# Exporters LLMS index: [llms.txt](/llms.txt) --- Send telemetry to the [OpenTelemetry Collector](/docs/collector/) to make sure it's exported correctly. Using the Collector in production environments is a best practice. To visualize your telemetry, export it to a backend such as [Jaeger](https://jaegertracing.io/), [Zipkin](https://zipkin.io/), [Prometheus](https://prometheus.io/), or a [vendor-specific](/ecosystem/vendors/) backend. ## Available exporters The registry contains a [list of exporters for Erlang/Elixir][reg]. Among exporters, [OpenTelemetry Protocol (OTLP)][OTLP] exporters are designed with the OpenTelemetry data model in mind, emitting OTel data without any loss of information. Furthermore, many tools that operate on telemetry data support OTLP (such as [Prometheus][], [Jaeger][], and most [vendors][]), providing you with a high degree of flexibility when you need it. To learn more about OTLP, see [OTLP Specification][OTLP]. [Jaeger]: /blog/2022/jaeger-native-otlp/ [OTLP]: /docs/specs/otlp/ [Prometheus]: https://prometheus.io/docs/prometheus/2.55/feature_flags/#otlp-receiver [reg]: [vendors]: /ecosystem/vendors/ This page covers the main OpenTelemetry Erlang/Elixir exporters and how to set them up. {{__hugo_ctx/}} ## Exporting to the OpenTelemetry Collector The [Collector](/docs/collector/) provides a vendor agnostic way to receive, process and export telemetry data. The package [opentelemetry_exporter](https://hex.pm/packages/opentelemetry_exporter) provides support for both exporting over both HTTP (the default) and gRPC to the collector, which can then export Spans to a self-hosted service like Zipkin or Jaeger, as well as commercial services. For a full list of available exporters, see the [registry](/ecosystem/registry/?component=exporter). ## Setting up the Collector For testing purposes, you can start with the following Collector configuration at the root of your project: ```yaml # otel-collector-config.yaml # OpenTelemetry Collector config that receives OTLP and exports to Jager receivers: otlp: protocols: grpc: endpoint: '0.0.0.0:4317' http: endpoint: '0.0.0.0:4318' exporters: debug: otlp/jaeger: endpoint: jaeger-all-in-one:4317 tls: insecure: true sending_queue: batch: service: pipelines: traces: receivers: [otlp] exporters: [debug, otlp/jaeger] ``` For a more detailed example, you can view the [config](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-erlang/blob/main/config/otel-collector-config.yaml) that `opentelemetry-erlang` uses for testing. For the purposes of this tutorial, we'll start the Collector as a docker image along side our app. For this tutorial, we'll continue along with the Dice Roll example from the [Getting Started](/docs/languages/erlang/getting-started) guide Add this docker-compose file to the root of your app: ```yaml # docker-compose.yml version: '3' services: otel: image: otel/opentelemetry-collector-contrib:0.98.0 command: ['--config=/conf/otel-collector-config.yaml'] ports: - 4317:4317 - 4318:4318 volumes: - ./otel-collector-config.yaml:/conf/otel-collector-config.yaml links: - jaeger-all-in-one jaeger-all-in-one: image: jaegertracing/all-in-one:latest ports: - '16686:16686' ``` This configuration is used in [docker-compose.yml](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-erlang/blob/main/docker-compose.yml) to start the Collector with receivers for both HTTP and gRPC that then export to Zipkin also run by [docker-compose](https://docs.docker.com/compose/). To export to the running Collector the `opentelemetry_exporter` package must be added to the project's dependencies before other `opentelemetry` dependencies:

{deps, [{opentelemetry_exporter, "~> 1.8"},
        {opentelemetry_api, "~> 1.4"},
        {opentelemetry, "~> 1.5"}]}.

def deps do
  [
    {:opentelemetry_exporter, "~> 1.8"},
    {:opentelemetry_api, "~> 1.4"},
    {:opentelemetry, "~> 1.5"}
  ]
end

It should then be added to the configuration of the Release before the SDK Application to ensure the exporter's dependencies are started before the SDK attempts to initialize and use the exporter. Example of Release configuration in `rebar.config` and for [mix's Release task](https://hexdocs.pm/mix/Mix.Tasks.Release.html):

%% rebar.config
{relx, [{release, {my_instrumented_release, "0.1.0"},
         [opentelemetry_exporter,
	      {opentelemetry, temporary},
          my_instrumented_app]},

       ...]}.

# mix.exs
def project do
  [
    releases: [
      my_instrumented_release: [
        applications: [opentelemetry_exporter: :permanent, opentelemetry: :temporary]
      ],

      ...
    ]
  ]
end

Finally, the runtime configuration of the `opentelemetry` and `opentelemetry_exporter` Applications are set to export to the Collector. The configurations below show the defaults that are used if none are set, which are the HTTP protocol with endpoint of `localhost` on port `4318`. Note: - If using `grpc` for the `otlp_protocol` the endpoint should be changed to `http://localhost:4317`. - If you're using the docker compose file from above, you should replace `localhost` with `otel`.

%% config/sys.config.src
[
 {opentelemetry,
  [{span_processor, batch},
   {traces_exporter, otlp}]},

 {opentelemetry_exporter,
  [{otlp_protocol, http_protobuf},
   {otlp_endpoint, "http://localhost:4318"}]}]}
].

# config/config.exs
config :opentelemetry,
  resource: %{service: %{name: "roll_dice_app"}},
  span_processor: :batch,
  traces_exporter: :otlp

config :opentelemetry_exporter,
  otlp_protocol: :http_protobuf,
  otlp_endpoint: "http://localhost:4318"
  # otlp_endpoint: "http://otel:4318" if using docker compose file

You can see your traces by running `docker compose up` in one terminal, then `mix phx.server` in another. After sending some requests through the app, go to `http://localhost:16686` and select `roll_dice_app` from the Service drop down, then click "Find Traces". ## Gotchas Some environments do not allow containers to execute as root users. If you work in an environment like this, you can add `user: "1001"` as a top-level key/value to the `otel` service in the `docker-compose.yml` file used in this tutorial.