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Send to Datadog

The datadog exporter sends all three signals to Datadog's intake for your site, authenticated with an API key. The key comes from the environment, never from the file.

Signals
LogsMetricsTraces
Source
OTLP
Components
otlpbatchmemory_limiter
Destination
Datadog

OpenTelemetry Collector

OpenTelemetry Collector YAML
receivers:
  otlp:
    protocols:
      grpc:
        endpoint: 0.0.0.0:4317

processors:
  memory_limiter:
    check_interval: 1s
    limit_percentage: 80
    spike_limit_percentage: 25
  batch:
    timeout: 5s

exporters:
  datadog:
    api:
      key: ${env:DD_API_KEY}
      site: datadoghq.eu
    sending_queue:
      enabled: true
      queue_size: 5000
    retry_on_failure:
      enabled: true
      initial_interval: 5s
      max_interval: 30s
      max_elapsed_time: 300s

service:
  pipelines:
    logs:
      receivers: [otlp]
      processors: [memory_limiter, batch]
      exporters: [datadog]
    metrics:
      receivers: [otlp]
      processors: [memory_limiter, batch]
      exporters: [datadog]
    traces:
      receivers: [otlp]
      processors: [memory_limiter, batch]
      exporters: [datadog]

LinkMesh

LinkMesh has no built-in template for this job. Add it as a custom destination in raw mode, with datadog as the component type and this body - the same lines as under datadog in the collector config:

Custom destination body (datadog)
api:
  key: ${env:DD_API_KEY}
  site: datadoghq.eu
sending_queue:
  enabled: true
  queue_size: 5000
retry_on_failure:
  enabled: true
  initial_interval: 5s
  max_interval: 30s
  max_elapsed_time: 300s

How custom components are validated and rolled out: create a custom destination.

Download config.yamlValidated with otelcol-contrib v0.161.0 on 2026-10-26

Complete config files, each checked with the collector's own validate command (otelcol-contrib v0.161.0).

The gotcha

An unset key does not fail one exporter, it stops the whole collector. In our test, with DD_API_KEY not set, otelcol-contrib refused the config with "exporters::datadog: api.key is not set", so the collector would not start at all. Make the variable part of the service unit or deployment, and check it before a rollout.

Manage this across a fleet

LinkMesh manages collector configuration across a fleet from one self-hosted control plane, so a change like this is made once rather than host by host. The first 25 Collectors are free after a no-card registration in the OpenSight Customer Portal (5 without one).

Doing this in LinkMesh: Destinations

Install LinkMesh →See all snippets

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