diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4d2da66
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+/dev_environment/.vagrant
+/dev_environment/*.log
diff --git a/dev_environment/README.md b/dev_environment/README.md
index 0377a1a..92cf5c1 100644
--- a/dev_environment/README.md
+++ b/dev_environment/README.md
@@ -75,3 +75,7 @@ Here is a visual overview:
   3. Start traffic mirrroing via `curl -X POST http://localhost:37080/l3af/configs/v1/add -d "@cfg/traffic_mirroring_payload.json"` from the host
   4. Delete the default route by executing this command (`sudo ip r del 192.168.10.50 via 192.168.10.1 dev enp0s8`) on l3af-VM as it is not required in the current vagrant environment
   5. SSH into Collector VM via `vagrant ssh collector` command and execute `sudo tcpdump -i enp0s8` to see the mirrored-GUE packets and `sudo tcpdump -i gue1` to see the mirrored-original packets when we send traffic to the l3af VM web server (`hey -n 200 -c 20 http://localhost:18080`) from the host
+* Additional steps if you would like to use a custom backend instead of Prometheus for observability through Opentelemetry Collector:
+  1. Set `otel_collector: 'true'` in [config.yaml](config.yaml)
+  2. Set `endpoint` field in [otel-collector-config.yaml](../dev_environment/cfg/otel-collector-config.yml) under `exporters` > `prometheusremotewrite`. Refer [Opentelemetry Exporters](https://opentelemetry.io/docs/collector/configuration/#exporters) documentation to know more.
+  3. Redeploy the Vagrant script (`vagrant reload --provision`) to install the Opentelemetry Collector binary.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/dev_environment/Vagrantfile b/dev_environment/Vagrantfile
index e2753e2..b548f09 100644
--- a/dev_environment/Vagrantfile
+++ b/dev_environment/Vagrantfile
@@ -91,6 +91,51 @@ Vagrant.configure("2") do |config|
         rsync
     SHELL
 
+    # Install Opentelemetry collector
+    if cfg['otel_collector'] == "true"
+      l3af.vm.provision "shell", inline: <<-SHELL
+        OTEL_VERSION="0.97.0"
+        ARCH=$(uname -p)
+        case $ARCH in
+          arm)
+            echo "Installing OTELC for arm"
+            OTEL_ARCH=arm64
+            ;;
+          aarch64)
+            echo "Installing OTELC for arm"
+            OTEL_ARCH=arm64
+            ;;
+          x86_64)
+            echo "Installing OTELC for amd64"
+            OTEL_ARCH=amd64
+            ;;
+          i386)
+            KERNEL=$(uname -m)
+            if [ "$KERNEL" = "x86_64" ];
+            then
+              echo "Installing OTELC for amd64"
+              OTEL_ARCH=amd64
+            elif [ "$KERNEL" = "i386" ];
+            then
+              echo "Installing OTELC for i386"
+              OTEL_ARCH=386
+            else
+              echo "The CPU kernel $KERNEL is not supported by the script"
+              exit 1
+            fi
+            ;;
+          *)
+            echo "The CPU architecture $ARCH is not supported by the script"
+            exit 1
+            ;;
+        esac
+        OTEL_BINARY="otelcol_${OTEL_VERSION}_linux_${OTEL_ARCH}.tar.gz"
+        OTEL_DIR="otelcol_${OTEL_VERSION}_linux_${OTEL_ARCH}"
+        curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -fOL "https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-releases/releases/download/v${OTEL_VERSION}/${OTEL_BINARY}"
+        tar -xvf ${OTEL_BINARY}
+      SHELL
+    end
+
     # # Install latest golang version
     l3af.vm.provision "shell", inline: <<-SHELL
       # Get cpu architecture, arm or amd
@@ -140,6 +185,16 @@ Vagrant.configure("2") do |config|
 
     # Reboot for updated kernel to load
     l3af.vm.provision :reload
+
+    # Copy opentelemetry collector config and start opentelemetry collector
+    if cfg['otel_collector'] == "true"
+      l3af.vm.provision "shell", inline: <<-SHELL
+        mkdir -p "/etc/otelcol/"
+        cp /vagrant/cfg/otel-collector-config.yml /etc/otelcol/config.yml
+        ./otelcol --config=/etc/otelcol/config.yml &
+      SHELL
+    end
+
     l3af.vm.provision :shell, path: "provision.sh"
 
     # Always start test servers because they aren't managed services
diff --git a/dev_environment/cfg/otel-collector-config.yml b/dev_environment/cfg/otel-collector-config.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1c970d8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dev_environment/cfg/otel-collector-config.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+receivers:
+  prometheus:
+    config:
+      scrape_configs:
+      - job_name: 'otelcol'
+        scrape_interval: 5s
+        static_configs:
+        - targets: ['0.0.0.0:8888']
+      - job_name: 'node'
+        scrape_interval: 5s
+        static_configs:
+        - targets: ['localhost:9100']
+      - job_name: 'l3af'
+        scrape_interval: 5s
+        static_configs:
+        - targets: ['localhost:8898']
+
+processors:
+  batch:
+
+exporters:
+  prometheusremotewrite:
+    endpoint: # Update the endpoint field with your desired remote backend
+
+service:
+  pipelines:
+    metrics:
+      receivers: [prometheus]
+      processors: [batch]
+      exporters: [prometheusremotewrite]
diff --git a/dev_environment/config.yaml b/dev_environment/config.yaml
index ed4904b..3f36d3f 100644
--- a/dev_environment/config.yaml
+++ b/dev_environment/config.yaml
@@ -7,4 +7,5 @@ configs:
     host_l3af_debug_port: '38899'
     host_l3afd_code_dir: '/code/l3afd'
     traffic_mirroring: 'false'
+    otel_collector: 'false'
     host_distro_codename: 'jammy'
diff --git a/dev_environment/setup_linux_dev_env.sh b/dev_environment/setup_linux_dev_env.sh
index d9483cb..786aca0 100755
--- a/dev_environment/setup_linux_dev_env.sh
+++ b/dev_environment/setup_linux_dev_env.sh
@@ -108,6 +108,55 @@ apt-get install -y bc \
       prometheus \
       rsync
 
+# Install OTEL collector
+if [ $# -ge 1 ] && [ "$1" == "--otel-collector" ]; then
+  OTEL_VERSION="0.97.0"
+  case $ARCH in
+    arm)
+      echo "Installing OTELC for arm"
+      OTEL_ARCH="arm"
+      ;;
+
+    aarch64)
+      echo "Installing OTELC for arm"
+      OTEL_ARCH="arm64"
+      ;;
+
+    x86_64)
+      echo "Installing OTELC for amd64"
+      OTEL_ARCH="amd64"
+      ;;
+    i386)
+      KERNEL=$(uname -m)
+      if [ "$KERNEL" = "x86_64" ];
+      then
+        echo "Installing OTELC for amd64"
+        OTEL_ARCH="amd64"
+      elif [ "$KERNEL" = "i386" ];
+      then
+        echo "Installing OTELC for i386"
+        OTEL_ARCH="386"
+      else
+        echo "The CPU kernel $KERNEL is not supported by the script"
+        exit 1
+      fi
+    ;;
+
+    *)
+      echo "The CPU architecture $ARCH is not supported by the script"
+      exit 1
+    ;;
+  esac
+  OTEL_BINARY="otelcol_${OTEL_VERSION}_linux_${OTEL_ARCH}.tar.gz"
+  OTEL_DIR="otelcol_${OTEL_VERSION}_linux_${OTEL_ARCH}"
+  curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -fOL "https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-releases/releases/download/v${OTEL_VERSION}/${OTEL_BINARY}"
+  tar -xvf ${OTEL_BINARY}
+  sudo mv ${OTEL_DIR}/otelcol /usr/local/bin/otelcol
+  sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/otelcol
+  echo "OTEL Collector version ${OTEL_VERSION} installed successfully."
+fi
+
+
 # Install the latest go lang version
   os=`uname|tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]'`
   go_filename=`curl -s https://go.dev/dl/?mode=json|jq '.[0].files[].filename'|grep $os|grep $arch|egrep -v "ppc"|tr -d '"'`
@@ -149,6 +198,15 @@ chown root:grafana /etc/grafana/provisioning/datasources/*.yaml
 
 # Copy prometheus config and restart prometheus
 cp /root/l3af-arch/dev_environment/cfg/prometheus.yml /etc/prometheus/prometheus.yml
+
+# Copy OTEL collector config and start OTEL collector
+if [ $# -ge 1 ] && [ "$1" == "--otel-collector" ]; then
+  echo "Copying OTEL Collector config."
+  mkdir -p "/etc/otelcol/"
+  cp /root/l3af-arch/dev_environment/cfg/otel-collector-config.yml /etc/otelcol/config.yml
+fi
+
+
 if uname -a | grep -q 'WSL';
 then
   echo "WSL DETECTED"
@@ -160,6 +218,13 @@ then
   sleep 1
   /etc/init.d/grafana-server stop || true
   /etc/init.d/grafana-server start || true
+
+  # Start OTEL collector
+  if [ $# -ge 1 ] && [ "$1" == "--otel-collector" ]; then
+    /usr/local/bin/otelcol --config=/etc/otelcol/config.yml &
+  else
+    echo "Skipping OTEL collector binary startup."
+  fi
 else
   # The configuration got copied, restart the prometheus service
   systemctl daemon-reload
@@ -170,6 +235,13 @@ else
   # Start and enable Grafana
   systemctl restart grafana-server
   systemctl enable grafana-server.service
+
+  # Start OTEL collector
+  if [ $# -ge 1 ] && [ "$1" == "--otel-collector" ]; then
+    /usr/local/bin/otelcol --config=/etc/otelcol/config.yml &
+  else
+    echo "Skipping OTEL collector binary startup."
+  fi
 fi
 
 # Get Linux source code to build our eBPF programs against