open-telemetry / opentelemetry-dotnet

This repository, opentelemetry-dotnet, is the official OpenTelemetry implementation for .NET applications. OpenTelemetry is an open-source, vendor-neutral API and instrumentation project, created to standardize how developers collect and export telemetry data. The project’s goal is to simplify observability by reducing the overhead of implementing and managing multiple monitoring solutions.

What is Introduction to OpenTelemetry .NET?

opentelemetry-dotnet is a lightweight, extensible, and easy-to-use library for collecting and exporting telemetry data from .NET applications. It supports various exporters, including Jaeger, Zipkin, and OpenTelemetry Collector, allowing developers to choose the backend that best fits their needs.

Why is Introduction to OpenTelemetry .NET important?

Using opentelemetry-dotnet offers several benefits:

  1. Vendor Neutral: OpenTelemetry is an open-source, vendor-neutral project, meaning developers can choose their preferred observability solution without being locked into a specific vendor.
  2. Easy Integration: The library provides simple and easy-to-use APIs for instrumenting various parts of your application, such as tracing, metrics, and logs.
  3. Standardized Data: OpenTelemetry provides a standardized format for telemetry data, making it easier to compare and analyze data across different systems and services.
  4. Extensible: The library is extensible, allowing developers to add custom instrumentation and exporters to meet their specific requirements.

For more information about OpenTelemetry and its ecosystem, please refer to the official OpenTelemetry website.

Getting Started

To get started with opentelemetry-dotnet, follow the official getting started guide.

Key Concepts

Some key concepts in OpenTelemetry include:

  • Tracing: Tracing is the process of recording and observing the flow of requests and responses between services. OpenTelemetry supports tracing through the OpenTelemetry API and various instrumentation libraries.
  • Metrics: Metrics are numerical data points that can be used to measure the performance and health of a system. OpenTelemetry supports collecting and exporting metrics data.
  • Logs: Logs are records of events or messages generated by an application or system. OpenTelemetry supports collecting and exporting logs data.

Instrumentation

OpenTelemetry provides instrumentation for various .NET technologies, including:

  • ASP.NET Core: Instrumentation for ASP.NET Core applications, including middleware and dependency injection.
  • ASP.NET: Instrumentation for ASP.NET applications, using the OpenTelemetry.Instrumentation.WebForms and OpenTelemetry.Instrumentation.Mvc packages.
  • Entity Framework Core: Instrumentation for Entity Framework Core, allowing developers to trace database queries and collect metrics.

For more information about the available instrumentation, please refer to the official documentation.

Exporters

OpenTelemetry supports various exporters for sending collected data to different backends. Some popular exporters include:

  • Jaeger: An open-source distributed tracing system.
  • Zipkin: Another open-source distributed tracing system.
  • OpenTelemetry Collector: A flexible, extensible, and vendor-neutral collector for telemetry data.

For more information about the available exporters and how to configure them, please refer to the official documentation.

Conclusion

opentelemetry-dotnet is an essential library for developers working with .NET applications who want to simplify observability and reduce the overhead of implementing and managing multiple monitoring solutions. With its vendor-neutral API, easy integration, and standardized data format, OpenTelemetry offers a powerful and flexible solution for collecting and exporting telemetry data.

For more information, please refer to the official documentation.