Instrument Dotnet applications with OpenTelemetry

To instrument automatically, add the package reference of the instrumentations for the frameworks you use to your .csproj file (see Automatic instrumentation for .NET in OpenTelemetry docs).
Replace <USED_FRAMEWORK> in the code snippets below with the framework that you use. See GitHub to find your OpenTelemetry.Instrumentation.<USED_FRAMEWORK>.

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<PackageReference Include="OpenTelemetry.Instrumentation.<USED_FRAMEWORK>" Version="<Version>" />
<PackageReference Include="OpenTelemetry.Extensions.Hosting" Version="<Version>" />

To instrument manually, make sure to call the ActivitySource initialized before. You can give it a name and add custom attributes.

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using var activity = MyActivitySource.StartActivity("my-span");
activity?.SetTag("my-key-1","my-value-1"); //TODO Add attributes

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using OpenTelemetry;
using OpenTelemetry.Trace;
using OpenTelemetry.Exporter;

private const string activitySource = "Dynatrace.DotNetApp.Sample";
public static readonly ActivitySource MyActivitySource = new ActivitySource(activitySource);

List<KeyValuePair<string, object>> dt_metadata = new List<KeyValuePair<string, object>>();
foreach (string name in new string[] {"dt_metadata_e617c525669e072eebe3d0f08212e8f2.properties", "/var/lib/dynatrace/enrichment/dt_metadata.properties"}) {
    try {
        foreach (string line in System.IO.File.ReadAllLines(name.StartsWith("/var") ? name : System.IO.File.ReadAllText(name))) {
            var keyvalue = line.Split("=");
            dt_metadata.Add( new KeyValuePair<string, object>(keyvalue[0], keyvalue[1]));
        }
    }
    catch { }
}

AppContext.SetSwitch("System.Net.Http.SocketsHttpHandler.Http2UnencryptedSupport", true);

Sdk.CreateTracerProviderBuilder()
    .SetSampler(new AlwaysOnSampler())
    .AddSource(activitySource)
    .SetResourceBuilder(ResourceBuilder.CreateEmpty().AddService("dotnet-quickstart").AddAttributes(dt_metadata))
    .Add<USED_FRAMEWORK>Instrumentation() // TODO Add <instrumentations>, e.g. .AddHttpClientInstrumentation()
    // TODO Add <exporter> in case of no OneAgent (see below)
    .Build();

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using OpenTelemetry;
using OpenTelemetry.Trace;
using OpenTelemetry.Exporter;

private const string activitySource = "Dynatrace.DotNetApp.Sample";
public static readonly ActivitySource MyActivitySource = new ActivitySource(activitySource);

public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
{

    List<KeyValuePair<string, object>> dt_metadata = new List<KeyValuePair<string, object>>();
    foreach (string name in new string[] {"dt_metadata_e617c525669e072eebe3d0f08212e8f2.properties", "/var/lib/dynatrace/enrichment/dt_metadata.properties"}) {
        try {
            foreach (string line in System.IO.File.ReadAllLines(System.IO.File.ReadAllText(name))) {
                var keyvalue = line.Split("=");
                dt_metadata.Add( new KeyValuePair<string, object>(keyvalue[0], keyvalue[1]));
            }
        }
        catch { }
    }
    services.AddControllers();

    AppContext.SetSwitch("System.Net.Http.SocketsHttpHandler.Http2UnencryptedSupport", true);

    services.AddOpenTelemetryTracing((builder) => builder
        .SetSampler(new AlwaysOnSampler())
        .AddSource(activitySource)
        .SetResourceBuilder(ResourceBuilder.CreateEmpty().AddAttributes(dt_metadata).AddService("dotnet-quickstart")) //TODO Replace with the name of your application
        .Add<USED_FRAMEWORK>Instrumentation() // TODO Add <instrumentations>, e.g. .AddHttpClientInstrumentation()
        // TODO Add <exporter> in case of no OneAgent (see below)
        ;
}

If you have the OneAgent installed, it will automatically ingest OpenTelemetry data.

Add the following package reference to your .csproj file and replace <exporter> in the code snippet above with the code below:

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<PackageReference Include="OpenTelemetry.Exporter.OpenTelemetryProtocol" Version="<Version>" />

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var token = "Api-Token <TOKEN>"; //TODO Replace <TOKEN> with the authentication token created in section 3 below

  //TODO Replace <exporter> in the code above with the following code:
  .AddOtlpExporter(otlpOptions =>
        {
            otlpOptions.Endpoint = new Uri("<URL>"); //TODO Replace <URL> with the URL as determined in section 3 below
            otlpOptions.Protocol = OtlpExportProtocol.HttpProtobuf;
            otlpOptions.Headers = $"Authorization={token}";
        })

Lastly, you need to define the correct endpoint and token, to make sure your data arrives where it should be.

• To set the endpoint:
  1. Use your Environment ID to set the endpoint to which your app will send traces as follows:
     • Dynatrace SaaS https://{your-environment-id}.live.dynatrace.com/api/v2/otlp/v1/traces
     • Dynatrace Managed https://{your-domain}/e/{your-environment-id}/api/v2/otlp/v1/traces
     • Dynatrace ActiveGate https://{your-activegate-endpoint}/e/{your-environment-id}/api/v2/otlp/v1/traces
       • You may need to include the port to your ActiveGate endpoint. For example:
         • https://{your-activegate-endpoint}:9999/e/{your-environment-id}/api/v2/otlp/v1/traces
       • If you are running a containerized ActiveGate, you need to use the FQDN of it. For example:
         • https://{your-activegate-service-name}.dynatrace.svc.cluster.local/e/{your-environment-id}/api/v2/otlp/v1/traces
  2. Replace <URL> in the code snippet above with your endpoint.
• To create an authentication token
  1. In the Dynatrace menu, go to Access tokens and select Generate new token.
  2. Provide a Token name.
  3. In the Search scopes box, search for Ingest OpenTelemetry traces and select the checkbox.
  4. Select Generate token.
  5. Select Copy to copy the token to your clipboard.
  6. Save the token in a safe place; you can't display it again.
  7. Replace <TOKEN> in the code snippet above with your token.