{{% alert title="For more information" %}} This page describes the various ways in which configuration can be supplied to the Java agent. For information on the configuration options themselves, see Configure the SDK. {{% /alert %}}

The agent can consume configuration from one or more of the following sources (ordered from highest to lowest priority):

• System properties
• Environment variables
• Configuration file
• Properties provided by the AutoConfigurationCustomizer#addPropertiesSupplier() function; using the AutoConfigurationCustomizerProvider SPI

In certain environments, configuring settings through environment variables is often preferred. Any setting that can be configured using a system property can also be set using an environment variable. While many of the settings below provide examples for both formats, for those that do not, use the following steps to determine the correct name mapping for the desired system property:

• Convert the system property name to uppercase.
• Replace all . and - characters with _.

For example otel.instrumentation.common.default-enabled would convert to OTEL_INSTRUMENTATION_COMMON_DEFAULT_ENABLED.

You can provide a path to an agent configuration file by setting the following property:

{{% config_option name="otel.javaagent.configuration-file" %}} Path to a valid Java properties file which contains the agent configuration. {{% /config_option %}}

You can enable extensions by setting the following property:

{{% config_option name="otel.javaagent.extensions" %}}

Path to an extension jar file or folder, containing jar files. If pointing to a folder, every jar file in that folder will be treated as separate, independent extension.

{{% /config_option %}}

The agent's logging output can be configured by setting the following property:

{{% config_option name="otel.javaagent.logging" %}}

The Java agent logging mode. The following 3 modes are supported:

• simple: The agent will print out its logs using the standard error stream. Only INFO or higher logs will be printed. This is the default Java agent logging mode.
• none: The agent will not log anything - not even its own version.
• application: The agent will attempt to redirect its own logs to the instrumented application's slf4j logger. This works the best for simple one-jar applications that do not use multiple classloaders; Spring Boot apps are supported as well. The Java agent output logs can be further configured using the instrumented application's logging configuration (e.g. logback.xml or log4j2.xml). Make sure to test that this mode works for your application before running it in a production environment.

{{% /config_option %}}

The SDK's autoconfiguration module is used for basic configuration of the agent. Read the docs to find settings such as configuring export or sampling.

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Unlike the SDK autoconfiguration, versions 2.0+ of the Java agent and OpenTelemetry Spring Boot starter use http/protobuf as the default protocol, not grpc.

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In addition to the resource configuration from the SDK autoconfiguration, you can enable additional resource providers that are disabled by default:

{{% config_option name="otel.resource.providers.aws.enabled" default=false %}} Enables the AWS Resource Provider. {{% /config_option %}}

{{% config_option name="otel.resource.providers.gcp.enabled" default=false %}} Enables the GCP Resource Provider. {{% /config_option %}}

{{% config_option name="otel.resource.providers.azure.enabled" default=false %}} Enables the Azure Resource Provider. {{% /config_option %}}