---
title: Quickstart for hosts and VMs on Elastic Cloud Hosted
description: Learn how to set up the {{agent}} and EDOT SDKs with Elastic Cloud Hosted to collect host metrics, logs, and application traces using the Managed OTLP Endpoint.
url: https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/7920/solutions/observability/get-started/opentelemetry/quickstart/ech/hosts_vms
products:
  - Elastic Agent
  - Elastic Cloud Hosted
  - Elastic Observability
applies_to:
  - Elastic Cloud Hosted: Generally available
---

# Quickstart for hosts and VMs on Elastic Cloud Hosted
Learn how to set up the Elastic Agent and EDOT SDKs on hosts and VMs with Elastic Cloud Hosted (ECH) to collect host metrics, logs, and application traces. This quickstart uses the [Elastic Cloud Managed OTLP Endpoint](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/opentelemetry/tree/main/reference/managed-inputs/managed-otlp-endpoint) — the recommended ingestion path for ECH.

## Guided setup

Use the **Add data** screen in Elastic Observability to generate install commands that are already configured with the values you need.
1. Open Elastic Observability.
2. Go to **Add data**.
3. Select what you want to monitor.
4. Follow the instructions.


## Prerequisites

- An Elastic Cloud Hosted deployment running version 9.0 or later.
- The host or VM running a supported operating system (Linux, macOS, or Windows).


## Manual installation

Follow these steps to deploy the Elastic Agent and EDOT SDKs with ECH.
<stepper>
  <step title="Download the {{agent}}">
    [Download the Elastic Agent](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/elastic-agent/tree/main/reference/edot-collector/download) for your operating system.
  </step>

  <step title="Find your endpoint and create an API key">
    **Find your endpoint**
    1. Log in to the [Elastic Cloud Console](https://cloud.elastic.co/).
    2. From the home page, find your deployment in **Hosted deployments**, and select **Manage**.
    3. In the **Application endpoints, cluster and component IDs** section, select **Managed OTLP**.
    4. Copy the public endpoint value.
    **Create an API key**
    <dropdown title="Using Kibana">
      1. Go to **Stack Management** → **API keys**.
      2. Click **Create API key**, enter a name, and enable **Control security privileges**.
      3. In the role descriptors box, enter the following:
         ```json
         {
           "otlp_writer": {
             "applications": [
               {
                 "application": "apm",
                 "resources": ["*"],
                 "privileges": ["event:write"]
               }
             ]
           }
         }
         ```
      4. Click **Create API key** and copy the encoded value.
    </dropdown>

    <dropdown title="Using the Elasticsearch API">
      Use the [Create API key](https://www.elastic.co/docs/api/doc/elasticsearch/operation/operation-security-create-api-key) API:
      ```json

      {
        "name": "otlp-writer",
        "role_descriptors": {
          "otlp_writer": {
            "applications": [
              {
                "application": "apm",
                "resources": ["*"],
                "privileges": ["event:write"]
              }
            ]
          }
        }
      }
      ```
      The `event:write` privilege for the `apm` application is the minimum required to send data through the Elastic Cloud Managed OTLP Endpoint.
    </dropdown>
  </step>

  <step title="Configure the {{agent}}">
    Replace `<ELASTIC_OTLP_ENDPOINT>` and `<ELASTIC_API_KEY>` before applying the following commands.
    <tab-set>
      <tab-item title="Linux">
        ```bash
        ELASTIC_OTLP_ENDPOINT=<ELASTIC_OTLP_ENDPOINT> && \
        ELASTIC_API_KEY=<ELASTIC_API_KEY> && \
        cp ./otel_samples/managed_otlp/logs_metrics_traces.yml ./otel.yml && \
        mkdir -p ./data/otelcol && \
        sed -i "s#\${env:STORAGE_DIR}#${PWD}/data/otelcol#g" ./otel.yml && \
        sed -i "s#\${env:ELASTIC_OTLP_ENDPOINT}#${ELASTIC_OTLP_ENDPOINT}#g" ./otel.yml && \
        sed -i "s#\${env:ELASTIC_API_KEY}#${ELASTIC_API_KEY}#g" ./otel.yml
        ```
      </tab-item>

      <tab-item title="macOS">
        ```bash
        ELASTIC_OTLP_ENDPOINT=<ELASTIC_OTLP_ENDPOINT> && \
        ELASTIC_API_KEY=<ELASTIC_API_KEY> && \
        cp ./otel_samples/managed_otlp/logs_metrics_traces.yml ./otel.yml && \
        mkdir -p ./data/otelcol && \
        sed -i '' "s#\${env:STORAGE_DIR}#${PWD}/data/otelcol#g" ./otel.yml && \
        sed -i '' "s#\${env:ELASTIC_OTLP_ENDPOINT}#${ELASTIC_OTLP_ENDPOINT}#g" ./otel.yml && \
        sed -i '' "s#\${env:ELASTIC_API_KEY}#${ELASTIC_API_KEY}#g" ./otel.yml
        ```
      </tab-item>

      <tab-item title="Windows">
        ```powershell
        Remove-Item -Path .\otel.yml -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
        Copy-Item .\otel_samples\managed_otlp\logs_metrics_traces.yml .\otel.yml
        New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path .\data\otelcol | Out-Null

        $content = Get-Content .\otel.yml
        $content = $content -replace '\${env:STORAGE_DIR}', "$PWD\data\otelcol"
        $content = $content -replace '\${env:ELASTIC_OTLP_ENDPOINT}', "<ELASTIC_OTLP_ENDPOINT>"
        $content = $content -replace '\${env:ELASTIC_API_KEY}', "<ELASTIC_API_KEY>"
        $content | Set-Content .\otel.yml
        ```
      </tab-item>
    </tab-set>
    For more details, refer to the [configuration reference](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/elastic-agent/tree/main/reference/edot-collector/config/default-config-standalone).
  </step>

  <step title="Run the {{agent}}">
    Use the following command to start the Elastic Agent.
    <tab-set>
      <tab-item title="Linux and macOS">
        ```bash
        sudo ./otelcol --config otel.yml
        ```
      </tab-item>

      <tab-item title="Windows">
        ```powershell
        .\elastic-agent.exe otel --config otel.yml
        ```
      </tab-item>
    </tab-set>

    <note>
      By default, the Collector opens ports `4317` and `4318` to receive application data from locally running OTel SDKs.
    </note>
  </step>

  <step title="(Optional) Instrument your applications">
    To collect telemetry from applications and use the Elastic Agent as a gateway, instrument your target applications following the setup instructions:
    - [Android](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/apm-agent-android/tree/main/reference/edot-android)
    - [.NET](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/elastic-otel-dotnet/tree/main/reference/edot-dotnet/setup)
    - [iOS](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/apm-agent-ios/tree/main/reference/edot-ios)
    - [Java](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/elastic-otel-java/tree/main/reference/edot-java/setup)
    - [Node.js](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/elastic-otel-node/tree/main/reference/edot-node/setup)
    - [PHP](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/elastic-otel-php/tree/main/reference/edot-php/setup)
    - [Python](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/elastic-otel-python/tree/main/reference/edot-python/setup)
    Configure your SDKs to send the data to the local Elastic Agent using OTLP/gRPC (`http://localhost:4317`) or OTLP/HTTP (`http://localhost:4318`).
  </step>

  <step title="Explore your data">
    Go to Kibana and select **Dashboards** to explore your newly collected data.
  </step>
</stepper>


## Using the `elasticsearch` exporter

If you need to write telemetry directly to Elasticsearch using the `elasticsearch` exporter — for example, for pipeline customizations not yet supported through Elastic Cloud Managed OTLP Endpoint — follow these steps.
Retrieve your Elasticsearch URL and your API key:
1. Retrieve the Elasticsearch URL for your Elastic Cloud deployment:
   1. Go to the [Elastic Cloud console](https://cloud.elastic.co/).
2. Next to your deployment, select **Manage**.
3. Under **Applications** next to **Elasticsearch**, select **Copy endpoint**.
2. Create an API Key following [these instructions](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/7920/deploy-manage/api-keys/elasticsearch-api-keys).

Replace `<ELASTICSEARCH_ENDPOINT>` and `<ELASTIC_API_KEY>` before applying the following commands.
<tab-set>
  <tab-item title="Linux">
    ```bash
    ELASTICSEARCH_ENDPOINT=<ELASTICSEARCH_ENDPOINT> && \
    ELASTIC_API_KEY=<ELASTIC_API_KEY> && \
    cp ./otel_samples/logs_metrics_traces.yml ./otel.yml && \
    mkdir -p ./data/otelcol && \
    sed -i "s#\${env:STORAGE_DIR}#${PWD}/data/otelcol#g" ./otel.yml && \
    sed -i "s#\${env:ELASTIC_ENDPOINT}#${ELASTICSEARCH_ENDPOINT}#g" ./otel.yml && \
    sed -i "s#\${env:ELASTIC_API_KEY}#${ELASTIC_API_KEY}#g" ./otel.yml
    ```
  </tab-item>

  <tab-item title="macOS">
    ```bash
    ELASTICSEARCH_ENDPOINT=<ELASTICSEARCH_ENDPOINT> && \
    ELASTIC_API_KEY=<ELASTIC_API_KEY> && \
    cp ./otel_samples/logs_metrics_traces.yml ./otel.yml && \
    mkdir -p ./data/otelcol && \
    sed -i '' "s#\${env:STORAGE_DIR}#${PWD}/data/otelcol#g" ./otel.yml && \
    sed -i '' "s#\${env:ELASTIC_ENDPOINT}#${ELASTICSEARCH_ENDPOINT}#g" ./otel.yml && \
    sed -i '' "s#\${env:ELASTIC_API_KEY}#${ELASTIC_API_KEY}#g" ./otel.yml
    ```
  </tab-item>

  <tab-item title="Windows">
    ```powershell
    Remove-Item -Path .\otel.yml -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    Copy-Item .\otel_samples\logs_metrics_traces.yml .\otel.yml
    New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path .\data\otelcol | Out-Null

    $content = Get-Content .\otel.yml
    $content = $content -replace '\${env:STORAGE_DIR}', "$PWD\data\otelcol"
    $content = $content -replace '\${env:ELASTIC_ENDPOINT}', "<ELASTICSEARCH_ENDPOINT>"
    $content = $content -replace '\${env:ELASTIC_API_KEY}', "<ELASTIC_API_KEY>"
    $content | Set-Content .\otel.yml
    ```
  </tab-item>
</tab-set>


## Troubleshooting

The following issues might occur.

### API key prefix not found

The following error is due to an improperly formatted API key:
```txt
Exporting failed. Dropping data.
{"kind": "exporter", "data_type": }
"Unauthenticated desc = ApiKey prefix not found"
```

Format your API key as `"Authorization": "ApiKey <api-key-value-here>"` or `"Authorization=ApiKey <api-key>"` depending on whether you're using a Collector or SDK.
For additional troubleshooting, refer to [Troubleshooting common issues with the Elastic Agent](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/7920/troubleshoot/ingest/opentelemetry/edot-collector) and [Troubleshooting the EDOT SDKs](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/7920/troubleshoot/ingest/opentelemetry/edot-sdks).