--- title: "Set up OpenTelemetry Collector for Application Observability | OpenTelemetry documentation" description: "Set up the upstream community supported OpenTelemetry Collector for Application Observability." --- # Set up OpenTelemetry Collector for Application Observability The OpenTelemetry project maintainers and the Cloud Native Computing Foundation maintain the upstream OpenTelemetry Collector. For production observability, Grafana Labs recommends [Grafana Alloy](/docs/grafana-cloud/monitor-applications/application-observability/collector/grafana-alloy/), an OpenTelemetry Collector distribution that packages upstream OpenTelemetry Collector components and Prometheus exporters. Alloy provides stability, support, and an integrated experience with Grafana Application Observability and other Grafana products. ## Recommended setup For production, run an OpenTelemetry Collector on every host to seamlessly correlate data between infrastructure and application observability. To install the OpenTelemetry Collector for Application Observability, use the **contrib** [OpenTelemetry Collector](https://opentelemetry.io/docs/collector/installation/) distribution. This is the only distribution that includes the Grafana Cloud connector by default. Other distributions don’t include this connector and won’t provide expected results. Grafana Labs recommends using the **OpenTelemetry Collector** [Grafana Cloud integration tile](/docs/grafana-cloud/send-data/otlp/send-data-otlp/#recommended-opentelemetry-setup-via-grafana-cloud-integrations) to configure the OpenTelemetry Collector. If you already have an OpenTelemetry Collector per host, refer to the [advanced manual setup](#advanced-manual-setup) and [configure your application](#configure-your-application) sections. ## Advanced manual setup For advanced use cases, manually configure the OpenTelemetry `config.yaml` configuration file: YAML ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```yaml # Tested with OpenTelemetry Collector Contrib v0.98.0 receivers: otlp: # https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector/tree/main/receiver/otlpreceiver protocols: grpc: http: hostmetrics: # Optional. Host Metrics Receiver added as an example of Infra Monitoring capabilities of the OpenTelemetry Collector # https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/tree/main/receiver/hostmetricsreceiver scrapers: load: memory: processors: batch: # https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector/tree/main/processor/batchprocessor resourcedetection: # Enriches telemetry data with resource information from the host # https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/tree/main/processor/resourcedetectionprocessor detectors: ["env", "system"] override: false transform/drop_unneeded_resource_attributes: # https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/tree/main/processor/transformprocessor error_mode: ignore trace_statements: - context: resource statements: - delete_key(attributes, "k8s.pod.start_time") - delete_key(attributes, "os.description") - delete_key(attributes, "os.type") - delete_key(attributes, "process.command_args") - delete_key(attributes, "process.executable.path") - delete_key(attributes, "process.pid") - delete_key(attributes, "process.runtime.description") - delete_key(attributes, "process.runtime.name") - delete_key(attributes, "process.runtime.version") metric_statements: - context: resource statements: - delete_key(attributes, "k8s.pod.start_time") - delete_key(attributes, "os.description") - delete_key(attributes, "os.type") - delete_key(attributes, "process.command_args") - delete_key(attributes, "process.executable.path") - delete_key(attributes, "process.pid") - delete_key(attributes, "process.runtime.description") - delete_key(attributes, "process.runtime.name") - delete_key(attributes, "process.runtime.version") log_statements: - context: resource statements: - delete_key(attributes, "k8s.pod.start_time") - delete_key(attributes, "os.description") - delete_key(attributes, "os.type") - delete_key(attributes, "process.command_args") - delete_key(attributes, "process.executable.path") - delete_key(attributes, "process.pid") - delete_key(attributes, "process.runtime.description") - delete_key(attributes, "process.runtime.name") - delete_key(attributes, "process.runtime.version") transform/add_resource_attributes_as_metric_attributes: # https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/tree/main/processor/transformprocessor error_mode: ignore metric_statements: - context: datapoint statements: - set(attributes["deployment.environment"], resource.attributes["deployment.environment"]) - set(attributes["service.version"], resource.attributes["service.version"]) exporters: otlphttp/grafana_cloud: # https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector/tree/main/exporter/otlphttpexporter endpoint: "${env:GRAFANA_CLOUD_OTLP_ENDPOINT}" auth: authenticator: basicauth/grafana_cloud extensions: basicauth/grafana_cloud: # https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/tree/main/extension/basicauthextension client_auth: username: "${env:GRAFANA_CLOUD_INSTANCE_ID}" password: "${env:GRAFANA_CLOUD_API_KEY}" connectors: grafanacloud: # https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/tree/main/connector/grafanacloudconnector host_identifiers: ["host.name"] service: extensions: [ basicauth/grafana_cloud, ] pipelines: traces: receivers: [otlp] processors: [resourcedetection, transform/drop_unneeded_resource_attributes, batch] exporters: [otlphttp/grafana_cloud, grafanacloud] metrics: receivers: [otlp, hostmetrics] processors: [ resourcedetection, transform/drop_unneeded_resource_attributes, transform/add_resource_attributes_as_metric_attributes, batch, ] exporters: [otlphttp/grafana_cloud] metrics/grafanacloud: receivers: [grafanacloud] processors: [batch] exporters: [otlphttp/grafana_cloud] logs: receivers: [otlp] processors: [ resourcedetection, transform/drop_unneeded_resource_attributes, batch, ] exporters: [otlphttp/grafana_cloud] ``` Set the following environmental variables in the configuration file: Expand table | Environment Variable | Description | Example | |-------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------| | `GRAFANA_CLOUD_API_KEY` | API key generated above | `eyJvSomeLongStringJ9fQ==` | | `GRAFANA_CLOUD_OTLP_ENDPOINT` | **OTLP endpoint** from **Grafana Cloud > OpenTelemetry > Configure** | `https://otlp-endpoint-xyz.grafana.net/otlp` | | `GRAFANA_CLOUD_INSTANCE_ID` | **Instance ID** from **Grafana Cloud > OpenTelemetry > Configure** | | ### Data pipelines OpenTelemetry Collector receives OTLP data and processes it with the following pipelines: **Traces:** The `traces` pipeline receives traces with the `otlp` receiver and exports them to the Grafana Cloud Tempo with the [otlp](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector/tree/main/exporter/otlpexporter) exporter. The `traces` pipeline uses the [`resourcedetection`](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/tree/main/processor/resourcedetectionprocessor) processor to enrich telemetry data with resource information from the host. Consult the resource detection processor [README.md](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/tree/main/processor/resourcedetection) for a list of configuration options. **Metrics:** The `metrics` pipeline receives traces from the `otlp` receiver and exports metrics to the Grafana Cloud Metrics with the [`prometheusremotewrite`](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/tree/main/exporter/prometheusremotewriteexporter) exporter. The `metrics` pipeline uses the [`transform`](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/tree/main/processor/transformprocessor) processor to add `deployment.environment`, and `service.version` labels to metrics. **Logs:** The `logs` pipeline receives logs with the `otlp` receiver and exports them to the Grafana Cloud Loki with the [loki](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/tree/main/exporter/lokiexporter) exporter. ## Run OpenTelemetry Collector Create the `config.yaml` file, set the necessary environment variables, and [run the OpenTelemetry Collector](https://opentelemetry.io/docs/collector/quick-start/). ## Configure your application Set the following environment variables to configure your application to use the OpenTelemetry Collector: Expand table | Configuration | Options | Result | |-------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------| | `export OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT=` | `http://localhost:4318`, remote host address | The default local host address, or a remote host address. | | `export OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_PROTOCOL=` | `grpc`, `http/protobuf` | The default `http/protobuf` protocol or `grpc` | For example, for a local OpenTelemetry Collector set the following environment variables: shell ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```shell export OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT=http://localhost:4317 export OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_PROTOCOL=grpc ``` Then restart your application. ## Next steps [Observe your services in Application Observability](/docs/grafana-cloud/monitor-applications/application-observability/manual/)