New component: value generator(a kind of receiver)

[hiwayama]

The purpose and use-cases of the new component

Currently, OpenTelemetry only allows pipelines to run by obtaining values from outside.
So I propose a plugin that periodically generates fixed values in the ootel-collector in the receiver's phase.

use-cases of the new component

• Simplification of preparation for operation verification of processors and exporters
• Simplification of health check for monitoring pipeline after otel-collector
  etc.

This may be out of OpenTelemetry's custom receiver policy,
but I would be happy to be advised if there is a better way.

Example configuration for the component

items : Array holding key/value combinations of values to be generated
name : a key value of generated value
value : generated Value
interval: Interval to generate values (unit: second)

example:

receivers:
  mock-generator:
    items:
      - name: value1
         value: 1
   interval: 10s

Telemetry data types supported

• metrics

Is this a vendor-specific component?

• This is a vendor-specific component
• If this is a vendor-specific component, I am proposing to contribute and support it as a representative of the vendor.

Code Owner(s)

No response

Sponsor (optional)

No response

Additional context

If you think this idea is a good one I will try to create a PR about this custom plugin.

[mx-psi]

There are two existing components that may help you with this:

1. telemetrygen, which can generate mock metrics
2. The otlpjsonfile receiver which can read an OTLP/JSON file and send its data down the pipeline

Could you take a look at those and see if they help with your use case? We can consider enhancements to either if you have suggestions.

[hiwayama]

Thank you for your comment.

telemetrygen helps with my usecase.

Thank you.