# Send metrics

Send metrics with an OpenTelemetry SDK or collector, then query them alongside logs, traces, and business data.

## Configure the exporter

[Configure authentication](/docs/opentelemetry/setup.md#1-configure-authentication) with credentials from the environment that owns your OpenTelemetry catalog. Set the metrics exporter endpoint to `https://api.altertable.ai/v1/metrics` and use OTLP/HTTP with protobuf or JSON encoding.

Use your language's [OpenTelemetry metrics SDK](https://opentelemetry.io/docs/languages/) or an existing collector to export gauge, sum, histogram, exponential histogram, or summary data. Set the `service.name` resource attribute so you can find the service in SQL.

The [API reference](/docs/api-references/opentelemetry.md#post-v1-metrics) defines headers, payloads, and response statuses.

## Verify the data

Generate activity in the service, allow an export interval to pass, then run:

```sql
SELECT timestamp, service_name, metric_name, metric_type, value, count, sum
FROM opentelemetry.main.metrics
ORDER BY timestamp DESC
LIMIT 100;
```

Confirm that the service, metric names, and timestamps match the activity you generated. `value` applies to gauge and sum points; use `count` and `sum` for histogram and summary points.

For the underlying storage tables, see the [data model](/docs/opentelemetry/data-model.md).