OTLP Destination

Export processed telemetry data from Edge Delta to downstream OTLP receivers using gRPC or HTTP.

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Overview

The OTLP destination node sends logs, metrics, and traces from an Edge Delta pipeline to any OTLP-compatible receiver. It supports gRPC and HTTP protocols with TLS, custom headers for authentication, and persistent queuing for reliability.

Use this destination when your downstream system accepts OTLP, such as Datadog, Grafana, Dynatrace, Sumo Logic, or another OpenTelemetry Collector.

Basic configuration

gRPC Protocol Example

nodes:
  - name: my_otlp_stream
    type: otlp_output
    endpoint: example.com
    port: 443
    protocol: grpc
    tls:
      enabled: true
      ignore_certificate_check: false
      ca_file: /path/to/ca_file.pem

HTTP Protocol Example

nodes:
  - name: my_otlp_http_stream
    type: otlp_output
    endpoint: endpoint.example.com/receiver/v1/otlp
    port: 443
    protocol: http
    encoding: proto
    tls:
      enabled: true
    headers:
      - header: Authorization
        value: Api-Token <your-token>

For the full parameter reference including TLS, headers, and persistent queue options, see OTLP Destination Node.

Integration examples

The OTLP destination node works with any OTLP-compatible receiver. The OTLP Destination Node reference includes ready-to-use configurations for:

  • Dynatrace: HTTP with JSON encoding and API token authentication
  • Sumo Logic: HTTP with protobuf encoding and collector token

Each integration requires the correct combination of protocol, encoding, TLS settings, and authentication headers. See the reference page for tested configurations.

Metric temporality

Different OTLP receivers have different requirements for metric temporality. Understanding these requirements prevents ingestion errors.

Metrics can have delta or cumulative temporality:

  • Delta: Each value represents the change since the last measurement
  • Cumulative: Each value represents a running total since process start

Different OTLP receivers have different temporality requirements:

  • Some destinations accept only delta metrics and reject cumulative
  • Some destinations accept only cumulative metrics
  • Some destinations accept both and handle conversion internally

Check your destination’s documentation for specific requirements. When possible, configure your OpenTelemetry SDK to emit delta temporality at the source:

OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_METRICS_TEMPORALITY_PREFERENCE=delta

If your source emits cumulative metrics but your destination requires delta, use the Cumulative to Delta processor in your pipeline. For details, see Metric Temporality.

See also