Templates

Templates provide reusable, versioned OpenTelemetry Collector configurations that you can apply to collector groups.

A template is a reusable and versioned configuration object that defines a complete OpenTelemetry Collector configuration for a specific collector type and operating system. A template can contain pipelines with receivers, processors, and exporters.

Templates exist independently from OpenTelemetry Collectors. Define a configuration once, save it as a template, and assign it through groups to collectors that match the group criteria.

Benefits of using templates

Templates support standardized telemetry configuration patterns across Linux, Windows, and Kubernetes environments. Common patterns include sampling, filtering, batching, redaction, and routing telemetry to Splunk Observability Cloud.

With templates, you can:

  • Centralized configuration management: Apply one pipeline configuration to multiple collectors through groups instead of updating each collector separately.
  • Faster remediation: Roll out changes for sampling, filtering, or redaction without a full redeployment when remote configuration applies.
  • Consistency across environments: Apply the same configuration pattern across supported host and cluster environments to reduce configuration drift.
  • Reusability: Create standard templates for common use cases such as log sampling, PII redaction, host metrics collection, or routing data through a gateway.
  • Fleet-wide control: Combine templates with groups to manage telemetry configuration across large and dynamic collector fleets.

How templates work with groups

Groups define target criteria that match collectors. Assign templates to groups so that the system applies the appropriate configuration to matching collectors. For example, a group can target Linux agents in a production environment and assign a Linux Agent template to that group.

Updating a template that a group uses creates a template version and can trigger a configuration rollout for collectors that match the group.

API specification

For information about the OpenAPI specs, see Template Management API.