Important: This documentation is about an older version. It's relevant only to the release noted, many of the features and functions have been updated or replaced. Please view the current version.
otelcol.auth.basic
otelcol.auth.basic exposes a handler that can be used by other otelcol
components to authenticate requests using basic authentication.
This extension supports both server and client authentication.
NOTE:
otelcol.auth.basicis a wrapper over the upstream OpenTelemetry Collectorbasicauthextension. Bug reports or feature requests will be redirected to the upstream repository, if necessary.
Multiple otelcol.auth.basic components can be specified by giving them
different labels.
Usage
otelcol.auth.basic "LABEL" {
username = "USERNAME"
password = "PASSWORD"
}Arguments
otelcol.auth.basic supports the following arguments:
| Name | Type | Description | Default | Required |
|---|---|---|---|---|
username | string | Username to use for basic authentication requests. | yes | |
password | secret | Password to use for basic authentication requests. | yes |
Blocks
The following blocks are supported inside the definition of
otelcol.auth.basic:
| Hierarchy | Block | Description | Required |
|---|---|---|---|
| debug_metrics | debug_metrics | Configures the metrics that this component generates to monitor its state. | no |
debug_metrics block
The debug_metrics block configures the metrics that this component generates to monitor its state.
The following arguments are supported:
| Name | Type | Description | Default | Required |
|---|---|---|---|---|
disable_high_cardinality_metrics | boolean | Whether to disable certain high cardinality metrics. | true | no |
level | string | Controls the level of detail for metrics emitted by the wrapped collector. | "detailed" | no |
disable_high_cardinality_metrics is the Grafana Alloy equivalent to the telemetry.disableHighCardinalityMetrics feature gate in the OpenTelemetry Collector.
It removes attributes that could cause high cardinality metrics.
For example, attributes with IP addresses and port numbers in metrics about HTTP and gRPC connections are removed.
Note
If configured,
disable_high_cardinality_metricsonly applies tootelcol.exporter.*andotelcol.receiver.*components.
level is the Alloy equivalent to the telemetry.metrics.level feature gate in the OpenTelemetry Collector.
Possible values are "none", "basic", "normal" and "detailed".
Exported fields
The following fields are exported and can be referenced by other components:
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
handler | capsule(otelcol.Handler) | A value that other components can use to authenticate requests. |
Component health
otelcol.auth.basic is only reported as unhealthy if given an invalid
configuration.
Debug information
otelcol.auth.basic does not expose any component-specific debug information.
Example
This example configures otelcol.exporter.otlp to use basic authentication:
otelcol.exporter.otlp "example" {
client {
endpoint = "my-otlp-grpc-server:4317"
auth = otelcol.auth.basic.creds.handler
}
}
otelcol.auth.basic "creds" {
username = "demo"
password = sys.env("API_KEY")
}


