Azure Monitor OpenTelemetry Exporter for Python

Low-level exporter for sending OpenTelemetry traces, metrics, and logs to Application Insights.

Installation

pip install azure-monitor-opentelemetry-exporter

Environment Variables

APPLICATIONINSIGHTS_CONNECTION_STRING=InstrumentationKey=xxx;IngestionEndpoint=https://xxx.in.applicationinsights.azure.com/

When to Use

Scenario Use

Quick setup, auto-instrumentation azure-monitor-opentelemetry (distro)

Custom OpenTelemetry pipeline azure-monitor-opentelemetry-exporter (this)

Fine-grained control over telemetry azure-monitor-opentelemetry-exporter (this)

Trace Exporter

from opentelemetry import trace from opentelemetry.sdk.trace import TracerProvider from opentelemetry.sdk.trace.export import BatchSpanProcessor from azure.monitor.opentelemetry.exporter import AzureMonitorTraceExporter

Create exporter

exporter = AzureMonitorTraceExporter( connection_string="InstrumentationKey=xxx;..." )

Configure tracer provider

trace.set_tracer_provider(TracerProvider()) trace.get_tracer_provider().add_span_processor( BatchSpanProcessor(exporter) )

Use tracer

tracer = trace.get_tracer(name) with tracer.start_as_current_span("my-span"): print("Hello, World!")

Metric Exporter

from opentelemetry import metrics from opentelemetry.sdk.metrics import MeterProvider from opentelemetry.sdk.metrics.export import PeriodicExportingMetricReader from azure.monitor.opentelemetry.exporter import AzureMonitorMetricExporter

Create exporter

exporter = AzureMonitorMetricExporter( connection_string="InstrumentationKey=xxx;..." )

Configure meter provider

reader = PeriodicExportingMetricReader(exporter, export_interval_millis=60000) metrics.set_meter_provider(MeterProvider(metric_readers=[reader]))

Use meter

meter = metrics.get_meter(name) counter = meter.create_counter("requests_total") counter.add(1, {"route": "/api/users"})

Log Exporter

import logging from opentelemetry._logs import set_logger_provider from opentelemetry.sdk._logs import LoggerProvider, LoggingHandler from opentelemetry.sdk._logs.export import BatchLogRecordProcessor from azure.monitor.opentelemetry.exporter import AzureMonitorLogExporter

Create exporter

exporter = AzureMonitorLogExporter( connection_string="InstrumentationKey=xxx;..." )

Configure logger provider

logger_provider = LoggerProvider() logger_provider.add_log_record_processor(BatchLogRecordProcessor(exporter)) set_logger_provider(logger_provider)

Add handler to Python logging

handler = LoggingHandler(level=logging.INFO, logger_provider=logger_provider) logging.getLogger().addHandler(handler)

Use logging

logger = logging.getLogger(name) logger.info("This will be sent to Application Insights")

From Environment Variable

Exporters read APPLICATIONINSIGHTS_CONNECTION_STRING automatically:

from azure.monitor.opentelemetry.exporter import AzureMonitorTraceExporter

Connection string from environment

exporter = AzureMonitorTraceExporter()

Azure AD Authentication

from azure.identity import DefaultAzureCredential from azure.monitor.opentelemetry.exporter import AzureMonitorTraceExporter

exporter = AzureMonitorTraceExporter( credential=DefaultAzureCredential() )

Sampling

Use ApplicationInsightsSampler for consistent sampling:

from opentelemetry.sdk.trace import TracerProvider from opentelemetry.sdk.trace.sampling import ParentBasedTraceIdRatio from azure.monitor.opentelemetry.exporter import ApplicationInsightsSampler

Sample 10% of traces

sampler = ApplicationInsightsSampler(sampling_ratio=0.1)

trace.set_tracer_provider(TracerProvider(sampler=sampler))

Offline Storage

Configure offline storage for retry:

from azure.monitor.opentelemetry.exporter import AzureMonitorTraceExporter

exporter = AzureMonitorTraceExporter( connection_string="...", storage_directory="/path/to/storage", # Custom storage path disable_offline_storage=False # Enable retry (default) )

Disable Offline Storage

exporter = AzureMonitorTraceExporter( connection_string="...", disable_offline_storage=True # No retry on failure )

Sovereign Clouds

from azure.identity import AzureAuthorityHosts, DefaultAzureCredential from azure.monitor.opentelemetry.exporter import AzureMonitorTraceExporter

Azure Government

credential = DefaultAzureCredential(authority=AzureAuthorityHosts.AZURE_GOVERNMENT) exporter = AzureMonitorTraceExporter( connection_string="InstrumentationKey=xxx;IngestionEndpoint=https://xxx.in.applicationinsights.azure.us/", credential=credential )

Exporter Types

Exporter Telemetry Type Application Insights Table

AzureMonitorTraceExporter

Traces/Spans requests, dependencies, exceptions

AzureMonitorMetricExporter

Metrics customMetrics, performanceCounters

AzureMonitorLogExporter

Logs traces, customEvents

Configuration Options

Parameter Description Default

connection_string

Application Insights connection string From env var

credential

Azure credential for AAD auth None

disable_offline_storage

Disable retry storage False

storage_directory

Custom storage path Temp directory

Best Practices

• Use BatchSpanProcessor for production (not SimpleSpanProcessor)

• Use ApplicationInsightsSampler for consistent sampling across services

• Enable offline storage for reliability in production

• Use AAD authentication instead of instrumentation keys

• Set export intervals appropriate for your workload

• Use the distro (azure-monitor-opentelemetry ) unless you need custom pipelines