Instana Distribution of OpenTelemetry Collector

Overview

The Instana Distibution of OpenTelemetry Collector (IDOT) aims to bring a streamlined OpenTelemetry experience to the Instana ecosystem.

IDOT was built using the builder found on the OpenTelemetry GitHub and follows the documentation found on the official OpenTelemetry Website.

Visit the IBM OpenTelemetry Documentation page to learn more about Instana-OpenTelemetry synergy.

Getting Started

Linux

On Linux machines, setup up can be done by downloading the latest release of the installer via the command:

curl -Lo instana_otelcol_setup.sh https://github.com/instana/instana-otel-collector/releases/latest/download/instana-collector-installer-latest.sh

chmod +x instana_otelcol_setup.sh

Once this has been downloaded, the installer script can be run by

./instana_otelcol_setup.sh -e <INSTANA_OTEL_ENDPOINT_GRPC> -a <INSTANA_KEY> [-H <INSTANA_OTEL_ENDPOINT_HTTP>] [<install_path>]

Note

INSTANA_OTEL_ENDPOINT_GRPC and INSTANA_KEY are required parameters to run the installer

The installation script will install and initiate the Instana Collector Service on your system using the parameters above.

These paramaters can be changed later in the config.env file found under install_path (default is /opt/instana/collector/config/config.env)

Instana Collector Service

By default the installer will install and start the service. However, there are a few parameters to choose from when interacting with the Instana Collector Service. Each of these all run the corresponding systemd commands in a user friendly manner. Run these commands under the bin folder within the install_path (default is /opt/instana/collector/bin).

./instana_collector_service.sh install # Will install the service (done automatically by installation script)

./instana_collector_service.sh uninstall # Uninstall the service (done automatically by uninstallation script)

./instana_collector_service.sh status # Display the activity status of the collector service

./instana_collector_service.sh start # Initiate the collector service

./instana_collector_service.sh stop # Stop the collector service

./instana_collector_service.sh restart # Restart the collector service

Additionally, the service command can be used here as well.

service instana-collector start # Start collector service

service instana-collector stop # Stop collector service

service instana-collector restart # Restart collector service

service instana-collector status # Display status of collector service

Windows

Coming soon...

MacOS

Coming soon...

Configuration and Setup

The collector can be fine tuned for your needs through the use of a config.yaml file. Based on the operating system the path will change:

OS	Default Path
Linux	/opt/instana/collector/config/config.yaml

Pipelines for Telemetry Data can be defined and altered as needed. For example, a simple pipeline for log data can be defined as follows:

receivers:
    # Specifies a file log receiver to include logs from a given path
    filelog:
        include: ["path/to/logs/*.log"]
processors:
    # Specify a transform processor to add a processed attribute to the log
    transform:
        log_statements:
            - set(log.body, log.attributes["processed"])
exporters:
    # Configure an otlp exporter for this log data to be sent to
    otlp:
        endpoint: YOURENDPOINT

# Assemble the data pipeline from the configured components
services:
    pipelines:
        logs:
            receivers: [filelog]
            processors: [transform]
            exporters: [otlp]

Supported Components

See the table below for links to supported components

Component	Link
Receivers	Receiver List
Processors	Processor List
Exporters	Exporter List
Extensions	Extensions List
Providers	Provider List

OpAmp Support

Coming soon...

Uninstallation

The installation script adds an uninstallation script under collector/bin in install_path

Running this script will stop the Instana Collector Service and remove all collector files from the system.

Contributing

Instana Distribution of OpenTelemetry Collector is an open source project and any contribution is welcome and appreciated.