Documentation forSolarWinds Observability SaaS

Build an OTel Collector configuration visually

If the required OTel Collector configuration is more complicated than what a standard integration provides, you can build it yourself using the Visual Configurator instead of hand-writing the YAML. As you add receivers, processors, exporters, connectors, and extensions, the Visual Configurator checks your configuration and suggests the parameters that are available for them.

  1. On the Configuration step of the SolarWinds OTel Collector wizard, click the Visual Configurator link.

  2. Add, edit, or remove components directly in the YAML using the Configuration Editor. The configuration diagram can be used to highlight components in the configuration editor.

    The Configuration Editor supports code completion, suggesting all available components and parameters based on the selected distribution.

  3. Resolve any issues that the Visual Configurator flags as you work:

    • Invalid or unrecognized parameters

    • Components that are defined but not used in a pipeline

    • Connector cycles that would prevent the collector from starting

  4. Click Apply to add the configuration to the wizard.

  5. If the configuration still has validation errors, a window pops up. Click Acknowledge to proceed, or click Cancel to return to the Configuration Editor and fix the errors.

The Visual Configurator supports the verified and playground distributions. See OpenTelemetry Collector for more information on the available distributions.