Lambda Collector Configuration

The OpenTelemetry community offers the Collector in a separate Lambda layer from the instrumentation layers to give users maximum flexibility. This is different than the current AWS Distribution of OpenTelemetry (ADOT) implementation which bundles instrumentation and the Collector together.

Add the ARN of the OTel Collector Lambda layer

Once you’ve instrumented your application you should add the Collector Lambda layer to collect and submit your data to your chosen backend.

Find the most recent Collector layer release and use it’s ARN after changing the <region> tag to the region your Lambda is in.

Note: Lambda layers are a regionalized resource, meaning that they can only be used in the Region in which they are published. Make sure to use the layer in the same region as your Lambda functions. The community publishes layers in all available regions.

Configure the OTel Collector

The configuration of the OTel Collector Lambda layer follows the OpenTelemetry standard.

By default, the OTel Collector Lambda layer uses the config.yaml.

Set the Environment Variable for your Preferred Backend

In the Lambda environment variable settings create a new variable that holds your authorization token.

Update the Default Exporters

In your config.yaml file add your preferred exporter(s) if they are not already present. Configure your exporter(s) using the environment variables you set for your access tokens in the previous step.

Without an environment variable being set for your exporters the default configuration only supports emitting data using the debug exporter. Here is the default configuration:

receivers:
  otlp:
    protocols:
      grpc:
        endpoint: '0.0.0.0:4317'
      http:
        endpoint: '0.0.0.0:4318'

exporters:
  # NOTE: Prior to v0.86.0 use `logging` instead of `debug`.
  debug:
    verbosity: detailed

service:
  pipelines:
    traces:
      receivers: [otlp]
      exporters: [debug]
    metrics:
      receivers: [otlp]
      exporters: [debug]
  telemetry:
    metrics:
      address: localhost:8888

Publish your Lambda

Publish a new version of your Lambda to enable the changes you made.

Advanced OTel Collector Configuration

Please find the list of available components supported for custom configuration here. To enable debugging, you can use the configuration file to set log level to debug. See the example below.

Choose your Preferred Confmap Provider

The OTel Lambda Layers supports the following types of confmap providers: file, env, yaml, http, https, and s3. To customize the OTel collector configuration using different Confmap providers, Please refer to Amazon Distribution of OpenTelemetry Confmap providers document for more information.

Create a Custom Configuration File

Here is a sample configuration file of collector.yaml in the root directory:

#collector.yaml in the root directory
#Set an environment variable 'OPENTELEMETRY_COLLECTOR_CONFIG_FILE' to '/var/task/collector.yaml'

receivers:
  otlp:
    protocols:
      grpc:
        endpoint: 'localhost:4317'
      http:
        endpoint: 'localhost:4318'

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

service:
  pipelines:
    traces:
      receivers: [otlp]
      exporters: [awsxray]
    metrics:
      receivers: [otlp]
      exporters: [debug]
  telemetry:
    metrics:
      address: localhost:8888

Map your Custom Configuration File using Environment Variables

Once your collector configuration is set through a confmap provider, create an environment variable on your Lambda function OPENTELEMETRY_COLLECTOR_CONFIG_FILE and set the path of configuration w.r.t to the confmap provider as its value. for e.g, if you are using a file configmap provider, set its value to /var/task/<path>/<to>/<filename>. This will tell the extension where to find the collector configuration.

Custom Collector Configuration Using the CLI

You can set this via the Lambda console, or via the AWS CLI.

aws lambda update-function-configuration --function-name Function --environment Variables={OPENTELEMETRY_COLLECTOR_CONFIG_FILE=/var/task/collector.yaml}

Set Configuration Environment Variables from CloudFormation

You can configure environment variables via CloudFormation template as well:

Function:
  Type: AWS::Serverless::Function
  Properties:
    ...
    Environment:
      Variables:
        OPENTELEMETRY_COLLECTOR_CONFIG_FILE: /var/task/collector.yaml

Load Configuration from an S3 Object

Loading configuration from S3 will require that the IAM role attached to your function includes read access to the relevant bucket.

Function:
  Type: AWS::Serverless::Function
  Properties:
    ...
    Environment:
      Variables:
        OPENTELEMETRY_COLLECTOR_CONFIG_FILE: s3://<bucket_name>.s3.<region>.amazonaws.com/collector_config.yaml