is unsupported. With the default endpoint, use 127.0.0.1 explicitly if localhost resolves to IPv6. Then send a real OTLP record and verify the resulting chart or log entry.

A metric does not create the expected chart

Exponential histograms are not currently ingested. For other supported metrics, inspect the Agent journal for rejected user mapping files and verify the metric name, instrumentation scope, and dimension_attribute_key. The resulting chart context is otel.<metric-name>.

Some exported logs are missing

By default, the plugin rejects log records timestamped more than 24 hours in the past or more than 10 minutes in the future. It reports rejected records through OTLP partial_success; whether this is visible depends on the sender or exporter. Check the sender’s clock, backfill age, sender logs, and Netdata Agent journal.

Logs from the former experimental plugin are not visible

A former-schema otel.yaml stops the current plugin and prints a migration guide. Replace it with a partial configuration based on the current stock file. The legacy logs.journal_dir key is accepted only to locate the former plugin’s read-only journals; it is not part of the current storage layout.