observability-edot-java-migrate

name: observability-edot-java-migrate description: > Migrate a Java application from the classic Elastic APM Java agent to the EDOT Java agent. Use when switching from elastic-apm-agent.jar to elastic-otel-javaagent.jar. metadata: author: elastic version: 0.1.1

EDOT Java Migration

Read the migration guide before making changes:

• Migration guide
• EDOT Java setup
• EDOT Java configuration

Guidelines

1. Remove ALL classic APM references: elastic-apm-agent.jar, elasticapm.properties, all ELASTIC_APM_* env vars, and any co.elastic.apm Maven/Gradle dependencies
2. Use elastic-otel-javaagent.jar (download from Maven Central, not a Maven/Gradle compile dependency)
3. Attach via -javaagent:/path/to/elastic-otel-javaagent.jar or JAVA_TOOL_OPTIONS="-javaagent:/path/to/elastic-otel-javaagent.jar" — without this the agent does nothing
4. Set exactly three required environment variables:
   • OTEL_SERVICE_NAME (replaces ELASTIC_APM_SERVICE_NAME)
   • OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT — must be the managed OTLP endpoint or EDOT Collector URL. Do NOT reuse the old ELASTIC_APM_SERVER_URL value. Never use an APM Server URL (no apm-server, no :8200, no /intake/v2/events)
   • OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_HEADERS — "Authorization=ApiKey <key>" or "Authorization=Bearer <token>" (replaces ELASTIC_APM_SECRET_TOKEN / API_KEY)
5. Do NOT set OTEL_TRACES_EXPORTER, OTEL_METRICS_EXPORTER, or OTEL_LOGS_EXPORTER — the defaults are already correct
6. Never run both classic Elastic APM agent and EDOT agent on the same JVM

Examples

See the EDOT Java migration guide for complete examples.