Merge pull request #45792 from CasperLiu/otlp-env-var-for-trace

Configure Kubernetes components's OTEL traces configuration (emitting traces directly and tuning with environment)

Author: k8s-ci-robot

content/en/docs/concepts/cluster-administration/system-traces.md

@@ -22,6 +22,9 @@ with the gRPC exporter and can be collected and routed to tracing backends using
 
 ## Trace Collection
 
+Kubernetes components have built-in gRPC exporters for OTLP to export traces, either with an OpenTelemetry Collector, 
+or without an OpenTelemetry Collector.
+
 For a complete guide to collecting traces and using the collector, see
 [Getting Started with the OpenTelemetry Collector](https://opentelemetry.io/docs/collector/getting-started/).
 However, there are a few things to note that are specific to Kubernetes components.
@@ -47,6 +50,16 @@ service:
       exporters: [logging]
 ```
 
+To directly emit traces to a backend without utilizing a collector, 
+specify the endpoint field in the Kubernetes tracing configuration file with the desired trace backend address. 
+This method negates the need for a collector and simplifies the overall structure.
+
+For trace backend header configuration, including authentication details, environment variables can be used with `OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_HEADERS`, 
+see [OTLP Exporter Configuration](https://opentelemetry.io/docs/languages/sdk-configuration/otlp-exporter/).
+
+Additionally, for trace resource attribute configuration such as Kubernetes cluster name, namespace, Pod name, etc., 
+environment variables can also be used with `OTEL_RESOURCE_ATTRIBUTES`, see [OTLP Kubernetes Resource](https://opentelemetry.io/docs/specs/semconv/resource/k8s/).
+
 ## Component traces
 
 ### kube-apiserver traces
@@ -129,4 +142,6 @@ there are no guarantees of backwards compatibility for tracing instrumentation.
 ## {{% heading "whatsnext" %}}
 
 * Read about [Getting Started with the OpenTelemetry Collector](https://opentelemetry.io/docs/collector/getting-started/)
+* Read about [OTLP Exporter Configuration](https://opentelemetry.io/docs/languages/sdk-configuration/otlp-exporter/)
+