Install the Collector on Kubernetes

Collect pod logs into your Logit.io Logs stack with the OpenTelemetry Collector. The dashboard's OpenTelemetry → Kubernetes option installs a Collector on every node with Helm, including on EKS. It enables pod log collection and host metrics, and exports logs, traces and metrics to one Hosted OpenTelemetry endpoint.

Before you start

You need Helm and access to your Kubernetes cluster. Copy the Hosted OpenTelemetry endpoint, username and password from your Logs stack's Endpoints page.

Logs go to your Logs stack. Enable the Metrics add-on to store metrics and the APM add-on to store traces. Signals sent without their matching add-on are accepted but not stored.

Create the Helm values

Save this as otel-values.yaml. Replace the endpoint, username and password with the dashboard values. These values express the same settings as the dashboard's Helm install command.

mode: daemonset
image:
  repository: otel/opentelemetry-collector-contrib
  tag: "0.161.0"
 
presets:
  logsCollection:
    enabled: true
  hostMetrics:
    enabled: true
 
config:
  extensions:
    basicauth/logit:
      client_auth:
        username: "<your-username>"
        password: "<your-password>"
  exporters:
    otlphttp/logit:
      endpoint: "https://{stackId}-otel.logit.io"
      auth:
        authenticator: basicauth/logit
  service:
    extensions: [health_check, basicauth/logit]
    pipelines:
      logs:
        exporters: [otlphttp/logit]
      traces:
        exporters: [otlphttp/logit]
      metrics:
        exporters: [otlphttp/logit]

The chart supplies the receivers and processors; the presets enable pod logs and host metrics. Keep health_check in the extensions list for the chart's health probes. Keep values files containing credentials out of source control.

Install with Helm

helm repo add open-telemetry https://open-telemetry.github.io/opentelemetry-helm-charts
helm repo update
helm upgrade --install otel-logit open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector -f otel-values.yaml

Exports use Basic auth and OTLP over HTTP on HTTPS port 443. Use the base URL without a signal path or custom port. Hosted OpenTelemetry does not expose gRPC.

Installing the chart does not instrument your applications. To generate application logs, traces or metrics with an SDK or agent, use the language setup guides.

Check collection

kubectl get daemonsets,pods -l app.kubernetes.io/instance=otel-logit
kubectl logs -l app.kubernetes.io/instance=otel-logit --tail=20

Check that Collector pods are running and report no export errors. Generate a new pod log entry, then select Launch Logs in Logit.io and search recent events. With the Metrics add-on enabled, select Launch Metrics to explore host metrics in Grafana.

If the pods fail to start, inspect their logs. If exports return 401 Unauthorized, check the Hosted OpenTelemetry username and password. For connection errors, check that the nodes can reach the endpoint over HTTPS on port 443.

For servers outside Kubernetes, see Send server log files and Collect host metrics.

Collect host metrics Applications