OpenTelemetry Lambda

OpenTelemetry Lambda Layers

The OpenTelemetry Lambda Layers provide the OpenTelemetry (OTel) code to export telemetry asynchronously from AWS Lambda functions. It does this by embedding a stripped-down version of OpenTelemetry Collector Contrib inside an AWS Lambda Extension Layer.

Some layers include the corresponding OTel language SDK for the Lambda. This allows Lambda functions to use OpenTelemetry to send traces and metrics to any configured backend.

Extension Layer Language Support

• Python + Collector Lambda Layer

• Java + Collector Lambda Layer

• NodeJS + Collector Lambda Layer

• .NET + Collector Lambda Layer

• Ruby + Collector Lambda Layer

• Collector Lambda Layer

FAQ

• What exporters/receivers/processors are included from the OpenTelemetry Collector?

  You can check out the stripped-down collector's imports in this repository for a full list of currently included components.

  Self-built binaries of the collector have experimental support for a custom set of connectors/exporters/receivers/processors. For more information, see (Experimental) Customized collector build

• Is the Lambda layer provided or do I need to build it and distribute it myself?

  This repository provides pre-built Lambda layers, their ARNs are available in the Releases. You can also build the layers manually and publish them in your AWS account. This repo has files to facilitate doing that. More information is provided in the Collector folder's README.

Design Proposal

To get a better understanding of the proposed design for the OpenTelemetry Lambda extension, you can see the Design Proposal here.

Features

The following is a list of features provided by the OpenTelemetry layers.

OpenTelemetry collector

The layer includes the OpenTelemetry Collector as a Lambda extension.

Custom context propagation carrier extraction

Context can be propagated through various mechanisms (e.g. http headers (APIGW), message attributes (SQS), ...). In some cases, it may be required to pass a custom context propagation extractor in Lambda through configuration, this feature allows this through Lambda instrumentation configuration.

X-Ray Env Var Span Link

This links a context extracted from the Lambda runtime environment to the instrumentation-generated span rather than disabling that context extraction entirely.

Semantic conventions

The Lambda language implementation follows the semantic conventions specified in the OpenTelemetry Specification.

Auto instrumentation

The Lambda layer includes support for automatically instrumentation code via the use of instrumentation libraries.

Flush TracerProvider

The Lambda instrumentation will flush the TracerProvider at the end of an invocation.

Flush MeterProvider

The Lambda instrumentation will flush the MeterProvider at the end of an invocation.

Support matrix

The table below captures the state of various features and their levels of support different runtimes.

Feature	Node	Python	Java	.NET	Go	Ruby
OpenTelemetry collector	+	+	+	+	+	+
Custom context propagation	+	-	-	-	N/A	+
X-Ray Env Var Span Link	-	-	-	-	N/A	-
Semantic Conventions^		+	+	+	N/A	+
- Trace General^1	+		+	+	N/A	+
- Trace Incoming^2	-		-	+	N/A	-
- Trace Outgoing^3	+		-	+	N/A	+
- Metrics^4	-		-	-	N/A	-
Auto instrumentation	+	+	+	-	N/A	+
Flush TracerProvider	+	+		+	+	+
Flush MeterProvider	+	+				-

Legend

• + is supported
• - not supported
• ^ subject to change depending on spec updates
• N/A not applicable to the particular language
• blank cell means the status of the feature is not known.

The following are runtimes which are no longer or not yet supported by this repository:

• Node.js 12 - not officially supported by OpenTelemetry JS

Contributing

See the Contributing Guide for details.

Here is a list of community roles with current and previous members:

• Approvers (@open-telemetry/lambda-extension-approvers):

  • Nathan Slaughter, Lightstep
  • Serkan Özal, Catchpoint

• Emeritus Approvers:

  • Lei Wang
  • Nathaniel Ruiz Nowell
  • Tristan Sloughter

• Maintainers (@open-telemetry/lambda-extension-maintainers):

  • Raphael Philipe Mendes da Silva, AWS
  • Tyler Benson, Lightstep

• Emeritus Maintainers:

  • Alex Boten
  • Anthony Mirabella

Learn more about roles in the community repository.