OpenTelemetry Operator makes it easier to set up the OpenTelemetry collector and auto-instrument workloads deployed on Kubernetes.

A Kubernetes operator is a method of packaging, deploying, and managing a Kubernetes application. OpenTelemetry Operator helps a lot in managing OpenTelemetry collectors and enables auto-instrumentation.

Prerequisite

Before installing the OpenTelemetry Operator, ensure you have:

• A running Kubernetes cluster (v1.19 or later recommended)
• Administrative kubectl access to your cluster
• SigNoz installed and running (Installation Guide)
• cert-manager installed in your cluster

Installing the OpenTelemetry Operator

Choose your preferred installation method to deploy the operator:

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

kubectl get deployment opentelemetry-operator-controller-manager -n opentelemetry-operator-system

Once the opentelemetry-operator deployment is ready, you can proceed with creating OpenTelemetry Collector instances and configuring automatic instrumentation.

OpenTelemetry Collector

The OpenTelemetry Operator provides a Custom Resource Definition (CRD) for OpenTelemetry Collectors with flexible deployment options through the .Spec.Mode property. You can deploy collectors as:

The .Spec.Config property contains the OpenTelemetry Collector configuration YAML. Explore additional deployment mode examples in the official repository.

OpenTelemetry Operator provides examples for each deployment mode.

Next Step

• Configure Otel Operator OtelCollectors
• Learn more about Otel-Operator