The following document describes how to natively configure the OpenTelemetry Collector Contrib distribution with the Middleware platform.

Use the OpenTelemetry Collector Contrib to build your own custom distributions with the OpenTelemetry Collector Builder, send host data without using the Middleware Host Agent, or send host data from a technology that doesnt have a native Middleware Integration.

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Linux Installation

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Step 1: Install DEB or RPM

Download the opentelemetry-collector with the same package manager you used to install the MW Agent.

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Step 2: Use otelcol-contrib

Use the otelcol-contrib (opentelemetry-collector-contrib) distribution instead of the otelcol (opentelemetry-collector) for the OpenTelemetry Collector.

When prompted to download otelcol, download one of the following instead:

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Step 3: Follow OTel Config

Once you have installed Linux, proceed to the Configuration Section.

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Docker Installation

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Step 1: Install DockerHub or ghcr.io

Download the opentelemetry-collector with the same container registry you used to install the MW Agent.

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Step 2: Use otelcol-contrib

Ensure the container image refers to the opentelemetry-collector-contrib and not core opentelemetry-collector.

Check your container image with the following commands:

otelcol --version
# and
opentelemetry-collector-contrib --version

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Step 3: Follow OTel Config

Once you have installed Docker, proceed to the Configuration Section.

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Configuration

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Step 1: Configure Collector

Follow the OTel Configuration Instructions to configure the opentelemetry-collector-contrib

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Step 2: Add to Processors

Add the following code to the processors section:

processors:
  resourcedetection:
    detectors: [ env, system ]
    timeout: 2s
    system:
      hostname_sources: [ os ]
  resource/middleware:
    attributes:
    - action: upsert
      key: mw.account_key
      value: <your-mw-api-key>
    - action: upsert
      from_attribute: host.name
      key: host.id

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Step 3: Add to Exporters

Add the following code to the exporters section:

exporters:
  otlp/middleware:
    endpoint: "your-endpoint.middleware.io:443"
    headers:
      authorization: "<your-mw-api-key>"
    sending_queue:
      enabled: true
      num_consumers: 100
      queue_size: 10000

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Step 4: Add to Service

Add the following code within the pipelines section:

service:
  pipelines:
    traces:
      receivers: [ <your-receivers-list-for-traces> ]
      processors: [ resourcedetection, resource/middleware, 
                    <your-processor-list-for-traces> ]
      exporters: [ otlp/middleware, <your-exporters-list-for-traces> ]
    metrics:
      receivers: [ <your-receivers-list-for-metrics> ]
      processors: [ resourcedetection, resource/middleware ]
      exporters: [ otlp/middleware, <your-exporters-list-for-metrics> ]
    logs:
      receivers: [ <your-receivers-list-for-logs> ]
      processors: [ resourcedetection, resource/middleware, 
                    <your-processors-list-for-logs> ]
      exporters: [otlp/middleware, <your-exporters-list-for-logs>]

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Limitations

Metrics such as bandwidth and disk speed are not currently collected by the OpenTelemetry Collector and will contain 0 in those fields. This will impact the Infrastructure page as well as any custom dashboard containing these metrics.