# Exporters
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 Ruby][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 Ruby exporters and how to set
them up.
{{__hugo_ctx/}}
## OTLP endpoint
To send trace data to an OTLP endpoint (like the [collector](/docs/collector) or
Jaeger) you'll want to use an exporter package, such as
`opentelemetry-exporter-otlp`:
bundle add opentelemetry-exporter-otlp
gem install opentelemetry-exporter-otlp
Next, configure the exporter to point at an OTLP endpoint. For example, you can
update `config/initializers/opentelemetry.rb` from the
[Getting Started](../getting-started/) by adding
`require 'opentelemetry-exporter-otlp'` to the code:
```ruby
# config/initializers/opentelemetry.rb
require 'opentelemetry/sdk'
require 'opentelemetry/instrumentation/all'
require 'opentelemetry-exporter-otlp'
OpenTelemetry::SDK.configure do |c|
c.service_name = 'dice-ruby'
c.use_all() # enables all instrumentation!
end
```
If you now run your application, it will use OTLP to export traces:
```sh
rails server -p 8080
```
By default, traces are sent to an OTLP endpoint listening on localhost:4318. You
can change the endpoint by setting the `OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT`
accordingly:
```sh
env OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT="http://localhost:4318" rails server -p 8080
```
To try out the OTLP exporter quickly and see your traces visualized at the
receiving end, you can run Jaeger in a Docker container:
```shell
docker run -d --name jaeger \
-e COLLECTOR_ZIPKIN_HOST_PORT=:9411 \
-e COLLECTOR_OTLP_ENABLED=true \
-p 6831:6831/udp \
-p 6832:6832/udp \
-p 5778:5778 \
-p 16686:16686 \
-p 4317:4317 \
-p 4318:4318 \
-p 14250:14250 \
-p 14268:14268 \
-p 14269:14269 \
-p 9411:9411 \
jaegertracing/all-in-one:latest
```
You can visualize the traces via the Jaeger trace UI by visiting
`localhost:16686` in your browser.
## Zipkin
To set up Zipkin as quickly as possible, run it in a Docker container:
```shell
docker run --rm -d -p 9411:9411 --name zipkin openzipkin/zipkin
```
Install the exporter package as a dependency for your application:
bundle add opentelemetry-exporter-zipkin
gem install opentelemetry-exporter-zipkin
Update your OpenTelemetry configuration to use the exporter and to send data to
your Zipkin backend:
```ruby
# config/initializers/opentelemetry.rb
require 'opentelemetry/sdk'
require 'opentelemetry/instrumentation/all'
require 'opentelemetry-exporter-zipkin'
OpenTelemetry::SDK.configure do |c|
c.service_name = 'dice-ruby'
c.use_all() # enables all instrumentation!
end
```
If you now run your application, set the environment variable
`OTEL_TRACES_EXPORTER` to Zipkin:
```sh
env OTEL_TRACES_EXPORTER=zipkin rails server
```
By default, traces are sent to a Zipkin endpoint listening on port
localhost:9411. You can change the endpoint by setting the
`OTEL_EXPORTER_ZIPKIN_ENDPOINT` accordingly:
```sh
env OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT="http://localhost:9411" rails server
```