configuring-opentelemetry-dotnet

dotnet add package OpenTelemetry.Instrumentation.SqlClient           # SQL Server queries
dotnet add package OpenTelemetry.Instrumentation.EntityFrameworkCore  # EF Core
dotnet add package OpenTelemetry.Instrumentation.GrpcNetClient       # gRPC calls
dotnet add package OpenTelemetry.Instrumentation.Runtime             # GC, thread pool metrics

using OpenTelemetry.Resources;
using OpenTelemetry.Trace;
using OpenTelemetry.Metrics;
using OpenTelemetry.Logs;
 
var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);
 
builder.Services.AddOpenTelemetry()
    .ConfigureResource(resource => resource
        .AddService(serviceName: builder.Environment.ApplicationName))
    .WithTracing(tracing => tracing
        .AddAspNetCoreInstrumentation(options =>
        {
            // Filter out health check endpoints from traces
            options.Filter = httpContext =>
                !httpContext.Request.Path.StartsWithSegments("/healthz");
        })
        .AddHttpClientInstrumentation(options =>
        {
            options.RecordException = true;
        })
        // Optional: add SQL instrumentation if using SqlClient directly
        // .AddSqlClientInstrumentation(options =>
        // {
        //     options.SetDbStatementForText = true;
        //     options.RecordException = true;
        // })
        // Custom activity sources (must match ActivitySource names in your code)
        .AddSource("MyApp.Orders")
        .AddSource("MyApp.Payments")
        .AddSource("MyApp.Messaging"))
    .WithMetrics(metrics => metrics
        .AddAspNetCoreInstrumentation()
        .AddHttpClientInstrumentation()
        // Optional: .AddRuntimeInstrumentation() for GC and thread pool metrics
        //   (requires OpenTelemetry.Instrumentation.Runtime package)
        // Custom meters (must match Meter names in your code)
        .AddMeter("MyApp.Metrics"))
    .WithLogging(logging =>
    {
        logging.IncludeScopes = true;
        // logging.IncludeFormattedMessage = true;  // Enable if you need the formatted message string in log exports
    })
    // Single OTLP exporter for all signals — reads OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT
    // env var (defaults to http://localhost:4317). Override via environment variable
    // or appsettings.json configuration.
    .UseOtlpExporter();

using System.Diagnostics;
using Microsoft.Extensions.Logging;
 
public class OrderService
{
    // Create an ActivitySource matching what you registered in Step 2
    private static readonly ActivitySource ActivitySource = new("MyApp.Orders");
    private readonly ILogger<OrderService> _logger;
 
    public OrderService(ILogger<OrderService> logger) => _logger = logger;
 
    public async Task<Order> ProcessOrderAsync(CreateOrderRequest request)
    {
        // Start a new span
        using var activity = ActivitySource.StartActivity("ProcessOrder");
 
        // Add attributes (tags) to the span
        activity?.SetTag("order.customer_id", request.CustomerId);
        activity?.SetTag("order.item_count", request.Items.Count);
 
        try
        {
            // Child span for validation
            using (var validationActivity = ActivitySource.StartActivity("ValidateOrder"))
            {
                await ValidateOrderAsync(request);
                validationActivity?.SetTag("validation.result", "passed");
            }
 
            // Child span for payment
            using (var paymentActivity = ActivitySource.StartActivity("ProcessPayment",
                ActivityKind.Client))  // Client = outgoing call
            {
                paymentActivity?.SetTag("payment.method", request.PaymentMethod);
                await ProcessPaymentAsync(request);
            }
 
            var order = new Order { Id = Guid.NewGuid(), CustomerId = request.CustomerId, Status = "Completed" };
 
            activity?.SetTag("order.status", "completed");
            activity?.SetStatus(ActivityStatusCode.Ok);
 
            return order;
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            activity?.SetStatus(ActivityStatusCode.Error, ex.Message);
            // Log via ILogger — OpenTelemetry captures this with trace correlation.
            // Prefer logging over activity.RecordException() as OTel is deprecating
            // span events for exception recording in favor of log-based exceptions.
            _logger.LogError(ex, "Order processing failed for customer {CustomerId}", request.CustomerId);
            throw;
        }
    }
}

using System.Diagnostics;
using System.Diagnostics.Metrics;
 
public class OrderMetrics
{
    private readonly Counter<long> _ordersProcessed;
    private readonly Histogram<double> _orderProcessingDuration;
    private readonly UpDownCounter<int> _activeOrders;
 
    public OrderMetrics(IMeterFactory meterFactory)
    {
        // Meter name must match AddMeter("...") in configuration
        var meter = meterFactory.Create("MyApp.Metrics");
 
        // Counter — use for things that only go up
        _ordersProcessed = meter.CreateCounter<long>(
            "orders.processed", "orders", "Total orders successfully processed");
 
        // Histogram — use for measuring distributions (latency, sizes)
        _orderProcessingDuration = meter.CreateHistogram<double>(
            "orders.processing_duration", "ms", "Time to process an order");
 
        // UpDownCounter — use for things that go up AND down
        _activeOrders = meter.CreateUpDownCounter<int>(
            "orders.active", "orders", "Currently processing orders");
    }
 
    public void RecordOrderProcessed(string region, double durationMs)
    {
        // Tags enable dimensional filtering (by region, status, etc.)
        var tags = new TagList
        {
            { "region", region },
            { "order.type", "standard" }
        };
 
        _ordersProcessed.Add(1, tags);
        _orderProcessingDuration.Record(durationMs, tags);
    }
}

builder.Services.AddSingleton<OrderMetrics>();

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Diagnostics;
using OpenTelemetry.Context.Propagation;
 
// ActivitySource should be static — register via .AddSource("MyApp.Messaging") in Step 2
private static readonly ActivitySource MessageSource = new("MyApp.Messaging");
 
// Manual context propagation (e.g., across message queues)
// On the SENDING side:
var propagator = Propagators.DefaultTextMapPropagator;
var activityContext = Activity.Current?.Context ?? default;
var context = new PropagationContext(activityContext, Baggage.Current);
var carrier = new Dictionary<string, string>();
 
propagator.Inject(context, carrier, (dict, key, value) => dict[key] = value);
// Send carrier dictionary as message headers
 
// On the RECEIVING side:
var parentContext = propagator.Extract(default, carrier,
    (dict, key) => dict.TryGetValue(key, out var value) ? new[] { value } : Array.Empty<string>());
 
Baggage.Current = parentContext.Baggage;
using var activity = MessageSource.StartActivity("ProcessMessage",
    ActivityKind.Consumer,
    parentContext.ActivityContext);  // Links to parent trace!