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Installing

Installing the Red Hat build of OpenTelemetry involves the following steps:

  1. Installing the Red Hat build of OpenTelemetry Operator.

  2. Creating a namespace for an OpenTelemetry Collector instance.

  3. Creating an OpenTelemetryCollector custom resource to deploy the OpenTelemetry Collector instance.

Installing the Red Hat build of OpenTelemetry from the web console

You can install the Red Hat build of OpenTelemetry from the OpenShift Container Platform web console.

Prerequisites

  • You are logged in to the web console as a cluster administrator with the cluster-admin role.

  • For Red Hat OpenShift Dedicated, you must be logged in using an account with the dedicated-admin role.

Procedure

  1. Install the Red Hat build of OpenTelemetry Operator:

    1. In the web console, search for Red Hat build of OpenTelemetry Operator.

      Tip

      In OpenShift Container Platform 4.19 or earlier, go to Operators → OperatorHub.

      In OpenShift Container Platform 4.20 or later, go to Ecosystem → Software Catalog.

    2. Select the Red Hat build of OpenTelemetry Operator that is provided by Red Hat → Install → Install → View Operator.

      Important

      This installs the Operator with the default presets:

      • Update channel → stable

      • Installation mode → All namespaces on the cluster

      • Installed Namespace → openshift-opentelemetry-operator

      • Update approval → Automatic

    3. In the Details tab of the installed Operator page, under ClusterServiceVersion details, verify that the installation Status is Succeeded.

  2. Create a permitted project of your choice for the OpenTelemetry Collector instance that you will create in the next step by going to Home → Projects → Create Project. Project names beginning with the openshift- prefix are not permitted.

  3. Create an OpenTelemetry Collector instance.

    1. Go to Ecosystem → Installed Operators.

    2. Select OpenTelemetry Collector → Create OpenTelemetry Collector → YAML view.

    3. In the YAML view, customize the OpenTelemetryCollector custom resource (CR):

      Example OpenTelemetryCollector CR
      apiVersion: opentelemetry.io/v1beta1
kind: OpenTelemetryCollector
metadata:
  name: otel
  namespace: <permitted_project_of_opentelemetry_collector_instance> 
spec:
  mode: <deployment_mode> 
  config:
    receivers: 
      otlp:
        protocols:
          grpc:
          http:
      jaeger:
        protocols:
          grpc: {}
          thrift_binary: {}
          thrift_compact: {}
          thrift_http: {}
      zipkin: {}
    processors: 
      batch: {}
      memory_limiter:
        check_interval: 1s
        limit_percentage: 50
        spike_limit_percentage: 30
    exporters: 
      debug: {}
    service:
      pipelines:
        traces:
          receivers: [otlp,jaeger,zipkin]
          processors: [memory_limiter,batch]
          exporters: [debug]
      1. The project that you have chosen for the OpenTelemetryCollector deployment. Project names beginning with the openshift- prefix are not permitted.
      2. The deployment mode with the following supported values: the default deployment, daemonset, statefulset, or sidecar. For details, see Deployment Modes.
      3. For details, see Receivers.
      4. For details, see Processors.
      5. For details, see Exporters.

    4. Select Create.

Verification

  1. Use the Project: dropdown list to select the project of the OpenTelemetry Collector instance.

  2. Go to Ecosystem → Installed Operators to verify that the Status of the OpenTelemetry Collector instance is Condition: Ready.

  3. Go to Workloads → Pods to verify that all the component pods of the OpenTelemetry Collector instance are running.

Installing the Red Hat build of OpenTelemetry by using the CLI

You can install the Red Hat build of OpenTelemetry from the command line.

Prerequisites

  • An active OpenShift CLI (oc) session by a cluster administrator with the cluster-admin role.

    Tip

    • Ensure that your OpenShift CLI (oc) version is up to date and matches your OpenShift Container Platform version.

    • Run oc login:

      $ oc login --username=<your_username>
Procedure

  1. Install the Red Hat build of OpenTelemetry Operator:

    1. Create a project for the Red Hat build of OpenTelemetry Operator by running the following command:

      $ oc apply -f - << EOF
apiVersion: project.openshift.io/v1
kind: Project
metadata:
  labels:
    kubernetes.io/metadata.name: openshift-opentelemetry-operator
    openshift.io/cluster-monitoring: "true"
  name: openshift-opentelemetry-operator
EOF

    2. Create an Operator group by running the following command:

      $ oc apply -f - << EOF
apiVersion: operators.coreos.com/v1
kind: OperatorGroup
metadata:
  name: openshift-opentelemetry-operator
  namespace: openshift-opentelemetry-operator
spec:
  upgradeStrategy: Default
EOF

    3. Create a subscription by running the following command:

      $ oc apply -f - << EOF
apiVersion: operators.coreos.com/v1alpha1
kind: Subscription
metadata:
  name: opentelemetry-product
  namespace: openshift-opentelemetry-operator
spec:
  channel: stable
  installPlanApproval: Automatic
  name: opentelemetry-product
  source: redhat-operators
  sourceNamespace: openshift-marketplace
EOF

    4. Check the Operator status by running the following command:

      $ oc get csv -n openshift-opentelemetry-operator

  2. Create a permitted project of your choice for the OpenTelemetry Collector instance that you will create in a subsequent step:

    • To create a permitted project without metadata, run the following command:

      $ oc new-project <permitted_project_of_opentelemetry_collector_instance>
      1. Project names beginning with the openshift- prefix are not permitted.

    • To create a permitted project with metadata, run the following command:

      $ oc apply -f - << EOF
apiVersion: project.openshift.io/v1
kind: Project
metadata:
  name: <permitted_project_of_opentelemetry_collector_instance> 
EOF
      1. Project names beginning with the openshift- prefix are not permitted.

  3. Create an OpenTelemetry Collector instance in the project that you created for it.

    Note

    You can create multiple OpenTelemetry Collector instances in separate projects on the same cluster.

    1. Customize the OpenTelemetryCollector custom resource (CR):

      Example OpenTelemetryCollector CR
      apiVersion: opentelemetry.io/v1beta1
kind: OpenTelemetryCollector
metadata:
  name: otel
  namespace: <permitted_project_of_opentelemetry_collector_instance> 
spec:
  mode: <deployment_mode> 
  config:
    receivers: 
      otlp:
        protocols:
          grpc:
          http:
      jaeger:
        protocols:
          grpc: {}
          thrift_binary: {}
          thrift_compact: {}
          thrift_http: {}
      zipkin: {}
    processors: 
      batch: {}
      memory_limiter:
        check_interval: 1s
        limit_percentage: 50
        spike_limit_percentage: 30
    exporters: 
      debug: {}
    service:
      pipelines:
        traces:
          receivers: [otlp,jaeger,zipkin]
          processors: [memory_limiter,batch]
          exporters: [debug]
      1. The project that you have chosen for the OpenTelemetryCollector deployment. Project names beginning with the openshift- prefix are not permitted.
      2. The deployment mode with the following supported values: the default deployment, daemonset, statefulset, or sidecar. For details, see Deployment Modes.
      3. For details, see Receivers.
      4. For details, see Processors.
      5. For details, see Exporters.

    2. Apply the customized CR by running the following command:

      $ oc apply -f - << EOF
<OpenTelemetryCollector_custom_resource>
EOF
Verification

  1. Verify that the status.phase of the OpenTelemetry Collector pod is Running and the conditions are type: Ready by running the following command:

    $ oc get pod -l app.kubernetes.io/managed-by=opentelemetry-operator,app.kubernetes.io/instance=<namespace>.<instance_name> -o yaml

  2. Get the OpenTelemetry Collector service by running the following command:

    $ oc get service -l app.kubernetes.io/managed-by=opentelemetry-operator,app.kubernetes.io/instance=<namespace>.<instance_name>

Using taints and tolerations

To schedule the OpenTelemetry pods on dedicated nodes, see How to deploy the different OpenTelemetry components on infra nodes using nodeSelector and tolerations in OpenShift 4

Creating the required RBAC resources automatically

Some Collector components require configuring the RBAC resources.

Procedure

  • Add the following permissions to the opentelemetry-operator-controller-manage service account so that the Red Hat build of OpenTelemetry Operator can create them automatically:

    apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
kind: ClusterRole
metadata:
  name: generate-processors-rbac
rules:
- apiGroups:
  - rbac.authorization.k8s.io
  resources:
  - clusterrolebindings
  - clusterroles
  verbs:
  - create
  - delete
  - get
  - list
  - patch
  - update
  - watch
---
apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
kind: ClusterRoleBinding
metadata:
  name: generate-processors-rbac
roleRef:
  apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
  kind: ClusterRole
  name: generate-processors-rbac
subjects:
- kind: ServiceAccount
  name: opentelemetry-operator-controller-manager
  namespace: openshift-opentelemetry-operator

Additional resources