OTel Collector Configuration Reference

Overview

The OpenTelemetry Collector is a vendor-agnostic telemetry pipeline that receives, processes, and exports traces, metrics, and logs.

Configuration Structure

The collector configuration is composed of three top-level sections:

receivers:   # Defines how telemetry data is ingested
exporters:   # Defines where telemetry data is sent
service:     # Defines pipelines connecting receivers to exporters

Receivers

Receivers define how telemetry data is ingested into the collector.

receivers.otlp

Receives trace data using the OpenTelemetry Protocol (OTLP) over gRPC and HTTP.

Fields

Field	Type	Default	Required	Description
receivers.otlp.protocols.grpc.endpoint	string	none	yes	Address the collector listens on for OTLP gRPC traffic
receivers.otlp.protocols.http.endpoint	string	none	yes	Address the collector listens on for OTLP HTTP traffic

Example

receivers:
  otlp:
    protocols:
      grpc:
        endpoint: 0.0.0.0:4317
      http:
        endpoint: 0.0.0.0:4318

Notes

Port 4317 is the default for OTLP gRPC.
Port 4318 is the default for OTLP HTTP.
Binding to 0.0.0.0 allows accepting traffic from all network interfaces.

Exporters

Exporters define where telemetry data is sent after processing.

exporters.otlp/jaeger

Exports trace data to Jaeger using OTLP over gRPC.

Fields

Field	Type	Default	Required	Description
exporters.otlp/jaeger.endpoint	string	none	yes	Destination endpoint for Jaeger collector
exporters.otlp/jaeger.tls.insecure	boolean	false	no	Disables TLS verification (not recommended for production)

Example

exporters:
  otlp/jaeger:
    endpoint: jaeger:4317
    tls:
      insecure: true

Notes

Use tls.insecure: true only in trusted environments (e.g., Docker networks).
For production, configure proper TLS certificates.

exporters.debug

Logs received telemetry data to stdout for debugging purposes.

Fields

Field	Type	Default	Required	Description
exporters.debug.verbosity	string	`normal`	no	Level of detail in logs (`basic`, `normal`, `detailed`)

Example

exporters:
  debug:
    verbosity: detailed

Notes

Useful for local development and troubleshooting.
Should not be used in high-volume production environments.

Service Pipelines

The service section defines how telemetry flows through the collector.

service.pipelines.traces

Defines a pipeline for processing trace data.

Fields

Field	Type	Required	Description
receivers	list[string]	yes	Receivers that ingest trace data
processors	list[string]	no	Processors applied to traces
exporters	list[string]	yes	Exporters that send trace data

Example

service:
  pipelines:
    traces:
      receivers: [otlp]
      processors: []
      exporters: [otlp/jaeger, debug]

Notes

This configuration uses no processors, meaning traces are forwarded as-is.
Multiple exporters can be defined to send data to different destinations.

Complete Configuration Example

receivers:
  otlp:
    protocols:
      grpc:
        endpoint: 0.0.0.0:4317
      http:
        endpoint: 0.0.0.0:4318

exporters:
  otlp/jaeger:
    endpoint: jaeger:4317
    tls:
      insecure: true
  debug:
    verbosity: detailed

service:
  pipelines:
    traces:
      receivers: [otlp]
      processors: []
      exporters: [otlp/jaeger, debug]