# OpenTelemetry Operator for Kubernetes

> An implementation of a Kubernetes Operator, that manages collectors and auto-instrumentation of the workload using OpenTelemetry instrumentation libraries.

---

## Introduction

The
[OpenTelemetry Operator](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-operator)
is an implementation of a
[Kubernetes Operator](https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/extend-kubernetes/operator/).

The operator manages:

- [OpenTelemetry Collector](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector)
- [auto-instrumentation of the workloads using OpenTelemetry instrumentation libraries](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-operator#opentelemetry-auto-instrumentation-injection)

## Getting started

To install the operator in an existing cluster, make sure you have
[`cert-manager`](https://cert-manager.io/docs/installation/) installed and run:

```bash
kubectl apply -f https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-operator/releases/latest/download/opentelemetry-operator.yaml
```

Once the `opentelemetry-operator` deployment is ready, create an OpenTelemetry
Collector (otelcol) instance, like:

```console
$ kubectl apply -f - <<EOF
apiVersion: opentelemetry.io/v1beta1
kind: OpenTelemetryCollector
metadata:
  name: simplest
spec:
  config:
    receivers:
      otlp:
        protocols:
          grpc:
            endpoint: 0.0.0.0:4317
          http:
            endpoint: 0.0.0.0:4318
    processors:
      memory_limiter:
        check_interval: 1s
        limit_percentage: 75
        spike_limit_percentage: 15

    exporters:
      # NOTE: Prior to v0.86.0 use `logging` instead of `debug`.
      debug: {}

    service:
      pipelines:
        traces:
          receivers: [otlp]
          processors: [memory_limiter]
          exporters: [debug]
EOF
```

> [!NOTE]
>
> By default, `opentelemetry-operator` uses the
> [`opentelemetry-collector` image](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-releases/pkgs/container/opentelemetry-collector-releases%2Fopentelemetry-collector).
> When the operator is installed using
> [Helm charts](/docs/platforms/kubernetes/helm/), the
> [`opentelemetry-collector-k8s` image](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-releases/pkgs/container/opentelemetry-collector-releases%2Fopentelemetry-collector-k8s)
> is used. If you need a component not found in these releases, you may need to
> [build your own collector](/docs/collector/extend/ocb/).

For more configuration options and for setting up the injection of
auto-instrumentation of the workloads using OpenTelemetry instrumentation
libraries, see
[OpenTelemetry Operator for Kubernetes](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-operator/blob/main/README.md).

---

Section pages:

- [Injecting Auto-instrumentation](/docs/platforms/kubernetes/operator/automatic/): An implementation of auto-instrumentation using the OpenTelemetry Operator.
- [Horizontal Pod Autoscaling](/docs/platforms/kubernetes/operator/horizontal-pod-autoscaling/): Configure Horizontal Pod Autoscaling with your OpenTelemetry Collector
- [Target Allocator](/docs/platforms/kubernetes/operator/target-allocator/): A tool to distribute targets of the PrometheusReceiver on all deployed Collector instances
- [Troubleshooting the OpenTelemetry Operator for Kubernetes](/docs/platforms/kubernetes/operator/troubleshooting/): Contains a collection of tips for troubleshooting various aspects of the OpenTelemetry Kubernetes Operator. For example, what to do when the target allocator is failing to discover scrape targets.