moritzloewenstein/otel-docker-logging-driver repository overview

A Docker Logging Driver plugin that forwards container logs to an OpenTelemetry (OTLP) Logs endpoint.

⁠Install and configure gRPC logs endpoint

The host permission is required to use host level networking.

docker plugin install --disable --grant-all-permissions moritzloewenstein/otel-docker-logging-driver
docker plugin set moritzloewenstein/otel-docker-logging-driver \
  OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_LOGS_ENDPOINT=http://localhost:4317 \
  OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_LOGS_PROTOCOL=grpc \
  OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_LOGS_INSECURE=true
docker plugin enable moritzloewenstein/otel-docker-logging-driver

⁠Install and configure http logs endpoint

The host permission is required to use host level networking.

docker plugin install --disable --grant-all-permissions moritzloewenstein/otel-docker-logging-driver
docker plugin set moritzloewenstein/otel-docker-logging-driver \
  OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_LOGS_ENDPOINT=http://localhost:4318 \
  OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_LOGS_PROTOCOL=http \
  OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_LOGS_INSECURE=true
docker plugin enable moritzloewenstein/otel-docker-logging-driver

⁠Use globally

In /etc/docker/daemon.json:

{
  "log-driver": "moritzloewenstein/otel-docker-logging-driver:latest",
  "log-opts": {
    "include-labels": "true"
  }
}

⁠Use per docker compose

logging:
  driver: moritzloewenstein/otel-docker-logging-driver:latest
  options:
    include-labels: "true"

⁠Per docker container

docker run --log-driver=moritzloewenstein/otel-docker-logging-driver:latest --log-opt include-labels=true nginx

⁠Configuration

Plugin-level options (set via docker plugin set), defined in plugin/config.json⁠:

• OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_LOGS_ENDPOINT – OTLP logs endpoint (e.g., http://localhost:4317 or http://localhost:4318).

• OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_LOGS_PROTOCOL – grpc or http/protobuf. Default is grpc for backward compatibility.

• OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_LOGS_INSECURE – set true to disable TLS when using http.

• OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_LOGS_HEADERS – comma-separated headers, k=v,k2=v2.

• OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_LOGS_COMPRESSION – compression setting for gRPC (e.g., gzip).

• TLS (file-based certificates, gRPC only):

  • OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_LOGS_CERTIFICATE – path to CA certificate PEM file enabling TLS. If unset, the generic OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_CERTIFICATE is used as a fallback. TLS creds are applied only when a CA certificate is provided (see the implementation in internal/otelx/otel.go⁠).
  • OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_LOGS_CLIENT_CERTIFICATE – optional path to client certificate PEM for mTLS.
  • OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_LOGS_CLIENT_KEY – optional path to client private key PEM for mTLS.

Per-container options (set via --log-opt or compose logging.options), implemented in internal/driver/driver.go⁠:

• include-labels – true|1|yes to include container labels as docker.label.<key> attributes.
• Note: endpoint/headers overrides per container are not yet supported; the driver logs a warning if provided.

The plugin server exposes a Unix socket named otel-logs when started by Docker Plugin runtime.