Migrate Zero Code OpenTelemetry APM

Overview

Zero-code instrumentation adds the OpenTelemetry API and SDK capabilities to your application as an agent or agent-like installation, without requiring changes to your application code. It automatically instruments the libraries your application uses — HTTP requests, database calls, message queues, and so on. To instrument your own application logic beyond library calls, use the language-specific OpenTelemetry APIs.

Supported Languages

Automatic zero-code instrumentation is available for the following languages:

Send to Kloudfuse

Regardless of which zero-code agent you use, configure the OTLP exporter by setting the following environment variables before starting your application:

export OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT="https://<kloudfuse-hostname>/ingester/otlp"   (1)
export OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_HEADERS="Kf-Api-Key=<api-key>"                          (2)
export OTEL_SERVICE_NAME="my-service"
export OTEL_RESOURCE_ATTRIBUTES="deployment.environment=production"
1 Replace <kloudfuse-hostname> with your Kloudfuse cluster hostname.
2 Replace <api-key> with your Kloudfuse API key.

Troubleshooting

Agent Not Attaching

Each language agent has a different attachment mechanism. Verify that the agent is activated correctly for your language:

  • Java: Check that JAVA_TOOL_OPTIONS or -javaagent is set and the JAR path is correct. Look for OpenTelemetry Java agent loaded in startup logs.

  • Python: Run opentelemetry-instrument python app.py instead of python app.py directly.

  • JavaScript/Node.js: Pass --require @opentelemetry/auto-instrumentations-node/register to the node command.

  • .NET: Verify the auto-instrumentation was installed with the official install script and that CORECLR_ENABLE_PROFILING=1 is set.

Environment Variables Not Picked Up

Zero-code agents read OTEL_* environment variables at startup. If variables are set after the process starts, they will have no effect. For container environments, set the variables in the container spec (env: in Kubernetes or -e in Docker) rather than inside the running container.

Only Some Libraries Are Instrumented

Zero-code agents instrument libraries that are present at startup. Libraries loaded dynamically after startup may not be instrumented. If spans are missing for a specific library, check whether a dedicated instrumentation package exists for it and install it alongside the agent.

External References