Backends & Configuration

Configure OpenTelemetry exporters, provider management, and integration with observability backends like Jaeger and Grafana.

Environment Variables Reference

Service Metadata

Variable	Description
OTEL_SERVICE_NAME	Service name (required)
OTEL_SERVICE_VERSION	Service version
OTEL_SERVICE_NAMESPACE	Service namespace (e.g., production)

Exporters

Variable	Description	Values
OTEL_TRACES_EXPORTER	Trace exporter	otlp, console, none
OTEL_METRICS_EXPORTER	Metrics exporter	otlp, console, none
OTEL_LOGS_EXPORTER	Logs exporter	otlp, console, none

OTLP Endpoints

Variable	Description
OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT	Base OTLP endpoint
OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_TRACES_ENDPOINT	Traces endpoint (overrides base)
OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_METRICS_ENDPOINT	Metrics endpoint (overrides base)
OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_LOGS_ENDPOINT	Logs endpoint (overrides base)

OTLP Settings

Variable	Description
OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_PROTOCOL	Protocol: http/protobuf or grpc
OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_HEADERS	Headers (comma-separated key=value)

Batch Span Processor

Variable	Default	Description
OTEL_BSP_SCHEDULE_DELAY	5000	Schedule delay (ms)
OTEL_BSP_MAX_QUEUE_SIZE	2048	Max queue size
OTEL_BSP_MAX_EXPORT_BATCH_SIZE	512	Max batch size
OTEL_BSP_EXPORT_TIMEOUT	30000	Export timeout (ms)

Instrumentations

Variable	Description
OTEL_NODE_DISABLED_INSTRUMENTATIONS	Comma-separated list of disabled auto-instrumentations

Provider Management

The OTel provider initializes lazily when you first call getTracer(), getMeter(), or getLogger(). For explicit control:

import { initProvider, shutdownProvider } from '@connectum/otel';

// Explicit initialization (optional)
initProvider({
  serviceName: 'my-service',
  serviceVersion: '1.0.0',
});

// Graceful shutdown (flush pending telemetry)
server.onShutdown('otel', async () => {
  await shutdownProvider();
});

Development vs Production Configuration

Development

Use console exporters for immediate visibility:

OTEL_SERVICE_NAME=greeter-service
OTEL_TRACES_EXPORTER=console
OTEL_METRICS_EXPORTER=none
OTEL_LOGS_EXPORTER=console

Production

Export to an OTLP-compatible collector (Jaeger, Grafana Tempo, Datadog):

OTEL_SERVICE_NAME=greeter-service
OTEL_SERVICE_VERSION=1.0.0
OTEL_SERVICE_NAMESPACE=production

OTEL_TRACES_EXPORTER=otlp
OTEL_METRICS_EXPORTER=otlp
OTEL_LOGS_EXPORTER=otlp

OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT=http://otel-collector:4318
OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_PROTOCOL=http/protobuf

OTEL_BSP_SCHEDULE_DELAY=5000
OTEL_BSP_MAX_QUEUE_SIZE=2048

OTEL_NODE_DISABLED_INSTRUMENTATIONS=fs,dns

Integration with Backends

Jaeger

# docker-compose.yml
services:
  jaeger:
    image: jaegertracing/all-in-one:latest
    ports:
      - "16686:16686"   # Jaeger UI
      - "4318:4318"     # OTLP HTTP

OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT=http://localhost:4318

Grafana (Tempo + Prometheus + Loki)

# Traces -> Tempo
OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_TRACES_ENDPOINT=http://tempo:4318/v1/traces

# Metrics -> Prometheus (via OTLP)
OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_METRICS_ENDPOINT=http://prometheus:4318/v1/metrics

# Logs -> Loki (via OTLP)
OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_LOGS_ENDPOINT=http://loki:4318/v1/logs

Related

• Observability Overview -- back to overview
• Tracing -- server/client interceptors
• Metrics -- custom metrics
• Logging -- structured logging
• Docker Deployment -- containerized setup
• @connectum/otel -- Package Guide
• @connectum/otel API -- Full API Reference