Home Original page

[Bug]: OTEL plugin fails to start - "Failed to create logs service" journal creation error

Bug description

Description

The OTEL plugin fails to initialize and cannot create journal logs in any directory, preventing OpenTelemetry metric collection from working entirely.

Actual Behavior

The plugin fails with journal creation error:

/usr/libexec/netdata/plugins.d/otel-plugin --otel-logs-journal-dir /var/log/netdata/otel/v1 --otel-endpoint 0.0.0.0:4317

Error: Failed to create logs service

Caused by:
    0: Failed to create journal log for directory: /var/log/netdata/otel/v1
    1: i/o error during object operation: No such file or directory (os error 2)
    2: No such file or directory (os error 2)

Additional Details

  • Error occurs with any directory path (tested with /tmp, /var/log/netdata/otel/v1, etc.)
  • Directories exist and have proper permissions (755, owned by netdata:netdata)
  • Plenty of disk space available (3.1T free)
  • Plugin binary exists and has correct permissions (-rwsr-xr-x 1 root root)
  • All library dependencies are satisfied (verified with ldd)
  • Error occurs even when running as root
  • The --otel-logs-journal-dir parameter is required, cannot be omitted

Impact

This completely blocks OpenTelemetry integration. The stable releases don't include the OTEL plugin, so nightly builds are required for OTEL functionality, but the plugin is currently non-functional.

Use Case

Collecting OpenTelemetry metrics from applications and forwarding them to Netdata for monitoring and visualization.

Expected behavior

Expected Behavior

The OTEL plugin should start successfully and listen for OpenTelemetry metrics on port 4317.

Steps to reproduce

Steps to Reproduce

  1. Install Netdata nightly build v2.6.0-313-nightly
  2. Configure OTEL plugin in netdata.conf: 
    [plugins]
    otel = yes

[plugin:otel]
    update every = 1s
    command options = --otel-logs-journal-dir /var/log/netdata/otel/v1 --otel-endpoint 0.0.0.0:4317
  3. Try to run the plugin manually: 
    /usr/libexec/netdata/plugins.d/otel-plugin --otel-logs-journal-dir /var/log/netdata/otel/v1 --otel-endpoint 0.0.0.0:4317

Installation method

kickstart.sh

System info

## Environment
- **OS:** Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
- **Netdata version:** v2.6.0-313-nightly  
- **Installation:** Docker container
- **Architecture:** x86_64



Linux xxxxxxxx 5.15.0-153-generic #163-Ubuntu SMP Thu Aug 7 16:37:18 UTC 2025 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
/etc/lsb-release:DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
/etc/lsb-release:DISTRIB_RELEASE=22.04
/etc/lsb-release:DISTRIB_CODENAME=jammy
/etc/lsb-release:DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 22.04.5 LTS"
/etc/os-release:PRETTY_NAME="Ubuntu 22.04.5 LTS"
/etc/os-release:NAME="Ubuntu"
/etc/os-release:VERSION_ID="22.04"
/etc/os-release:VERSION="22.04.5 LTS (Jammy Jellyfish)"
/etc/os-release:VERSION_CODENAME=jammy
/etc/os-release:ID=ubuntu
/etc/os-release:ID_LIKE=debian
/etc/os-release:UBUNTU_CODENAME=jammy

Netdata build info

time=2025-09-22T20:47:24.075Z comm=netdata source=daemon level=notice errno="2, No such file or directory" tid=2523492  msg="CONFIG: cannot load user config '/etc/netdata/stream.conf'. Will try stock config."
Packaging:
    Netdata Version ____________________________________________ : v2.6.0-313-nightly
    Installation Type __________________________________________ : oci
    Package Architecture _______________________________________ : x86_64
    Package Distro _____________________________________________ : unknown
    Configure Options __________________________________________ : cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RelWithDebInfo -DCMAKE_C_STANDARD=11 -DCMAKE_CXX_STANDARD=14 -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS= -DCMAKE_C_FLAGS='-ffunction-sections -fdata-sections -O2 -funroll-loops -pipe -fexceptions -fstack-protector-strong -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=3 -fstack-clash-protection -fcf-protection=full -Wno-builtin-macro-redefined -fexceptions -fno-omit-frame-pointer -funwind-tables -fasynchronous-unwind-tables' -DCMAKE_CXX_FLAGS=' -ffunction-sections -fdata-sections -O2 -funroll-loops -pipe -fexceptions -fstack-protector-strong -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=3 -fstack-clash-protection -fcf-protection=full -Wno-builtin-macro-redefined -fexceptions -fno-omit-frame-pointer -funwind-tables -fasynchronous-unwind-tables' -DCMAKE_COMPILE_DEFINITIONS='_GNU_SOURCE' -DCMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS='-Wl,--gc-sections -fexceptions -fstack-protector-strong -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=3 -fstack-clash-protection -fcf-protection=full -Wno-builtin-macro-redefined -fexceptions -rdynamic' -DCMAKE_SHARED_LINKER_FLAGS='-Wl,--gc-sections'
Default Directories:
    User Configurations ________________________________________ : /etc/netdata
    Stock Configurations _______________________________________ : /usr/lib/netdata/conf.d
    Ephemeral Databases (metrics data, metadata) _______________ : /var/cache/netdata
    Permanent Databases ________________________________________ : /var/lib/netdata
    Plugins ____________________________________________________ : /usr/libexec/netdata/plugins.d
    Static Web Files ___________________________________________ : /usr/share/netdata/web
    Log Files __________________________________________________ : /var/log/netdata
    Lock Files _________________________________________________ : /var/lib/netdata/lock
    Home _______________________________________________________ : /var/lib/netdata
Operating System:
    Kernel _____________________________________________________ : Linux
    Kernel Version _____________________________________________ : 5.15.0-153-generic
    Operating System ___________________________________________ : Ubuntu
    Operating System ID ________________________________________ : ubuntu
    Operating System ID Like ___________________________________ : debian
    Operating System Version ___________________________________ : 22.04.5 LTS (Jammy Jellyfish)
    Operating System Version ID ________________________________ : 13
    Detection __________________________________________________ : /host/etc/os-release
Hardware:
    CPU Cores __________________________________________________ : 12
    CPU Frequency ______________________________________________ : 3400000000
    RAM Bytes __________________________________________________ : 67180756992
    Disk Capacity ______________________________________________ : 8001574060032
    CPU Architecture ___________________________________________ : x86_64
    Virtualization Technology __________________________________ : none
    Virtualization Detection ___________________________________ : none
Container:
    Container __________________________________________________ : docker
    Container Detection ________________________________________ : dockerenv
    Container Orchestrator _____________________________________ : none
    Container Operating System _________________________________ : Debian GNU/Linux
    Container Operating System ID ______________________________ : debian
    Container Operating System ID Like _________________________ : unknown
    Container Operating System Version _________________________ : 13 (trixie)
    Container Operating System Version ID ______________________ : 13
    Container Operating System Detection _______________________ : /etc/os-release
Features:
    Built For __________________________________________________ : Linux
    Netdata Cloud ______________________________________________ : YES
    Health (trigger alerts and send notifications) _____________ : YES
    Streaming (stream metrics to parent Netdata servers) _______ : YES
    Back-filling (of higher database tiers) ____________________ : YES
    Replication (fill the gaps of parent Netdata servers) ______ : YES
    Streaming and Replication Compression ______________________ : YES (zstd lz4 gzip brotli)
    Contexts (index all active and archived metrics) ___________ : YES
    Tiering (multiple dbs with different metrics resolution) ___ : YES (5)
    Machine Learning ___________________________________________ : YES
    Memory Allocator ___________________________________________ : system
Database Engines:
    dbengine (compression) _____________________________________ : YES (zstd lz4)
    alloc ______________________________________________________ : YES
    ram ________________________________________________________ : YES
    none _______________________________________________________ : YES
Connectivity Capabilities:
    ACLK (Agent-Cloud Link: MQTT over WebSockets over TLS) _____ : YES
    static (Netdata internal web server) _______________________ : YES
    WebRTC (experimental) ______________________________________ : NO
    Native HTTPS (TLS Support) _________________________________ : YES
    TLS Host Verification ______________________________________ : YES
Libraries:
    LZ4 (extremely fast lossless compression algorithm) ________ : YES
    ZSTD (fast, lossless compression algorithm) ________________ : YES
    zlib (lossless data-compression library) ___________________ : YES
    Brotli (generic-purpose lossless compression algorithm) ____ : YES
    protobuf (platform-neutral data serialization protocol) ____ : YES (system)
    OpenSSL (cryptography) _____________________________________ : YES
    libdatachannel (stand-alone WebRTC data channels) __________ : NO
    JSON-C (lightweight JSON manipulation) _____________________ : YES
    libcap (Linux capabilities system operations) ______________ : YES
    libcrypto (cryptographic functions) ________________________ : YES
    libyaml (library for parsing and emitting YAML) ____________ : YES
    libmnl (library for working with netfilter) ________________ : YES
    stacktraces (library for getting stack traces) _____________ : libbacktrace (mmap, threads, data)
Plugins:
    apps (monitor processes) ___________________________________ : YES
    cgroups (monitor containers and VMs) _______________________ : YES
    cgroup-network (associate interfaces to CGROUPS) ___________ : YES
    proc (monitor Linux systems) _______________________________ : YES
    tc (monitor Linux network QoS) _____________________________ : YES
    diskspace (monitor Linux mount points) _____________________ : YES
    freebsd (monitor FreeBSD systems) __________________________ : NO
    macos (monitor MacOS systems) ______________________________ : NO
    windows (monitor Windows systems) __________________________ : NO
    statsd (collect custom application metrics) ________________ : YES
    timex (check system clock synchronization) _________________ : YES
    idlejitter (check system latency and jitter) _______________ : YES
    bash (support shell data collection jobs - charts.d) _______ : YES
    debugfs (kernel debugging metrics) _________________________ : YES
    cups (monitor printers and print jobs) _____________________ : NO
    ebpf (monitor system calls) ________________________________ : NO
    freeipmi (monitor enterprise server H/W) ___________________ : YES
    network-viewer (monitor TCP/UDP IPv4/6 sockets) ____________ : YES
    systemd-journal (monitor journal logs) _____________________ : YES
    windows-events (monitor Windows events) ____________________ : NO
    nfacct (gather netfilter accounting) _______________________ : NO
    perf (collect kernel performance events) ___________________ : YES
    slabinfo (monitor kernel object caching) ___________________ : YES
    Xen ________________________________________________________ : NO
    Xen VBD Error Tracking _____________________________________ : NO
Exporters:
    AWS Kinesis ________________________________________________ : NO
    GCP PubSub _________________________________________________ : NO
    MongoDB ____________________________________________________ : YES
    Prometheus (OpenMetrics) Exporter __________________________ : YES
    Prometheus Remote Write ____________________________________ : YES
    Graphite ___________________________________________________ : YES
    Graphite HTTP / HTTPS ______________________________________ : YES
    JSON _______________________________________________________ : YES
    JSON HTTP / HTTPS __________________________________________ : YES
    OpenTSDB ___________________________________________________ : YES
    OpenTSDB HTTP / HTTPS ______________________________________ : YES
    All Metrics API ____________________________________________ : YES
    Shell (use metrics in shell scripts) _______________________ : YES
Debug/Developer Features:
    Trace All Netdata Allocations (with charts) ________________ : NO
    Developer Mode (more runtime checks, slower) _______________ : NO
Runtime Information:
    Profile ____________________________________________________ : standalone
    Stream Parent (accept data from Children) __________________ : NO
    Stream Child (send data to a Parent) _______________________ : NO
    Total System Memory ________________________________________ : 4294967296
    Available System Memory ____________________________________ : 4111134720

Additional info

No response