SUSE Observability

The SUSE Observability destination exports metrics, logs, and traces from a Bindplane pipeline to SUSE Cloud Observability (SaaS) or a self-hosted SUSE Observability instance, the observability platform built on StackState. Telemetry is sent using the OpenTelemetry Protocol (OTLP) over gRPC or HTTP.

Supported Telemetry Types

Metrics	Logs	Traces
✓	✓	✓

Prerequisites

• A SUSE Cloud Observability instance (SaaS) or a deployed self-hosted SUSE Observability instance.
• A reachable OTLP endpoint:

  • For SUSE Cloud Observability, the endpoint is derived from your instance name (for example, otlp-myinstance.app.stackstate.io:443 for gRPC, or https://otlp-http-myinstance.app.stackstate.io for HTTP).
  • For self-hosted, an OTLP ingress, or in-cluster access to suse-observability-otel-collector.<namespace>.svc.cluster.local on port 4317 (gRPC) or 4318 (HTTP).
• An API key (bearer token) for authentication. SUSE Observability uses the SUSEObservability bearer token scheme.
• Network connectivity from the Bindplane collector to the SUSE Observability endpoint.

For endpoint, port, and authentication details, see the SUSE OTLP APIs documentation.

Configuration

Telemetry and Connection

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
Choose Telemetry Type	Telemetry Selector	No	Logs, Metrics, Traces	The signals to export.
Environment	Enum: cloud, selfhosted	No	cloud	Whether data is sent to SUSE Cloud Observability (SaaS) or a self-hosted instance.
Instance Name	String	Yes	(empty)	The SUSE Cloud Observability instance name. For otlp-myinstance.app.stackstate.io, enter myinstance. Shown when Environment is cloud.
Endpoint	String	Yes	suse-observability-otel-collector.default.svc.cluster.local	The endpoint where self-hosted SUSE Observability is deployed. For in-cluster, use suse-observability-otel-collector.<namespace>.svc.cluster.local. Shown when Environment is selfhosted.
Protocol	Enum: grpc, http	No	grpc	The OTLP protocol. gRPC is preferred for better performance and larger payloads. For self-hosted, HTTP is available for in-cluster deployments.

Authentication

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
API Key	String (sensitive)	Yes	(empty)	The API key or bearer token for authentication. Sent using the SUSEObservability bearer token scheme.

Advanced — TLS

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
Enable TLS	Boolean	No	true	Use TLS for the connection. Enabled by default for cloud deployments. For self-hosted with HTTP, disable for plain HTTP.
Skip TLS Certificate Verification	Boolean	No	false	Skip verification of the server's certificate. Not recommended for production. Shown when Enable TLS is on.
TLS Certificate Authority File	String	No	(empty)	Optional CA file used to validate the server's certificate. Shown when Enable TLS is on.
Server Name Override	String	No	(empty)	Optional virtual hostname indicating the name of the server requested by the client. Shown when Enable TLS is on.
Mutual TLS	Boolean	No	false	Use client TLS authentication (mTLS). Shown when Enable TLS is on.
TLS Client Certificate File	String	Yes	(empty)	Path to the client certificate for mTLS. Required and shown when Enable TLS and Mutual TLS are on.
TLS Client Private Key	String	Yes	(empty)	Path to the client private key for mTLS. Required and shown when Enable TLS and Mutual TLS are on.

Advanced — Compression and Headers

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
Additional Headers	Map	No	(empty)	Additional headers to attach to each request.
gRPC Compression	Enum: none, gzip, snappy, zstd	No	gzip	Compression algorithm used on the OTLP gRPC endpoint. Shown when Protocol is grpc.
HTTP Compression	Enum: none, gzip, deflate, snappy, zlib, zstd	No	gzip	Compression algorithm used on the OTLP HTTP endpoint. Shown when Protocol is http.
Path Prefix	String	No	(empty)	Optional path prefix added to the HTTP endpoint. Telemetry is sent to /v1/metrics, /v1/logs, and /v1/traces by default. Shown when Protocol is http.
Timeout	Integer	Yes	30	Timeout, in seconds, for sending batches to the destination.
Drop Raw Copy	Boolean	No	true	When enabled, the raw copy of the log stored in log.record.original is dropped. Applies to logs.

Advanced — Batching

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
Enable Batching	Boolean	No	true	Batch telemetry data before sending to the destination.
Send Batch Size	Integer	Yes	8192	Number of spans, metric data points, or log records after which a batch is sent regardless of timeout. Shown when batching is on.
Send Batch Max Size	Integer	Yes	0	Upper limit on batch size. 0 means no upper limit. Shown when batching is on.
Timeout	Duration	Yes	200ms	Time after which a batch is sent regardless of size, for example 2s. Shown when batching is on.

Advanced — Retry on Failure

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
Enable Retry on Failure	Boolean	No	true	Attempt to resend telemetry that failed to transmit.
Initial interval	Integer	No	5	Time, in seconds, to wait after the first failure before retrying. Shown when retry is on.
Max interval	Integer	No	30	Upper bound, in seconds, on backoff between retries. Shown when retry is on.
Max elapsed time	Integer	No	300	Maximum time, in seconds, spent trying to send a batch before it is dropped. Shown when retry is on.

Advanced — Sending Queue

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

Examples

Export all signals to SUSE Cloud Observability over gRPC

Send metrics, logs, and traces to a SUSE Cloud Observability instance named myinstance over OTLP/gRPC with TLS enabled.

apiVersion: bindplane.observiq.com/v1
kind: Destination
metadata:
  name: suse-observability
spec:
  type: suse_observability_otlp
  parameters:
    - name: telemetry_types
      value:
        - Logs
        - Metrics
        - Traces
    - name: environment
      value: cloud
    - name: suse_observability_instance
      value: myinstance
    - name: protocol
      value: grpc
    - name: api_key
      value: ${SUSE_OBSERVABILITY_API_KEY}
    - name: enable_tls
      value: true

Configuration Tips

• Use cloud for SUSE Cloud Observability SaaS and selfhosted for an on-premises instance. For an in-cluster self-hosted target, select http, disable TLS, and point the Endpoint at the in-cluster collector service.
• gRPC is preferred for higher throughput and larger payloads. Pair it with gzip or snappy compression to reduce bandwidth. Use HTTP when gRPC is blocked by a proxy or firewall.
• For mission-critical telemetry, leave the sending queue and persistent queuing enabled so data survives collector restarts. Increase Queue Size above the 5000 default if queues fill during traffic spikes, and raise Max elapsed time so the retry window is long enough to ride out longer outages.

Troubleshooting

Authentication failures

Symptoms: 401 Unauthorized or unauthenticated errors.

Solutions:

1. Confirm the API Key is correct, not expired or revoked, and free of stray whitespace.
2. Confirm the instance name (cloud) or endpoint (self-hosted) matches your SUSE Observability instance, so the bearer token is sent to the right target.

Connection or endpoint errors

Symptoms: connection timeout or connection refused.

Solutions:

1. Verify the instance name or endpoint is reachable from the collector. For gRPC use port 4317, and for HTTP use port 4318 (self-hosted); SUSE Cloud Observability gRPC uses port 443.
2. For self-hosted, confirm OTLP ingress is configured or the in-cluster service is reachable.

TLS certificate errors

Symptoms: x509: certificate signed by unknown authority or certificate verify failed.

Solutions:

1. Provide a CA file via TLS Certificate Authority File when the server uses a private or self-signed CA, and confirm it is readable by the collector process.
2. Use Server Name Override if the certificate hostname differs from the endpoint. Skip TLS Certificate Verification should be used only for short-term testing.

Dropped telemetry under load

Symptoms: gaps in data or queue-full messages in collector logs during traffic spikes.

Solutions:

1. Enable the sending queue and persistent queuing so batches buffer instead of dropping.
2. Increase Queue Size and Number of Consumers, and raise Max elapsed time so retries persist through longer backend outages.

Standalone Destination

apiVersion: bindplane.observiq.com/v1
kind: Destination
metadata:
  name: suse-observability
spec:
  type: suse_observability_otlp
  parameters:
    - name: telemetry_types
      value:
        - Logs
        - Metrics
        - Traces
    - name: environment
      value: cloud
    - name: suse_observability_instance
      value: myinstance
    - name: protocol
      value: grpc
    - name: api_key
      value: ${SUSE_OBSERVABILITY_API_KEY}
    - name: timeout
      value: 30

Related Resources

• OTLP gRPC Exporter (otlpexporter)
• OTLP HTTP Exporter (otlphttpexporter)
• SUSE Observability OTLP APIs