What is an OTEL Collector?

OpenTelemetry (OTEL) provides vendor-neutral ways of application instrumentation so that customers can switch between Telemetry backends without re-instrumentation. It enhances observability by adding valuable data alongside other monitoring systems. OpenTelemetry consists of the OpenTelemetry SDK, the OpenTelemetry API, and the OpenTelemetry Collector. This approach ensures flexibility and standardization for monitoring systems.

This article will cover OTel and its architecture (receivers, processors, exporters, extensions, and service config). You’ll also learn key practices to help you deploy and maintain your OTel Collector so you can meet your organization’s needs.

Key takeaways

The OpenTelemetry (OTel) Collector serves as a core component to collect, process, and export telemetry data and environment variables in various formats for different use cases.

The Collector’s architecture is built around receivers, processors, and exporters, forming flexible telemetry pipelines.

Extensions can enhance the Collector's capabilities, such as management and monitoring, without directly interacting with OpenTelemetry data.

LogicMonitor provides a pre-configured version of the OTel Collector that integrates seamlessly with its platform for enhanced observability.

Understanding the OpenTelemetry Collector

As a core component of OpenTelemetry, OTel collectors are deployed as pipeline components between instrumented applications and telemetry backends. With an OTel Collector, telemetry signals are ingested in multiple formats, translated to OTel-native data formats, and exported to backend-native formats. They are part of the three pillars of observability (metrics, logs, and traces), with traces for API being the most mature and metrics and logs in different stages of development.

Key components of the OTel Collector architecture

The OpenTelemetry collector consists of three main components: Receivers, processors, and exporters. These collector components are used to construct telemetry pipelines.

Receivers: Collecting telemetry data

Receivers are responsible for transferring data to the collector. They can be push-based or pull-based. Receivers accept data in specified formats, translate it into an internal format, and then pass it to batch processors and exporters defined in applicable pipelines. The format of any trace data or metrics supported is receiver-specific.

Processors: Transforming and enriching data

Processors transform metrics and modify the names of spans before sending data to exporters. They also batch data before sending it out, retry when exporting fails, and add metadata and tail-based sampling. The order in which processors are configured dictates the sequence of data processing.

Exporters: Sending data to backends

Exporters are tasked with exporting processed telemetry data to various observability backends, both open-source and commercial. They ensure that observability data reaches its intended destination in a compatible format, supporting seamless integration with different observability platforms.

Extensions: Enhancing collector functionality

Extensions add optional capabilities to the OTel Collector without directly accessing telemetry data. They are used primarily for managing and monitoring OTel collectors and offer optional enhancements for the collector’s core functionality.

Service configuration: Enabling components

The service section of the OTel Collector enables configured components within defined receivers, processors, exporters, and extensions sections. The section contains a list of extensions and pipelines of traces, metrics, and logs consisting of sets of receivers, processors, and exporters. Further information is available in Configurations for OpenTelemetry Collector Processors and LM OTEL Collector Logging.

Example configuration

receivers:
  otlp:
    protocols:
      grpc:
      http:

processors:
  batch:

exporters:
  otlp:
    endpoint: otelcol:4317

extensions:
  health_check:
  pprof:
  zpages:

service:
  extensions: [health_check,pprof,zpages]
  pipelines:
    traces:
      receivers: [otlp]
      processors: [batch]
      exporters: [otlp]
    metrics:
      receivers: [otlp]
      processors: [batch]
      exporters: [otlp]
    logs:
      receivers: [otlp]
      processors: [batch]
      exporters: [otlp]

Best practices for implementing the OTel Collector

• Ensure proper configuration: Each component—receivers, processors, and exporters—must be correctly configured and included in the pipeline for the collector to function effectively. Use validators to help ensure proper configuration.
• Utilize extensions wisely: Extensions are optional but can significantly enhance the collector’s capabilities, providing valuable monitoring and management functions.
• Leverage multiple pipelines: Define multiple pipelines with unique configurations to handle different types of telemetry data. While processors are represented per pipeline, receivers and exporters share collector instances across pipelines.
• Optimize data processing: It is crucial to optimize the order of processors, batch processing, sampling strategies, caching, and a configuration that optimizes data transformation and enrichment processes.
• Scalability and flexibility: Configuration of the OTel Collector to handle increased data loads as the system scales will help maintain efficiency and performance.

LogicMonitor’s OpenTelemetry Collector

LogicMonitor offers a customized version of the OTel Collector, which is pre-configured to forward traces from instrumented applications to the LogicMonitor platform. With LogicMonitor’s central management offering, users and providers can streamline observability strategies with little troubleshooting.

For more information on integrating with LogicMonitor, visit OpenTelemetry Collector for LogicMonitor Overview.

FAQs

What is the primary advantage of using the OTel Collector?
The primary advantage is its vendor-neutral approach, allowing organizations to switch between telemetry backends without re-instrumenting their applications.

Can I use multiple receivers in a single pipeline?
Yes, you can configure multiple receivers within a single pipeline to ingest data from various sources, optimizing your data collection strategy.

How do I ensure the OTel Collector scales with my system?
Implement best practices for configuration files and continuously monitor performance to adjust resource attributes as needed based on the signal types using the most resources, ensuring the collector deployment scales efficiently with your system.

What are the security considerations for deploying the OTel Collector?
Ensure data is encrypted in transit and at rest, and apply access controls to maintain the security and integrity of your telemetry data.