[Page feedback]: OTLP exporter example is missing in get started

[allohamora]

URL

https://opentelemetry.io/docs/languages/js/getting-started/nodejs/

Description

I think this page should include an example with OTLP exporters and otel-lgtm. Many users expect to find such an example in the getting-started guide, and they may feel confused when it’s missing.

As an alternative, this content could be placed in a separate getting-started page, such as "Node.js - OTLP".

sdk.ts

import { NodeSDK, tracing, metrics, logs } from '@opentelemetry/sdk-node';
import { getNodeAutoInstrumentations } from '@opentelemetry/auto-instrumentations-node';
import { OTLPTraceExporter } from '@opentelemetry/exporter-trace-otlp-http';
import { OTLPMetricExporter } from '@opentelemetry/exporter-metrics-otlp-http';
import { OTLPLogExporter } from '@opentelemetry/exporter-logs-otlp-http';

const sdk = new NodeSDK({
  spanProcessors: [new tracing.SimpleSpanProcessor(new OTLPTraceExporter())],
  logRecordProcessors: [
    new logs.SimpleLogRecordProcessor(new OTLPLogExporter())
  ],
  metricReader: new metrics.PeriodicExportingMetricReader({ exporter: new OTLPMetricExporter(), exportIntervalMillis: 1000 }),
  instrumentations: [getNodeAutoInstrumentations()],
});

sdk.start();

.env

OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_PROTOCOL=http/protobuf
OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT=http://localhost:4318
OTEL_SERVICE_NAME=test-service
OTEL_SERVICE_VERSION=1.0.0

docker-compose.yml

services:
  otel-lgtm:
    image: grafana/otel-lgtm:0.11.6
    ports:
      - "3000:3000" # Grafana
      - "4317:4317" # OpenTelemetry Collector gRPC
      - "4318:4318" # OpenTelemetry Collector HTTP
      - "9090:9090" # Prometheus
      - "3100:3100" # Loki
      - "3200:3200" # Tempo

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[tiffany76]

Thanks for raising this issue, @allohamora!

@open-telemetry/javascript-approvers, PTAL.

[pichlermarc]

IMO adding OTLP exporters to "Getting Started" and adding otel-lgtm are two separate requests.

AFAIK most getting started examples don't include an OTLP exporter today, so this might affect all language docs. Maybe it could help to link the exporters page in the "Next Steps" section of the "Getting Started" page as a first step (like Ruby does)

I like otel-lgtm, but it is a larger change that would have to be aliged across all language SDK docs. It being fully controlled by Grafana might play a role in the decision to add this or not, but I'll leave this decision up to the docs maintainers

[svrnm]

IMO adding OTLP exporters to "Getting Started" and adding otel-lgtm are two separate requests.

+1

AFAIK most getting started examples don't include an OTLP exporter today, so this might affect all language docs. Maybe it could help to link the exporters page in the "Next Steps" section of the "Getting Started" page as a first step (like Ruby does)

Agreed, although I think it would be fine to have it for now, eventually we want to rework this entirely when #6820 is on place

I like otel-lgtm, but it is a larger change that would have to be aliged across all language SDK docs. It being fully controlled by Grafana might play a role in the decision to add this or not, but I'll leave this decision up to the docs maintainers

while I am a big fan of otel-lgtm, it's not the right tool here, we have an ongoing but stalled discussion on what to use for visualizations: #3816