Elasticsearch (OTLP)

The Elasticsearch (OTLP) destination exports logs, metrics, and traces from a Bindplane pipeline to Elasticsearch by sending OTLP data to an Elastic APM Server. The OTLP/HTTP exporter is used for Elastic Cloud deployments, and the OTLP/gRPC exporter is used for Self-Managed deployments. Sending through the APM Server preserves the validation and data processing the APM Server performs, so data remains viewable in the Kibana Observability apps. Sending directly to Elasticsearch with the elasticsearch exporter bypasses that processing.

Supported Telemetry Types

Platform	Metrics	Logs	Traces
Linux	✓	✓	✓
Windows	✓	✓	✓
macOS	✓	✓	✓
Kubernetes Node	✓	✓	✓
Kubernetes Cluster	✓	✓	✓
Kubernetes Gateway	✓	✓	✓
OpenShift Node	✓	✓	✓
OpenShift Cluster	✓	✓	✓
OpenShift Gateway	✓	✓	✓

Use Choose Telemetry Type to limit which signals this destination exports. By default all three are enabled.

Prerequisites

You need a reachable Elastic APM Server OTLP endpoint and credentials to authenticate against it.

• An Elastic deployment with an APM Server. Either Elastic Cloud or a Self-Managed Elastic Stack that exposes the APM Server OTLP intake.

• The APM Server endpoint. For Elastic Cloud, the APM Server URL. For Self-Managed, the hostname or IP and the OTLP port (default 8200).

• An APM Secret Token (or API key). Sent as an Authorization: Bearer <token> header. In Elastic Cloud the secret token is set on the Elastic APM integration in the agent policy.

APM Server receives traces, metrics, and logs over OTLP using OTLP/HTTP (/v1/logs, /v1/metrics, /v1/traces) and OTLP/gRPC on the same port. See Elastic's Use OpenTelemetry with Elastic APM and the OpenTelemetry intake API for endpoint and authentication details.

How to find your APM Server URL and Secret Token

Elastic Cloud

• Navigate to your Elastic deployment.

• Go to Management > Fleet > Agent Policies (search for agent policies).

• Select the Agent Policy you want to configure. If none exists, create one.

• Under the integrations tab, find the Elastic APM row, open its actions menu, and select Edit Integration.

• The Server URL is under General > Server Configuration > URL.

• The Secret Token is under Agent Authorization > Secret token, and can be set here if needed.

Self-Managed

For Kubernetes-hosted Elastic, see Elastic's Connect to the APM Server.

Configuration

Connection

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
Choose Telemetry Type	Telemetry Selector	No	Logs, Metrics, Traces	Which signals this destination exports.
Elastic Instance Deployment Type	Enum: Self-Managed, Elastic Cloud	No	Elastic Cloud	The deployment model of your Elastic instance. Selects the OTLP/HTTP exporter (Elastic Cloud) or the OTLP/gRPC exporter (Self-Managed).
APM Server URL	String	Yes	(empty)	The URL of your Elastic APM Server. Relevant when Deployment Type is Elastic Cloud.
Hostname	String	Yes	(empty)	The hostname or IP address of your Elastic APM Server. Relevant when Deployment Type is Self-Managed.
Port	Integer	No	8200	TCP port to which the exporter sends OTLP data. Relevant when Deployment Type is Self-Managed.
Secret Token	String (sensitive)	Yes	(empty)	Elastic APM Secret Token, sent as an Authorization: Bearer header.

TLS

These parameters are relevant when Deployment Type is Self-Managed. Elastic Cloud deployments always use TLS.

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
Enable TLS	Boolean	No	true	Configure advanced TLS settings.
Skip TLS Certificate Verification	Boolean	No	false	Skip TLS certificate verification. Relevant when Enable TLS is true.
TLS Certificate Authority File	String	No	(empty)	Certificate authority used to validate TLS certificates. Relevant when Enable TLS is true and Skip TLS Certificate Verification is false.
Server Name Override	String	No	(empty)	Optional virtual hostname indicating the server name requested by the client. Generally not required. Relevant when Enable TLS is true.
Mutual TLS	Boolean	No	false	Use mutual TLS authentication. Relevant when Enable TLS is true.
TLS Client Certificate File	String	No	(empty)	A TLS certificate used for client authentication. Relevant when Enable TLS and Mutual TLS are true.
TLS Client Private Key File	String	No	(empty)	A TLS private key used for client authentication. Relevant when Enable TLS and Mutual TLS are true.

Advanced

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
Compression	Enum: none, gzip, zlib	No	gzip	Compression algorithm to use when sending data to the APM Server.
Additional Headers	Map	No	(empty)	Additional headers to attach to each request.
Drop Raw Copy	Boolean	No	true	When enabled, the raw copy of the log stored in log.record.original is dropped.

Retry on Failure

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
Enable Retry on Failure	Boolean	No	true	Resend telemetry data that failed to transmit to the destination.
Initial interval	Integer	No	5	Time (in seconds) to wait after the first failure before retrying. Relevant when Enable Retry on Failure is true.
Max interval	Integer	No	30	The upper bound (in seconds) on backoff. Relevant when Enable Retry on Failure is true.
Max elapsed time	Integer	No	300	The maximum time (in seconds) spent trying to send a batch, to avoid a never-ending retry loop. Relevant when Enable Retry on Failure is true.

Sending Queue

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
Enable Sending Queue	Boolean	No	true	Buffer telemetry data temporarily before sending to help avoid data loss during a temporary network outage.
Number of Consumers	Integer	No	10	Number of consumers that dequeue batches. Relevant when Enable Sending Queue is true.
Queue Size	Integer	No	5000	Maximum number of batches kept in memory before dropping. Relevant when Enable Sending Queue is true.
Enable Persistent Queuing	Boolean	No	true	Buffer telemetry data to disk before sending to help avoid data loss during network outages or collector restarts. Relevant when Enable Sending Queue is true.
Persistent Queue Storage	Extension	Yes	file_storage_persistent_queue	The storage extension used for the persistent queue. Relevant when Enable Sending Queue and Enable Persistent Queuing are true.

Examples

Send all signals to an Elastic Cloud APM Server

This destination exports logs, metrics, and traces to an Elastic Cloud APM Server using the OTLP/HTTP exporter with gzip compression.

apiVersion: bindplane.observiq.com/v1
kind: Destination
metadata:
  name: elasticsearch-otlp
spec:
  type: elasticsearch_otlp
  parameters:
    - name: telemetry_types
      value:
        - Logs
        - Metrics
        - Traces
    - name: deployment_type
      value: Elastic Cloud
    - name: server_url
      value: https://my-deployment.apm.us-east-1.aws.cloud.es.io:443
    - name: secret_token
      value: REPLACE_WITH_SECRET_TOKEN
    - name: compression
      value: gzip

Configuration Tips

• Choose the deployment type that matches your endpoint. Elastic Cloud uses OTLP/HTTP against the APM Server URL, while Self-Managed uses OTLP/gRPC against the hostname and port (default 8200).

• Leave Drop Raw Copy enabled to avoid storing a duplicate of each log under log.record.original. Disable it only when you need the original record retained downstream.

• Keep the sending queue and persistent queue enabled for resilience. The persistent queue buffers to disk, so data survives collector restarts and short network outages.

Troubleshooting

Authentication fails

Symptoms: requests are rejected with 401/403 (Elastic Cloud) or Unauthenticated (Self-Managed); no data appears in Kibana.

Solutions:

1. Verify the Secret Token matches the APM integration's secret token in the agent policy.

2. Confirm the token is current and the APM integration is enabled on the policy.

Connection or TLS errors

Symptoms: connection refused, timeouts, or certificate verification failures.

Solutions:

1. Confirm the APM Server URL (Elastic Cloud) or hostname and port (Self-Managed) are correct and reachable from the collector.

2. For Self-Managed with a private CA, set the TLS Certificate Authority File. Only set Skip TLS Certificate Verification for testing.

Data appears throttled or dropped

Symptoms: gaps in data, exporter retry or queue-full warnings in collector logs.

Solutions:

1. Keep Retry on Failure enabled and tune the initial and max intervals.

2. Increase the Queue Size or number of consumers, and enable persistent queuing so data is not lost when the in-memory queue fills.

Standalone Destination

apiVersion: bindplane.observiq.com/v1
kind: Destination
metadata:
  name: elasticsearch-otlp
spec:
  type: elasticsearch_otlp
  parameters:
    - name: telemetry_types
      value:
        - Logs
        - Metrics
        - Traces
    - name: deployment_type
      value: Elastic Cloud
    - name: server_url
      value: https://my-deployment.apm.us-east-1.aws.cloud.es.io:443
    - name: secret_token
      value: REPLACE_WITH_SECRET_TOKEN

Related Resources

• OTLP/HTTP Exporter (used for Elastic Cloud)

• OTLP Exporter (used for Self-Managed)

• Use OpenTelemetry with Elastic APM

• OpenTelemetry intake API