OpenTelemetry Collector On Loopback, A Metric In And Out

The OpenTelemetry Collector (contrib) from the upstream release (sha256-verified) as a hardened system service on loopback: OTLP in, a Prometheus endpoint out, your whole configuration checked by the collector before it lands. The live test pushes a gauge over OTLP and reads it back from the Prometheus exporter with its labels and value. Original role, live-tested on Rocky Linux 10.

ansibleObservability

Verification

Live-tested

Really deployed to a container sandbox, proven idempotent (a second run changes nothing), verified against the role’s assertions, then torn down.

Conformance

  • Static validation (yamllint · ansible-lint)

Provenance

  • SHA-256 checksum
  • Signature (pending)

Functional

  • Live-tested - applied, verified, destroyed

Last verified 2026-09-20 · podman 4.9.3 · ansible 2.21.4 · how we verify

Cite it in your README

badge · attribution

Paste this beside the module in the repository that uses it. The badge is rendered from this artifact's verification record, so it reads live-tested because the record says so, and the link lands on this page.

README.md, GitLab, Gitea
[![IaC Bazaar: live-tested](https://www.iac-bazaar.com/api/artifacts/ansible-otel-collector/badge)](https://www.iac-bazaar.com/catalog/ansible-otel-collector?utm_source=syndication&utm_medium=readme&utm_campaign=artifact)

Ansible role 1.0.0, live-tested on IaC Bazaar: [OpenTelemetry Collector On Loopback, A Metric In And Out](https://www.iac-bazaar.com/catalog/ansible-otel-collector?utm_source=syndication&utm_medium=readme&utm_campaign=artifact)

```yaml
# OpenTelemetry Collector On Loopback, A Metric In And Out: https://www.iac-bazaar.com/catalog/ansible-otel-collector (download from your IaC Bazaar account)
```

Preview:IaC Bazaar: live-tested

Documentation

otel-collector

The OpenTelemetry Collector, contrib distribution, from the upstream release (sha256-verified), as a hardened system service on loopback: OTLP in, a Prometheus endpoint out, the configuration checked by the collector itself before it lands. Original role for EL 10, live-tested with podman on Rocky Linux 10.

No package, so the checksum is the whole story. EL 10 carries no otelcol; OpenTelemetry ships a release with a checksum file beside it. The role downloads both and has Ansible's get_url refuse the asset unless its SHA-256 is the one in the vendor's file, then installs the binaries as root's in /usr/local/bin, pinned by otelcol_version.

A service account, a hardened unit, a loopback listener. otelcol is a system user with no shell that owns the data directory and nothing else; the unit runs with NoNewPrivileges, PrivateTmp, ProtectHome and ProtectSystem=strict. The listener is 127.0.0.1:4318 by default, for a proxy that authenticates or a client on the same host; the live test reads the listening sockets and expects loopback only.

Checked by the release that reads it. otelcol-contrib validate checks config.yaml before it lands: an unknown receiver or a pipeline naming a component that does not exist is refused. The default pipeline is small on purpose (OTLP receivers on loopback, a Prometheus exporter for metrics, the debug exporter for traces and logs, the health-check extension); a real deployment replaces it whole with otelcol_config, which is checked the same way.

Proven by a metric. The live test pushes one gauge sample over OTLP/HTTP and reads it back from the Prometheus exporter with its resource label (job) and point label (lane) and its value, and sees a metric nobody wrote absent. The collector's own metrics are on 127.0.0.1:8888; every listener the live test finds is loopback. The contrib build unpacks to 400 MB; the OTLP-only build is a third of it but has no Prometheus exporter.

License

Commercial - IaC Bazaar EULA. (c) IaC Bazaar.

Usage code & full reference need an account

The complete copy-paste usage, the full input/output reference, and operational notes are free with an account - shown here and bundled in the download. Sign in and this section fills in.

  • Variables
  • Test

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