#Debug Exporter

The Debug Exporter is a specialized exporter for troubleshooting that outputs collected telemetry data to standard output (stdout), allowing you to directly view the data content received and processed by the Collector.

#Overview

The Debug Exporter is primarily used in the following scenarios:

• Verifying whether the Collector correctly receives telemetry data
• Checking whether data format and content meet expectations
• Debugging data processing pipeline issues
• Quickly viewing data in development and testing environments

#Configuring Debug Exporter

You can configure the Debug Exporter in the OpenTelemetryCollector custom resource:

config:
  exporters:
    debug:
      verbosity: detailed
  service:
    pipelines:
      traces:
        exporters: [debug]
      metrics:
        exporters: [debug]
      logs:
        exporters: [debug]

Configuration parameters

• verbosity: Output detail level, options:
  • basic: Basic information (default)
  • normal: Standard information
  • detailed: Detailed information, including complete data content

#Viewing exported data

After configuring the Debug Exporter, exported data appears in the Collector pod logs. View them using the following command:

kubectl logs <collector-pod-name> -n <namespace> -f

Example output

2025-04-17T10:40:44.559+0200    info    Traces  {"otelcol.component.id": "debug/basic", "otelcol.component.kind": "Exporter", "otelcol.signal": "traces", "resource spans": 1, "spans": 2}

#Using Debug Exporter with other exporters

The Debug Exporter can be used simultaneously with other exporters, allowing you to send data to backend systems while viewing data content in logs:

config:
  exporters:
    debug:
      verbosity: detailed
    otlp:
      endpoint: jaeger-collector:4317
      tls:
        insecure: true
  service:
    pipelines:
      traces:
        receivers: [otlp]
        processors: [batch]
        exporters: [debug, otlp]

In this configuration, traces data is sent to both the Debug Exporter and the OTLP exporter.