Use this guide when an instrumented application runs in a Docker container and exports OTLP to a Collector or trace proxy reachable from that container.

Configure the container

Pass non-secret OpenTelemetry settings when starting the container, or define them in the deployment configuration:

OTEL_SERVICE_NAME=orders-api
OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT=<redacted URL><collector-or-proxy-host>:<port>
OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_PROTOCOL=http/protobuf

Replace the endpoint and protocol with the values from the tenant’s Trace Setup instructions. A container must use an address reachable from its own network; a host-only address or service name may not resolve from inside the container.

For a local test, pass the values as environment variables. For production, keep credentials outside the image and source repository. Use an orchestrator secret, mounted secret file, or another protected mechanism supported by the SDK or Collector.

Deploy and verify

Recreate or restart the container after changing configuration. Check container logs for exporter, DNS, TLS, or authentication errors, then follow Verify Trace Ingestion.