Docs » Get started with the Splunk Distribution of the OpenTelemetry Collector » Discover telemetry sources automatically » Automatic discovery and configuration for Kubernetes » Tutorial: Capture traces from a Java application in Kubernetes » Part 1: Configure your Kubernetes environment

Part 1: Configure your Kubernetes environment 🔗

Before deploying the OpenTelemetry Collector, you must have a running Kubernetes cluster. Use minikube to create the Kubernetes cluster.

Run the Kubernetes cluster 🔗

Start by running the cluster and creating a new namespace for the application.

  1. Start running the cluster with minikube start.

  2. Create a namespace for the sample application. For this example, name the namespace petclinic:

    kubectl create namespace petclinic

This namespace helps you differentiate between the many different pods running in the cluster.

Configure the values.yaml file for the Helm Chart 🔗

Now, you need to configure Helm to correctly install the Splunk Distribution of OpenTelemetry Collector:

  1. Create a new directory called spring-petclinic-app to store the files for Helm.

  2. In the spring-petclinic-app directory, create a file called values.yaml. This file stores keys and values that configure the Splunk Distribution of OpenTelemetry Collector through the Helm Chart.

  3. Using the following table, add keys and values to values.yaml:

    Key

    Value

    Notes

    clusterName

    my-cluster or your desired cluster name

    Name of the Kubernetes cluster

    splunkObservability.realm

    Your Splunk Observability Cloud realm

    Deployment of the Splunk Observability Cloud instance

    splunkObservability.accessToken

    Your Splunk Observability Cloud access token

    Allows you to send telemetry data to Splunk Observability Cloud

    environment

    prd or your desired environment name

    Tags data that the application sends to Splunk Observability Cloud, allowing you to see the data in Splunk APM

    certmanager.enabled

    true

    Activates the certification manager for Helm

    operator.enabled

    true

    Activates the OpenTelemetry Kubernetes Operator

    After adding these keys and values, your values.yaml file looks like the following example:

    clusterName: my-cluster

# your credentials for Splunk Observability Cloud
splunkObservability:
  realm: <splunk-realm>
  accessToken: <splunk-access-token>

# deployment environment value, which tags the data sent by your application
environment: prd
certmanager:
  enabled: true
operator:
  enabled: true

Next step 🔗

You’ve now configured your Kubernetes environment by starting your Kubernetes cluster, creating a namespace for your application, and configuring the values.yaml file.

Next, install the Splunk Distribution of OpenTelemetry Collector using Helm. See Part 2: Deploy the Collector and Java application to continue.