configuring-opentelemetry-dotnet

# Configuring OpenTelemetry in .NET ## When to Use - Adding distributed tracing to an ASP.NET Core application - Setting up OpenTelemetry exporters (OTLP is the primary protocol; Jaeger accepts OTLP natively; Prometheus OTLP ingestion requires explicit opt-in) - Creating custom metrics or trace spans for business operations - Troubleshooting distributed trace context propagation across services ## When Not to Use - The user wants application-level logging only (use ILogger, Serilog) - The user is using Application Insights SDK directly (different API) - The user needs APM with a commercial vendor's proprietary SDK ## Inputs | Input | Required | Description | |-------|----------|-------------| | ASP.NET Core project | Yes | The application to instrument | | Observability backend | No | Where to export: OTLP collector, Aspire dashboard, Jaeger (accepts OTLP natively) | ## Workflow ### Step 1: Install the correct packages **There are many OpenTelemetry NuGet packages. Install exactly these:** ```bash # Core SDK + ASP.NET Core instrumentation + logging integration dotnet add package OpenTelemetry.Extensions.Hosting dotnet add package OpenTelemetry.Instrumentation.AspNetCore dotnet add package OpenTelemetry.Instrumentation.Http # Exporter dotnet add package OpenTelemetry.Exporter.OpenTelemetryProtocol # OTLP exporter for traces, metrics, AND logs # Optional — dev/local debugging only (do NOT include in production deployments) # dotnet add package OpenTelemetry.Exporte...