Introduction

We’ll be using the OpenTelemetry Collector otelcol-contrib to gather host metrics on Windows, Linux, and Mac. At the time of this writing, we’ll be using the latest otelcol-contrib package version 0.57.2.

Windows

The following steps assumes you are running Windows PowerShell as an Administrator.

Create a directory somewhere to keep the installation in one place.
```
 mkdir "C:\Program Files\OpenTelemetry"
```
Change to the newly created directory.
```
 cd "C:\Program Files\OpenTelemetry"
```

Download the otelcol-contrib package from GitHub.

 (New-Object Net.WebClient).DownloadFile("https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-releases/releases/download/v0.57.2/otelcol-contrib_0.57.2_windows_amd64.tar.gz", "C:\Program Files\OpenTelemetry\otelcol-contrib_0.57.2_windows_amd64.tar.gz")

Screenshot

Extract the files to the current directory, either using the command line or 7zip should work.
```
 tar -xf otelcol-contrib_0.57.2_windows_amd64.tar.gz
```

Download a sample configuration file for the OpenTelemetry Contrib collector from GitHub

 (New-Object Net.WebClient).DownloadFile("https://gist.githubusercontent.com/pnvnd/1533b04609fbbe583056afdc31683667/raw/242f9fa682989639a06fc22eb209b8ffd1a4d4c3/otel-config_windows.yaml", "C:\Program Files\OpenTelemetry\otel-config_windows.yaml")

Otherwise, you can create otel-config_windows.yaml manually with the following:

 extensions:
   health_check:

 receivers:
   hostmetrics:
     collection_interval: 20s
     scrapers:
       cpu:
         metrics:
           system.cpu.utilization:
             enabled: true
       load:
       memory:
         metrics:
           system.memory.utilization:
             enabled: true
       disk:
       filesystem:
         metrics:
           system.filesystem.utilization:
             enabled: true
       network:
       paging:
         metrics:
           system.paging.utilization:
             enabled: true
 #     processes:
       process:
         mute_process_name_error: true

 processors:
   memory_limiter:
     check_interval: 1s
     limit_mib: 1000
     spike_limit_mib: 200
   batch:
   cumulativetodelta:
     include:
       metrics:
         - system.network.io
         - system.disk.operations
         - system.network.dropped
         - system.network.packets
         - process.cpu.time
       match_type: strict
   resource:
     attributes:
       - key: host.id
         from_attribute: host.name
         action: upsert
   resourcedetection:
     detectors: [env, system]

 exporters:
   otlp:
     endpoint: https://otlp.nr-data.net:4317
     headers:
       api-key: YOUR_KEY_HERE

 service:
   pipelines:
     metrics:
       receivers: [hostmetrics]
       processors: [batch, resourcedetection, resource, cumulativetodelta]
       exporters: [otlp]

Note: The processes is commented out for the Windows configuration, since this is only supported in Linux.

Edit the otel-config_windows.yaml file and replace YOUR_KEY_HERE with your New Relic Ingest - License key ending with NRAL

((Get-Content -path "C:\Program Files\OpenTelemetry\otel-config_windows.yaml" -Raw) -replace 'YOUR_KEY_HERE','XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXNRAL') | Set-Content -Path "C:\Program Files\OpenTelemetry\otel-config_windows.yaml"

Screenshot

Create a Windows service to run the OpenTelemetry Collector in the background

New-Service -Name "otel-infra" -BinaryPathName 'C:\Program Files\OpenTelemetry\otelcol-contrib.exe --config=file:"C:\Program Files\OpenTelemetry\otel-config_windows.yaml"' -DisplayName "OpenTelemetry Infrastructure Agent" -StartupType Manual -Description "OpenTelemetry Infrastructure Agent v0.57.2" -Credential "DESKTOP-IED569R\Peter"

Screenshot

Note: Running this service as a Local System account does not have access to gather storage metrics, so you’ll need to create a service account or use your current account credentials to get these metrics.
Screenshot

Start the otel-infra service by running services.msc or use the command line
```
net start "otel-infra"
```
Log into New Relic and check your Hosts to see metrics.
Stop the otel-infra service with
```
net stop "otel-infra"
```

If you need to uninstall the service and remove the files, use this command

"sc delete otel-infra" | cmd
cd ~
rm -r "C:\Program Files\OpenTelemetry"

Screenshot

Linux

Similar to the Windows setup, commands will be listed here to do the same thing, but with a Raspberry Pi 4B device. Screenshot

Make a directory somewhere to save the files and configurations
```
 sudo mkdir /opt/opentelemetry
```
Change to the newly created directory
```
 cd /opt/opentelemetry
```
Download the otelcol-contrib package for Linux. In this example, we’re running this on a Raspberry Pi 4B (8GB) with Raspbian (64-Bit), so we’re going to get the arm64 version.
```
 sudo wget https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-releases/releases/download/v0.57.2/otelcol-contrib_0.57.2_linux_arm64.tar.gz
```

Download a sample configuration file for Linux

 sudo wget https://gist.githubusercontent.com/pnvnd/1533b04609fbbe583056afdc31683667/raw/93c55d4065bc783d3f340931cca91fceacccaae8/otel-config_linux.yaml

Otherwise, create otel-config_linux.yaml manually with the following

 extensions:
   health_check:

 receivers:
   hostmetrics:
     collection_interval: 20s
     scrapers:
       cpu:
         metrics:
           system.cpu.utilization:
             enabled: true
       load:
       memory:
         metrics:
           system.memory.utilization:
             enabled: true
       disk:
       filesystem:
         metrics:
           system.filesystem.utilization:
             enabled: true
       network:
       paging:
         metrics:
           system.paging.utilization:
             enabled: true
       processes:
       process:
         mute_process_name_error: true

 processors:
   memory_limiter:
     check_interval: 1s
     limit_mib: 1000
     spike_limit_mib: 200
   batch:
   cumulativetodelta:
     include:
       metrics:
         - system.network.io
         - system.disk.operations
         - system.network.dropped
         - system.network.packets
         - process.cpu.time
       match_type: strict
   resource:
     attributes:
       - key: host.id
         from_attribute: host.name
         action: upsert
   resourcedetection:
     detectors: [env, system]

 exporters:
   otlp:
     endpoint: https://otlp.nr-data.net:4317
     headers:
       api-key: YOUR_KEY_HERE

 service:
   pipelines:
     metrics:
       receivers: [hostmetrics]
       processors: [batch, resourcedetection, resource, cumulativetodelta]
       exporters: [otlp]

Extract the files

 sudo tar -xf otelcol-contrib_0.57.2_linux_arm64.tar.gz

Check the version of your otelcol-contrib package
```
 sudo ./otelcol-contrib --version
```

Edit otel-config_linux.yaml and update with your New Relic Ingest - License key

 sudo nano otel-config_linux.yaml

Otherwise run this command

 sudo sed -i 's/YOUR_KEY_HERE/XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXNRAL/' otel-config_linux.yaml

Start your OpenTelemetry Collector in background

 sudo nohup ./otelcol-contrib --config=file:"/home/pi/otel/otel-config_linux.yaml" &

Log into New Relic and check your hosts for metrics
To check if you are running the otelcol-contrib run
```
 suo ps aux | grep otelcol-contrib
```
Stop the otelcol-contrib service from running using this command
```
 sudo pkill otelcol-contrib
```

Mac

More support is being added to Mac devices, so at the time of this writing, cpu and some disk/storage metrics are not captured by the otelcol-contrib package.

Download the darwin otelcol-contrib package for your MacOS - amd64 for Intel Macs or arm64 newer Macs. IN this example, I’ll be using https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-releases/releases/download/v0.57.2/otelcol-contrib_0.57.2_darwin_amd64.tar.gz
Once downloaded, double-click on the tar.gz package to extract the files.
Create a folder somewhere, /Users/yourname/Desktop/otel-infra should be fine.
Copy or move the otelcol-contrib package to the otel-infra folder. Then, right-click > Open.
Click Open. While nothing should happen, we do this to allow your Mac permissions to run the OpenTelemetry Collector in a terminal.

Download a configuration file for otelcol-contrib here:

https://gist.githubusercontent.com/pnvnd/1533b04609fbbe583056afdc31683667/raw/d34ca012a2035b5d6636fa6867247f5418cc3322/otel-config_mac.yaml

Otherwise, create the file manually with the following:

 extensions:
   health_check:

 receivers:
   hostmetrics:
     collection_interval: 20s
     scrapers:
 #     cpu:
 #       metrics:
 #         system.cpu.utilization:
 #           enabled: true
       load:
       memory:
         metrics:
           system.memory.utilization:
             enabled: true
 #     disk:
       filesystem:
         metrics:
           system.filesystem.utilization:
             enabled: false
       network:
       paging:
         metrics:
           system.paging.utilization:
             enabled: true
       processes:
 #     process:

 processors:
   memory_limiter:
     check_interval: 1s
     limit_mib: 1000
     spike_limit_mib: 200
   batch:
   cumulativetodelta:
     include:
       metrics:
         - system.network.io
         - system.disk.operations
         - system.network.dropped
         - system.network.packets
         - process.cpu.time
       match_type: strict
   resource:
     attributes:
       - key: host.id
         from_attribute: host.name
         action: upsert
   resourcedetection:
     detectors: [env, system]

 exporters:
   otlp:
     endpoint: https://otlp.nr-data.net:4317
     headers:
       api-key: YOUR_KEY_HERE

 service:
   pipelines:
     metrics:
       receivers: [hostmetrics]
       processors: [batch, resourcedetection, resource, cumulativetodelta]
       exporters: [otlp]

Notice that cpu and disk have been commented out, as they have not been implemented in this version. However, if you try anyway, you may get a few storage metrics. Screenshot

Edit otel-config_mac.yaml and replace YOUR_KEY_HERE with your Ingest - License key from New Relic.

Run this command to start the OpenTelemetry Collector:

./otelcol-contrib --config=file:./otel-config_mac.yaml

Screenshot

Log into New Relic and check the results.

Remarks

Overall, collecting host metrics with the OpenTelemtry Collector Contrib package is still beta, and breaking changes can happen in future releases. However, the progress so far is quite impressive. Feel free to check out the Host Metrics Reciever Readme for updates.

← Previous Post Next Post →

Infrastructure Monitoring with OpenTelemetry

Example using New Relic

Introduction

Windows

Linux

Mac

Remarks