Vector

Vector is the reference node-local receiver for Bee. The sample accepts OTLP/HTTP protobuf, decodes trace events, prints them, and writes newline-delimited JSON.

Minimal configuration

The downloadable Vector configuration uses Vector 0.57:

sources:
  bee:
    type: opentelemetry
    grpc:
      address: 127.0.0.1:4317
    http:
      address: 127.0.0.1:4318
    acknowledgements: false
    use_otlp_decoding:
      logs: false
      metrics: false
      traces: true

sinks:
  console:
    type: console
    inputs: [bee.traces]
    encoding:
      codec: json

  file:
    type: file
    inputs: [bee.traces]
    path: /var/lib/vector/bee-traces.json
    encoding:
      codec: json

Vector 0.57 requires both the grpc and http protocol blocks even though Bee uses only HTTP. Bind gRPC to loopback too.

Run it with the Docker demo

sudo docker compose --profile vector up -d
sudo docker compose logs -f vector

The JSON file persists in the vector-data named volume:

sudo docker compose exec vector tail -n 10 /var/lib/vector/bee-traces.json

The bee.traces stream contains decoded span events. Query text and request metadata may be present, so protect the file like application telemetry.

Route to a real backend

Replace or supplement the demo sinks with the sink supported by your destination. Keep these constraints:

• use bee.traces as the input;
• place a bounded disk buffer on the outgoing sink;
• keep acknowledgement and retry semantics compatible with your duplication tolerance;
• keep the local Bee receiver on loopback;
• monitor Vector’s buffer and component error metrics.

If your destination accepts OTLP and you want a generic OTLP-to-OTLP relay, the OpenTelemetry Collector example is the simpler starting point. Vector is a good fit when you also need host metrics, Docker logs, transforms, or a backend-specific sink.

Collect Bee’s Prometheus metrics

Bee does not send its own operational metrics through the trace exporter. Add a Prometheus scrape source when you want Vector to carry them:

sources:
  bee_metrics:
    type: prometheus_scrape
    endpoints:
      - http://127.0.0.1:9400/metrics
    scrape_interval_secs: 15

Route bee_metrics to your metrics backend separately from bee.traces.