This tutorial demonstrates how to monitor Windows Server - including IIS and MSSQL - for logs, metrics, and traces using OpenTelemetry Collector and Prometheus Windows Exporter.

## Prerequisites

- [admin user](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/create-a-local-user-or-administrator-account-in-windows-20de74e0-ac7f-3502-a866-32915af2a34d) in Windows with the ability to install services
- `tar.gz` files unpacked

## Configuration

### Windows Exporter

**STEP 1**. Download the [latest MSI from GitHub](https://github.com/prometheus-community/windows_exporter/releases) ([0.22.0.msi](https://github.com/prometheus-community/windows_exporter/releases/download/v0.22.0/windows_exporter-0.22.0-amd64.msi) as of 30 April '23).

**STEP 2**. Open the command line and navigate to `C:\Users\Administrator\Downloads` or the MSI folder.

**STEP 3**. Select which exporter collectors you require - including MSSQL and IIS - from this verbose list: `cpu,cs,logical_disk,net,os,service,system,textfile,iis,mssql`.

**STEP 4**. Open Command Prompt.

**STEP 5.** Run the following command to install the MSI with the collectors chosen:

```bash
msiexec /i windows_exporter-0.22.0-amd64.msi ENABLED_COLLECTORS="os,iis"
```

### OpenTelemetry Collector

**STEP 1**. Download the [latest tar.gz from GitHub](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-releases/releases) ([0.76.1.tar.gz](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-releases/releases/download/v0.76.1/otelcol-contrib_0.76.1_windows_amd64.tar.gz) as of 30 April '23).

**STEP 2**. Unpack the content into a `C:\\cx-otel`. This may require you to install a program to unpack tar.gz files.

**STEP 3**. Create a `config.yaml` based on the following configuration.

```yaml
receivers:
  filelog:
    include: [ C:\inetpub\logs\LogFiles\*.* ]
  prometheus:
    config:
      scrape_configs:
        - job_name: 'windows_exporter'
          scrape_interval: 15s
          static_configs:
            - targets: ['0.0.0.0:9182']
processors:
  resourcedetection:
    detectors: [system]
    system:
      hostname_sources: ["os"]
  batch:

exporters:
  coralogix:
    metrics:
      endpoint: "ingress.[[DOMAIN_VALUE]]:443"
    logs:
      endpoint: "ingress.[[DOMAIN_VALUE]]:443"
    private_key: "coralogix-api-key"
    application_name: "WinServer"
    subsystem_name: "Host"

service:
  pipelines:
    metrics:
      receivers: [prometheus]
      processors: [resourcedetection, batch]
      exporters: [coralogix]
    logs:
      receivers: [filelog]
      processors: [resourcedetection, batch]
      exporters: [coralogix]
```

**Notes**:

- The example configuration captures metrics from windows_exporter and logs from IIS. Modify as necessary.

- You are required to input the following variables:

  - `endpoint`: Select the [**OpenTelemetry endpoint**](https://coralogix.com/docs/integrations/coralogix-endpoints/index.md) associated with your **Coralogix domain**
  - `private_key`: Your Coralogix [Send-Your-Data API key](https://coralogix.com/docs/user-guides/account-management/api-keys/send-your-data-api-key/index.md)
  - `application_name` & `subsystem_name`: [Application and subsystem names](https://coralogix.com/docs/user-guides/account-management/account-settings/application-and-subsystem-names/index.md) as they will appear in your Coralogix UI

**STEP 4**. Install the collector as a service by running the following command:

```pwsh
sc.exe create cx-otelcol displayname=cx-otelcol start=delayed-auto binPath="C:\cx-otel\otelcol-contrib.exe --config C:\cx-otel\config.yaml"
```

**STEP 5**. Run the service.

```pwsh
sc.exe start cx-otelcol
```

### Additional Configurations

Configure [Windows exporter dashboards](https://github.com/coralogix/grafana-dashboards/tree/master/windows-prometheus) and the OpenTelemetry Kubernetes Extension to monitor the collector itself.

## Validation & Testing

**STEP 1**. Open Services and check that both `windows_exporter` and `cx-otelcol` service are running.

**STEP 2**. To validate which metrics exist in `windows_exporter`, navigate to <http://localhost:9182/metrics>.

**Notes**:

- `windows_exporter.exe` is unsafe and may require a specific "unblock" in its settings.
- Both `windows_exporter` and `otelcol` can be run without services to check for logs in the command prompt.

**STEP 3**. Navigate to [Grafana Explore](https://coralogix.com/docs/user-guides/visualizations/grafana-plugin/index.md) to confirm that `windows_*` metrics are arriving in your Coralogix dashboard.

## Additional Links

|           |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            |
| --------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| Github    | [Official OpenTelemetry Collector with Coralogix Exporter](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/tree/main/exporter/coralogixexporter) [Coralogix Windows Exporter Dashboards](https://github.com/coralogix/grafana-dashboards/tree/master/windows-prometheus) |
| Tutorials | [Tail Sampling with Coralogix and OpenTelemetry](https://coralogix.com/docs/opentelemetry/tail-sampling/tail-sampling-with-coralogix-and-opentelemetry/index.md)                                                                                                                           |
| Blogs     | [How to Configure the OTel Community Demo App to Send Telemetry Data to Coralogix](https://coralogix.com/blog/configure-otel-demo-send-telemetry-data-coralogix/)                                                                                                                          |

## Support

**Need help?**

Our world-class customer success team is available 24/7 to walk you through your setup and answer any questions that may come up.

Feel free to reach out to us **via our in-app chat** or by sending us an email at [support@coralogix.com](mailto:support@coralogix.com).