--- title: "Configure the OpenTelemetry Collector to write metrics into Mimir | Grafana Mimir documentation" description: "Learn how to write metrics from OpenTelemetry Collector into Mimir" --- > For a curated documentation index, see [llms.txt](/llms.txt). For the complete documentation index, see [llms-full.txt](/llms-full.txt). # Configure the OpenTelemetry Collector to write metrics into Mimir > Note > > To send OpenTelemetry data to Grafana Cloud, refer to [Send data using OpenTelemetry Protocol (OTLP)](/docs/grafana-cloud/send-data/otlp/send-data-otlp/). When using the [OpenTelemetry Collector](https://opentelemetry.io/docs/collector/), you can use the OpenTelemetry protocol (OTLP) or the Prometheus remote write protocol to write metrics into Mimir. It’s recommended that you use the OpenTelemetry protocol. ## Use the OpenTelemetry protocol Mimir supports native OTLP over HTTP. To configure the collector to use the OTLP interface, use the [`otlphttp` exporter](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector/tree/main/exporter/otlphttpexporter) and the native Mimir endpoint. For example: YAML ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```yaml exporters: otlphttp: endpoint: http:///otlp ``` Then, enable it in the `service.pipelines` block: YAML ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```yaml service: pipelines: metrics: receivers: [...] processors: [...] exporters: [..., otlphttp] ``` If you want to authenticate using basic auth, use the [`basicauth`](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/tree/main/extension/basicauthextension) extension. For example: YAML ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```yaml extensions: basicauth/otlp: client_auth: username: username password: password exporters: otlphttp: auth: authenticator: basicauth/otlp endpoint: http:///otlp service: extensions: [basicauth/otlp] pipelines: metrics: receivers: [...] processors: [...] exporters: [..., otlphttp] ``` ## Use the Prometheus remote write protocol To use the Prometheus remote write protocol to send metrics into Mimir, use the [`prometheusremotewrite`](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/tree/main/exporter/prometheusremotewriteexporter) exporter in the Collector and the native Mimir endpoint. In the `exporters` section, add: YAML ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```yaml exporters: prometheusremotewrite: endpoint: http:///api/v1/push ``` Then, enable it in the `service.pipelines` block: YAML ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```yaml service: pipelines: metrics: receivers: [...] processors: [...] exporters: [..., prometheusremotewrite] ``` If you want to authenticate using basic auth, use the [`basicauth`](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/tree/main/extension/basicauthextension) extension. For example: YAML ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```yaml extensions: basicauth/prw: client_auth: username: username password: password exporters: prometheusremotewrite: auth: authenticator: basicauth/prw endpoint: http:///api/v1/push service: extensions: [basicauth/prw] pipelines: metrics: receivers: [...] processors: [...] exporters: [..., prometheusremotewrite] ``` ## Work with default OpenTelemetry labels OpenTelemetry metrics use resource attributes to describe the set of characteristics associated with a given resource, or entity, producing telemetry data. For example, a host resource might have multiple attributes, including an ID, an image, and a type. To optimize the storage of and ability to query this data, you can use the `-distributor.otel-promote-resource-attributes` option to configure Mimir to promote specified OTel resource attributes to labels at the time of ingestion. > Note > > The `-distributor.otel-promote-resource-attributes` option is an experimental feature in Grafana Mimir. Grafana Cloud automatically promotes the following OTel resource attributes to labels, with periods (`.`) replaced by underscores (`_`): - `service.instance.id` - `service.name` - `service.namespace` - `service.version` - `cloud.availability_zone` - `cloud.region` - `container.name` - `deployment.environment` - `deployment.environment.name` - `k8s.cluster.name` - `k8s.container.name` - `k8s.cronjob.name` - `k8s.daemonset.name` - `k8s.deployment.name` - `k8s.job.name` - `k8s.namespace.name` - `k8s.pod.name` - `k8s.replicaset.name` - `k8s.statefulset.name` > Note > > To disable this option or to update this list, contact Grafana Labs Support. Mimir stores additional OTel resource attributes in a separate series called `target_info`, which you can query using a join query or the Prometheus `info()` function. Refer to [Functions](https://prometheus.io/docs/prometheus/latest/querying/functions/) in the Prometheus documentation for more information. To learn more about OpenTelemetry resource attributes, refer to [Resources](https://opentelemetry.io/docs/languages/js/resources/) in the OpenTelemetry documentation. To learn more about ingesting OpenTelemetry data in Grafana Cloud, refer to [OTLP: OpenTelemetry Protocol format considerations](/docs/grafana-cloud/send-data/otlp/otlp-format-considerations/). ## Format considerations We follow the official [OTLP Metric points to Prometheus](https://opentelemetry.io/docs/reference/specification/compatibility/prometheus_and_openmetrics/#otlp-metric-points-to-prometheus) specification. By default, Grafana Mimir does not accept [OpenTelemetry Exponential Histogram](https://opentelemetry.io/docs/specs/otel/metrics/data-model/#exponentialhistogram) metrics. For Grafana Mimir to accept them, ingestion of Prometheus Native Histogram metrics must first be enabled following the instructions in [Configure native histogram ingestion](../configure-native-histograms-ingestion/). After this is done, Grafana Mimir will accept OpenTelemetry Exponential Histograms, and convert them into Prometheus Native Histograms following the conventions described in the [Exponential Histograms specification](https://opentelemetry.io/docs/specs/otel/compatibility/prometheus_and_openmetrics/#exponential-histograms). You might experience the following common issues: - Dots (.) are converted to _ Prometheus metrics do not support `.` and `-` characters in metric or label names. Prometheus converts these characters to `_`. For example: `requests.duration{http.status_code=500, cloud.region=us-central1}` in OTLP `requests_duration{http_status_code=”500”, cloud_region=”us-central1”}` in Prometheus - Resource attributes are added to the `target_info` metric. However, `/` or `` (if the namespace is empty), is added as the label `job`, and `service.instance.id` is added as the label `instance` to every metric. For details, see the [OpenTelemetry Resource Attributes](https://opentelemetry.io/docs/reference/specification/compatibility/prometheus_and_openmetrics/#resource-attributes) specification.