--- title: Build a custom EDOT-like collector description: How to build a custom OpenTelemetry Collector distribution similar to EDOT. url: https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3016/reference/edot-collector/custom-collector products: - Elastic Agent - Elastic Cloud Serverless - Elastic Distribution of OpenTelemetry Collector - Elastic Observability applies_to: - Serverless Observability projects: Generally available - Elastic Stack: Generally available - Elastic Distribution of OpenTelemetry Collector: Generally available --- # Build a custom EDOT-like collector You can build and configure a [custom Collector](https://opentelemetry.io/docs/collector/custom-collector/) or extend the [OpenTelemetry Collector Contrib ](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib) distribution to collect logs and metrics and send them to Elastic Observability. For a more seamless experience, use the Elastic Distribution of the OpenTelemetry Collector. Refer to the [configuration](https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3016/reference/edot-collector/config) docs for more information on configuring the EDOT Collector. ## Build a custom collector To build a custom Collector to collect your telemetry data and send it to Elastic Observability, you need to: 1. Install the OpenTelemetry Collector builder, `ocb`. 2. Create a builder configuration file. 3. Build the Collector. Refer to the following sections to complete these steps. ### Install the OpenTelemetry Collector builder Install `ocb` using the command that aligns with your system from the [OpenTelemetry building a custom Collector documentation](https://opentelemetry.io/docs/collector/custom-collector/#step-1---install-the-builder). Make sure to install the version of OpenTelemetry Collector Builder that matches the desired components' version. ### Create a builder configuration file Create a builder configuration file,`builder-config.yml`, to define the custom Collector. This file specifies the components, such as extensions, exporters, processors, receivers, and connectors, included in your custom Collector. The following example, `builder-config.yml`, contains the components needed to send your telemetry data to Elastic Observability. For more information on these components, refer to the [components](https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3016/reference/edot-collector/components) documentation. Keep or remove components from the example configuration file to fit your needs. This OCB configuration is for EDOT Collector version 9.3.2. ```yaml dist: otelcol_edot: description: "Elastic Distribution of OpenTelemetry Collector" output_path: ./dist/otelcol_edot builds: - name: otelcol_edot goos: [linux, darwin, windows] goarch: [amd64, arm64] output_path: ./dist/otelcol_edot_{{ .OS }}_{{ .Arch }} env: - CGO_ENABLED=0 - GOOS={{ .OS }} - GOARCH={{ .Arch }} ldflags: - -s -w - -X go.opentelemetry.io/collector/otelcol.buildTimestamp={{ .BuildTimestamp }} - -X go.opentelemetry.io/collector/otelcol.version={{ .Version }} receivers: - gomod: github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/receiver/apachereceiver v0.145.0 - gomod: github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/receiver/awss3receiver v0.145.0 - gomod: github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/receiver/dockerstatsreceiver v0.145.0 - gomod: github.com/elastic/opentelemetry-collector-components/receiver/elasticapmintakereceiver v0.29.0 - gomod: github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/receiver/filelogreceiver v0.145.0 - gomod: github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/receiver/hostmetricsreceiver v0.145.0 - gomod: github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/receiver/httpcheckreceiver v0.145.0 - gomod: github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/receiver/iisreceiver v0.145.0 - gomod: github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/receiver/jaegerreceiver v0.145.0 - gomod: github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/receiver/k8sclusterreceiver v0.145.0 - gomod: github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/receiver/k8seventsreceiver v0.145.0 - gomod: github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/receiver/k8sobjectsreceiver v0.145.0 - gomod: github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/receiver/kafkareceiver v0.145.0 - gomod: github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/receiver/kubeletstatsreceiver v0.145.0 - gomod: github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/receiver/mysqlreceiver v0.145.0 - gomod: github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/receiver/nginxreceiver v0.145.0 - gomod: go.opentelemetry.io/collector/receiver/nopreceiver v0.145.0 - gomod: go.opentelemetry.io/collector/receiver/otlpreceiver v0.145.0 - gomod: github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/receiver/postgresqlreceiver v0.145.0 - gomod: go.opentelemetry.io/ebpf-profiler v0.0.202601 import: go.opentelemetry.io/ebpf-profiler/collector - gomod: github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/receiver/prometheusreceiver v0.145.0 - gomod: github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/receiver/prometheusremotewritereceiver v0.145.0 - gomod: github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/receiver/receivercreator v0.145.0 - gomod: github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/receiver/redisreceiver v0.145.0 - gomod: github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/receiver/snmpreceiver v0.145.0 - gomod: github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/receiver/sqlserverreceiver v0.145.0 - gomod: github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/receiver/statsdreceiver v0.145.0 - gomod: github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/receiver/windowseventlogreceiver v0.145.0 - gomod: github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/receiver/windowsperfcountersreceiver v0.145.0 - gomod: github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/receiver/zipkinreceiver v0.145.0 processors: - gomod: github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/processor/attributesprocessor v0.145.0 - gomod: go.opentelemetry.io/collector/processor/batchprocessor v0.145.0 - gomod: github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/processor/cumulativetodeltaprocessor v0.145.0 - gomod: github.com/elastic/opentelemetry-collector-components/processor/elasticapmprocessor v0.29.0 - gomod: github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/processor/filterprocessor v0.145.0 - gomod: github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/processor/geoipprocessor v0.145.0 - gomod: github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/processor/k8sattributesprocessor v0.145.0 - gomod: github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/processor/logdedupprocessor v0.145.0 - gomod: go.opentelemetry.io/collector/processor/memorylimiterprocessor v0.145.0 - gomod: github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/processor/resourcedetectionprocessor v0.145.0 - gomod: github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/processor/resourceprocessor v0.145.0 - gomod: github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/processor/tailsamplingprocessor v0.145.0 - gomod: github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/processor/transformprocessor v0.145.0 exporters: - gomod: go.opentelemetry.io/collector/exporter/debugexporter v0.145.0 - gomod: github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/exporter/elasticsearchexporter v0.145.0 - gomod: github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/exporter/fileexporter v0.145.0 - gomod: github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/exporter/kafkaexporter v0.145.0 - gomod: github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/exporter/loadbalancingexporter v0.145.0 - gomod: go.opentelemetry.io/collector/exporter/nopexporter v0.145.0 - gomod: go.opentelemetry.io/collector/exporter/otlpexporter v0.145.0 - gomod: go.opentelemetry.io/collector/exporter/otlphttpexporter v0.145.0 connectors: - gomod: github.com/elastic/opentelemetry-collector-components/connector/elasticapmconnector v0.29.0 - gomod: go.opentelemetry.io/collector/connector/forwardconnector v0.145.0 - gomod: github.com/elastic/opentelemetry-collector-components/connector/profilingmetricsconnector v0.29.0 - gomod: github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/connector/routingconnector v0.145.0 - gomod: github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/connector/spanmetricsconnector v0.145.0 extensions: - gomod: github.com/elastic/opentelemetry-collector-components/extension/apikeyauthextension v0.29.0 - gomod: github.com/elastic/opentelemetry-collector-components/extension/apmconfigextension v0.29.0 - gomod: github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/extension/encoding/awslogsencodingextension v0.145.0 - gomod: github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/extension/bearertokenauthextension v0.145.0 - gomod: github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/extension/storage/filestorage v0.145.0 - gomod: github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/extension/headerssetterextension v0.145.0 - gomod: github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/extension/healthcheckextension v0.145.0 - gomod: github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/extension/healthcheckv2extension v0.145.0 - gomod: github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/extension/k8sleaderelector v0.145.0 - gomod: github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/extension/observer/k8sobserver v0.145.0 - gomod: go.opentelemetry.io/collector/extension/memorylimiterextension v0.145.0 - gomod: github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/extension/opampextension v0.145.0 - gomod: github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/extension/pprofextension v0.145.0 providers: - gomod: go.opentelemetry.io/collector/confmap/provider/envprovider v1.51.0 - gomod: go.opentelemetry.io/collector/confmap/provider/fileprovider v1.51.0 - gomod: go.opentelemetry.io/collector/confmap/provider/httpprovider v1.51.0 - gomod: go.opentelemetry.io/collector/confmap/provider/httpsprovider v1.51.0 - gomod: go.opentelemetry.io/collector/confmap/provider/yamlprovider v1.51.0 ``` ### Build the Collector Build your custom Collector using the `ocb` tool and the configuration file by running the following command: `builder --config builder-config.yml`. The command generates a new Collector in the specified output path, `otelcol-dev`. The generated Collector includes the components you specified in the configuration file. For general information on building a custom Collector, refer to the [OpenTelemetry documentation](https://opentelemetry.io/docs/collector/custom-collector/#step-1---install-the-builder).