[Feature]: OTLP Exporter support own SSL provider crates

[jhowww]

Related Problems?

The current implementation of the "tls" feature in opentelemetry-otlp uses the ring crate, which is not FIPS compliant.

Describe the solution you'd like:

It will be preferable to add an option for opentelemetry-otlp to use FIPS compliant SSL libraries, such as rust-openssl or native-tls. This would allow users to configure the crate to use rust-openssl, native-tls, or other SSL libraries, providing flexibility and compatibility with various platforms and environments.

Considered Alternatives

Users can configure the opentelemetry-otlp crate to use other FIPS compliant SSL libraries.

Additional Context

No response

[lalitb]

If the concerns is using FIPS compliant TLS support with tonic, we can wait for the next release of tonic - which brings FIPS compliance through aws-lc-rs as indicated here - https://github.com/rustls/rustls/pull/1732/files.

Or else, please let us know if the ask is different?

[TommyCpp]

Or else, please let us know if the ask is different?

Even with the FIPS in next tonic release. I'd still keep this as a feature request to give control to users

[jhowww]

Thanks @lalitb and @TommyCpp! Besides FIPS compliance, I also expect that the crate supports native crates. Therefore, it is preferable to have the OTLP Exporter support rust-openssl or native-tls.

[lalitb]

@jhowww Would it be fine to add native-tls support? This would allow using OpenSSL if installed on the system. Also, is this something you would like to contribute - I believe change should be simple to add?

[jhowww]

Sounds good. I can give it a shot.

[lalitb]

@jhowww Curious if you've had a chance to look on this - totally fine if haven't :) I’ve added it to the OTLP Exporter stable milestone, since it’s important from a security standpoint - both for OTLP/gRPC and OTLP/HTTP.

[jhowww]

Sounds good! I don't have bandwidth to work on it right now, but I might have some next week.