Grafana Loki

Grafana Loki is a horizontally scalable, high-volume log aggregation system. The Grafana Loki destination exports logs from a Bindplane pipeline to a Loki instance using the OpenTelemetry Protocol (OTLP) over HTTP.

This destination supports logs only.

Supported Telemetry Types

Metrics	Logs	Traces
	✓

Prerequisites

You need a reachable Loki OTLP endpoint and any credentials it requires.

• A running Grafana Loki instance reachable from your Bindplane collector, with OTLP ingestion enabled. The OTLP ingest path is exposed at /otlp (for example http://<loki-host>:3100/otlp). Loki completes the rest of the path automatically.
• Network connectivity from the collector to the Loki endpoint, including any firewall rules for the listening port (Loki defaults to 3100).
• Authentication credentials, if the endpoint requires them. This destination supports HTTP basic authentication.
• TLS certificates, if the endpoint is served over HTTPS or requires mutual TLS.

For setup details see the Grafana Loki OTLP ingestion guide.

Configuration

Endpoint

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
Endpoint	String	Yes	(empty)	Loki OTLP ingestion address, for example http://localhost:3100/otlp.

Authentication

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
Use Basic Auth	Boolean	No	false	Enable HTTP basic authentication for the Loki endpoint.
Username	String	Yes	(empty)	Username for basic authentication. Shown when Use Basic Auth is enabled.
Password	String	Yes	(empty)	Password for basic authentication. Sensitive. Shown when Use Basic Auth is enabled.

Advanced

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
Timeout	Integer	Yes	30	Timeout, in seconds, for sending batches to the destination.
Drop Raw Copy	Boolean	No	true	When enabled, drops the raw copy of the log stored in log.record.original.

TLS

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
Enable TLS	Boolean	No	false	Configure advanced TLS settings.
Skip TLS Certificate Verification	Boolean	No	false	Skip TLS certificate verification. Shown when Enable TLS is enabled.
TLS Certificate Authority File	String	No	(empty)	Certificate authority used to validate TLS certificates. Shown when Enable TLS is enabled and verification is on.
Mutual TLS	Boolean	No	false	Use mutual TLS authentication. Shown when Enable TLS is enabled.
TLS Client Certificate File	String	No	(empty)	TLS certificate used for client authentication. Shown when Mutual TLS is enabled.
TLS Client Private Key File	String	No	(empty)	TLS private key used for client authentication. Shown when Mutual TLS is enabled.

Retry on Failure

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
Enable Retry on Failure	Boolean	No	true	Attempt to resend telemetry data that has failed to be transmitted to the destination.
Initial Interval	Integer	No	5	Time, in seconds, to wait after the first failure before retrying. Shown when retry is enabled.
Max Interval	Integer	No	30	The upper bound, in seconds, on backoff. Shown when retry is enabled.
Max Elapsed Time	Integer	No	300	Maximum time, in seconds, spent trying to send a batch before giving up. Shown when retry is enabled.

Sending Queue

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
Enable Sending Queue	Boolean	No	true	Buffer telemetry data temporarily before sending so data is not lost during a temporary network outage.
Number of Consumers	Integer	No	10	Number of consumers that dequeue batches. Shown when the sending queue is enabled.
Queue Size	Integer	No	5000	Maximum number of batches kept in memory before dropping. Shown when the sending queue is enabled.
Enable Persistent Queuing	Boolean	No	true	Buffer telemetry data to disk so data survives network outages or collector restarts. Shown when the sending queue is enabled.
Persistent Queue Storage	Extension	Yes	file_storage_persistent_queue	Storage to use for the persistent queue. Shown when the sending queue and persistent queuing are enabled.

Examples

Send logs to a local Loki instance

This destination sends logs to a Loki instance listening on the local host, with retry and an in-memory sending queue enabled.

apiVersion: bindplane.observiq.com/v1
kind: Destination
metadata:
  name: loki
spec:
  type: loki_otlp
  parameters:
    - name: endpoint
      value: http://localhost:3100/otlp
    - name: drop_raw_copy
      value: true
    - name: retry_on_failure_enabled
      value: true
    - name: sending_queue_enabled
      value: true
    - name: persistent_queue_enabled
      value: false

Send logs over HTTPS with basic authentication and persistent queuing

This destination sends logs to a remote Loki endpoint over HTTPS, authenticates with basic auth, and buffers to disk so data survives collector restarts.

apiVersion: bindplane.observiq.com/v1
kind: Destination
metadata:
  name: loki
spec:
  type: loki_otlp
  parameters:
    - name: endpoint
      value: https://loki.example.com/otlp
    - name: use_basic_auth
      value: true
    - name: basic_auth_username
      value: loki-user
    - name: basic_auth_password
      value: REPLACE_WITH_PASSWORD
    - name: configure_tls
      value: true
    - name: insecure_skip_verify
      value: false
    - name: ca_file
      value: /etc/ssl/certs/ca.crt
    - name: sending_queue_enabled
      value: true
    - name: persistent_queue_enabled
      value: true
    - name: persistent_queue_storage_extension
      value:
        type: file_storage_persistent_queue
        parameters:
          - name: persistent_queue_directory
            value: ${OIQ_OTEL_COLLECTOR_HOME}/storage
          - name: timeout
            value: 1
          - name: persistent_queue_fsync
            value: true

Configuration Tips

• The endpoint must point at Loki's OTLP path. Use the form http://<host>:<port>/otlp (or https://...); Loki completes the remaining route. The default Loki port is 3100.
• Keep Drop Raw Copy enabled to remove the log.record.original attribute and reduce storage. Disable it only when you need the original raw record for debugging.
• For mission-critical log delivery, enable the sending queue with persistent queuing so buffered batches survive collector restarts and network outages. Increase Queue Size and Number of Consumers for high-volume pipelines.

Troubleshooting

Logs are not delivered and the collector logs connection errors

Symptom: Connection refused or timeout errors when exporting to Loki.

Solution: Confirm Loki is running and reachable from the collector. Verify the endpoint includes the /otlp path and the correct port (Loki defaults to 3100), and check that firewall rules allow traffic to that port.

The collector logs 401 Unauthorized

Symptom: Authentication failures when sending to Loki.

Solution: Confirm Use Basic Auth is enabled and the username and password are correct. Ensure the credentials are sent over HTTPS, and verify that the Loki endpoint requires and accepts basic authentication.

Logs are dropped during outages or after restarts

Symptom: Log records are lost when Loki is briefly unreachable or the collector restarts.

Solution: Enable Enable Retry on Failure to handle transient errors, and enable the sending queue with Enable Persistent Queuing so batches are buffered to disk. Confirm the persistent queue storage directory exists with adequate disk space and write permissions.

Standalone Destination

apiVersion: bindplane.observiq.com/v1
kind: Destination
metadata:
  name: loki
spec:
  type: loki_otlp
  parameters:
    - name: endpoint
      value: http://localhost:3100/otlp

Related Resources

• OpenTelemetry Collector otlphttp exporter
• Grafana Loki OTLP ingestion guide