Key Words: OpenTelemetry, IDOT, Multi-Platform, Linux, Windows, AIX, Kubernetes, OpenShift, Helm, Operator, Air-Gapped, Instana, Observability

As modern software systems grow increasingly complex and distributed, deploying observability tooling consistently across diverse infrastructure has become a critical challenge. The Instana Distribution of the OpenTelemetry Collector (IDOT) addresses this directly by supporting a wide range of platforms and operating systems, enabling you to bring unified observability to wherever your applications run.

Whether you're running workloads on Linux servers, managing Kubernetes clusters, or operating AIX systems, IDOT provides a consistent, production-ready path to collecting and forwarding telemetry data to Instana.

Linux is the foundation of many modern application environments, and IDOT supports it across multiple architectures:

• AMD64 (x86_64): The most common architecture for servers and cloud instances. If you're running on AWS, Azure, GCP, or your own data center with AMD processors, IDOT is fully supported.
• s390x: For organizations running mission-critical workloads on IBM Z mainframes, IDOT brings modern observability practices to these enterprise-grade systems.

Getting started on Linux is straightforward: run the installation script, and IDOT will be collecting and forwarding telemetry data within minutes.

If you're running AIX on IBM Power Systems, IDOT supports the ppc64 architecture, bringing OpenTelemetry capabilities to these enterprise environments. This makes it possible to maintain consistent observability across your entire infrastructure—from cloud-native applications to enterprise workloads running on Power Systems.

Windows environments are fully supported in IDOT. Whether you're running .NET applications, Windows services, or hybrid workloads, IDOT on Windows AMD64 provides the same straightforward installation experience as on Linux, with no additional configuration required to get started.

Kubernetes has become the standard for container orchestration, and IDOT integrates with it through two deployment options:

Helm charts provide the flexibility to customize deployments with values files, making it easy to manage configurations across different environments: development, staging, and production. More information on the Helm chart can be found here.

Below is a snippet example about how to install using helm chart, and the chart is pulling from a remote repository.

helm install instana-otel-collector \
  --repo https://instana.github.io/instana-otel-collector instana-otel-collector-chart \
  --namespace instana-otel-collector \
  --create-namespace \
  --set clusterName=<CLUSTER_NAME> \
  --set instanaEndpoint=<INSTANA_ENDPOINT> \
  --set instanaKey=<INSTANA_KEY>

If you prefer the operator pattern, the IDOT operator provides a Kubernetes-native deployment and management experience, with automatic updates and lifecycle management built in. More information about installing the operator can be found here.

Red Hat OpenShift is supported with both deployment options:

• Helm Charts: Deploy IDOT using standard Helm workflows within your OpenShift clusters. The guidelines to install the Helm chart can be found here.
• Helm Operators: Leverage OpenShift's operator framework for declarative, automated management of IDOT collectors. The guidelines to install the operator can be found here.

OpenShift's enterprise capabilities, including enhanced security, multi-tenancy, and developer tooling, work seamlessly alongside IDOT, providing enterprise-grade observability for enterprise-grade infrastructure.

For organizations operating in secure, air-gapped, or restricted network environments, IDOT provides full support for offline installations across all platforms.

For Linux, Windows, and AIX:

• Download the IDOT installation package and dependencies from a connected system
• Transfer the packages to your air-gapped environment using approved methods (Physical Media Transfer e.g.: USB Drives / External Hard Drives)
• Install using the standard installation process with local packages

For Kubernetes and OpenShift:

• Download the Helm charts and container images to a connected system
• Push images to your internal local container registry
• Install using Helm or operators pointing to your internal registry

The Helm Chart installation command shown below demonstrates an air-gapped deployment, where the chart is installed from a local .tgz file rather than pulling from a remote repository.

helm install instana-otel-collector instana-otel-collector-chart-latest.tgz \
      --namespace instana-otel-collector \
      --create-namespace \
      --set clusterName=<CLUSTER_NAME> \
      --set instanaEndpoint=<INSTANA_ENDPOINT> \
      --set instanaKey=<INSTANA_KEY>

For detailed air-gapped installation instructions, including how to prepare packages and configure internal registries, refer to the air-gapped installation documentation.

Real-world infrastructure rarely runs on a single platform. A typical environment might include:

• Core services on Linux
• Modern microservices in Kubernetes
• Windows-based applications
• Legacy applications on AIX
• Enterprise workloads on OpenShift

With IDOT supporting all of these platforms, you get consistent observability everywhere, same collector distribution, same configuration patterns, same telemetry flowing into Instana, regardless of the underlying platform.

Rather than adopting different observability tools for different platforms, you can learn IDOT once and apply that knowledge across your entire infrastructure. This reduces operational overhead and simplifies onboarding and training. No matter which platform you're on, getting started with IDOT follows the same straightforward process:

1. Install: Use the appropriate installation method for your platform (script, Helm, or operator).
2. Configure: Point IDOT to your Instana backend, sensible defaults are provided out of the box.
3. Collect: Begin gathering traces, metrics, and logs immediately.
4. Observe: Watch your telemetry data flow into Instana in real time.

For step-by-step installation instructions, system requirements, and platform-specific configuration options, refer to the official documentation: 👉 Instana Distribution of OpenTelemetry Collector Documentation

Observability should not be constrained by the platforms your applications run on. With IDOT's broad platform support—spanning Linux, Windows, AIX, Kubernetes, and OpenShift—you can bring consistent, modern observability practices to your entire infrastructure, regardless of where workloads live.

Whether you're managing a diverse enterprise environment or building cloud-native applications, IDOT meets you where you are and scales with your infrastructure as it evolves.

Do you have a platform or architecture you'd like us to support? We want to make IDOT work well for your environment. Please share your feedback and feature requests through the Instana OTel Collector GitHub repository by opening an issue, or get in touch with our product team directly. Your feedback plays an important role in shaping what we build next.

#Documentation
#Kubernetes
#Logs
#OpenTelemetry
#Tracing