Sending Google Cloud Logging Logs to Scout via Pub/Sub and OpenTelemetry

Q: How does the collector authenticate to Pub/Sub?

Through Google Application Default Credentials. Set GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS to a service account key file, or use GKE Workload Identity and skip key files entirely.

Q: What encoding should I use for the googlecloudpubsub receiver?

On collector versions below 0.132, use the built-in cloud_logging encoding. On 0.132 and above, use the Cloud Logging LogEntry encoding extension, which also parses structured attributes from 0.142 onward. The extension's type is google_cloud_logentry_encoding from 0.148 and googlecloudlogentry_encoding before that.

This guide shows you how to stream logs from Google Cloud Logging into your Scout collector using a Pub/Sub subscription and the OpenTelemetry googlecloudpubsub receiver.

The same pattern works for any Cloud Logging log source: change the inclusion filter. Throughout this guide we use Load Balancer access logs as the worked example.

Running this in production

Storing and querying these logs at production volume is what base14 Scout does. Check out Scout Logs.

How it works

Cloud Logging does not push to OpenTelemetry directly. Instead you route the logs you care about into a Pub/Sub topic with a Log Router sink, and your Scout collector consumes that topic:

Log source (e.g. Load Balancer)
        │
        ▼
  Cloud Logging ──▶ Log Router sink ──▶ Pub/Sub topic
                                            │
                                            ▼
                                      subscription
                                            │
                                            ▼
                          Scout collector (pubsub receiver)
                                            │
                                            ▼
                                          Scout

Pub/Sub retains undelivered messages (7 days by default), so the collector picks up a backlog on startup as well as new logs.

Prerequisites

A Scout collector deployed and exporting to Scout (the otlphttp/base14 exporter). See the collector setup guides for deployment options.
Permission to manage Cloud Logging, Pub/Sub, and IAM in your GCP project.
gcloud and/or Google Cloud console access.

Replace these placeholders as you go:

Placeholder	Meaning
`PROJECT_ID`	Your GCP project ID (not the display name or number)

note

This guide assumes the logs and the collector are in the same GCP project. If they're in different projects, see Variant: cross-project at the end.

Step 1 — Decide what to export, and confirm it is being logged

A Log Router sink selects logs with an inclusion filter based on resource.type. For the Load Balancer example, the resource type depends on the LB type:

Load balancer type	`resource.type`
Global external / classic Application LB (HTTP/S)	`http_load_balancer`
Regional external Application LB	`http_external_regional_lb_rule`
Internal Application LB	`internal_http_lb_rule`
Regional/internal proxy Network LB	`l4_proxy_rule`
Global external / classic proxy Network LB	`tcp_ssl_proxy_rule`

Load balancer logs must be enabled first, and logging is per backend service. Enable it on every backend service behind the LB (logging is not retroactive — only requests served after you enable it are logged):

gcloud compute backend-services update BACKEND_SERVICE \
  --global \
  --enable-logging \
  --logging-sample-rate=1.0

Use --region=REGION instead of --global for a regional LB.

tip

Not sure which resource type your source uses? In Logs Explorer, set a wide time range, generate some activity, and expand Resource type in the Log fields panel — it lists every resource type that has actually produced logs. Use that value as your filter. (Pick the resource.type for any other log source the same way.)

Step 2 — Create the Pub/Sub topic and subscription

CLI

gcloud pubsub topics create scout-logs

gcloud pubsub subscriptions create scout-logs-sub \
  --topic=scout-logs \
  --ack-deadline=30

Console

Pub/Sub → Topics → Create topic, ID scout-logs.
Leave Add a default subscription checked — this creates a Pull subscription named scout-logs-sub automatically.
Create.

The subscription must be Pull (the default) — the receiver does not create it.

Step 3 — Create the Log Router sink

CLI

gcloud logging sinks create scout-logs-sink \
  pubsub.googleapis.com/projects/PROJECT_ID/topics/scout-logs \
  --log-filter='resource.type="http_load_balancer"'

Console

Logging → Log Router → Create sink. Name scout-logs-sink. Next.
Sink service = Cloud Pub/Sub topic, select scout-logs. Next.
Inclusion filter: resource.type="http_load_balancer". Next → Create sink.

Then grant the sink's writer identity permission to publish to the topic:

CLI — grant publish permission

WRITER=$(gcloud logging sinks describe scout-logs-sink \
  --format='value(writerIdentity)')

gcloud pubsub topics add-iam-policy-binding scout-logs \
  --member="$WRITER" \
  --role="roles/pubsub.publisher"

Console — grant publish permission

Log Router → sink's 3-dot menu → View sink details → copy the writer identity → Pub/Sub → Topics → scout-logs → permissions panel → Add principal → paste it (drop the serviceAccount: prefix) → role Pub/Sub Publisher.

Step 4 — Authenticate the collector to Pub/Sub

The collector needs a Google service account (GSA) with Pub/Sub Subscriber on the subscription. It discovers credentials via Application Default Credentials, so how you provide them depends on your deployment.

a. Create the GSA

gcloud iam service-accounts create scout-logs-reader \
  --display-name="Scout collector - Cloud Logging reader"

b. Grant Subscriber on the subscription

gcloud pubsub subscriptions add-iam-policy-binding scout-logs-sub \
  --member="serviceAccount:scout-logs-reader@PROJECT_ID.iam.gserviceaccount.com" \
  --role="roles/pubsub.subscriber"

c. Provide credentials to the collector

Service account key file (any environment)

Create a key, place it on the host running the collector, and set the GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS environment variable to its path:

gcloud iam service-accounts keys create \
  scout-logs-reader-key.json \
  --iam-account=scout-logs-reader@PROJECT_ID.iam.gserviceaccount.com

.env
GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS=/path/to/scout-logs-reader-key.json

The receiver picks this up automatically via Application Default Credentials.

GKE Workload Identity

On GKE with Workload Identity enabled, you can skip the key file entirely. Instead, bind the collector's Kubernetes ServiceAccount (KSA) to the GSA:

gcloud iam service-accounts add-iam-policy-binding \
  scout-logs-reader@PROJECT_ID.iam.gserviceaccount.com \
  --role="roles/iam.workloadIdentityUser" \
  --member="serviceAccount:PROJECT_ID.svc.id.goog[NAMESPACE/COLLECTOR_SERVICE_ACCOUNT]"

Then annotate the KSA:

serviceAccount:
  annotations:
    iam.gke.io/gcp-service-account: "scout-logs-reader@PROJECT_ID.iam.gserviceaccount.com"

No key file needed — the collector authenticates automatically.

Step 5 — Configure the collector

Add the googlecloudpubsub receiver and a logs pipeline to your collector config:

cloud-logging-config.yaml
receivers:
  # ...your existing receivers...
  googlecloudpubsub/cloud_logging:
    project: ${env:GCP_PROJECT_ID}
    subscription: projects/${env:GCP_PROJECT_ID}/subscriptions/scout-logs-sub
    encoding: cloud_logging        # see "Choosing the encoding" below

processors:
  memory_limiter:
    limit_mib: 512
    spike_limit_mib: 128
    check_interval: 5s

  batch:
    timeout: 10s
    send_batch_size: 1024

exporters:
  otlphttp/base14:
    endpoint: ${env:OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT}

service:
  pipelines:
    # ...your existing pipelines...
    logs/cloud_logging:
      receivers: [googlecloudpubsub/cloud_logging]
      processors: [memory_limiter, batch]
      exporters: [otlphttp/base14]

Environment variables

.env
GCP_PROJECT_ID=your-gcp-project-id
OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT=https://<your-tenant>.base14.io

# Not needed if using GKE Workload Identity (see Step 4c)
GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS=/path/to/scout-logs-reader-key.json

Choosing the encoding

Depending on your collector version, you may need to add an extension explicitly for the receiver to decode Cloud Logging entries:

Collector version	Encoding	Notes
below 0.132	`encoding: cloud_logging`	Built-in. No extension needed.
0.132 to 0.147	`googlecloudlogentry_encoding` extension	The built-in `cloud_logging` was removed at 0.132.
0.142 and above	same extension	Also parses Application LB logs into structured `gcp.load_balancing.*` attributes.
0.148 and above	`google_cloud_logentry_encoding` extension	The type was renamed at 0.148. The old name was unavailable on 0.148 to 0.150 and came back at 0.151 as a deprecated alias.

If your collector version is above 0.132, here is how you add the extension. The examples use the current google_cloud_logentry_encoding type; on 0.132 to 0.147 use googlecloudlogentry_encoding instead.

cloud-logging-config.yaml
extensions:
  # ...existing extensions...
  google_cloud_logentry_encoding:
    handle_json_payload_as: "json"
    handle_proto_payload_as: "json"

receivers:
  googlecloudpubsub/cloud_logging:
    project: ${env:GCP_PROJECT_ID}
    subscription: projects/${env:GCP_PROJECT_ID}/subscriptions/scout-logs-sub
    encoding: google_cloud_logentry_encoding

service:
  extensions: [google_cloud_logentry_encoding]
  pipelines:
    logs/cloud_logging:
      receivers: [googlecloudpubsub/cloud_logging]
      processors: [memory_limiter, batch]
      exporters: [otlphttp/base14]

On versions below 0.142 (with either encoding), the log record arrives as JSON in the log body rather than structured attributes. That's fine to ingest — see Promoting JSON fields to attributes to break it out without upgrading.

Step 6 — Verify

Messages are in the subscription (peek without consuming):
```
gcloud pubsub subscriptions pull scout-logs-sub --limit=5
```
Empty? The problem is upstream (logging not enabled / sink filter / publisher grant).

The collector has valid credentials. Check the collector logs for authentication errors:

# Look for permission or credential errors
# The exact command depends on your deployment:
#   Docker:     docker logs <container>
#   systemd:    journalctl -u otelcol
#   Kubernetes: kubectl logs deploy/<name> -n <ns>

Look for PermissionDenied or could not find default credentials messages.

The collector is consuming. Once running, the subscription's unacked message count drops (the collector acks messages as it exports them). In the GCP console, check Pub/Sub → Subscriptions → scout-logs-sub → Monitoring for the unacked message graph.
Logs appear in Scout. Allow a short lag (seconds to a minute) end to end.

Optional: Promoting JSON fields to attributes

To turn the JSON body into queryable log attributes — without changing the collector image — add a transform processor to the logs pipeline. Inspect a sample message first (Step 6.1) to confirm the field paths, then:

cloud-logging-config.yaml
processors:
  transform/cloud_logging:
    log_statements:
      - context: log
        statements:
          - set(attributes["http.status_code"], body["httpRequest"]["status"])
          - set(attributes["http.request.method"], body["httpRequest"]["requestMethod"])
          - set(attributes["url.full"], body["httpRequest"]["requestUrl"])
          # ...add the fields you need...

Add transform/cloud_logging to the pipeline's processors list (after memory_limiter, before batch).

Variant: cross-project

If the logs/Pub/Sub live in one project (LOGS_PROJECT) and the collector in another (COLLECTOR_PROJECT):

Create the GSA in COLLECTOR_PROJECT (Step 4a, add --project=COLLECTOR_PROJECT).
Grant Subscriber across projects (Step 4b): member is the COLLECTOR_PROJECT GSA, but the subscription resource is in LOGS_PROJECT (--project=LOGS_PROJECT).
The receiver points at LOGS_PROJECT — project: and subscription: both reference LOGS_PROJECT, even though the GSA lives in the collector project.

If using GKE Workload Identity, the WI binding uses the collector project's pool: COLLECTOR_PROJECT.svc.id.goog[NAMESPACE/COLLECTOR_SERVICE_ACCOUNT].

Troubleshooting

http_load_balancer (or your resource type) does not appear in Logs Explorer. The resource-type picker only lists types that have logged something in the time window. Either no logs have been produced yet (logging not enabled, no traffic since enabling, or sampling at 0), or your source uses a different resource.type (see the table in Step 1).

Logs in the subscription but not in Scout. Check, in order: the collector has valid credentials, collector logs show no auth errors, and that you added the pipeline — a receiver not referenced by any pipeline is loaded but never consumes. Also confirm the receiver's subscription: path is correct.

PermissionDenied on the subscription. The Subscriber grant (Step 4b) has not propagated yet (allow a few minutes), or was granted in the wrong project for cross-project setups.

"could not find default credentials". GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS is not set or points to a missing file. On GKE, this means the Workload Identity binding or ServiceAccount annotation is missing.

Backlog never drains. The collector is not consuming. This is almost always auth (above) or a missing pipeline. A draining backlog means the path works: acking is how Pub/Sub confirms delivery, and the data has gone to Scout rather than being lost.

FAQ

How do I send Google Cloud Logging logs to OpenTelemetry?

Route the logs into a Pub/Sub topic with a Log Router sink, then consume that topic with the googlecloudpubsub receiver in your Scout collector. There is no direct pull API for Cloud Logging.

How does the collector authenticate to Pub/Sub?

Through Google Application Default Credentials. Set GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS to a service account key file, or use GKE Workload Identity and skip key files entirely.

Can I stream logs from multiple GCP projects into one Scout collector?

Yes. Create the service account in the collector's project, grant it Pub/Sub Subscriber on the subscription in the logs project, and point the receiver at that cross-project subscription.

What encoding should I use for the googlecloudpubsub receiver?

On collector versions below 0.132, use the built-in cloud_logging encoding. On 0.132 and above, use the Cloud Logging LogEntry encoding extension, which also parses structured attributes from 0.142 onward. The extension's type is google_cloud_logentry_encoding from 0.148 and googlecloudlogentry_encoding before that.

Why are my Cloud Logging logs not appearing in Scout?

Check in order: messages are reaching the Pub/Sub subscription, the collector has valid GCP credentials, the collector logs show no permission errors, and the receiver is actually referenced in a logs pipeline.

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How it works​

Prerequisites​

Step 1 — Decide what to export, and confirm it is being logged​

Step 2 — Create the Pub/Sub topic and subscription​

CLI​

Console​

Step 3 — Create the Log Router sink​

CLI​

Console​

CLI — grant publish permission​

Console — grant publish permission​

Step 4 — Authenticate the collector to Pub/Sub​

a. Create the GSA​

b. Grant Subscriber on the subscription​

c. Provide credentials to the collector​

Service account key file (any environment)​

Step 5 — Configure the collector​

Environment variables​

Choosing the encoding​

Step 6 — Verify​

Optional: Promoting JSON fields to attributes​

Variant: cross-project​

Troubleshooting​

FAQ​

How do I send Google Cloud Logging logs to OpenTelemetry?​

How does the collector authenticate to Pub/Sub?​

Can I stream logs from multiple GCP projects into one Scout collector?​

What encoding should I use for the googlecloudpubsub receiver?​

Why are my Cloud Logging logs not appearing in Scout?​

How it works

Prerequisites

Step 1 — Decide what to export, and confirm it is being logged

Step 2 — Create the Pub/Sub topic and subscription

CLI

Console

Step 3 — Create the Log Router sink

CLI

Console

CLI — grant publish permission

Console — grant publish permission

Step 4 — Authenticate the collector to Pub/Sub

a. Create the GSA

b. Grant Subscriber on the subscription

c. Provide credentials to the collector

Service account key file (any environment)

Step 5 — Configure the collector

Environment variables

Choosing the encoding

Step 6 — Verify

Optional: Promoting JSON fields to attributes

Variant: cross-project

Troubleshooting

FAQ

How do I send Google Cloud Logging logs to OpenTelemetry?

How does the collector authenticate to Pub/Sub?

Can I stream logs from multiple GCP projects into one Scout collector?

What encoding should I use for the googlecloudpubsub receiver?

Why are my Cloud Logging logs not appearing in Scout?