OTelBin - Visualizing and improving OpenTelemetry Collector Configurations

We are excited to announce the official release of OTelBin, a web-based tool that aims to simplify the configuration of OpenTelemetry collectors. At Dash0, we are committed to making complex tasks easier, and we think this is what OTelBin offers.

OpenTelemetry has become an important part of modern observability, allowing organizations to gather essential telemetry data for their applications and services using high-quality, open-source standards.

The OpenTelemetry Collector is a central component of the OpenTelemetry project, designed to simplify and standardize the collection, processing, and exporting of telemetry from distributed systems and applications. It acts as an agent and a proxy between instrumentation and telemetry backend systems, providing a unified way to gather, process, and export observability data.

The OpenTelemetry Collector has a modular and extensible architecture that allows users to select, configure, and extend components to suit their specific observability needs. It provides a variety of built-in components (processors, exporters, receivers, and connectors) while also supporting custom components.

The modularity and versatility of the OpenTelemetry collector, however, make its configuration complex and error-prone, especially for those new to it.

OTelBin is here to help you with this complexity. Its user-friendly interface, real-time visualization and validation capabilities, and a range of features tailored for beginners and experts will simplify how you work with OpenTelemetry collectors and reduce frustrating trial-and-error experiences.

• Visual configuration: OTelBin provides an intuitive visual representation of your OpenTelemetry collector configuration. Say goodbye to trying to make sense of endless lines of YAML – see your data flow at a glance and make changes effortlessly.
• Code editor with syntax highlighting: OTelBin includes a built-in code editor with syntax highlighting, code completion, and basic validation (YAML validity, basic collector principles like that you must declare the receivers you reference). Get the best of both worlds with code-based configuration and a visual representation of your configured pipelines.
• Real-time synchronization: The visual diagram instantly reflects changes in the code editor.
• Opt-in version-specific validation: Depending on which components are included in a collector binary and the versions of its components, there are many version-specific aspects to fully validating a configuration. We have added support for OTelBin distributions (e.g., the official contrib and core builds) and their versions. OTelBin already supports both official builds of the OpenTelemetry collector and the AWS Distro for OpenTelemetry, and we would love to add more distributions with the help of their maintainers.
• Share configurations with ease: Collaborate effortlessly with your colleagues by generating shareable URLs for your configurations.

We love open source, so we release OTelBin under the Apache 2.0 license. It's free, as in beer, for all users, including the optional version-specific validation and its backend. We look forward to interacting with the community to make it better.

And in the spirit of true open-source, OTelBin has no strings attached. OTelBin requires no information about you. The only capability that requires a login is the URL shortener (to avoid the worst kind of usage), and nobody tracks which users log in. OTelBin does not collect any user-tracking data. Your mailbox is safe from spam.

If you opt-in to the version-specific validation, your configurations are sent to a backend, the code of which is available in the OTelBin repository. None of your configurations are stored anywhere, and the only use the backend makes of it is validation.

Ready to simplify your OpenTelemetry collector configuration? OTelBin is now available at otelbin.io. It's free and open source. It radically respects your privacy. You can browse the source and help improve it through the https://github.com/dash0hq/otelbin GitHub repository. Feel free to leave a ⭐ Star if you like it :-)

We believe in the power of community, so we've set up a Slack channel on the official CNCF Slack where you can engage with fellow users, share your experiences, request features, and contribute to the project's growth.

Thank You!

We want to express our gratitude to the entire OpenTelemetry community for your support and feedback during the development of OTelBin. We can't wait to see how it helps you streamline your telemetry data collection and make the most of OpenTelemetry.

Stay tuned for more exciting updates and enhancements shortly. Together, we're making OpenTelemetry more accessible and user-friendly than ever before.