Setting up Grafana Cloud for OpenTelemetry Export

This guide walks you through configuring Grafana Cloud and the Trustgrid Portal to export OpenTelemetry (OTEL) data.

  3 minute read  

This guide will walk you through configuring Grafana Cloud to receive OpenTelemetry data from the Trustgrid Observability feature.

Part 1: Configure Grafana Cloud to Receive OTEL Data

Step 1: Add a New Connection

  1. From the Grafana Cloud Navigation Menu, select Connections –> Add new connection
Grafana Cloud Connections menu

Step 2: Search for OpenTelemetry (OTLP)

  1. In the Search Connections box, search for OTLP
  2. Select OpenTelemetry (OTLP) from the results
Searching for OTLP in Add new connection

Step 3: Choose Your Instrumentation Method

  1. Under Choose your instrumentation method, select OpenTelemetry SDK
Selecting OpenTelemetry SDK as the instrumentation method

Step 4: Choose Your Language

  1. Under Choose your language, select Other
  2. Click Next
Selecting Other as the language

Step 5: Choose Your Infrastructure

  1. Under Choose your infrastructure, select Linux
  2. Click Next
Selecting Linux as the infrastructure

Step 6: Choose Your Instrumentation Method

  1. Under Choose your instrumentation method, select OpenTelemetry Collector
Selecting OpenTelemetry Collector as the instrumentation method

Step 7: Create a Grafana Cloud Access Token

  1. In the Create a Grafana Cloud access token box, enter a name for your new token
  2. Click Create token
Creating a Grafana Cloud access token

Step 8: Note Your Configuration Values

  1. Scroll down to the section labeled Configure the OpenTelemetry Collector
  2. Make note of the following values – you will need them to configure your exporter in the Trustgrid portal:
    • GRAFANA_CLOUD_OTLP_ENDPOINT
    • GRAFANA_CLOUD_INSTANCE_ID
    • GRAFANA_CLOUD_API_KEY
Configure the OpenTelemetry Collector section showing the required values

Step 9: Finish Setup (Optional)

  1. Select Next until you reach the Finish set up screen. This will begin watching for OTEL data being sent to Grafana Cloud from your exporter.
Grafana Cloud Finish set up screen checking for incoming OTEL data

Part 2: Configure the Trustgrid OTEL Exporter

Step 10: Navigate to Observability and Create an Exporter

  1. In the Trustgrid Portal, navigate to Observability
  2. Click + Create Exporter
Trustgrid Observability Exporters page

Step 11: Add Exporter Details

  1. In the Add Exporter dialog:
    • Set the Type to http
    • Enter a Name for your exporter
    • Select the Instrumentation Types you want to send to Grafana Cloud
  2. Click Save
Add Exporter dialog

Step 12: Configure the Exporter

  1. In the exporter configuration screen:
    • Set the Endpoint to the value from GRAFANA_CLOUD_OTLP_ENDPOINT noted in Step 8
    • Under Authentication, select Basic Auth
    • Set the Username to the value from GRAFANA_CLOUD_INSTANCE_ID
    • Set the Password to the value from GRAFANA_CLOUD_API_KEY
  2. Click Save
Trustgrid exporter configuration with Grafana Cloud values

Your Grafana Cloud OpenTelemetry configuration is now complete. You should begin seeing the instrumentation types you selected flowing into Grafana Cloud.

Sample Dashboard

Trustgrid provides a sample Grafana dashboard that visualizes key node metrics exported via OTEL. You can import it directly into your Grafana instance from the Grafana dashboard library:

Trustgrid Node Dashboard

To import it:

  1. In Grafana, go to Dashboards –> Import
  2. Enter the dashboard ID 25256 or paste the URL above
  3. Click Load, select your Prometheus/Mimir datasource, and click Import