OpenTelemetry Collector

This guide configures logs, traces, metrics. Replace YOUR_INGEST_KEY with your key on your server, never in a public example.

1. Save collector.yaml

Install the Collector contrib distribution. This example binds local OTLP/HTTP only. Bind to a private interface with access controls if other hosts must send to it.

receivers:
  otlp:
    protocols:
      http:
        endpoint: 127.0.0.1:4318
processors:
  memory_limiter:
    check_interval: 1s
    limit_mib: 256
    spike_limit_mib: 64
  resource:
    attributes:
      - {key: service.name, value: "checkout", action: upsert}
      - {key: deployment.environment.name, value: "production", action: upsert}
  batch:
    send_batch_size: 256
    send_batch_max_size: 512
    timeout: 1s
exporters:
  otlphttp/siteqwality:
    endpoint: https://otlp.siteqwality.com
    headers:
      Authorization: "Bearer YOUR_INGEST_KEY"
    compression: gzip
    sending_queue: {enabled: true, queue_size: 1000}
    retry_on_failure: {enabled: true, initial_interval: 1s, max_interval: 30s, max_elapsed_time: 300s}
service:
  pipelines:
    logs:
      receivers: [otlp]
      processors: [memory_limiter, resource, batch]
      exporters: [otlphttp/siteqwality]
    traces:
      receivers: [otlp]
      processors: [memory_limiter, resource, batch]
      exporters: [otlphttp/siteqwality]
    metrics:
      receivers: [otlp]
      processors: [memory_limiter, resource, batch]
      exporters: [otlphttp/siteqwality]

2. Start the Collector

A memory queue survives transient failures, not process loss. Use the file_storage extension and a persistent sending queue for host restart durability. Keep batches within the receiver byte limits; record counts alone do not bound large records.

otelcol-contrib --config=collector.yaml

3. Point your application at the local Collector

No cloud ingest key belongs in the application when the Collector owns it. Enable the relevant SDK exporters. The Collector appends /v1/logs, /v1/traces and /v1/metrics to its cloud endpoint.

export OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_PROTOCOL=http/protobuf
export OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT=http://127.0.0.1:4318

See your data

Open Logs, Traces or Metrics. New data usually shows up within a minute, and a page that says it is waiting for data switches to your data on its own. Nothing arriving? See what each status code means in failure handling.

Production checklist

Store the key in your platform secret mechanism, rotate it when exposed and remove test keys. Set a stable service.name and deployment.environment.name; avoid user IDs or unbounded values in metric labels. Prefer a persistent queue, bounded retries and exporter failure monitoring. Review redaction and processors before increasing traffic.