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sec-design.md

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Okay, let's create a design document for the OpenTelemetry Collector, keeping in mind its purpose and potential deployment scenarios.

BUSINESS POSTURE

The OpenTelemetry Collector is a crucial component in modern observability pipelines. It's designed to be vendor-agnostic, receiving telemetry data (traces, metrics, logs) from various sources, processing it, and exporting it to one or more observability backends.

Business Priorities and Goals:

  • Reliability: The Collector must operate reliably, without data loss or significant performance degradation, even under heavy load. It's often a critical path component.
  • Flexibility: The Collector needs to support a wide range of input formats (OpenTelemetry, Jaeger, Zipkin, Prometheus, etc.) and output formats (various observability backends like Jaeger, Prometheus, cloud-specific services, etc.).
  • Extensibility: The architecture should allow for easy addition of new receivers, processors, and exporters to adapt to evolving needs and new technologies.
  • Scalability: The Collector should be able to scale horizontally to handle increasing volumes of telemetry data.
  • Cost-Effectiveness: While providing robust functionality, the Collector should be resource-efficient to minimize operational costs.
  • Vendor Neutrality: A primary goal is to avoid vendor lock-in, allowing users to switch between different observability backends easily.
  • Observability of Itself: The Collector should expose its own metrics and traces for monitoring its health and performance.

Business Risks:

  • Data Loss: Loss of telemetry data due to Collector failure or misconfiguration can lead to blind spots in monitoring and hinder incident response.
  • Performance Bottlenecks: If the Collector becomes a bottleneck, it can delay the delivery of telemetry data, impacting the effectiveness of monitoring and alerting.
  • Configuration Complexity: Incorrect or overly complex configurations can lead to instability, data loss, or security vulnerabilities.
  • Security Vulnerabilities: As a component handling potentially sensitive data, the Collector must be secure against attacks that could lead to data breaches or denial of service.
  • Dependency Issues: Reliance on external libraries and components introduces the risk of supply chain attacks or vulnerabilities in those dependencies.
  • Lack of Observability: Inability to monitor the Collector's own health and performance can make it difficult to diagnose and resolve issues.

SECURITY POSTURE

Existing Security Controls:

  • security control: Configuration via YAML files: The primary configuration mechanism is through YAML files, which define the receivers, processors, exporters, and pipelines. (Described in the Collector's documentation and configuration schema).
  • security control: Support for TLS/mTLS: The Collector supports TLS/mTLS for secure communication with receivers and exporters. (Described in the configuration options for individual receivers and exporters).
  • security control: Extensible Architecture: The modular design allows for the development of custom extensions with specific security considerations. (Described in the Collector's extensibility documentation).
  • security control: Community Scrutiny: As an open-source project, the Collector benefits from community review and contributions, which can help identify and address security issues.
  • security control: Regular Releases: The OpenTelemetry project maintains a regular release cadence, including security patches and updates.
  • security control: Authentication and authorization mechanisms for receivers: Some receivers (e.g., the OTLP receiver) can be configured with authentication and authorization mechanisms. (Described in the documentation for specific receivers).

Accepted Risks:

  • accepted risk: Default Configuration: The default configuration may not be secure for all environments and requires careful review and customization.
  • accepted risk: Extension Security: The security of custom extensions (receivers, processors, exporters) is the responsibility of the extension developer.
  • accepted risk: Dependency Management: While efforts are made to vet dependencies, there's always a residual risk of supply chain vulnerabilities.

Recommended Security Controls:

  • Implement robust input validation for all receivers to prevent injection attacks.
  • Provide clear guidelines and best practices for secure configuration, including examples for common use cases.
  • Integrate with secret management solutions (e.g., HashiCorp Vault, cloud-specific key management services) for secure handling of sensitive configuration values (API keys, credentials).
  • Implement a security linter for configuration files to detect potential misconfigurations.
  • Conduct regular security audits and penetration testing.
  • Establish a clear vulnerability disclosure and response process.

Security Requirements:

  • Authentication:
    • Receivers should support authentication mechanisms appropriate for the data source (e.g., API keys, bearer tokens, mutual TLS).
    • The Collector itself may need to authenticate to exporters (e.g., when sending data to a cloud service).
  • Authorization:
    • Implement authorization policies to control access to specific receivers or data streams.
    • Consider role-based access control (RBAC) for managing Collector configurations.
  • Input Validation:
    • All receivers must perform rigorous input validation to prevent malformed data from causing crashes, resource exhaustion, or security vulnerabilities.
    • Validation should be based on the expected data format and schema.
  • Cryptography:
    • Use TLS/mTLS for all network communication, both for receiving and exporting data.
    • Ensure that cryptographic libraries are up-to-date and configured securely.
    • Use strong ciphers and protocols.
    • Protect sensitive configuration values (e.g., API keys) using encryption at rest and in transit.

DESIGN

C4 CONTEXT

graph LR
    subgraph "Telemetry Sources"
        A[Application 1]
        B[Application 2]
        C[Infrastructure]
    end

    D[OpenTelemetry Collector]

    subgraph "Observability Backends"
        E[Jaeger]
        F[Prometheus]
        G[Cloud Monitoring]
    end
  H[Developers]
  I[SRE Team]

    A --> D
    B --> D
    C --> D
    D --> E
    D --> F
    D --> G
  H --> D
  I --> D
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Context Diagram Element Description:

  • Element:
    • Name: Application 1
    • Type: Software System
    • Description: An application that generates telemetry data (traces, metrics, logs).
    • Responsibilities: Performing its business function and emitting telemetry data.
    • Security controls: Application-level security controls (authentication, authorization, input validation, etc.).
  • Element:
    • Name: Application 2
    • Type: Software System
    • Description: Another application that generates telemetry data.
    • Responsibilities: Performing its business function and emitting telemetry data.
    • Security controls: Application-level security controls.
  • Element:
    • Name: Infrastructure
    • Type: System
    • Description: Infrastructure components (servers, databases, networks) that generate telemetry data.
    • Responsibilities: Providing the underlying infrastructure for applications and emitting telemetry data.
    • Security controls: Infrastructure-level security controls (firewalls, intrusion detection systems, etc.).
  • Element:
    • Name: OpenTelemetry Collector
    • Type: Software System
    • Description: The central component that receives, processes, and exports telemetry data.
    • Responsibilities: Receiving data from various sources, processing it (filtering, aggregation, etc.), and exporting it to various backends.
    • Security controls: TLS/mTLS, authentication/authorization for receivers, input validation, secure configuration management.
  • Element:
    • Name: Jaeger
    • Type: Software System
    • Description: A distributed tracing backend.
    • Responsibilities: Storing and visualizing traces.
    • Security controls: Access controls, data encryption.
  • Element:
    • Name: Prometheus
    • Type: Software System
    • Description: A time-series database for metrics.
    • Responsibilities: Storing and querying metrics.
    • Security controls: Access controls, data encryption.
  • Element:
    • Name: Cloud Monitoring
    • Type: Software System
    • Description: A cloud-based monitoring service.
    • Responsibilities: Providing a comprehensive monitoring solution.
    • Security controls: Cloud provider's security controls.
  • Element:
    • Name: Developers
    • Type: Person
    • Description: Developers who configure and maintain the applications sending telemetry.
    • Responsibilities: Instrumenting applications to emit telemetry data.
    • Security controls: Access to development environments and code repositories.
  • Element:
    • Name: SRE Team
    • Type: Person
    • Description: Site Reliability Engineers who manage the OpenTelemetry Collector and observability infrastructure.
    • Responsibilities: Configuring, deploying, and monitoring the Collector.
    • Security controls: Access to Collector configuration, deployment environments, and monitoring dashboards.

C4 CONTAINER

graph LR
    subgraph "OpenTelemetry Collector"
        A[Receivers]
        B[Processors]
        C[Exporters]
        D[Extensions]
        E[Service]

        E -- "Uses" --> A
        E -- "Uses" --> B
        E -- "Uses" --> C
        E -- "Uses" --> D
        A -- "Data Flow" --> B
        B -- "Data Flow" --> C
    end
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Container Diagram Element Description:

  • Element:
    • Name: Receivers
    • Type: Container
    • Description: Components that receive telemetry data from various sources.
    • Responsibilities: Listening for incoming data, authenticating (if required), validating input, and converting it to an internal representation.
    • Security controls: TLS/mTLS, authentication/authorization mechanisms, input validation.
  • Element:
    • Name: Processors
    • Type: Container
    • Description: Components that process telemetry data.
    • Responsibilities: Filtering, aggregating, sampling, transforming, and enriching data.
    • Security controls: Secure configuration, protection against resource exhaustion.
  • Element:
    • Name: Exporters
    • Type: Container
    • Description: Components that send telemetry data to various backends.
    • Responsibilities: Converting data to the backend's format, authenticating (if required), and sending data over the network.
    • Security controls: TLS/mTLS, authentication/authorization mechanisms.
  • Element:
    • Name: Extensions
    • Type: Container
    • Description: Optional components that provide additional functionality.
    • Responsibilities: Providing features like health checks, service discovery, and custom logic.
    • Security controls: Dependent on the specific extension; should follow secure coding practices.
  • Element:
    • Name: Service
    • Type: Container
    • Description: The core component that orchestrates the data flow between receivers, processors, and exporters.
    • Responsibilities: Managing the pipeline, handling configuration, and providing a control plane.
    • Security controls: Secure configuration management, access controls.

DEPLOYMENT

Possible Deployment Solutions:

  1. Standalone Binary: Deploy the Collector as a standalone binary on a virtual machine or bare-metal server.
  2. Docker Container: Deploy the Collector as a Docker container.
  3. Kubernetes: Deploy the Collector as a Kubernetes Deployment or StatefulSet.
  4. Sidecar: Deploy the Collector as a sidecar container alongside the application.
  5. DaemonSet: Deploy as DaemonSet to collect host metrics.

Chosen Solution (Kubernetes Deployment):

graph LR
    subgraph "Kubernetes Cluster"
        subgraph "Namespace: monitoring"
            A[OpenTelemetry Collector Pod]
            B[ConfigMap]
            C[Service]
            D[Ingress (Optional)]

            A -- "Uses" --> B
            C -- "Exposes" --> A
            D -- "Routes to" --> C
        end
    end

    E[External Load Balancer (Optional)]
    E -- "Routes to" --> D

    subgraph "Telemetry Sources"
      F[Application Pods]
    end
    F --> C
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Deployment Diagram Element Description:

  • Element:
    • Name: OpenTelemetry Collector Pod
    • Type: Kubernetes Pod
    • Description: One or more instances of the OpenTelemetry Collector running as a Pod.
    • Responsibilities: Running the Collector process.
    • Security controls: Kubernetes security context, network policies.
  • Element:
    • Name: ConfigMap
    • Type: Kubernetes ConfigMap
    • Description: Stores the Collector's configuration (YAML file).
    • Responsibilities: Providing configuration to the Collector Pods.
    • Security controls: Kubernetes RBAC, encryption at rest (if using a secrets management solution).
  • Element:
    • Name: Service
    • Type: Kubernetes Service
    • Description: Provides a stable endpoint for accessing the Collector Pods.
    • Responsibilities: Load balancing traffic across Collector Pods.
    • Security controls: Kubernetes network policies.
  • Element:
    • Name: Ingress (Optional)
    • Type: Kubernetes Ingress
    • Description: Exposes the Collector Service to external traffic (if required).
    • Responsibilities: Routing external traffic to the Collector Service.
    • Security controls: TLS termination, authentication/authorization (if configured).
  • Element:
    • Name: External Load Balancer (Optional)
    • Type: Load Balancer
    • Description: Load balances traffic across multiple Kubernetes nodes (if using an Ingress).
    • Responsibilities: Distributing external traffic to the Kubernetes cluster.
    • Security controls: Cloud provider's load balancer security features.
  • Element:
    • Name: Application Pods
    • Type: Kubernetes Pod
    • Description: Pods running the applications that generate telemetry data.
    • Responsibilities: Running the application and emitting telemetry.
    • Security controls: Application and Kubernetes security controls.

BUILD

The OpenTelemetry Collector build process is primarily managed through GitHub Actions, leveraging Go's build system and various linters and security scanners.

graph LR
    A[Developer] --> B[GitHub Repository]
    B -- "Push/PR" --> C[GitHub Actions]
    C -- "Go Build" --> D[Build Artifacts]
    C -- "Linting (golangci-lint)" --> E{Linting Passed?}
    C -- "SAST (gosec)" --> F{SAST Passed?}
    C -- "Dependency Scanning (Snyk/Dependabot)" --> G{Dependency Check Passed?}
    E -- "Yes" --> H[Continue Build]
    E -- "No" --> I[Fail Build]
    F -- "Yes" --> H
    F -- "No" --> I
    G -- "Yes" --> H
    G -- "No" --> I
    H --> D
    D --> J[Container Registry (e.g., Docker Hub, Quay.io)]
    D --> K[Release Assets (GitHub Releases)]
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Build Process Description:

  1. Developer: Developers write code and push changes to the GitHub repository.
  2. GitHub Repository: The central repository for the OpenTelemetry Collector code.
  3. GitHub Actions: Automated workflows triggered by events (push, pull request) in the repository.
  4. Go Build: The Go compiler builds the Collector binary.
  5. Linting (golangci-lint): Static analysis tool to enforce code style and identify potential issues.
  6. SAST (gosec): Static Application Security Testing tool to scan for security vulnerabilities in the Go code.
  7. Dependency Scanning (Snyk/Dependabot): Scans dependencies for known vulnerabilities.
  8. Build Artifacts: The output of the build process, including the Collector binary and container images.
  9. Container Registry: Stores container images of the Collector.
  10. Release Assets (GitHub Releases): Stores release binaries and other artifacts.

Security Controls in Build Process:

  • Code Review: All code changes are reviewed by other developers before merging.
  • Linting: Enforces code style and helps prevent common errors.
  • SAST: Identifies potential security vulnerabilities in the code.
  • Dependency Scanning: Detects known vulnerabilities in dependencies.
  • Signed Releases: Releases are often signed to ensure authenticity.
  • Automated Builds: GitHub Actions provides a consistent and reproducible build environment.

RISK ASSESSMENT

Critical Business Processes:

  • Monitoring and Alerting: The Collector is essential for collecting the data that powers monitoring and alerting systems. Failure of the Collector can disrupt these processes, leading to delayed or missed alerts.
  • Incident Response: Telemetry data is crucial for diagnosing and resolving incidents. Loss of data or delays in data delivery can hinder incident response efforts.
  • Performance Analysis: The Collector provides data for analyzing application and infrastructure performance, identifying bottlenecks, and optimizing resource utilization.
  • Security Monitoring: The Collector can be used to collect security-related telemetry data, such as audit logs and security events.

Data Sensitivity:

  • Telemetry data can contain sensitive information, depending on the application and the level of instrumentation. Examples include:
    • Personally Identifiable Information (PII): User IDs, IP addresses, email addresses.
    • Business-Sensitive Data: Transaction details, customer data, internal API calls.
    • Security Credentials: API keys, tokens (if improperly exposed in traces or logs).
  • Data Sensitivity Levels:
    • High: Data that, if compromised, could lead to significant financial or reputational damage (e.g., PII, financial data).
    • Medium: Data that could cause moderate harm (e.g., internal API calls, operational metrics).
    • Low: Data that poses minimal risk (e.g., publicly available information).

QUESTIONS & ASSUMPTIONS

Questions:

  • What specific compliance requirements (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA, PCI DSS) apply to the environments where the Collector will be deployed?
  • What are the expected data volumes (events per second, data size) that the Collector will need to handle?
  • What are the specific observability backends that the Collector will be exporting data to?
  • Are there any existing security tools or processes that the Collector needs to integrate with?
  • What is the level of expertise of the team that will be managing the Collector?
  • What level of access will the collector have to the network?
  • What is the expected latency for data ingestion and export?

Assumptions:

  • BUSINESS POSTURE: The organization prioritizes observability and understands the importance of reliable telemetry data collection.
  • BUSINESS POSTURE: The organization has a moderate risk appetite, balancing the need for innovation with the need for security and stability.
  • SECURITY POSTURE: The Collector will be deployed in a relatively secure environment (e.g., a private network, a Kubernetes cluster with appropriate security controls).
  • SECURITY POSTURE: The team managing the Collector has basic security awareness and will follow best practices.
  • DESIGN: The Collector will be configured to use TLS/mTLS for all network communication.
  • DESIGN: The Collector will be deployed with appropriate resource limits to prevent resource exhaustion.
  • DESIGN: Regular updates and security patches will be applied to the Collector.
  • DESIGN: Build process will be automated and secured.