:_mod-docs-content-type: PROCEDURE

// Module included in the following assemblies:
//
// assembly-distributed tracing.adoc

[id='proc-enabling-tracing-type-{context}']
= Introducing a different OpenTelemetry tracing system

[role="_abstract"]
Instead of the default OTLP system, you can specify other tracing systems that are supported by OpenTelemetry.
You do this by adding the required artifacts to the Kafka image provided with Strimzi.
Any required implementation specific environment variables must also be set.
You then enable the new tracing implementation using the `OTEL_TRACES_EXPORTER` environment variable.

This procedure shows how to implement Zipkin tracing.

.Procedure

. Add the tracing artifacts to the `/opt/kafka/libs/` directory of the Kafka image.
+
You can use the Kafka container image on the {DockerRepository} as a base image for creating a new custom image.
+
.OpenTelemetry artifact for Zipkin
[source,env,subs=attributes+]
----
io.opentelemetry:opentelemetry-exporter-zipkin
----

. Set the tracing exporter and endpoint for the new tracing implementation.
+
.Example Zikpin tracer configuration
[source,yaml,subs=attributes+]
----
apiVersion: {KafkaMirrorMaker2ApiVersion}
kind: KafkaMirrorMaker2
metadata:
  name: my-mm2-cluster
spec:
  #...
  template:
    connectContainer:
      env:
        - name: OTEL_SERVICE_NAME
          value: my-zipkin-service
        - name: OTEL_EXPORTER_ZIPKIN_ENDPOINT
          value: http://zipkin-exporter-host-name:9411/api/v2/spans # <1>
        - name: OTEL_TRACES_EXPORTER
          value: zipkin # <2>
  tracing:
    type: opentelemetry
#...
----
<1> Specifies the Zipkin endpoint to connect to.
<2> The Zipkin exporter.