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otlp_grpc

License: This component requires an enterprise license. You can either upgrade to an Enterprise Edition license, or generate a trial license key that's valid for 30 days.

Receive OpenTelemetry traces, logs, and metrics via OTLP/gRPC protocol.

Introduced in version 4.78.0.

Exposes an OpenTelemetry Collector gRPC receiver that accepts traces, logs, and metrics via gRPC.

Telemetry data is received in OTLP protobuf format and converted to individual Redpanda OTEL v1 protobuf messages. Each signal (span, log record, or metric) becomes a separate message with embedded Resource and Scope metadata, optimized for Kafka partitioning.

  • Common

  • Advanced

input:
  label: ""
  otlp_grpc:
    encoding: json
    address: 0.0.0.0:4317
    rate_limit: ""
input:
  label: ""
  otlp_grpc:
    encoding: json
    address: 0.0.0.0:4317
    tls:
      enabled: false
      cert_file: ""
      key_file: ""
    auth_token: ""
    max_recv_msg_size: 4194304
    rate_limit: ""
    tcp:
      reuse_addr: false
      reuse_port: false
    schema_registry:
      url: "" # No default (required)
      timeout: 5s
      tls:
        enabled: false
        skip_cert_verify: false
        enable_renegotiation: false
        root_cas: ""
        root_cas_file: ""
        client_certs: []
      oauth2:
        enabled: false
        client_key: ""
        client_secret: ""
        token_url: ""
        scopes: []
        endpoint_params: {}
      oauth:
        enabled: false
        consumer_key: ""
        consumer_secret: ""
        access_token: ""
        access_token_secret: ""
      basic_auth:
        enabled: false
        username: ""
        password: ""
      jwt:
        enabled: false
        private_key_file: ""
        signing_method: ""
        claims: {}
        headers: {}
      common_subject: ""
      trace_subject: ""
      log_subject: ""
      metric_subject: ""

Protocols

This input supports OTLP/gRPC on the default port 4317 using the standard OTLP protobuf format for all signal types (traces, logs, metrics).

Output format

Each OTLP export request is unbatched into individual messages:

  • Traces: One message per span

  • Logs: One message per log record

  • Metrics: One message per metric

Messages are encoded in Redpanda OTEL v1 protobuf format.

Metadata

This input adds the following metadata fields to each message:

  • signal_type - The signal type: "trace", "log", or "metric"

You can access these metadata fields using function interpolation.

Authentication

When auth_token is configured, clients must include the token in the gRPC metadata.

Go client example

import (
    "go.opentelemetry.io/otel/exporters/otlp/otlptrace/otlptracegrpc"
)

exporter, err := otlptracegrpc.New(ctx,
    otlptracegrpc.WithEndpoint("localhost:4317"),
    otlptracegrpc.WithInsecure(), // or WithTLSCredentials() for TLS
    otlptracegrpc.WithHeaders(map[string]string{
        "authorization": "Bearer your-token-here",
    }),
)

Environment variable

export OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_HEADERS="authorization=Bearer your-token-here"

Rate limiting

An optional rate limit resource can be specified to throttle incoming requests. When the rate limit is breached, requests will receive a ResourceExhausted gRPC status code.

Fields

address

The address to listen on for gRPC connections.

Type: string

Default: 0.0.0.0:4317

auth_token

Optional bearer token for authentication. When set, requests must include 'authorization: Bearer <token>' metadata.

This field contains sensitive information that usually shouldn’t be added to a configuration directly. For more information, see Secrets.

Type: string

Default: ""

encoding

The encoding format for messages in each batch, either protobuf or json.

Requires version 4.79.0 or later.

Type: string

Default: json

Options: protobuf, json

max_recv_msg_size

Maximum size of gRPC messages to receive in bytes.

Type: int

Default: 4194304

rate_limit

The name of an optional rate limit resource to throttle incoming requests.

Type: string

Default: ""

schema_registry

Optional Schema Registry configuration. When set, the input registers the OTLP schemas for each signal type and prepends the Schema Registry wire format header to each message.

Requires version 4.79.0 or later.

Type: object

schema_registry.basic_auth

Configure basic authentication for requests from this component.

Type: object

schema_registry.basic_auth.enabled

Whether to use basic authentication in requests.

Type: bool

Default: false

schema_registry.basic_auth.password

The password to use for authentication. Used together with username for basic authentication.

This field contains sensitive information that usually shouldn’t be added to a configuration directly. For more information, see Secrets.

Type: string

Default: ""

schema_registry.basic_auth.username

The username of the account credentials to authenticate as. Used together with password for basic authentication.

Type: string

Default: ""

schema_registry.common_subject

Schema subject name for the common protobuf schema. Only used when encoding is 'protobuf'. Defaults to 'redpanda-otel-common' for protobuf encoding or 'redpanda-otel-common-json' for JSON encoding.

Type: string

Default: ""

schema_registry.jwt

Beta

Configure JSON Web Token (JWT) authentication. This feature is in beta and may change in future releases. JWTs provide secure, stateless authentication between services.

Type: object

schema_registry.jwt.claims

A map of claims to include in the JWT. Claims pass the identity of the authenticated entity to the service provider.

Type: object

Default: {}

schema_registry.jwt.enabled

Whether to use JWT authentication in requests.

Type: bool

Default: false

schema_registry.jwt.headers

Additional key-value pairs to include in the JWT header (optional). These headers provide extra metadata for JWT processing.

Type: object

Default: {}

schema_registry.jwt.private_key_file

Path to a file containing the PEM-encoded private key using PKCS#1 or PKCS#8 format. The private key must be compatible with the algorithm specified in the signing_method field.

Type: string

Default: ""

schema_registry.jwt.signing_method

The cryptographic algorithm used to sign the JWT. Supported algorithms are RS256, RS384, RS512, and EdDSA. This algorithm must be compatible with the private key specified in the private_key_file field.

Type: string

Default: ""

schema_registry.log_subject

Schema subject name for log data. Defaults to 'redpanda-otel-logs' for protobuf encoding or 'redpanda-otel-logs-json' for JSON encoding.

Type: string

Default: ""

schema_registry.metric_subject

Schema subject name for metric data. Defaults to 'redpanda-otel-metrics' for protobuf encoding or 'redpanda-otel-metrics-json' for JSON encoding.

Type: string

Default: ""

schema_registry.oauth

Configure OAuth version 1.0 authentication for secure API access.

Type: object

schema_registry.oauth.access_token

The value used to gain access to the protected resources on behalf of the user.

Type: string

Default: ""

schema_registry.oauth.access_token_secret

The secret that establishes ownership of the access_token in OAuth 1.0 authentication.

This field contains sensitive information that usually shouldn’t be added to a configuration directly. For more information, see Secrets.

Type: string

Default: ""

schema_registry.oauth.consumer_key

The value used to identify this component or client to the service provider.

Type: string

Default: ""

schema_registry.oauth.consumer_secret

The secret that establishes ownership of the consumer key in OAuth 1.0 authentication.

This field contains sensitive information that usually shouldn’t be added to a configuration directly. For more information, see Secrets.

Type: string

Default: ""

schema_registry.oauth.enabled

Whether to enable OAuth version 1.0 authentication for requests.

Type: bool

Default: false

schema_registry.oauth2

Allows you to specify open authentication via OAuth version 2 using the client credentials token flow.

Requires version 4.82.0 or later.

Type: object

schema_registry.oauth2.client_key

A value used to identify the client to the token provider.

Type: string

Default: ""

schema_registry.oauth2.client_secret

A secret used to establish ownership of the client key.

This field contains sensitive information that usually shouldn’t be added to a configuration directly. For more information, see Secrets.

Type: string

Default: ""

schema_registry.oauth2.enabled

Whether to use OAuth version 2 in requests.

Type: bool

Default: false

schema_registry.oauth2.endpoint_params

A list of optional endpoint parameters, values should be arrays of strings.

Type: object

Default: {}

# Examples:
endpoint_params:
  audience:
    - https://example.com
  resource:
    - https://api.example.com

schema_registry.oauth2.scopes[]

A list of optional requested permissions.

Type: array<string>

Default: []

schema_registry.oauth2.token_url

The URL of the token provider.

Type: string

Default: ""

schema_registry.timeout

HTTP client timeout for Schema Registry requests.

Type: string

Default: 5s

schema_registry.tls

Configure Transport Layer Security (TLS) settings to secure network connections. This includes options for standard TLS as well as mutual TLS (mTLS) authentication where both client and server authenticate each other using certificates. Key configuration options include enabled to enable TLS, client_certs for mTLS authentication, root_cas/root_cas_file for custom certificate authorities, and skip_cert_verify for development environments.

Type: object

schema_registry.tls.client_certs[]

A list of client certificates for mutual TLS (mTLS) authentication. Configure this field to enable mTLS, authenticating the client to the server with these certificates.

You must set tls.enabled: true for the client certificates to take effect.

Certificate pairing rules: For each certificate item, provide either:

  • Inline PEM data using both cert and key or

  • File paths using both cert_file and key_file.

Mixing inline and file-based values within the same item is not supported.

Type: array<object>

Default: []

# Examples:
client_certs:
  - cert: foo
    key: bar


# ---

client_certs:
  - cert_file: ./example.pem
    key_file: ./example.key

schema_registry.tls.client_certs[].cert

The plaintext certificate to use for TLS authentication. Must be paired with the corresponding private key in the key field when using inline PEM data for mTLS client certificates.

Type: string

Default: ""

schema_registry.tls.client_certs[].cert_file

The path to a file containing the certificate to use for TLS authentication. Must be paired with the corresponding private key file in the key_file field when using file-based configuration for mTLS client certificates.

Type: string

Default: ""

schema_registry.tls.client_certs[].key

Private key for mTLS client certificate as inline PEM data. Must correspond to the client certificate specified in the cert field. Use this field together with cert when providing certificate data inline rather than through files.

This field contains sensitive information that usually shouldn’t be added to a configuration directly. For more information, see Secrets.

Type: string

Default: ""

schema_registry.tls.client_certs[].key_file

Path to private key file for mTLS client certificate in PEM format. Must correspond to the client certificate specified in the cert_file field. Use this field together with cert_file when loading certificate data from files.

Type: string

Default: ""

schema_registry.tls.client_certs[].password

The password to use for the private key (specified in the key or key_file fields), if it is password-protected. The PKCS#1 and PKCS#8 formats are supported. Supports environment variable interpolation for secure password management.

The pbeWithMD5AndDES-CBC algorithm is obsolete and not supported for the PKCS#8 format. This algorithm does not authenticate the ciphertext, making it vulnerable to padding oracle attacks that can let an attacker recover the plaintext.

This field contains sensitive information that usually shouldn’t be added to a configuration directly. For more information, see Secrets.

Type: string

Default: ""

# Examples:
password: foo

# ---

password: ${KEY_PASSWORD}

schema_registry.tls.enable_renegotiation

Whether to allow the remote server to repeatedly request renegotiation. Enable this option if you’re seeing the error message local error: tls: no renegotiation.

Type: bool

Default: false

schema_registry.tls.enabled

Whether to enable TLS for secure connections. Set to true to enable TLS encryption. Required to be true for other TLS options (like client_certs, root_cas, etc.) to take effect.

Type: bool

Default: false

schema_registry.tls.root_cas

Specify a root certificate authority to use (optional). This is a string that represents a certificate chain from the parent-trusted root certificate, through possible intermediate signing certificates, to the host certificate. Use either this field for inline certificate data or root_cas_file for file-based certificate loading.

This field contains sensitive information that usually shouldn’t be added to a configuration directly. For more information, see Secrets.

Type: string

Default: ""

# Examples:
root_cas: |-
  -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
  ...
  -----END CERTIFICATE-----

schema_registry.tls.root_cas_file

Specify the path to a root certificate authority file (optional). This is a file, often with a .pem extension, which contains a certificate chain from the parent-trusted root certificate, through possible intermediate signing certificates, to the host certificate. Use either this field for file-based certificate loading or root_cas for inline certificate data.

Type: string

Default: ""

# Examples:
root_cas_file: ./root_cas.pem

schema_registry.tls.skip_cert_verify

Whether to skip server-side certificate verification. Set to true only for testing environments as this reduces security by disabling certificate validation. When using self-signed certificates or in development, this may be necessary, but should never be used in production. Consider using root_cas or root_cas_file to specify trusted certificates instead of disabling verification entirely.

Type: bool

Default: false

schema_registry.trace_subject

Schema subject name for trace data. Defaults to 'redpanda-otel-traces' for protobuf encoding or 'redpanda-otel-traces-json' for JSON encoding.

Type: string

Default: ""

schema_registry.url

Schema Registry URL for schema operations.

Type: string

# Examples:
url: http://localhost:8081

tcp

TCP listener socket configuration.

Type: object

tcp.reuse_addr

Enable SO_REUSEADDR, allowing binding to ports in TIME_WAIT state. Useful for graceful restarts and config reloads where the server needs to rebind to the same port immediately after shutdown.

Type: bool

Default: false

tcp.reuse_port

Enable SO_REUSEPORT, allowing multiple sockets to bind to the same port for load balancing across multiple processes/threads.

Type: bool

Default: false

tls

TLS configuration for gRPC.

Type: object

tls.cert_file

Path to the TLS certificate file.

Type: string

Default: ""

tls.enabled

Enable TLS connections.

Type: bool

Default: false

tls.key_file

Path to the TLS key file.

Type: string

Default: ""