Installing OTEL Collector to scrape Ubuntu Host metrics

This guide explains using the Last9 OpenTelemetry metrics endpoint to ingest metrics from Ubuntu using OpenTelemetry Collector.

Prerequisites

1. Install Otel Collector. There are multiple ways to install the Otel Collector. One possible way is to use the package. Every Collector release includes APK, DEB, and RPM packaging for Linux amd64/arm64/i386 systems.
2. Tested the following configuration with Ubuntu 20.04/22.04 (LTS) versions.

Installation Steps

1. Install OpenTelemetry Collector

Tested on Ubuntu 22.04 (LTS):

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get -y install wget systemctl
wget https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-releases/releases/download/v0.110.0/otelcol-contrib_0.110.0_linux_amd64.deb
sudo dpkg -i otelcol-contrib_0.110.0_linux_amd64.deb

For more installation options, refer to the official documentation.

Configuration

OpenTelemetry Collector Configuration

Edit the configuration file at /etc/otelcol-contrib/config.yaml:

receivers:
  hostmetrics:
    collection_interval: 30s
    scrapers:
      cpu:
        metrics:
          system.cpu.time:
            enabled: true
          system.cpu.utilization:
            enabled: true
          system.cpu.logical.count:
            enabled: true
      memory:
        metrics:
          system.memory.usage:
            enabled: true
          system.memory.utilization:
            enabled: true
      load:
        metrics:
          system.cpu.load_average.1m:
            enabled: true
          system.cpu.load_average.5m:
            enabled: true
          system.cpu.load_average.15m:
            enabled: true
      disk:
        metrics:
          system.disk.io:
            enabled: true
          system.disk.operations:
            enabled: true
      filesystem:
        metrics:
          system.filesystem.usage:
            enabled: true
          system.filesystem.utilization:
            enabled: true
      network:
        metrics:
          system.network.io:
            enabled: true
          system.network.packets:
            enabled: true
          system.network.errors:
            enabled: true
      paging:
        metrics:
          system.paging.usage:
            enabled: true
          system.paging.operations:
            enabled: true
      processes:
        metrics:
          system.processes.count:
            enabled: true
          system.processes.created:
            enabled: true
      process:
        mute_process_user_error: true
        metrics:
          process.cpu.time:
            enabled: true
          process.cpu.utilization:
            enabled: true
          process.memory.usage:
            enabled: true
          process.memory.utilization:
            enabled: true
          process.disk.io:
            enabled: true
          process.threads:
            enabled: true
          process.paging.faults:
            enabled: true

processors:
  batch:
    timeout: 5s
    send_batch_size: 10000
    send_batch_max_size: 10000
  resourcedetection/system:
    detectors: ["system"]
    system:
      hostname_sources: ["os"]
  transform/hostmetrics:
    metric_statements:
      - context: datapoint
        statements:
          - set(attributes["host.name"], resource.attributes["host.name"])
          - set(attributes["process.command"], resource.attributes["process.command"])
          - set(attributes["process.command_line"], resource.attributes["process.command_line"])
          - set(attributes["process.executable.name"], resource.attributes["process.executable.name"])
          - set(attributes["process.executable.path"], resource.attributes["process.executable.path"])
          - set(attributes["process.owner"], resource.attributes["process.owner"])
          - set(attributes["process.parent_pid"], resource.attributes["process.parent_pid"])
          - set(attributes["process.pid"], resource.attributes["process.pid"])

exporters:
  debug:
    verbosity: detailed
  otlp/last9:
    endpoint: <last9_otlp_endpoint>
    headers:
      Authorization: <last9_auth_header>


service:
  pipelines:
    metrics:
      receivers: [hostmetrics]
      processors: [resourcedetection/system, transform/hostmetrics, batch]
      exporters: [debug, otlp/last9]

Run the OpenTelemetry Collector:

otelcol-contrib --config /etc/otelcol-contrib/config.yaml

Run the otel collector using systemctl command

sudo systemctl start otelcol-contrib
sudo systemctl status otelcol-contrib
sudo systemctl restart otelcol-contrib

Checking logs of otel collector

sudo journalctl -u otelcol-contrib -f

Verifying Metrics

This will push the metrics from the host machine to Last9. To see the data in action, visit the Grafana Dashboard.

Troubleshooting

If you have any questions or issues, please contact us on Discord or via Email.