---
title: "Getting Started with the OTel Demo App"
slug: "getting-started-with-the-otel-demo-app"
updated: 2024-06-28T16:52:19Z
published: 2024-06-28T16:52:19Z
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.stackify.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Getting Started with the OTel Demo App

This guide is meant to walk through how to install the [OTel appliance](https://docs.stackify.com/docs/the-otel-appliance) and configure the [official OpenTelemetry Demo](https://opentelemetry.io/docs/demo/docker-deployment/) with Docker running locally on a Windows machine.

Although specific configuration will vary per environment (eg setting up configuration in an AWS cloud environment will differ from an Azure Cloud environment), the main overall steps are similar:

1. Install the Retrace appliance in a container
2. Instrument/Configure your application to send data to…
  1. your collector and then to the Retrace appliance, OR
  2. the appliance directly

Below is an example of configuring the Retrace OTel Appliance to run in a container of a self-managed version of Docker (Docker Desktop) with OpenTelemetry’s official demo application running in that same container.

### Pre Reqs

- Install [Docker Desktop](https://www.docker.com/products/docker-desktop/)
- Clone the [OTel Sample App](https://github.com/netreo/opentelemetry-demo)

```
git clone https://github.com/netreo/opentelemetry-demo.git
```

#### Step 1: Run the Demo App

Follow the guide at [https://opentelemetry.io/docs/demo/docker-deployment/#get-and-run-the-demo](https://opentelemetry.io/docs/demo/docker-deployment/#get-and-run-the-demo) to get the demo app up and running locally

#### Step 2: Pull down the docker image of the OTel Appliance

Pull down the Retrace OTel docker image from Docker Hub:

```
docker pull stackify/retrace-otel-agent
```

#### Step 3: Update the docker-compose file

Add the following to your existing `docker-compose.yml` file under the `services:` section:

```
services:
  retrace-otel-appliance: 
      image: stackify/retrace-otel-agent:latest
      container_name: retrace-otel-appliance
      environment:
        - RETRACE__ACTIVATIONKEY=**YOUR_RETRACE_ACTIVATION_KEY**
        - RETRACE__ENVIRONMENTNAME="**YOUR RETRACE ENVIRONMENT NAME**"
      ports:
        # OTLPHTTP Protocol
        - "4080:80" # standard
        # OTLP Protocol (gRPC)
        - "4443:443" # standard
        # local admin port
        - "5001:80"   # localhost:5001 to localhost:80 (container port)
```

          Note:

          

Add your Retrace Activation Key and Retrace Environment Name. The Retrace Activation Key can be found here: [Retrace Activation Key](https://s1.stackify.com/Onboarding/InstallGuide/InstallRetrace)

Below is an example of what the `docker-compose.yml` file could look like with the OTel appliance configuration added: ![image.png](https://cdn.document360.io/3fcaf473-a1ef-4778-aa2c-fd28411c2b01/Images/Documentation/image%2837%29.png)

#### Step 4: Add the Appliance as an exporter

In the `opentelemetry-demo/src/otelcollector/otelcol-config.yml` file, make the following changes to add the Retrace Appliance as a collector for the traces and logs pipelines:

```
exporters:
    otlphttp/retrace:
        endpoint: "http://retrace-otel-appliance:80"
        tls:
            insecure: true
            insecure_skip_verify: true

service:
	pipelines:
         traces:
           exporters:
	        - otlphttp/retrace
         logs:
            exporters:
	         - otlphttp/retrace
```

          Note:

          

There are multipe ways to set the exporters for the `traces` and `logs` pipeline. See below for an example `otelcol-config.yml` file.

![image.png](https://cdn.document360.io/3fcaf473-a1ef-4778-aa2c-fd28411c2b01/Images/Documentation/image%2844%29.png)

#### Step 5: Run the docker compose up command

```
docker compose up -d
```

This will apply the configuration changes made in steps 3 and 4 and run the demo application

#### Step 6: View the Demo Application

For this application, here are the observability services configured:

- Web store: http://localhost:8080/
- Grafana: http://localhost:8080/grafana/
- Feature Flags UI: http://localhost:8080/feature/
- Load Generator UI: http://localhost:8080/loadgen/
- Jaeger UI: http://localhost:8080/jaeger/ui/
- OTel Retrace Appliance Dashboard (for troubleshooting):  http://localhost:5001/

#### Step 7: Viewing your data in Retrace

Once the application is up and running and receiving traffic, you should be able to [view your Application's performance data](https://docs.stackify.com/docs/account-application-dashboard-overview) in Retrace: ![image.png](https://cdn.document360.io/3fcaf473-a1ef-4778-aa2c-fd28411c2b01/Images/Documentation/image%2838%29.png)