OpenTelemetry Collector extension
- Latest Dynatrace
- Extension
- Published Oct 27, 2025
Monitor the performance of your OpenTelemetry Collector(s).
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Overview
Monitor your OpenTelemetry Collectors via the metrics telemetry service.
This extension collects metrics about the performance of the OpenTelemetry Collector infrastructure and component(s).
Use cases
-
Dynatrace can monitor the Collectors:
- locally, via OneAgent.
- remotely, via ActiveGate.
Requirements
To use this extension, internal telemetry in the Collector(s) must be active. For more information, see Activate internal telemetry in the Collector
By default, the OpenTelemetry Collector exposes metrics on port 8888.
Activation and setup
To enable the extension, find OpenTelemetry Collector Extension in the Dynatrace Hub.
Then, create a monitoring configuration that points the URL to the collector metrics endpoint.
Feature sets
When activating your extension using monitoring configuration, you can limit monitoring to one of the feature sets. To work properly the extension has to collect at least one metric after the activation.
In highly segmented networks, feature sets can reflect the segments of your environment. Then, when you create a monitoring configuration, you can select a feature set and a corresponding ActiveGate group that can connect to this particular segment.
All metrics that aren't categorized into any feature set are considered to be the default and are always reported.
A metric inherits the feature set of a subgroup, which in turn inherits the feature set of a group. Also, the feature set defined on the metric level overrides the feature set defined on the subgroup level, which in turn overrides the feature set defined on the group level.
| Metric name | Metric key | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Otelcol Exporter Send Failed Metric Points | otelcol_exporter_send_failed_metric_points.count | Number of metric points in failed attempts to send to destination. [alpha] |
| Otelcol Exporter Send Failed Spans | otelcol_exporter_send_failed_spans.count | Number of spans in failed attempts to send to destination. [alpha] |
| Otelcol Exporter Sent Metric Points | otelcol_exporter_sent_metric_points.count | Number of metric points successfully sent to destination. [alpha] |
| Otelcol Exporter Sent Spans | otelcol_exporter_sent_spans.count | Number of spans successfully sent to destination. [alpha] |
| Otelcol Fileconsumer Open Files | otelcol_fileconsumer_open_files | Number of open files |
| Otelcol Processor Batch Timeout Trigger Send | otelcol_processor_batch_timeout_trigger_send.count | Number of times the batch was sent due to a timeout trigger |
| Otelcol Receiver Accepted Metric Points | otelcol_receiver_accepted_metric_points.count | Number of metric points successfully pushed into the pipeline. [alpha] |
| Otelcol Receiver Accepted Spans | otelcol_receiver_accepted_spans.count | Number of spans successfully pushed into the pipeline. [alpha] |
| Otelcol Receiver Refused Metric Points | otelcol_receiver_refused_metric_points.count | Number of metric points that could not be pushed into the pipeline. [alpha] |
| Otelcol Receiver Refused Spans | otelcol_receiver_refused_spans.count | Number of spans that could not be pushed into the pipeline. [alpha] |
| Promhttp Metric Handler Errors Total | promhttp_metric_handler_errors_total.count | Total number of internal errors encountered by the promhttp metric handler. |
| Target Info | target_info | Target metadata |
| Otelcol Exporter Queue Capacity | otelcol_exporter_queue_capacity | Fixed capacity of the retry queue (in batches) |
| Otelcol Exporter Queue Size | otelcol_exporter_queue_size | Current size of the retry queue (in batches) |
| Otelcol Exporter Send Failed Log Records | otelcol_exporter_send_failed_log_records.count | Number of log records in failed attempts to send to destination. |
| Otelcol Exporter Sent Log Records | otelcol_exporter_sent_log_records.count | Number of log record successfully sent to destination. |
| Otelcol Process Cpu Seconds | otelcol_process_cpu_seconds.count | Total CPU user and system time in seconds |
| Otelcol Process Memory Rss | otelcol_process_memory_rss | Total physical memory (resident set size) |
| Otelcol Process Runtime Heap Alloc Bytes | otelcol_process_runtime_heap_alloc_bytes | Bytes of allocated heap objects (see 'go doc runtime.MemStats.HeapAlloc') |
| Otelcol Process Runtime Total Alloc Bytes | otelcol_process_runtime_total_alloc_bytes.count | Cumulative bytes allocated for heap objects (see 'go doc runtime.MemStats.TotalAlloc') |
| Otelcol Process Runtime Total Sys Memory Bytes | otelcol_process_runtime_total_sys_memory_bytes | Total bytes of memory obtained from the OS (see 'go doc runtime.MemStats.Sys') |
| Otelcol Process Uptime | otelcol_process_uptime.count | Uptime of the process |
| Otelcol Processor Batch Batch Send Size | otelcol_processor_batch_batch_send_size | Number of units in the batch |
| — | otelcol_processor_batch_batch_send_size_sum.count | — |
| — | otelcol_processor_batch_batch_send_size_count | — |
| Otelcol Processor Batch Batch Size Trigger Send | otelcol_processor_batch_batch_size_trigger_send.count | Number of times the batch was sent due to a size trigger |
| Otelcol Processor Batch Metadata Cardinality | otelcol_processor_batch_metadata_cardinality | Number of distinct metadata value combinations being processed |
