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Configuring the instrumentation - Red Hat build of OpenTelemetry | Observability | OpenShift Container Platform 4.17
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Configuring the instrumentation

Auto-instrumentation in the Red Hat build of OpenTelemetry Operator

Auto-instrumentation in the Red Hat build of OpenTelemetry Operator can automatically instrument an application without manual code changes. Developers and administrators can monitor applications with minimal effort and changes to the existing codebase.

Auto-instrumentation runs as follows:

  1. The Red Hat build of OpenTelemetry Operator injects an init-container, or a sidecar container for Go, to add the instrumentation libraries for the programming language of the instrumented application.

  2. The Red Hat build of OpenTelemetry Operator sets the required environment variables in the application’s runtime environment. These variables configure the auto-instrumentation libraries to collect traces, metrics, and logs and send them to the appropriate OpenTelemetry Collector or another telemetry backend.

  3. The injected libraries automatically instrument your application by connecting to known frameworks and libraries, such as web servers or database clients, to collect telemetry data. The source code of the instrumented application is not modified.

  4. Once the application is running with the injected instrumentation, the application automatically generates telemetry data, which is sent to a designated OpenTelemetry Collector or an external OTLP endpoint for further processing.

Auto-instrumentation enables you to start collecting telemetry data quickly without having to manually integrate the OpenTelemetry SDK into your application code. However, some applications might require specific configurations or custom manual instrumentation.

OpenTelemetry instrumentation configuration options

The Red Hat build of OpenTelemetry can inject and configure the OpenTelemetry auto-instrumentation libraries into your workloads. Currently, the project supports injection of the instrumentation libraries from Go, Java, Node.js, Python, .NET, and the Apache HTTP Server (httpd).

The Red Hat build of OpenTelemetry Operator only supports the injection mechanism of the instrumentation libraries but does not support instrumentation libraries or upstream images. Customers can build their own instrumentation images or use community images.

Instrumentation options

Instrumentation options are specified in an Instrumentation custom resource (CR).

Sample Instrumentation CR
apiVersion: opentelemetry.io/v1alpha1
kind: Instrumentation
metadata:
  name: java-instrumentation
spec:
  env:
    - name: OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_TIMEOUT
      value: "20"
  exporter:
    endpoint: http://production-collector.observability.svc.cluster.local:4317
  propagators:
    - w3c
  sampler:
    type: parentbased_traceidratio
    argument: "0.25"
  java:
    env:
    - name: OTEL_JAVAAGENT_DEBUG
      value: "true"
Table 1. Parameters used by the Operator to define the Instrumentation
Parameter Description Values

env

Common environment variables to define across all the instrumentations.

exporter

Exporter configuration.

propagators

Propagators defines inter-process context propagation configuration.

tracecontext, baggage, b3, b3multi, jaeger, ottrace, none

resource

Resource attributes configuration.

sampler

Sampling configuration.

apacheHttpd

Configuration for the Apache HTTP Server instrumentation.

dotnet

Configuration for the .NET instrumentation.

go

Configuration for the Go instrumentation.

java

Configuration for the Java instrumentation.

nodejs

Configuration for the Node.js instrumentation.

python

Configuration for the Python instrumentation.
Table 2. Default protocol for auto-instrumentation
Auto-instrumentation Default protocol

Java 1.x

otlp/grpc

Java 2.x

otlp/http

Python

otlp/http

.NET

otlp/http

Go

otlp/http

Apache HTTP Server

otlp/grpc

Configuration of the OpenTelemetry SDK variables

You can use the instrumentation.opentelemetry.io/inject-sdk annotation in the OpenTelemetry Collector custom resource to instruct the Red Hat build of OpenTelemetry Operator to inject some of the following OpenTelemetry SDK environment variables, depending on the Instrumentation CR, into your pod:

  • OTEL_service_NAME

  • OTEL_TRACES_SAMPLER

  • OTEL_TRACES_SAMPLER_ARG

  • OTEL_PROPAGATORS

  • OTEL_RESOURCE_ATTRIBUTES

  • OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT

  • OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_CERTIFICATE

  • OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_CLIENT_CERTIFICATE

  • OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_CLIENT_KEY

Table 3. Values for the instrumentation.opentelemetry.io/inject-sdk annotation
Value Description

"true"

Injects the Instrumentation resource with the default name from the current namespace.

"false"

Injects no Instrumentation resource.

"<instrumentation_name>"

Specifies the name of the Instrumentation resource to inject from the current namespace.

"<namespace>/<instrumentation_name>"

Specifies the name of the Instrumentation resource to inject from another namespace.

Exporter configuration

Although the Instrumentation custom resource supports setting up one or more exporters per signal, auto-instrumentation configures only the OTLP Exporter. So you must configure the endpoint to point to the OTLP Receiver on the Collector.

Sample exporter TLS CA configuration using a config map
apiVersion: opentelemetry.io/v1alpha1
kind: Instrumentation
# ...
spec
# ...
  exporter:
    endpoint: https://production-collector.observability.svc.cluster.local:4317  (1)
    tls:
      configMapName: ca-bundle  (2)
      ca_file: service-ca.crt (3)
# ...
1 Specifies the OTLP endpoint using the HTTPS scheme and TLS.
2 Specifies the name of the config map. The config map must already exist in the namespace of the pod injecting the auto-instrumentation.
3 Points to the CA certificate in the config map or the absolute path to the certificate if the certificate is already present in the workload file system.
Sample exporter mTLS configuration using a Secret
apiVersion: opentelemetry.io/v1alpha1
kind: Instrumentation
# ...
spec
# ...
  exporter:
    endpoint: https://production-collector.observability.svc.cluster.local:4317  (1)
    tls:
      secretName: serving-certs (2)
      ca_file: service-ca.crt (3)
      cert_file: tls.crt (4)
      key_file: tls.key (5)
# ...
1 Specifies the OTLP endpoint using the HTTPS scheme and TLS.
2 Specifies the name of the Secret for the ca_file, cert_file, and key_file values. The Secret must already exist in the namespace of the pod injecting the auto-instrumentation.
3 Points to the CA certificate in the Secret or the absolute path to the certificate if the certificate is already present in the workload file system.
4 Points to the client certificate in the Secret or the absolute path to the certificate if the certificate is already present in the workload file system.
5 Points to the client key in the Secret or the absolute path to a key if the key is already present in the workload file system.

You can provide the CA certificate in a config map or Secret. If you provide it in both, the config map takes higher precedence than the Secret.
Example configuration for CA bundle injection by using a config map and Instrumentation CR
apiVersion: v1
kind: ConfigMap
metadata:
  name: otelcol-cabundle
  namespace: tutorial-application
  annotations:
    service.beta.openshift.io/inject-cabundle: "true"
# ...
---
apiVersion: opentelemetry.io/v1alpha1
kind: Instrumentation
metadata:
  name: my-instrumentation
spec:
  exporter:
    endpoint: https://simplest-collector.tracing-system.svc.cluster.local:4317
    tls:
      configMapName: otelcol-cabundle
      ca: service-ca.crt
# ...

Configuration of the Apache HTTP Server auto-instrumentation

The Apache HTTP Server auto-instrumentation is a Technology Preview feature only. Technology Preview features are not supported with Red Hat production service level agreements (SLAs) and might not be functionally complete. Red Hat does not recommend using them in production. These features provide early access to upcoming product features, enabling customers to test functionality and provide feedback during the development process.

For more information about the support scope of Red Hat Technology Preview features, see Technology Preview Features Support Scope.
Table 4. Parameters for the .spec.apacheHttpd field
Name Description Default

attrs

Attributes specific to the Apache HTTP Server.

configPath

Location of the Apache HTTP Server configuration.

/usr/local/apache2/conf

env

Environment variables specific to the Apache HTTP Server.

image

Container image with the Apache SDK and auto-instrumentation.

resourceRequirements

The compute resource requirements.

version

Apache HTTP Server version.

2.4
The PodSpec annotation to enable injection
instrumentation.opentelemetry.io/inject-apache-httpd: "true"

Configuration of the .NET auto-instrumentation

The .NET auto-instrumentation is a Technology Preview feature only. Technology Preview features are not supported with Red Hat production service level agreements (SLAs) and might not be functionally complete. Red Hat does not recommend using them in production. These features provide early access to upcoming product features, enabling customers to test functionality and provide feedback during the development process.

For more information about the support scope of Red Hat Technology Preview features, see Technology Preview Features Support Scope.

By default, this feature injects unsupported, upstream instrumentation libraries.
Name Description

env

Environment variables specific to .NET.

image

Container image with the .NET SDK and auto-instrumentation.

resourceRequirements

The compute resource requirements.

For the .NET auto-instrumentation, the required OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT environment variable must be set if the endpoint of the exporters is set to 4317. The .NET autoinstrumentation uses http/proto by default, and the telemetry data must be set to the 4318 port.

The PodSpec annotation to enable injection
instrumentation.opentelemetry.io/inject-dotnet: "true"

Configuration of the Go auto-instrumentation

The Go auto-instrumentation is a Technology Preview feature only. Technology Preview features are not supported with Red Hat production service level agreements (SLAs) and might not be functionally complete. Red Hat does not recommend using them in production. These features provide early access to upcoming product features, enabling customers to test functionality and provide feedback during the development process.

For more information about the support scope of Red Hat Technology Preview features, see Technology Preview Features Support Scope.

By default, this feature injects unsupported, upstream instrumentation libraries.
Name Description

env

Environment variables specific to Go.

image

Container image with the Go SDK and auto-instrumentation.

resourceRequirements

The compute resource requirements.
The PodSpec annotation to enable injection
instrumentation.opentelemetry.io/inject-go: "true"
Additional permissions required for the Go auto-instrumentation in the OpenShift cluster
apiVersion: security.openshift.io/v1
kind: SecurityContextConstraints
metadata:
  name: otel-go-instrumentation-scc
allowHostDirVolumePlugin: true
allowPrivilegeEscalation: true
allowPrivilegedContainer: true
allowedCapabilities:
- "SYS_PTRACE"
fsGroup:
  type: RunAsAny
runAsUser:
  type: RunAsAny
seLinuxContext:
  type: RunAsAny
seccompProfiles:
- '*'
supplementalGroups:
  type: RunAsAny

The CLI command for applying the permissions for the Go auto-instrumentation in the OpenShift cluster is as follows:

$ oc adm policy add-scc-to-user otel-go-instrumentation-scc -z <service_account>

Configuration of the Java auto-instrumentation

The Java auto-instrumentation is a Technology Preview feature only. Technology Preview features are not supported with Red Hat production service level agreements (SLAs) and might not be functionally complete. Red Hat does not recommend using them in production. These features provide early access to upcoming product features, enabling customers to test functionality and provide feedback during the development process.

For more information about the support scope of Red Hat Technology Preview features, see Technology Preview Features Support Scope.

By default, this feature injects unsupported, upstream instrumentation libraries.
Name Description

env

Environment variables specific to Java.

image

Container image with the Java SDK and auto-instrumentation.

resourceRequirements

The compute resource requirements.
The PodSpec annotation to enable injection
instrumentation.opentelemetry.io/inject-java: "true"

Configuration of the Node.js auto-instrumentation

The Node.js auto-instrumentation is a Technology Preview feature only. Technology Preview features are not supported with Red Hat production service level agreements (SLAs) and might not be functionally complete. Red Hat does not recommend using them in production. These features provide early access to upcoming product features, enabling customers to test functionality and provide feedback during the development process.

For more information about the support scope of Red Hat Technology Preview features, see Technology Preview Features Support Scope.

By default, this feature injects unsupported, upstream instrumentation libraries.
Name Description

env

Environment variables specific to Node.js.

image

Container image with the Node.js SDK and auto-instrumentation.

resourceRequirements

The compute resource requirements.
The PodSpec annotations to enable injection
instrumentation.opentelemetry.io/inject-nodejs: "true"
instrumentation.opentelemetry.io/otel-go-auto-target-exe: "/path/to/container/executable"

The instrumentation.opentelemetry.io/otel-go-auto-target-exe annotation sets the value for the required OTEL_GO_AUTO_TARGET_EXE environment variable.

Configuration of the Python auto-instrumentation

The Python auto-instrumentation is a Technology Preview feature only. Technology Preview features are not supported with Red Hat production service level agreements (SLAs) and might not be functionally complete. Red Hat does not recommend using them in production. These features provide early access to upcoming product features, enabling customers to test functionality and provide feedback during the development process.

For more information about the support scope of Red Hat Technology Preview features, see Technology Preview Features Support Scope.

By default, this feature injects unsupported, upstream instrumentation libraries.
Name Description

env

Environment variables specific to Python.

image

Container image with the Python SDK and auto-instrumentation.

resourceRequirements

The compute resource requirements.

For Python auto-instrumentation, the OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT environment variable must be set if the endpoint of the exporters is set to 4317. Python auto-instrumentation uses http/proto by default, and the telemetry data must be set to the 4318 port.

The PodSpec annotation to enable injection
instrumentation.opentelemetry.io/inject-python: "true"

Multi-container pods

The instrumentation is run on the first container that is available by default according to the pod specification. In some cases, you can also specify target containers for injection.

Pod annotation
instrumentation.opentelemetry.io/container-names: "<container_1>,<container_2>"

The Go auto-instrumentation does not support multi-container auto-instrumentation injection.

Multi-container pods with multiple instrumentations

Injecting instrumentation for an application language to one or more containers in a multi-container pod requires the following annotation:

instrumentation.opentelemetry.io/<application_language>-container-names: "<container_1>,<container_2>" (1)
1 You can inject instrumentation for only one language per container. For the list of supported <application_language> values, see the following table.
Table 5. Supported values for the <application_language>
Language Value for <application_language>

ApacheHTTPD

apache

DotNet

dotnet

Java

java

NGINX

inject-nginx

NodeJS

nodejs

Python

python

SDK

sdk

Using the instrumentation CR with service Mesh

When using the instrumentation custom resource (CR) with Red Hat OpenShift service Mesh, you must use the b3multi propagator.