Adiscon has extended rsyslog with a native OpenTelemetry (OTLP) output module, enabling direct log export into OpenTelemetry-based observability pipelines.
The new module, omotlp, is the Phase 1 implementation and focuses on OTLP/HTTP with JSON payloads. It allows rsyslog to forward logs directly to an OTLP collector without requiring sidecars or protocol translation components, which can simplify deployments in cloud, container, and Kubernetes environments.
For full technical details and configuration examples, see the corresponding announcement and module documentation on rsyslog.com.
What Phase 1 Delivers
Phase 1 targets a practical and widely deployable transport path:
- OTLP/HTTP JSON export
- Configurable batching (count, size, timeout)
- Retry and backoff behavior aligned with rsyslog action queues
- Optional gzip compression
- TLS and mutual TLS support
- Proxy support for restricted enterprise networks
- Attribute/resource mapping and trace correlation
- Operational statistics via rsyslog’s standard mechanisms
This provides a clear and maintainable baseline for OpenTelemetry log export in rsyslog.
What This Enables
Many environments generate logs via syslog, while modern observability pipelines increasingly standardize on OpenTelemetry collectors. With omotlp, rsyslog can act as a native syslog-to-OpenTelemetry forwarder, bridging classic log sources into OTLP-based pipelines with minimal moving parts.
Status and What Comes Next
This module is an important step, but it is also intentionally scoped.
Phase 1 focuses on OTLP/HTTP JSON. Additional transport options, including OTLP/gRPC and possibly HTTP/protobuf, are expected to follow in subsequent phases. We are also looking for operational feedback to guide hardening, performance tuning, and integration details that matter in larger deployments.
Availability and Early Adopters
omotlp has been merged into the rsyslog project and will become available soon through official rsyslog packages and container images.
We are actively looking for early adopters. If you plan to evaluate OpenTelemetry-based logging with rsyslog, Adiscon is happy to support the evaluation and rollout. Early feedback will directly shape future development priorities.
Learn More
This note is the high-level overview. The authoritative technical reference, including configuration examples, is on rsyslog.com.