---
title: "Install the Collector on Linux"
source: OpenTelemetry Documentation
source_url: https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry.io
licence: CC-BY-4.0
domain: engineering
subdomain: opentelemetry-docs
date_added: 2026-04-25
---

Every Collector release includes APK, DEB and RPM packaging for Linux
amd64/arm64/i386 systems. You can find the default configuration in
`/etc/otelcol/config.yaml` after installation.

> Note: `systemd` is required for automatic service configuration.

## DEB installation

To get started on Debian systems, run the following commands:

{{< tabpane text=true >}} {{% tab AMD64 %}}

```sh
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get -y install wget
wget https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-releases/releases/download/v{{% param vers %}}/otelcol_{{% param vers %}}_linux_amd64.deb
sudo dpkg -i otelcol_{{% param vers %}}_linux_amd64.deb
```

{{% /tab %}} {{% tab ARM64 %}}

```sh
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get -y install wget
wget https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-releases/releases/download/v{{% param vers %}}/otelcol_{{% param vers %}}_linux_arm64.deb
sudo dpkg -i otelcol_{{% param vers %}}_linux_arm64.deb
```

{{% /tab %}} {{% tab i386 %}}

```sh
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get -y install wget
wget https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-releases/releases/download/v{{% param vers %}}/otelcol_{{% param vers %}}_linux_386.deb
sudo dpkg -i otelcol_{{% param vers %}}_linux_386.deb
```

{{% /tab %}} {{< /tabpane >}}

## RPM installation

To get started on Red Hat systems, run the following commands:

{{< tabpane text=true >}} {{% tab AMD64 %}}

```sh
sudo yum update
sudo yum -y install wget systemctl
wget https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-releases/releases/download/v{{% param vers %}}/otelcol_{{% param vers %}}_linux_amd64.rpm
sudo rpm -ivh otelcol_{{% param vers %}}_linux_amd64.rpm
```

{{% /tab %}} {{% tab ARM64 %}}

```sh
sudo yum update
sudo yum -y install wget systemctl
wget https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-releases/releases/download/v{{% param vers %}}/otelcol_{{% param vers %}}_linux_arm64.rpm
sudo rpm -ivh otelcol_{{% param vers %}}_linux_arm64.rpm
```

{{% /tab %}} {{% tab i386 %}}

```sh
sudo yum update
sudo yum -y install wget systemctl
wget https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-releases/releases/download/v{{% param vers %}}/otelcol_{{% param vers %}}_linux_386.rpm
sudo rpm -ivh otelcol_{{% param vers %}}_linux_386.rpm
```

{{% /tab %}} {{< /tabpane >}}

## Manual installation

Linux [releases][] are available for various architectures. You can download the
binary file and install it on your machine manually:

{{< tabpane text=true >}} {{% tab AMD64 %}}

```sh
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -fOL https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-releases/releases/download/v{{% param vers %}}/otelcol_{{% param vers %}}_linux_amd64.tar.gz
tar -xvf otelcol_{{% param vers %}}_linux_amd64.tar.gz
```

{{% /tab %}} {{% tab ARM64 %}}

```sh
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -fOL https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-releases/releases/download/v{{% param vers %}}/otelcol_{{% param vers %}}_linux_arm64.tar.gz
tar -xvf otelcol_{{% param vers %}}_linux_arm64.tar.gz
```

{{% /tab %}} {{% tab i386 %}}

```sh
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -fOL https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-releases/releases/download/v{{% param vers %}}/otelcol_{{% param vers %}}_linux_386.tar.gz
tar -xvf otelcol_{{% param vers %}}_linux_386.tar.gz
```

{{% /tab %}} {{% tab ppc64le %}}

```sh
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -fOL https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-releases/releases/download/v{{% param vers %}}/otelcol_{{% param vers %}}_linux_ppc64le.tar.gz
tar -xvf otelcol_{{% param vers %}}_linux_ppc64le.tar.gz
```

{{% /tab %}} {{< /tabpane >}}

## Automatic service configuration

When the OpenTelemetry Collector runs as a `systemd` service, it starts with the
`/etc/otelcol/config.yaml` configuration file by default.

If you want to change this setting, you can edit the `OTELCOL_OPTIONS` variable
in the `systemd` environment file, `/etc/otelcol/otelcol.conf`. You can also
define additional environment variables for the `otelcol` service in the same
file. For a complete list of supported options, run the following command:

```sh
/usr/bin/otelcol --help
```

If you modify the Collector configuration file (`config.yaml`) or the
environment file (`otelcol.conf`), you must restart the service to apply the
changes:

```sh
sudo systemctl restart otelcol
```

To check the log output from the `otelcol` service, run:

```sh
sudo journalctl -u otelcol
```

[releases]:
  https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-releases/releases
