diff --git a/.github/data/matrix-smoke-nap.json b/.github/data/matrix-smoke-nap.json
index cd2bcba29a..e0c8c1ac3b 100644
--- a/.github/data/matrix-smoke-nap.json
+++ b/.github/data/matrix-smoke-nap.json
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
       "image": "ubi-8-plus-nap",
       "type": "plus",
       "nap_modules": "waf",
-      "marker": "appprotect_waf_policies_allow",
+      "marker": "'appprotect_waf_policies_allow or otel'",
       "platforms": "linux/amd64"
     },
     {
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@
       "image": "alpine-plus-nap-fips",
       "type": "plus",
       "nap_modules": "waf",
-      "marker": "appprotect_waf_policies_grpc",
+      "marker": "'appprotect_waf_policies_grpc or otel'",
       "platforms": "linux/amd64"
     },
     {
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
       "image": "debian-plus-nap",
       "type": "plus",
       "nap_modules": "waf",
-      "marker": "'appprotect_watch or appprotect_batch or appprotect_integration or appprotect_waf_policies_vsr'",
+      "marker": "'appprotect_watch or appprotect_batch or appprotect_integration or appprotect_waf_policies_vsr or otel'",
       "platforms": "linux/amd64"
     },
     {
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@
       "image": "debian-plus-nap-v5",
       "type": "plus",
       "nap_modules": "waf",
-      "marker": "appprotect_waf_v5",
+      "marker": "'appprotect_waf_v5 or otel'",
       "platforms": "linux/amd64"
     },
     {
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@
       "image": "ubi-9-plus-nap",
       "type": "plus",
       "nap_modules": "dos",
-      "marker": "dos_learning",
+      "marker": "'dos_learning or otel'",
       "platforms": "linux/amd64"
     },
     {
diff --git a/.github/data/matrix-smoke-oss.json b/.github/data/matrix-smoke-oss.json
index a15b9b8937..6c402dc04f 100644
--- a/.github/data/matrix-smoke-oss.json
+++ b/.github/data/matrix-smoke-oss.json
@@ -5,77 +5,77 @@
       "image": "debian",
       "type": "oss",
       "marker": "'ingresses and not annotations and not basic_auth and not hsts and not watch_namespace and not wildcard_tls'",
-      "platforms": "linux/arm, linux/arm64, linux/amd64, linux/ppc64le, linux/s390x"
+      "platforms": "linux/arm64, linux/amd64"
     },
     {
       "label": "ingresses 2/2",
       "image": "debian",
       "type": "oss",
       "marker": "'annotations or basic_auth or hsts or watch_namespace or wildcard_tls'",
-      "platforms": "linux/arm, linux/arm64, linux/amd64, linux/ppc64le, linux/s390x"
+      "platforms": "linux/arm64, linux/amd64"
     },
     {
       "label": "VSR 1/3",
       "image": "alpine",
       "type": "oss",
       "marker": "'vsr and not vsr_upstream and not vsr_grpc and not vsr_status and not vsr_canary and not vsr_routing and not vsr_api and not vsr_redirects and not vsr_rewrite and not vsr_canned and not vsr_basic'",
-      "platforms": "linux/arm, linux/arm64, linux/amd64, linux/ppc64le, linux/s390x"
+      "platforms": "linux/arm64, linux/amd64"
     },
     {
       "label": "VSR 2/3",
       "image": "alpine",
       "type": "oss",
       "marker": "'vsr_basic or vsr_canned or vsr_rewrite or vsr_redirects or vsr_upstream'",
-      "platforms": "linux/arm, linux/arm64, linux/amd64, linux/ppc64le, linux/s390x"
+      "platforms": "linux/arm64, linux/amd64"
     },
     {
       "label": "VSR 3/3",
       "image": "alpine",
       "type": "oss",
       "marker": "'vsr_api or vsr_routing or vsr_canary or vsr_status or vsr_grpc'",
-      "platforms": "linux/arm, linux/arm64, linux/amd64, linux/ppc64le, linux/s390x"
+      "platforms": "linux/arm64, linux/amd64"
     },
     {
       "label": "policies 1/2",
       "image": "alpine",
       "type": "oss",
       "marker": "'policies and not policies_rl and not policies_ac and not policies_jwt and not policies_mtls'",
-      "platforms": "linux/arm, linux/arm64, linux/amd64, linux/ppc64le, linux/s390x"
+      "platforms": "linux/arm64, linux/amd64"
     },
     {
       "label": "policies 2/2",
       "image": "alpine",
       "type": "oss",
-      "marker": "'policies_rl or policies_ac or policies_jwt or policies_mtls'",
-      "platforms": "linux/arm, linux/arm64, linux/amd64, linux/ppc64le, linux/s390x"
+      "marker": "'policies_rl or policies_ac or policies_jwt or policies_mtls or otel'",
+      "platforms": "linux/arm64, linux/amd64"
     },
     {
       "label": "VS 1/3",
       "image": "debian",
       "type": "oss",
       "marker": "'vs and not vs_ipv6 and not vs_rewrite and not vs_responses and not vs_grpc and not vs_redirects and not vs_externalname and not vs_externaldns and not vs_certmanager and not vs_api and not vs_backup and not vs_use_cluster_ip and not vs_canary and not vs_upstream and not vs_config_map'",
-      "platforms": "linux/arm, linux/arm64, linux/amd64, linux/ppc64le, linux/s390x"
+      "platforms": "linux/arm64, linux/amd64"
     },
     {
       "label": "VS 2/3",
       "image": "debian",
       "type": "oss",
       "marker": "'vs_grpc or vs_redirects or vs_externalname or vs_externaldns or vs_api or vs_backup or vs_use_cluster_ip or vs_canary or vs_upstream or vs_config_map'",
-      "platforms": "linux/arm, linux/arm64, linux/amd64, linux/ppc64le, linux/s390x"
+      "platforms": "linux/arm64, linux/amd64"
     },
     {
       "label": "VS 3/3",
       "image": "debian",
       "type": "oss",
-      "marker": "'vs_responses or vs_ipv6 or vs_rewrite or vs_certmanager'",
-      "platforms": "linux/arm, linux/arm64, linux/amd64, linux/ppc64le, linux/s390x"
+      "marker": "'vs_responses or vs_ipv6 or vs_rewrite or vs_certmanager or otel'",
+      "platforms": "linux/arm64, linux/amd64"
     },
     {
       "label": "TS",
       "image": "ubi",
       "type": "oss",
-      "marker": "ts",
-      "platforms": "linux/arm64, linux/amd64, linux/ppc64le, linux/s390x"
+      "marker": "'ts or otel'",
+      "platforms": "linux/arm64, linux/amd64"
     }
   ],
   "k8s": []
diff --git a/.github/data/matrix-smoke-plus.json b/.github/data/matrix-smoke-plus.json
index 247ad5370a..4bded89736 100644
--- a/.github/data/matrix-smoke-plus.json
+++ b/.github/data/matrix-smoke-plus.json
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@
       "label": "TS",
       "image": "debian-plus",
       "type": "plus",
-      "marker": "ts",
+      "marker": "'ts or otel'",
       "platforms": "linux/arm64, linux/amd64"
     },
     {
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@
       "label": "VSR 3/3",
       "image": "alpine-plus",
       "type": "plus",
-      "marker": "'vsr_api or vsr_routing or vsr_canary or vsr_status or vsr_grpc'",
+      "marker": "'vsr_api or vsr_routing or vsr_canary or vsr_status or vsr_grpc or otel'",
       "platforms": "linux/arm64, linux/amd64"
     },
     {
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@
       "label": "policies 2/3",
       "image": "ubi-9-plus",
       "type": "plus",
-      "marker": "'policies_ac or policies_jwt or policies_mtls'",
+      "marker": "'policies_ac or policies_jwt or policies_mtls or otel'",
       "platforms": "linux/arm64, linux/amd64, linux/s390x"
     },
     {
diff --git a/.github/workflows/build-ubi-dependency.yml b/.github/workflows/build-ubi-dependency.yml
index 9ac4b0e7e1..c48218be9e 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build-ubi-dependency.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build-ubi-dependency.yml
@@ -1,92 +1,36 @@
-name: Build UBI ppc64le Dependency
+name: Build UBI c-ares Dependency
 
 on:
   push:
     branches:
       - main
     paths:
-      - build/dependencies/Dockerfile.ubi
+      - build/dependencies/Dockerfile.ubi8
+      - build/dependencies/Dockerfile.ubi9
+      - .github/workflows/build-ubi-dependency.yml
   workflow_dispatch:
-    inputs:
-      nginx_version:
-        type: string
-        description: "NGINX Version to build for"
-        required: false
-      force:
-        type: boolean
-        description: "Force rebuild"
-        required: false
-        default: false
 
 env:
-  IMAGE_NAME: ghcr.io/nginx/dependencies/nginx-ubi-ppc64le
+  IMAGE_NAME: ghcr.io/nginx/dependencies/nginx-ubi
 
 concurrency:
-  group: ${{ github.ref_name }}-ubi-ppc64le-build
+  group: ${{ github.ref_name }}-ubi-build
   cancel-in-progress: true
 
 permissions:
   contents: read
 
 jobs:
-  checks:
-    name: Check versions
-    runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
-    permissions:
-      packages: read
-      contents: read
-    strategy:
-      fail-fast: false
-    outputs:
-      nginx_version: ${{ steps.var.outputs.nginx_version }}
-      njs_version: ${{ steps.var.outputs.njs_version }}
-      target_exists: ${{ steps.var.outputs.target_image_exists }}
-    steps:
-      - name: Checkout Repository
-        uses: actions/checkout@11bd71901bbe5b1630ceea73d27597364c9af683 # v4.2.2
-
-      - name: Login to GitHub Container Registry
-        uses: docker/login-action@74a5d142397b4f367a81961eba4e8cd7edddf772 # v3.4.0
-        with:
-          registry: ghcr.io
-          username: ${{ github.repository_owner }}
-          password: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
-
-      - name: Output Variables
-        id: var
-        run: |
-          if [ -n "${{ inputs.nginx_version }}" ]; then
-            nginx_v=${{ inputs.nginx_version }}
-          else
-            nginx_v=$(grep -m1 'FROM nginx:' <build/dependencies/Dockerfile.ubi | cut -d '@' -f1 | awk -F'[: ]' '{print $3}')
-          fi
-          target_image=${{ env.IMAGE_NAME }}:nginx-${nginx_v}
-          if docker manifest inspect ${target_image}; then
-            target_image_exists=true
-          else
-            target_image_exists=false
-          fi
-          docker pull nginx:$nginx_v || exit 1
-          njs=$(docker run nginx:$nginx_v env | grep NJS_VERSION | cut -d= -f2)
-          echo "> Outputs -------------------------------"
-          echo "NJS_VERSION=$njs"
-          echo "nginx_version=${nginx_v}"
-          echo "njs_version=${njs}"
-          echo "target_image_exists=${target_image_exists}"
-          echo "nginx_version=${nginx_v}" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
-          echo "njs_version=${njs}" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
-          echo "target_image_exists=${target_image_exists}" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
-
   build-binaries:
     name: Build Binary Container Image
-    if: ${{ needs.checks.outputs.target_exists != 'true' || inputs.force }}
-    needs: checks
     runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
     permissions:
       packages: write
       contents: read
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
+      matrix:
+        tag: ["ubi8", "ubi9"]
     steps:
       - name: Checkout Repository
         uses: actions/checkout@11bd71901bbe5b1630ceea73d27597364c9af683 # v4.2.2
@@ -113,28 +57,23 @@ jobs:
           images: |
             name=${{ env.IMAGE_NAME }},enable=true
           tags: |
-            type=raw,value=nginx-${{ needs.checks.outputs.nginx_version }},enable=true
+            type=raw,value=${{ matrix.tag }},enable=true
         env:
           DOCKER_METADATA_ANNOTATIONS_LEVELS: manifest,index
 
       - name: Build and push
         uses: docker/build-push-action@263435318d21b8e681c14492fe198d362a7d2c83 # v6.18.0
         with:
-          file: ./build/dependencies/Dockerfile.ubi
+          file: ./build/dependencies/Dockerfile.${{ matrix.tag }}
           context: "."
           pull: true
           push: true
-          # build multi-arch so that it can be mounted from any image
-          # even though only ppc64le will contain binaries
           platforms: "linux/amd64,linux/arm64"
           tags: ${{ steps.meta.outputs.tags }}
           labels: ${{ steps.meta.outputs.labels }}
           annotations: ${{ steps.meta.outputs.annotations }}
-          cache-from: type=gha,scope=nginx-ubi-ppc64le
-          cache-to: type=gha,scope=nginx-ubi-ppc64le,mode=max
+          cache-from: type=gha,scope=nginx-${{ matrix.tag }}
+          cache-to: type=gha,scope=nginx-${{ matrix.tag }},mode=max
           target: final
           sbom: false
           provenance: mode=max
-          build-args: |
-            NGINX=${{ needs.checks.outputs.nginx_version }}
-            NJS=${{ needs.checks.outputs.njs_version }}
diff --git a/.github/workflows/update-docker-sha.yml b/.github/workflows/update-docker-sha.yml
index f9723cf7fe..8858a5c6f4 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/update-docker-sha.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/update-docker-sha.yml
@@ -62,7 +62,8 @@ jobs:
             ARGS="--exclude ${{ github.event.inputs.excludes }}"
           fi
           .github/scripts/docker-updater.sh ./build/Dockerfile $ARGS
-          .github/scripts/docker-updater.sh ./build/dependencies/Dockerfile.ubi $ARGS
+          .github/scripts/docker-updater.sh ./build/dependencies/Dockerfile.ubi8 $ARGS
+          .github/scripts/docker-updater.sh ./build/dependencies/Dockerfile.ubi9 $ARGS
           .github/scripts/docker-updater.sh ./tests/Dockerfile $ARGS
           files=$(git diff --name-only)
           if [[ $files == *"Dockerfile"* ]]; then
diff --git a/build/Dockerfile b/build/Dockerfile
index dd93724484..2fa4ae11a6 100644
--- a/build/Dockerfile
+++ b/build/Dockerfile
@@ -11,7 +11,8 @@ ARG PACKAGE_REPO=pkgs.nginx.com
 
 
 ############################################# Base images containing libs for FIPS #############################################
-FROM ghcr.io/nginx/dependencies/nginx-ubi-ppc64le:nginx-1.27.4@sha256:fff4dde599b89cb22e5cea5d8cfba8c47bcedaa8e6fa549f5fe74a89c733aa2f AS ubi-ppc64le
+FROM ghcr.io/nginx/dependencies/nginx-ubi:ubi8@sha256:7ddf7a566cb0c44e21b3652704e49c7f43e4d18dd875e1bbd4c4ec19d0b70989 AS ubi8-packages
+FROM ghcr.io/nginx/dependencies/nginx-ubi:ubi9@sha256:a5dc7c5fef28271ecb651801785b18702e57b5ecd7cc8aa8867982c193d27d5b AS ubi9-packages
 FROM ghcr.io/nginx/alpine-fips:0.2.4-alpine3.19@sha256:2a7f8451110b588b733e4cb8727a48153057b1debac5c78ef8a539ff63712fa1 AS alpine-fips-3.19
 FROM ghcr.io/nginx/alpine-fips:0.2.4-alpine3.21@sha256:5221dec2e33436f2586c743c7aa3ef4626c0ec54184dc3364d101036d4f4a060 AS alpine-fips-3.21
 FROM redhat/ubi9-minimal:9.5@sha256:a50731d3397a4ee28583f1699842183d4d24fadcc565c4688487af9ee4e13a44 AS ubi-minimal
@@ -21,15 +22,25 @@ FROM golang:1.24-alpine@sha256:ef18ee7117463ac1055f5a370ed18b8750f01589f13ea0b48
 ############################################# Base image for Alpine #############################################
 FROM nginx:1.27.4-alpine@sha256:4ff102c5d78d254a6f0da062b3cf39eaf07f01eec0927fd21e219d0af8bc0591 AS alpine
 
-RUN apk add --no-cache libcap libstdc++
+RUN printf "%s%s%s\n" "http://nginx.org/packages/mainline/alpine/v" `egrep -o '^[0-9]+\.[0-9]+' /etc/alpine-release` "/main" >> /etc/apk/repositories \
+	&& apk add --no-cache libcap libstdc++ nginx-module-otel \
+	&& sed -i -e '/nginx.org/d' /etc/apk/repositories
 
 
 ############################################# Base image for Debian #############################################
 FROM nginx:1.27.4@sha256:09369da6b10306312cd908661320086bf87fbae1b6b0c49a1f50ba531fef2eab AS debian
 
 RUN apt-get update \
-	&& apt-get install --no-install-recommends --no-install-suggests -y libcap2-bin
-
+	&& apt-get install --no-install-recommends --no-install-suggests -y \
+	libcap2-bin curl gnupg2 ca-certificates lsb-release debian-archive-keyring \
+	&& curl https://nginx.org/keys/nginx_signing.key | gpg --dearmor > /usr/share/keyrings/nginx-archive-keyring.gpg \
+	&& echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/nginx-archive-keyring.gpg] \
+	http://nginx.org/packages/mainline/debian `lsb_release -cs` nginx" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/nginx.list \
+	&& printf "%s" "Package: *\nPin: origin nginx.org\nPin: release o=nginx\nPin-Priority: 900\n" > /etc/apt/preferences.d/99nginx \
+	&& apt-get update \
+	&& apt-get install --no-install-recommends --no-install-suggests -y nginx-module-otel \
+	&& apt-get purge --auto-remove -y gnupg2 lsb-release curl \
+	&& rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/* /etc/apt/preferences.d/99nginx /etc/apt/sources.list.d/nginx.list
 
 ############################################# NGINX files #############################################
 FROM scratch AS nginx-files
@@ -109,7 +120,7 @@ RUN --mount=type=secret,id=nginx-repo.crt,dst=/etc/apk/cert.pem,mode=0644 \
 	--mount=type=bind,from=nginx-files,src=tracking.info,target=/tmp/nginx/reporting/tracking.info \
 	export $(cat /tmp/user_agent) \
 	&& printf "%s\n" "https://${PACKAGE_REPO}/plus/${NGINX_PLUS_VERSION}/alpine/v$(grep -E -o '^[0-9]+\.[0-9]+' /etc/alpine-release)/main" >> /etc/apk/repositories \
-	&& apk add --no-cache nginx-plus nginx-plus-module-njs nginx-plus-module-fips-check libcap libcurl \
+	&& apk add --no-cache nginx-plus nginx-plus-module-njs nginx-plus-module-otel nginx-plus-module-fips-check libcap libcurl \
 	&& mkdir -p /etc/nginx/reporting/ && cp -av /tmp/nginx/reporting/tracking.info /etc/nginx/reporting/tracking.info \
 	&& ldconfig /usr/local/lib/ \
 	&& sed -i -e '/nginx.com/d' /etc/apk/repositories
@@ -151,7 +162,7 @@ RUN --mount=type=bind,from=alpine-fips-3.19,target=/tmp/fips/ \
 	&& printf "%s\n" "https://${PACKAGE_REPO}/app-protect/${NGINX_PLUS_VERSION}/alpine/v$(grep -E -o '^[0-9]+\.[0-9]+' /etc/alpine-release)/main" >> /etc/apk/repositories \
 	&& printf "%s\n" "https://pkgs.nginx.com/app-protect-security-updates/alpine/v$(grep -E -o '^[0-9]+\.[0-9]+' /etc/alpine-release)/main" >> /etc/apk/repositories \
 	&& printf "%s\n" "https://${PACKAGE_REPO}/nginx-agent/alpine/v$(grep -E -o '^[0-9]+\.[0-9]+' /etc/alpine-release)/main" >> /etc/apk/repositories \
-	&& apk add --no-cache libcap-utils libcurl nginx-plus nginx-plus-module-njs nginx-plus-module-fips-check \
+	&& apk add --no-cache libcap-utils libcurl nginx-plus nginx-plus-module-njs nginx-plus-module-otel nginx-plus-module-fips-check \
 	&& if [ "${NGINX_AGENT}" = "true" ]; then apk add --no-cache nginx-agent; fi \
 	&& mkdir -p /usr/ssl \
 	&& cp -av /tmp/fips/usr/lib/ossl-modules/fips.so /usr/lib/ossl-modules/fips.so \
@@ -187,7 +198,7 @@ RUN --mount=type=bind,from=alpine-fips-3.19,target=/tmp/fips/ \
 	printf "%s\n" "https://${PACKAGE_REPO}/plus/${NGINX_PLUS_VERSION}/alpine/v$(grep -E -o '^[0-9]+\.[0-9]+' /etc/alpine-release)/main" >> /etc/apk/repositories \
 	&& printf "%s\n" "https://${PACKAGE_REPO}/app-protect-x-plus/alpine/v$(grep -E -o '^[0-9]+\.[0-9]+' /etc/alpine-release)/main" >> /etc/apk/repositories \
 	&& printf "%s\n" "https://${PACKAGE_REPO}/nginx-agent/alpine/v$(grep -E -o '^[0-9]+\.[0-9]+' /etc/alpine-release)/main" >> /etc/apk/repositories \
-	&& apk add --no-cache libcap-utils libcurl nginx-plus nginx-plus-module-njs nginx-plus-module-fips-check \
+	&& apk add --no-cache libcap-utils libcurl nginx-plus nginx-plus-module-njs nginx-plus-module-otel nginx-plus-module-fips-check \
 	&& if [ "${NGINX_AGENT}" = "true" ]; then apk add --no-cache nginx-agent; fi \
 	&& mkdir -p /usr/ssl \
 	&& cp -av /tmp/fips/usr/lib/ossl-modules/fips.so /usr/lib/ossl-modules/fips.so \
@@ -226,7 +237,7 @@ RUN --mount=type=secret,id=nginx-repo.crt,dst=/etc/ssl/nginx/nginx-repo.crt,mode
 	&& gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/app-protect-archive-keyring.gpg /tmp/app-protect-security-updates.key \
 	&& cp /tmp/nginx-plus.sources /etc/apt/sources.list.d/nginx-plus.sources \
 	&& apt-get update \
-	&& apt-get install --no-install-recommends --no-install-suggests -y nginx-plus nginx-plus-module-njs nginx-plus-module-fips-check \
+	&& apt-get install --no-install-recommends --no-install-suggests -y nginx-plus nginx-plus-module-njs nginx-plus-module-otel nginx-plus-module-fips-check \
 	&& apt-get purge --auto-remove -y gpg \
 	&& mkdir -p /etc/nginx/reporting/ \
 	&& cp -av /tmp/nginx/reporting/tracking.info /etc/nginx/reporting/tracking.info \
@@ -332,23 +343,14 @@ SHELL ["/bin/bash", "-o", "pipefail", "-c"]
 RUN --mount=type=bind,from=nginx-files,src=nginx_signing.key,target=/tmp/nginx_signing.key \
 	--mount=type=bind,from=nginx-files,src=ubi-setup.sh,target=/usr/local/bin/ubi-setup.sh \
 	--mount=type=bind,from=nginx-files,src=ubi-clean.sh,target=/usr/local/bin/ubi-clean.sh \
-	--mount=type=bind,from=ubi-ppc64le,src=/,target=/ubi-bin/ \
-	ubi-setup.sh; \
-	if [ $(uname -p) = ppc64le ] || [ $(uname -p) = s390x ]; then \
-	rpm -qa --queryformat "%{NAME}\n" | sort > pkgs-installed \
-	&& microdnf --nodocs --setopt=install_weak_deps=0 install -y diffutils dnf \
-	&& rpm -qa --queryformat "%{NAME}\n" | sort > pkgs-new \
-	&& dnf install -y /ubi-bin/*.rpm \
-	&& dnf -q repoquery --resolve --requires --recursive --whatrequires nginx --queryformat "%{NAME}" > pkgs-nginx \
-	&& dnf --setopt=protected_packages= remove -y $(comm -13 pkgs-installed pkgs-new | comm -13 pkgs-nginx -) \
-	&& rm pkgs-installed pkgs-new pkgs-nginx; \
-	else \
-	printf "%s\n" "[nginx]" "name=nginx repo" \
+	--mount=type=bind,from=ubi9-packages,src=/,target=/ubi-bin/ \
+	ubi-setup.sh \
+	&& rpm -Uvh /ubi-bin/c-ares-*.rpm \
+	&& printf "%s\n" "[nginx]" "name=nginx repo" \
 	"baseurl=https://nginx.org/packages/mainline/centos/9/\$basearch/" \
 	"gpgcheck=1" "enabled=1" "module_hotfixes=true" > /etc/yum.repos.d/nginx.repo \
-	&& microdnf --nodocs install -y nginx nginx-module-njs nginx-module-image-filter nginx-module-xslt \
-	&& rm /etc/yum.repos.d/nginx.repo; \
-	fi \
+	&& microdnf --nodocs install -y nginx nginx-module-njs nginx-module-otel nginx-module-image-filter nginx-module-xslt \
+	&& rm /etc/yum.repos.d/nginx.repo \
 	&& ubi-clean.sh
 
 
@@ -366,9 +368,11 @@ RUN --mount=type=secret,id=nginx-repo.crt,dst=/etc/ssl/nginx/nginx-repo.crt,mode
 	--mount=type=bind,from=nginx-files,src=ubi-setup.sh,target=/usr/local/bin/ubi-setup.sh \
 	--mount=type=bind,from=nginx-files,src=ubi-clean.sh,target=/usr/local/bin/ubi-clean.sh \
 	--mount=type=bind,from=nginx-files,src=tracking.info,target=/tmp/nginx/reporting/tracking.info \
+	--mount=type=bind,from=ubi9-packages,src=/,target=/ubi-bin/ \
 	mkdir -p /etc/nginx/reporting/ && cp -av /tmp/nginx/reporting/tracking.info /etc/nginx/reporting/tracking.info \
 	&& ubi-setup.sh \
-	&& microdnf --nodocs install -y nginx-plus nginx-plus-module-njs nginx-plus-module-fips-check \
+	&& rpm -Uvh /ubi-bin/c-ares-*.rpm \
+	&& microdnf --nodocs install -y nginx-plus nginx-plus-module-njs nginx-plus-module-otel nginx-plus-module-fips-check \
 	&& ubi-clean.sh
 
 
@@ -465,15 +469,17 @@ RUN --mount=type=secret,id=nginx-repo.crt,dst=/etc/ssl/nginx/nginx-repo.crt,mode
 	--mount=type=bind,from=nginx-files,src=nap-waf.sh,target=/usr/local/bin/nap-waf.sh \
 	--mount=type=bind,from=nginx-files,src=agent.sh,target=/usr/local/bin/agent.sh \
 	--mount=type=bind,from=nginx-files,src=tracking.info,target=/tmp/nginx/reporting/tracking.info \
+	--mount=type=bind,from=ubi8-packages,src=/,target=/ubi-bin/ \
 	mkdir -p /etc/nginx/reporting/ && cp -av /tmp/nginx/reporting/tracking.info /etc/nginx/reporting/tracking.info \
 	&& source /tmp/rhel_license \
+	&& rpm -Uvh /ubi-bin/c-ares-*.rpm \
 	&& if [ -z "${NAP_MODULES##*waf*}" ]; then \
 	cp /tmp/app-protect-8.repo /etc/yum.repos.d/app-protect-8.repo; \
 	fi \
 	&& groupadd --system --gid 101 nginx \
 	&& useradd --system --gid nginx --no-create-home --home-dir /nonexistent --comment "nginx user" --shell /bin/false --uid 101 nginx \
 	&& rpm --import /tmp/nginx_signing.key \
-	&& dnf --nodocs install -y nginx-plus nginx-plus-module-njs nginx-plus-module-fips-check \
+	&& dnf --nodocs install -y nginx-plus nginx-plus-module-njs nginx-plus-module-otel nginx-plus-module-fips-check \
 	&& if [ "${NGINX_AGENT}" = "true" ]; then dnf --nodocs install -y nginx-agent; fi \
 	&& sed -i 's/\(def in_container():\)/\1\n    return False/g' /usr/lib64/python*/*-packages/rhsm/config.py \
 	&& subscription-manager register --org=${RHEL_ORGANIZATION} --activationkey=${RHEL_ACTIVATION_KEY} || true \
@@ -511,8 +517,10 @@ RUN --mount=type=secret,id=nginx-repo.crt,dst=/etc/ssl/nginx/nginx-repo.crt,mode
 	--mount=type=bind,from=nginx-files,src=nap-waf.sh,target=/usr/local/bin/nap-waf.sh \
 	--mount=type=bind,from=nginx-files,src=agent.sh,target=/usr/local/bin/agent.sh \
 	--mount=type=bind,from=nginx-files,src=tracking.info,target=/tmp/nginx/reporting/tracking.info \
+	--mount=type=bind,from=ubi8-packages,src=/,target=/ubi-bin/ \
 	mkdir -p /etc/nginx/reporting/ && cp -av /tmp/nginx/reporting/tracking.info /etc/nginx/reporting/tracking.info \
 	&& source /tmp/rhel_license \
+	&& rpm -Uvh /ubi-bin/c-ares-*.rpm \
 	&& if [ -z "${NAP_MODULES##*waf*}" ]; then \
 	cp /tmp/app-protect-8.repo /etc/yum.repos.d/app-protect-8.repo; \
 	fi \
@@ -520,7 +528,7 @@ RUN --mount=type=secret,id=nginx-repo.crt,dst=/etc/ssl/nginx/nginx-repo.crt,mode
 	&& groupadd --system --gid 101 nginx \
 	&& useradd --system --gid nginx --no-create-home --home-dir /nonexistent --comment "nginx user" --shell /bin/false --uid 101 nginx \
 	&& rpm --import /tmp/nginx_signing.key \
-	&& dnf --nodocs install -y nginx-plus nginx-plus-module-njs nginx-plus-module-fips-check \
+	&& dnf --nodocs install -y nginx-plus nginx-plus-module-njs nginx-plus-module-otel nginx-plus-module-fips-check \
 	&& if [ "${NGINX_AGENT}" = "true" ]; then dnf --nodocs install -y nginx-agent; fi \
 	## end of duplicated code
 	&& sed -i 's/\(def in_container():\)/\1\n    return False/g' /usr/lib64/python*/*-packages/rhsm/config.py \
diff --git a/build/dependencies/Dockerfile.ubi b/build/dependencies/Dockerfile.ubi
deleted file mode 100644
index ecc5862f4d..0000000000
--- a/build/dependencies/Dockerfile.ubi
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,33 +0,0 @@
-# syntax=docker/dockerfile:1.8
-FROM nginx:1.27.4@sha256:09369da6b10306312cd908661320086bf87fbae1b6b0c49a1f50ba531fef2eab AS nginx
-
-FROM redhat/ubi9:9.5@sha256:d07a5e080b8a9b3624d3c9cfbfada9a6baacd8e6d4065118f0e80c71ad518044 AS rpm-build
-ARG NGINX
-ARG NJS
-ENV NGINX_VERSION=${NGINX}
-ENV NJS_VERSION=${NJS}
-RUN mkdir -p /nginx/; \
-    # only build for ppc64le but make multiarch image for mounting
-    [ $(uname -p) = x86_64 ] && exit 0; \
-    [ $(uname -p) = aarch64 ] && exit 0; \
-    rpm --import https://nginx.org/keys/nginx_signing.key \
-    && MINOR_VERSION=$(echo ${NGINX_VERSION} | cut -d '.' -f 2) \
-    && if [ $(( $MINOR_VERSION % 2)) -eq 0 ]; then echo mainline=""; else mainline="mainline/"; fi \
-    && printf "%s\n" "[nginx]" "name=nginx src repo" \
-    "baseurl=https://nginx.org/packages/${mainline}centos/9/SRPMS" \
-    "gpgcheck=1" "enabled=1" "module_hotfixes=true" >> /etc/yum.repos.d/nginx.repo \
-    && dnf install rpm-build gcc make dnf-plugins-core which -y \
-    && dnf -y install https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/epel-release-latest-9.noarch.rpm \
-    && nginxPackages=" \
-    nginx-${NGINX_VERSION} \
-    nginx-module-xslt-${NGINX_VERSION} \
-    nginx-module-image-filter-${NGINX_VERSION} \
-    nginx-module-njs-${NGINX_VERSION}+${NJS_VERSION} \
-    " \
-    && dnf download --source ${nginxPackages} \
-    && dnf builddep -y --srpm nginx*.rpm \
-    && rpmbuild --rebuild --nodebuginfo nginx*.rpm \
-    && cp /root/rpmbuild/RPMS/$(arch)/* /nginx/
-
-FROM scratch AS final
-COPY --link --from=rpm-build /nginx /
diff --git a/build/dependencies/Dockerfile.ubi8 b/build/dependencies/Dockerfile.ubi8
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..3cb3dc7c01
--- /dev/null
+++ b/build/dependencies/Dockerfile.ubi8
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+# syntax=docker/dockerfile:1.8
+FROM redhat/ubi8@sha256:244e9858f9d8a2792a3dceb850b4fa8fdbd67babebfde42587bfa919d5d1ecef AS rpm-build
+RUN mkdir -p /rpms/ \
+    && dnf install rpm-build gcc make cmake -y \
+    && rpmbuild --rebuild --nodebuginfo https://mirror.stream.centos.org/9-stream/BaseOS/source/tree/Packages/c-ares-1.19.1-1.el9.src.rpm \
+    && cp /root/rpmbuild/RPMS/$(arch)/* /rpms/ \
+    && rm -rf /rpms/*devel*
+
+FROM scratch AS final
+COPY --link --from=rpm-build /rpms /
diff --git a/build/dependencies/Dockerfile.ubi9 b/build/dependencies/Dockerfile.ubi9
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..25ef55a9fb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/build/dependencies/Dockerfile.ubi9
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+# syntax=docker/dockerfile:1.8
+FROM redhat/ubi9:9.5@sha256:d07a5e080b8a9b3624d3c9cfbfada9a6baacd8e6d4065118f0e80c71ad518044 AS rpm-build
+RUN mkdir -p /rpms/ \
+    && dnf install rpm-build gcc make cmake -y \
+    && rpmbuild --rebuild --nodebuginfo https://mirror.stream.centos.org/9-stream/BaseOS/source/tree/Packages/c-ares-1.19.1-1.el9.src.rpm \
+    && cp /root/rpmbuild/RPMS/$(arch)/* /rpms/ \
+    && rm -rf /rpms/*devel*
+
+FROM scratch AS final
+COPY --link --from=rpm-build /rpms /
diff --git a/examples/shared-examples/otel/README.md b/examples/shared-examples/otel/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6ef1214658
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/shared-examples/otel/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,82 @@
+# Learn how to use OpenTelemetry with F5 NGINX Ingress Controller
+
+NGINX Ingress Controller supports [OpenTelemetry](https://opentelemetry.io/) with the NGINX module [ngx_otel_module](https://nginx.org/en/docs/ngx_otel_module.html).
+
+## Prerequisites
+
+1. Use a NGINX Ingress Controller image that contains OpenTelemetry.
+
+    - All NGINX Ingress Controller v5.1 images or later will contain support for `ngx_otel_module`.
+    - Alternatively, you follow [Build NGINX Ingress Controller](https://docs.nginx.com/nginx-ingress-controller/installation/build-nginx-ingress-controller/) using `debian-image` (or `alpine-image` or `ubi-image`) for NGINX or `debian-image-plus` (or `alpine-image-plus`or `ubi-image-plus`) for NGINX Plus.
+
+1. Enable snippets annotations by setting the [`enable-snippets`](https://docs.nginx.com/nginx-ingress-controller/configuration/global-configuration/command-line-arguments/#-enable-snippets) command-line argument to true.
+
+1. Load the OpenTelemetry module.
+
+    You need to load the module using the following ConfigMap key:
+
+    - `otel-exporter-endpoint`: sets the endpoint to export your OpenTelemetry traces to.
+
+    The following example shows how to use this to export data to an OpenTelemetry collector running in your cluster:
+
+    ```yaml
+    otel-exporter-endpoint: "http://otel-collector.default.svc.cluster.local:4317"
+    ```
+
+## Enable OpenTelemetry globally
+
+To enable OpenTelemetry globally (for all Ingress, VirtualServer and VirtualServerRoute resources), set the `otel-trace-in-http` ConfigMap key to `true`:
+
+```yaml
+otel-trace-in-http: "true"
+```
+
+## Enable or disable OpenTelemetry per Ingress resource
+
+You can use annotations to enable or disable OpenTelemetry for a specific Ingress resource. As mentioned in the prerequisites section, `otel-exporter-endpoint` must be configured.
+
+Consider the following two cases:
+
+### OpenTelemetry is globally disabled
+
+1. To enable OpenTelemetry for a specific Ingress resource, use the server snippet annotation:
+
+    ```yaml
+    nginx.org/server-snippets: |
+        otel_trace on;
+    ```
+
+1. To enable OpenTelemetry for specific paths:
+
+    - You need to use [Mergeable Ingress resources](https://docs.nginx.com/nginx-ingress-controller/configuration/ingress-resources/cross-namespace-configuration)
+    - You need to use the location snippets annotation to enable OpenTelemetry for the paths of a specific Minion Ingress resource:
+
+        ```yaml
+        nginx.org/location-snippets: |
+            otel_trace on;
+        ```
+
+### OpenTelemetry is globally enabled
+
+1. To disable OpenTelemetry for a specific Ingress resource, use the server snippet annotation:
+
+    ```yaml
+    nginx.org/server-snippets: |
+        otel_trace off;
+    ```
+
+1. To disable OpenTelemetry for specific paths:
+
+    - You need to use [Mergeable Ingress resources](https://docs.nginx.com/nginx-ingress-controller/configuration/ingress-resources/cross-namespace-configuration)
+    - You need to use the location snippets annotation to disable OpenTelemetry for the paths of a specific Minion Ingress resource:
+
+        ```yaml
+        nginx.org/location-snippets: |
+            otel_trace off;
+        ```
+
+## Customize OpenTelemetry
+
+You can customize OpenTelemetry through the supported [OpenTelemetry module directives](https://nginx.org/en/docs/ngx_otel_module.html). Use the `location-snippets` ConfigMap keys or annotations to insert those directives into the generated NGINX configuration.
+
+> Note: At present, the additional directives in the `otel_exporter` block cannot be modified with snippets.
diff --git a/examples/shared-examples/otel/nginx-config.yaml b/examples/shared-examples/otel/nginx-config.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..4113972b1f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/shared-examples/otel/nginx-config.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+kind: ConfigMap
+apiVersion: v1
+metadata:
+  name: nginx-config
+  namespace: nginx-ingress
+data:
+  otel-exporter-endpoint: "otel.example.com:4317"
+  otel-service-name: "nginx-ingress-controller:nginx"
+  otel-exporter-header-name: "x-otel-header"
+  otel-exporter-header-value: "otel-header-value"
+  # otel-trace-in-http: "true" # Uncomment to enable tracing at the HTTP level
diff --git a/internal/configs/config_params.go b/internal/configs/config_params.go
index ec8d0c8a62..c73310056d 100644
--- a/internal/configs/config_params.go
+++ b/internal/configs/config_params.go
@@ -34,6 +34,12 @@ type ConfigParams struct {
 	MainLogFormat                          []string
 	MainLogFormatEscaping                  string
 	MainMainSnippets                       []string
+	MainOtelLoadModule                     bool
+	MainOtelTraceInHTTP                    bool
+	MainOtelExporterEndpoint               string
+	MainOtelExporterHeaderName             string
+	MainOtelExporterHeaderValue            string
+	MainOtelServiceName                    string
 	MainServerNamesHashBucketSize          string
 	MainServerNamesHashMaxSize             string
 	MainStreamLogFormat                    []string
diff --git a/internal/configs/configmaps.go b/internal/configs/configmaps.go
index 91a010c752..d0bf1bb3b5 100644
--- a/internal/configs/configmaps.go
+++ b/internal/configs/configmaps.go
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@ import (
 	"strings"
 	"time"
 
+	"github.com/nginx/kubernetes-ingress/internal/validation"
+
 	"github.com/nginx/kubernetes-ingress/internal/configs/commonhelpers"
 
 	v1 "k8s.io/api/core/v1"
@@ -16,7 +18,7 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/nginx/kubernetes-ingress/internal/configs/version1"
 	nl "github.com/nginx/kubernetes-ingress/internal/logger"
-	"github.com/nginx/kubernetes-ingress/internal/validation"
+	k8s_validation "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/validation"
 )
 
 const (
@@ -530,6 +532,11 @@ func ParseConfigMap(ctx context.Context, cfgm *v1.ConfigMap, nginxPlus bool, has
 		}
 	}
 
+	_, otelErr := parseConfigMapOpenTelemetry(l, cfgm, cfgParams, eventLog)
+	if otelErr != nil {
+		configOk = false
+	}
+
 	if hasAppProtect {
 		if appProtectFailureModeAction, exists := cfgm.Data["app-protect-failure-mode-action"]; exists {
 			if appProtectFailureModeAction == "pass" || appProtectFailureModeAction == "drop" {
@@ -740,6 +747,91 @@ func parseConfigMapZoneSync(l *slog.Logger, cfgm *v1.ConfigMap, cfgParams *Confi
 	return &cfgParams.ZoneSync, nil
 }
 
+//nolint:gocyclo
+func parseConfigMapOpenTelemetry(l *slog.Logger, cfgm *v1.ConfigMap, cfgParams *ConfigParams, eventLog record.EventRecorder) (*ConfigParams, error) {
+	otelValid := true
+
+	if otelExporterEndpoint, exists := cfgm.Data["otel-exporter-endpoint"]; exists {
+		otelExporterEndpoint = strings.TrimSpace(otelExporterEndpoint)
+		if otelExporterEndpoint != "" {
+			cfgParams.MainOtelExporterEndpoint = otelExporterEndpoint
+		}
+	}
+
+	if otelExporterHeaderName, exists := cfgm.Data["otel-exporter-header-name"]; exists {
+		otelExporterHeaderName = strings.TrimSpace(otelExporterHeaderName)
+		if otelExporterHeaderName != "" {
+			errorMessages := k8s_validation.IsHTTPHeaderName(otelExporterHeaderName)
+			if len(errorMessages) > 0 {
+				errorText := fmt.Sprintf("ConfigMap %s/%s: invalid value for 'otel-exporter-header-name': %q, %v", cfgm.GetNamespace(), cfgm.GetName(), otelExporterHeaderName, errorMessages)
+				nl.Error(l, errorText)
+				eventLog.Event(cfgm, v1.EventTypeWarning, nl.EventReasonInvalidValue, errorText)
+				otelValid = false
+			} else {
+				cfgParams.MainOtelExporterHeaderName = otelExporterHeaderName
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
+	if otelExporterHeaderValue, exists := cfgm.Data["otel-exporter-header-value"]; exists {
+		otelExporterHeaderValue = strings.TrimSpace(otelExporterHeaderValue)
+		if otelExporterHeaderValue != "" {
+			cfgParams.MainOtelExporterHeaderValue = otelExporterHeaderValue
+		}
+	}
+
+	if otelServiceName, exists := cfgm.Data["otel-service-name"]; exists {
+		otelServiceName = strings.TrimSpace(otelServiceName)
+		if otelServiceName != "" {
+			cfgParams.MainOtelServiceName = otelServiceName
+		}
+	}
+
+	if otelTraceInHTTP, exists, err := GetMapKeyAsBool(cfgm.Data, "otel-trace-in-http", cfgm); exists {
+		if err != nil {
+			nl.Error(l, err)
+			eventLog.Event(cfgm, v1.EventTypeWarning, nl.EventReasonInvalidValue, err.Error())
+			otelValid = false
+		}
+		cfgParams.MainOtelTraceInHTTP = otelTraceInHTTP
+	}
+
+	if (cfgParams.MainOtelExporterHeaderName != "" && cfgParams.MainOtelExporterHeaderValue == "") ||
+		(cfgParams.MainOtelExporterHeaderName == "" && cfgParams.MainOtelExporterHeaderValue != "") {
+		cfgParams.MainOtelExporterHeaderName = ""
+		cfgParams.MainOtelExporterHeaderValue = ""
+		errorText := "Both 'otel-exporter-header-name' and 'otel-exporter-header-value' must be set or neither"
+		nl.Error(l, errorText)
+		eventLog.Event(cfgm, v1.EventTypeWarning, nl.EventReasonInvalidValue, errorText)
+		otelValid = false
+	}
+
+	if cfgParams.MainOtelExporterEndpoint != "" {
+		cfgParams.MainOtelLoadModule = true
+	}
+
+	if cfgParams.MainOtelExporterEndpoint == "" &&
+		(cfgParams.MainOtelExporterHeaderName != "" ||
+			cfgParams.MainOtelExporterHeaderValue != "" ||
+			cfgParams.MainOtelServiceName != "" ||
+			cfgParams.MainOtelTraceInHTTP) {
+		errorText := "ConfigMap key 'otel-exporter-endpoint' is required when other otel fields are set"
+		nl.Error(l, errorText)
+		eventLog.Event(cfgm, v1.EventTypeWarning, nl.EventReasonInvalidValue, errorText)
+		otelValid = false
+		cfgParams.MainOtelTraceInHTTP = false
+		cfgParams.MainOtelExporterHeaderName = ""
+		cfgParams.MainOtelExporterHeaderValue = ""
+		cfgParams.MainOtelServiceName = ""
+	}
+
+	if !otelValid {
+		return nil, errors.New("invalid OpenTelemetry configuration")
+	}
+
+	return cfgParams, nil
+}
+
 // ParseMGMTConfigMap parses the mgmt block ConfigMap into MGMTConfigParams.
 //
 //nolint:gocyclo
@@ -913,6 +1005,12 @@ func GenerateNginxMainConfig(staticCfgParams *StaticConfigParams, config *Config
 		NginxStatus:                        staticCfgParams.NginxStatus,
 		NginxStatusAllowCIDRs:              staticCfgParams.NginxStatusAllowCIDRs,
 		NginxStatusPort:                    staticCfgParams.NginxStatusPort,
+		MainOtelLoadModule:                 config.MainOtelLoadModule,
+		MainOtelGlobalTraceEnabled:         config.MainOtelTraceInHTTP,
+		MainOtelExporterEndpoint:           config.MainOtelExporterEndpoint,
+		MainOtelExporterHeaderName:         config.MainOtelExporterHeaderName,
+		MainOtelExporterHeaderValue:        config.MainOtelExporterHeaderValue,
+		MainOtelServiceName:                config.MainOtelServiceName,
 		ProxyProtocol:                      config.ProxyProtocol,
 		ResolverAddresses:                  config.ResolverAddresses,
 		ResolverIPV6:                       config.ResolverIPV6,
diff --git a/internal/configs/configmaps_test.go b/internal/configs/configmaps_test.go
index 517c384780..397e6da9ca 100644
--- a/internal/configs/configmaps_test.go
+++ b/internal/configs/configmaps_test.go
@@ -1377,6 +1377,261 @@ func TestParseZoneSyncResolverIPV6MapResolverIPV6(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestOpenTelemetryConfigurationSuccess(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Parallel()
+	tests := []struct {
+		configMap                   *v1.ConfigMap
+		expectedLoadModule          bool
+		expectedExporterEndpoint    string
+		expectedExporterHeaderName  string
+		expectedExporterHeaderValue string
+		expectedServiceName         string
+		expectedTraceInHTTP         bool
+		msg                         string
+	}{
+		{
+			configMap: &v1.ConfigMap{
+				Data: map[string]string{
+					"otel-exporter-endpoint": "https://otel-collector:4317",
+					"otel-service-name":      "nginx-ingress-controller:nginx",
+				},
+			},
+			expectedLoadModule:          true,
+			expectedExporterEndpoint:    "https://otel-collector:4317",
+			expectedExporterHeaderName:  "",
+			expectedExporterHeaderValue: "",
+			expectedServiceName:         "nginx-ingress-controller:nginx",
+			msg:                         "endpoint set, minimal config",
+		},
+		{
+			configMap: &v1.ConfigMap{
+				Data: map[string]string{
+					"otel-exporter-endpoint":     "https://otel-collector:4317",
+					"otel-exporter-trusted-ca":   "otel-ca-secret",
+					"otel-exporter-header-name":  "X-Custom-Header",
+					"otel-exporter-header-value": "custom-value",
+					"otel-service-name":          "nginx-ingress-controller:nginx",
+					"otel-trace-in-http":         "true",
+				},
+			},
+			expectedLoadModule:          true,
+			expectedExporterEndpoint:    "https://otel-collector:4317",
+			expectedExporterHeaderName:  "X-Custom-Header",
+			expectedExporterHeaderValue: "custom-value",
+			expectedServiceName:         "nginx-ingress-controller:nginx",
+			expectedTraceInHTTP:         true,
+			msg:                         "endpoint set, full config",
+		},
+		{
+			configMap: &v1.ConfigMap{
+				Data: map[string]string{},
+			},
+			expectedLoadModule:          false,
+			expectedExporterEndpoint:    "",
+			expectedExporterHeaderName:  "",
+			expectedExporterHeaderValue: "",
+			expectedServiceName:         "",
+			expectedTraceInHTTP:         false,
+			msg:                         "no config",
+		},
+	}
+
+	isPlus := true
+	hasAppProtect := false
+	hasAppProtectDos := false
+	hasTLSPassthrough := false
+	expectedConfigOk := true
+
+	for _, test := range tests {
+		t.Run(test.msg, func(t *testing.T) {
+			result, configOk := ParseConfigMap(context.Background(), test.configMap, isPlus,
+				hasAppProtect, hasAppProtectDos, hasTLSPassthrough, makeEventLogger())
+			if configOk != expectedConfigOk {
+				t.Errorf("configOk: want %v, got %v", expectedConfigOk, configOk)
+			}
+			if result.MainOtelLoadModule != test.expectedLoadModule {
+				t.Errorf("MainOtelLoadModule: want %v, got %v", test.expectedLoadModule, result.MainOtelLoadModule)
+			}
+			if result.MainOtelExporterEndpoint != test.expectedExporterEndpoint {
+				t.Errorf("MainOtelExporterEndpoint: want %q, got %q", test.expectedExporterEndpoint, result.MainOtelExporterEndpoint)
+			}
+			if result.MainOtelExporterHeaderName != test.expectedExporterHeaderName {
+				t.Errorf("MainOtelExporterHeaderName: want %q, got %q", test.expectedExporterHeaderName, result.MainOtelExporterHeaderName)
+			}
+			if result.MainOtelExporterHeaderValue != test.expectedExporterHeaderValue {
+				t.Errorf("MainOtelExporterHeaderValue: want %q, got %q", test.expectedExporterHeaderValue, result.MainOtelExporterHeaderValue)
+			}
+			if result.MainOtelServiceName != test.expectedServiceName {
+				t.Errorf("MainOtelServiceName: want %q, got %q", test.expectedServiceName, result.MainOtelServiceName)
+			}
+			if result.MainOtelTraceInHTTP != test.expectedTraceInHTTP {
+				t.Errorf("MainOtelTraceInHTTP: want %v, got %v", test.expectedTraceInHTTP, result.MainOtelTraceInHTTP)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+func TestOpenTelemetryConfigurationInvalid(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Parallel()
+	tests := []struct {
+		configMap                   *v1.ConfigMap
+		expectedLoadModule          bool
+		expectedExporterEndpoint    string
+		expectedExporterHeaderName  string
+		expectedExporterHeaderValue string
+		expectedServiceName         string
+		expectedTraceInHTTP         bool
+		msg                         string
+	}{
+		{
+			configMap: &v1.ConfigMap{
+				Data: map[string]string{
+					"otel-exporter-endpoint": "",
+					"otel-service-name":      "nginx-ingress-controller:nginx",
+				},
+			},
+			expectedLoadModule:          false,
+			expectedExporterEndpoint:    "",
+			expectedExporterHeaderName:  "",
+			expectedExporterHeaderValue: "",
+			expectedServiceName:         "",
+			expectedTraceInHTTP:         false,
+			msg:                         "invalid, endpoint missing, service name set",
+		},
+		{
+			configMap: &v1.ConfigMap{
+				Data: map[string]string{
+					"otel-exporter-header-name":  "X-Custom-Header",
+					"otel-exporter-header-value": "custom-value",
+				},
+			},
+			expectedLoadModule:          false,
+			expectedExporterEndpoint:    "",
+			expectedExporterHeaderName:  "",
+			expectedExporterHeaderValue: "",
+			expectedServiceName:         "",
+			expectedTraceInHTTP:         false,
+			msg:                         "invalid, endpoint missing, header name and value set",
+		},
+		{
+			configMap: &v1.ConfigMap{
+				Data: map[string]string{
+					"otel-exporter-endpoint":    "https://otel-collector:4317",
+					"otel-exporter-header-name": "X-Custom-Header",
+					"otel-service-name":         "nginx-ingress-controller:nginx",
+				},
+			},
+			expectedLoadModule:          true,
+			expectedExporterEndpoint:    "https://otel-collector:4317",
+			expectedExporterHeaderName:  "",
+			expectedExporterHeaderValue: "",
+			expectedServiceName:         "nginx-ingress-controller:nginx",
+			expectedTraceInHTTP:         false,
+			msg:                         "partially invalid, header value missing",
+		},
+		{
+			configMap: &v1.ConfigMap{
+				Data: map[string]string{
+					"otel-exporter-endpoint":     "https://otel-collector:4317",
+					"otel-exporter-header-value": "custom-value",
+					"otel-service-name":          "nginx-ingress-controller:nginx",
+				},
+			},
+			expectedLoadModule:          true,
+			expectedExporterEndpoint:    "https://otel-collector:4317",
+			expectedExporterHeaderName:  "",
+			expectedExporterHeaderValue: "",
+			expectedServiceName:         "nginx-ingress-controller:nginx",
+			expectedTraceInHTTP:         false,
+			msg:                         "partially invalid, header name missing",
+		},
+		{
+			configMap: &v1.ConfigMap{
+				Data: map[string]string{
+					"otel-exporter-endpoint":     "https://otel-collector:4317",
+					"otel-exporter-header-name":  "X-Custom-H$eader",
+					"otel-exporter-header-value": "custom-value",
+					"otel-service-name":          "nginx-ingress-controller:nginx",
+				},
+			},
+			expectedLoadModule:          true,
+			expectedExporterEndpoint:    "https://otel-collector:4317",
+			expectedExporterHeaderName:  "",
+			expectedExporterHeaderValue: "",
+			expectedServiceName:         "nginx-ingress-controller:nginx",
+			expectedTraceInHTTP:         false,
+			msg:                         "partially invalid, header value invalid",
+		},
+		{
+			configMap: &v1.ConfigMap{
+				Data: map[string]string{
+					"otel-exporter-endpoint": "https://otel-collector:4317",
+					"otel-service-name":      "nginx-ingress-controller:nginx",
+					"otel-trace-in-http":     "invalid",
+				},
+			},
+			expectedLoadModule:          true,
+			expectedExporterEndpoint:    "https://otel-collector:4317",
+			expectedExporterHeaderName:  "",
+			expectedExporterHeaderValue: "",
+			expectedServiceName:         "nginx-ingress-controller:nginx",
+			expectedTraceInHTTP:         false,
+			msg:                         "partially invalid, trace flag invalid",
+		},
+		{
+			configMap: &v1.ConfigMap{
+				Data: map[string]string{
+					"otel-exporter-endpoint":     "https://otel-collector:4317",
+					"otel-exporter-header-value": "custom-value",
+					"otel-service-name":          "nginx-ingress-controller:nginx",
+					"otel-trace-in-http":         "true",
+				},
+			},
+			expectedLoadModule:          true,
+			expectedExporterEndpoint:    "https://otel-collector:4317",
+			expectedExporterHeaderName:  "",
+			expectedExporterHeaderValue: "",
+			expectedServiceName:         "nginx-ingress-controller:nginx",
+			expectedTraceInHTTP:         true,
+			msg:                         "partially invalid, header name missing, trace in http set",
+		},
+	}
+
+	isPlus := false
+	hasAppProtect := false
+	hasAppProtectDos := false
+	hasTLSPassthrough := false
+	expectedConfigOk := false
+
+	for _, test := range tests {
+		t.Run(test.msg, func(t *testing.T) {
+			result, configOk := ParseConfigMap(context.Background(), test.configMap, isPlus,
+				hasAppProtect, hasAppProtectDos, hasTLSPassthrough, makeEventLogger())
+			if configOk != expectedConfigOk {
+				t.Errorf("configOk: want %v, got %v", expectedConfigOk, configOk)
+			}
+			if result.MainOtelLoadModule != test.expectedLoadModule {
+				t.Errorf("MainOtelLoadModule: want %v, got %v", test.expectedLoadModule, result.MainOtelLoadModule)
+			}
+			if result.MainOtelExporterEndpoint != test.expectedExporterEndpoint {
+				t.Errorf("MainOtelExporterEndpoint: want %q, got %q", test.expectedExporterEndpoint, result.MainOtelExporterEndpoint)
+			}
+			if result.MainOtelExporterHeaderName != test.expectedExporterHeaderName {
+				t.Errorf("MainOtelExporterHeaderName: want %q, got %q", test.expectedExporterHeaderName, result.MainOtelExporterHeaderName)
+			}
+			if result.MainOtelExporterHeaderValue != test.expectedExporterHeaderValue {
+				t.Errorf("MainOtelExporterHeaderValue: want %q, got %q", test.expectedExporterHeaderValue, result.MainOtelExporterHeaderValue)
+			}
+			if result.MainOtelServiceName != test.expectedServiceName {
+				t.Errorf("MainOtelServiceName: want %q, got %q", test.expectedServiceName, result.MainOtelServiceName)
+			}
+			if result.MainOtelTraceInHTTP != test.expectedTraceInHTTP {
+				t.Errorf("MainOtelTraceInHTTP: want %v, got %v", test.expectedTraceInHTTP, result.MainOtelTraceInHTTP)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
 func makeEventLogger() record.EventRecorder {
 	return record.NewFakeRecorder(1024)
 }
diff --git a/internal/configs/version1/__snapshots__/template_test.snap b/internal/configs/version1/__snapshots__/template_test.snap
index 4a2a657e12..66a7b6f4b7 100644
--- a/internal/configs/version1/__snapshots__/template_test.snap
+++ b/internal/configs/version1/__snapshots__/template_test.snap
@@ -4263,6 +4263,154 @@ stream {
 
 ---
 
+[TestExecuteTemplate_ForMainForNGINXWithOtel - 1]
+worker_processes  ;
+
+daemon off;
+
+error_log  stderr ;
+pid        /var/lib/nginx/nginx.pid;
+load_module modules/ngx_otel_module.so;
+load_module modules/ngx_fips_check_module.so;
+
+load_module modules/ngx_http_js_module.so;
+
+events {
+    worker_connections  ;
+}
+
+http {
+    include       /etc/nginx/mime.types;
+    default_type  application/octet-stream;
+    map_hash_max_size ;
+    map_hash_bucket_size ;
+
+    js_import /etc/nginx/njs/apikey_auth.js;
+    js_set $apikey_auth_hash apikey_auth.hash;
+
+    log_format  main  '$remote_addr - $remote_user [$time_local] "$request" '
+                      '$status $body_bytes_sent "$http_referer" '
+                      '"$http_user_agent" "$http_x_forwarded_for"';
+
+    map $upstream_trailer_grpc_status $grpc_status {
+        default $upstream_trailer_grpc_status;
+        '' $sent_http_grpc_status;
+    }
+
+    access_log ;
+
+    sendfile        on;
+    #tcp_nopush     on;
+
+    keepalive_timeout ;
+    keepalive_requests 0;
+
+    #gzip  on;
+
+    server_names_hash_max_size ;
+    
+
+    variables_hash_bucket_size 0;
+    variables_hash_max_size 0;
+
+    map $request_uri $request_uri_no_args {
+        "~^(?P<path>[^?]*)(\?.*)?$" $path;
+    }
+
+    map $http_upgrade $connection_upgrade {
+        default upgrade;
+        ''      close;
+    }
+    map $http_upgrade $vs_connection_header {
+        default upgrade;
+        ''      $default_connection_header;
+    }
+    otel_exporter {
+        endpoint https://otel-collector:4317;
+        header X-Custom-Header "custom-value";
+    }
+
+    
+    otel_service_name nginx-ingress-controller:nginx;
+    
+    otel_trace on;
+
+    
+    
+
+    server {
+        # required to support the Websocket protocol in VirtualServer/VirtualServerRoutes
+        set $default_connection_header "";
+        set $resource_type "";
+        set $resource_name "";
+        set $resource_namespace "";
+        set $service "";
+
+        listen 0 default_server;listen [::]:0 default_server;
+        listen 0 ssl default_server;
+        listen [::]:0 ssl default_server;
+        ssl_certificate /etc/nginx/secrets/default;
+        ssl_certificate_key /etc/nginx/secrets/default;
+
+        server_name _;
+        server_tokens "";
+
+        location / {
+            return ;
+        }
+    }
+
+    # NGINX Plus API over unix socket
+    server {
+        listen unix:/var/lib/nginx/nginx-plus-api.sock;
+        access_log off;
+
+        # $config_version_mismatch is defined in /etc/nginx/config-version.conf
+        location /configVersionCheck {
+            if ($config_version_mismatch) {
+                return 503;
+            }
+            return 200;
+        }
+
+        location /api {
+            api write=on;
+        }
+    }
+
+    include /etc/nginx/config-version.conf;
+    include /etc/nginx/conf.d/*.conf;
+
+    server {
+        listen unix:/var/lib/nginx/nginx-418-server.sock;
+        access_log off;
+
+        return 418;
+    }
+}
+
+stream {
+    log_format  stream-main  '$remote_addr [$time_local] '
+                      '$protocol $status $bytes_sent $bytes_received '
+                      '$session_time "$ssl_preread_server_name"';
+
+    access_log  /dev/stdout  stream-main;
+    
+    
+
+    map_hash_max_size ;
+    
+    include /etc/nginx/stream-conf.d/*.conf;
+}
+
+mgmt {
+    license_token /license.jwt;
+    enforce_initial_report off;
+    deployment_context /etc/nginx/reporting/tracking.info;
+}
+
+---
+
 [TestExecuteTemplate_ForMainForNGINXWithZoneSyncEnabledCustomPort - 1]
 worker_processes  ;
 
diff --git a/internal/configs/version1/config.go b/internal/configs/version1/config.go
index 8b510e315f..106470b865 100644
--- a/internal/configs/version1/config.go
+++ b/internal/configs/version1/config.go
@@ -240,6 +240,12 @@ type MainConfig struct {
 	NginxStatus                        bool
 	NginxStatusAllowCIDRs              []string
 	NginxStatusPort                    int
+	MainOtelLoadModule                 bool
+	MainOtelGlobalTraceEnabled         bool
+	MainOtelExporterEndpoint           string
+	MainOtelExporterHeaderName         string
+	MainOtelExporterHeaderValue        string
+	MainOtelServiceName                string
 	ProxyProtocol                      bool
 	ResolverAddresses                  []string
 	ResolverIPV6                       bool
diff --git a/internal/configs/version1/nginx-plus.tmpl b/internal/configs/version1/nginx-plus.tmpl
index 9b5a0738c5..b9ae81b126 100644
--- a/internal/configs/version1/nginx-plus.tmpl
+++ b/internal/configs/version1/nginx-plus.tmpl
@@ -12,6 +12,9 @@ daemon off;
 error_log  stderr {{.ErrorLogLevel}};
 pid        /var/lib/nginx/nginx.pid;
 
+{{- if .MainOtelLoadModule}}
+load_module modules/ngx_otel_module.so;
+{{- end}}
 {{- if .AppProtectLoadModule}}
 load_module modules/ngx_http_app_protect_module.so;
 {{- end}}
@@ -143,6 +146,22 @@ http {
     ssl_dhparam {{.SSLDHParam}};
     {{- end}}
 
+    {{- if .MainOtelLoadModule }}
+    otel_exporter {
+        endpoint {{ .MainOtelExporterEndpoint }};
+        {{- if and .MainOtelExporterHeaderName .MainOtelExporterHeaderValue }}
+        header {{ .MainOtelExporterHeaderName }} "{{ .MainOtelExporterHeaderValue }}";
+        {{- end }}
+    }
+
+    {{ if .MainOtelServiceName}}
+    otel_service_name {{ .MainOtelServiceName }};
+    {{- end }}
+    {{ if .MainOtelGlobalTraceEnabled }}
+    otel_trace on;
+    {{- end}}
+    {{- end}}
+
     {{ $resolverIPV6HTTPBool := boolToPointerBool .ResolverIPV6 -}}
     {{ makeResolver .ResolverAddresses .ResolverValid $resolverIPV6HTTPBool }}
     {{if .ResolverTimeout}}resolver_timeout {{.ResolverTimeout}};{{end}}
diff --git a/internal/configs/version1/nginx.tmpl b/internal/configs/version1/nginx.tmpl
index 5b290b381d..a5f8d7760b 100644
--- a/internal/configs/version1/nginx.tmpl
+++ b/internal/configs/version1/nginx.tmpl
@@ -11,6 +11,10 @@ daemon off;
 error_log  stderr {{.ErrorLogLevel}};
 pid        /var/lib/nginx/nginx.pid;
 
+{{- if .MainOtelLoadModule}}
+load_module modules/ngx_otel_module.so;
+{{- end}}
+
 {{- if .MainSnippets}}
 {{range $value := .MainSnippets}}
 {{$value}}{{end}}
@@ -104,6 +108,22 @@ http {
     ssl_dhparam {{.SSLDHParam}};
     {{- end}}
 
+    {{- if .MainOtelLoadModule }}
+    otel_exporter {
+        endpoint {{ .MainOtelExporterEndpoint }};
+        {{- if and .MainOtelExporterHeaderName .MainOtelExporterHeaderValue }}
+        header {{ .MainOtelExporterHeaderName }} "{{ .MainOtelExporterHeaderValue }}";
+        {{- end }}
+    }
+
+    {{- if .MainOtelServiceName}}
+    otel_service_name {{ .MainOtelServiceName }};
+    {{- end }}
+    {{- if .MainOtelGlobalTraceEnabled }}
+    otel_trace on;
+    {{- end}}
+    {{- end}}
+
     server {
         # required to support the Websocket protocol in VirtualServer/VirtualServerRoutes
         set $default_connection_header "";
diff --git a/internal/configs/version1/template_test.go b/internal/configs/version1/template_test.go
index e21da7ec80..05430f1945 100644
--- a/internal/configs/version1/template_test.go
+++ b/internal/configs/version1/template_test.go
@@ -1080,6 +1080,36 @@ func TestExecuteTemplate_ForMainForNGINXWithZoneSyncEnabledCustomResolverAddress
 	snaps.MatchSnapshot(t, buf.String())
 }
 
+func TestExecuteTemplate_ForMainForNGINXWithOtel(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Parallel()
+
+	tmpl := newNGINXPlusMainTmpl(t)
+	buf := &bytes.Buffer{}
+
+	err := tmpl.Execute(buf, mainCfgWithOTel)
+	t.Log(buf.String())
+
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Failed to write template %v", err)
+	}
+
+	wantDirectives := []string{
+		"otel_exporter {",
+		"endpoint https://otel-collector:4317;",
+		"header X-Custom-Header \"custom-value\";",
+		"otel_service_name nginx-ingress-controller:nginx;",
+		"otel_trace on;",
+	}
+
+	mainConf := buf.String()
+	for _, want := range wantDirectives {
+		if !strings.Contains(mainConf, want) {
+			t.Errorf("want %q in generated config", want)
+		}
+	}
+	snaps.MatchSnapshot(t, buf.String())
+}
+
 func TestExecuteTemplate_ForIngressForNGINXWithProxySetHeadersAnnotationWithDefaultValue(t *testing.T) {
 	t.Parallel()
 
@@ -2589,6 +2619,15 @@ var (
 		},
 	}
 
+	mainCfgWithOTel = MainConfig{
+		MainOtelLoadModule:          true,
+		MainOtelGlobalTraceEnabled:  true,
+		MainOtelExporterEndpoint:    "https://otel-collector:4317",
+		MainOtelExporterHeaderName:  "X-Custom-Header",
+		MainOtelExporterHeaderValue: "custom-value",
+		MainOtelServiceName:         "nginx-ingress-controller:nginx",
+	}
+
 	// Vars for Mergable Ingress Master - Minion tests
 
 	coffeeUpstreamNginxPlus = Upstream{
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index a2bdec0dcb..cfd6f488bc 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@ markers = [
     "ingresses",
     "multi_ns",
     "oidc",
+    "otel",
     "policies",
     "policies_rl",
     "policies_jwt",
diff --git a/site/content/configuration/global-configuration/configmap-resource.md b/site/content/configuration/global-configuration/configmap-resource.md
index 724f6bb05e..51cc96349e 100644
--- a/site/content/configuration/global-configuration/configmap-resource.md
+++ b/site/content/configuration/global-configuration/configmap-resource.md
@@ -230,6 +230,11 @@ If you encounter the error `error [emerg] 13#13: "zone_sync" directive is duplic
 {{<bootstrap-table "table table-striped table-bordered table-responsive">}}
 |ConfigMap Key | Description | Default | Example |
 | ---| ---| ---| --- |
+|*otel-exporter-endpoint* | OTLP/gRPC endpoint that will accept [OpenTelemetry](https://opentelemetry.io) data. Set `otel-trace-in-http` to *"true"* to enable OpenTelemetry at the global level. | N/A | *"https://otel-collector:4317"* |
+|*otel-exporter-header-name* | The name of a custom HTTP header to add to telemetry export request. `otel-exporter-endpoint` and `otel-exporter-header-value` required. | N/A | *"X-custom-header"* |
+|*otel-exporter-header-value* | The value of a custom HTTP header to add to telemetry export request. `otel-exporter-endpoint` and `otel-exporter-header-name` required. | N/A | *"custom-value"* |
+|*otel-service-name* | Sets the `service.name` attribute of the OTel resource. `otel-exporter-endpoint` required. | N/A | *"nginx-ingress-controller:nginx"* |
+| *otel-trace-in-http* | Enables [OpenTelemetry](https://opentelemetry.io) globally (for all Ingress, VirtualServer and VirtualServerRoute resources). Set this to *"false"* to enable OpenTelemetry for individual routes with snippets. `otel-exporter-endpoint` required. | *"false"* | *"true"* |
 |*opentracing* | Removed in v5.0.0.  Enables [OpenTracing](https://opentracing.io) globally (for all Ingress, VirtualServer and VirtualServerRoute resources). Note: requires the Ingress Controller image with OpenTracing module and a tracer. See the [docs]({{< relref "/installation/integrations/opentracing.md" >}}) for more information. | *False* |  |
 |*opentracing-tracer* | Removed in v5.0.0.  Sets the path to the vendor tracer binary plugin. | N/A |  |
 |*opentracing-tracer-config* | Removed in v5.0.0.  Sets the tracer configuration in JSON format. | N/A |  |
diff --git a/site/content/technical-specifications.md b/site/content/technical-specifications.md
index 2e151e08d5..c9d7262d06 100644
--- a/site/content/technical-specifications.md
+++ b/site/content/technical-specifications.md
@@ -65,22 +65,22 @@ _NGINX Plus images include NGINX Plus R34._
 NGINX Plus images are available through the F5 Container registry `private-registry.nginx.com`, explained in the [Get the NGINX Ingress Controller image with JWT]({{<relref "/installation/nic-images/get-image-using-jwt.md">}}) and [Get the F5 Registry NGINX Ingress Controller image]({{<relref "/installation/nic-images/get-registry-image.md">}}) topics.
 
 {{< bootstrap-table "table table-striped table-bordered table-responsive" >}}
-|<div style="width:200px">Name</div> | <div style="width:100px">Base image</div> | <div style="width:200px">Third-party modules</div> | F5 Container Registry Image | Architectures |
+|<div style="width:200px">Name</div> | <div style="width:100px">Base image</div> | <div style="width:200px">Additional modules</div> | F5 Container Registry Image | Architectures |
 | ---| ---| --- | --- | --- |
-|Alpine-based image | ``alpine:3.21`` | NGINX Plus & JavaScript  | `nginx-ic/nginx-plus-ingress:{{< nic-version >}}-alpine` | arm64<br>amd64 |
-|Alpine-based image with FIPS inside | ``alpine:3.21`` | NGINX Plus & JavaScript <br><br>FIPS module and OpenSSL configuration | `nginx-ic/nginx-plus-ingress:{{< nic-version >}}-alpine-fips` | arm64<br>amd64 |
-|Alpine-based image with NGINX App Protect WAF & FIPS inside | ``alpine:3.19`` | NGINX App Protect WAF<br><br>NGINX Plus & JavaScript<br><br>FIPS module and OpenSSL configuration | `nginx-ic-nap/nginx-plus-ingress:{{< nic-version >}}-alpine-fips` | amd64 |
-|Alpine-based image with NGINX App Protect WAF v5 & FIPS inside | ``alpine:3.19`` | NGINX App Protect WAF v5<br><br>NGINX Plus & JavaScript<br><br>FIPS module and OpenSSL configuration | `nginx-ic-nap-v5/nginx-plus-ingress:{{< nic-version >}}-alpine-fips` | amd64 |
-|Debian-based image | ``debian:12-slim`` | NGINX Plus & JavaScript | `nginx-ic/nginx-plus-ingress:{{< nic-version >}}` | arm64<br>amd64 |
-|Debian-based image with NGINX App Protect WAF | ``debian:12-slim`` | NGINX App Protect WAF<br><br>NGINX Plus & JavaScript<br><br>Zipkin and Datadog | `nginx-ic-nap/nginx-plus-ingress:{{< nic-version >}}` | amd64 |
-|Debian-based image with NGINX App Protect WAF v5 | ``debian:12-slim`` | NGINX App Protect WAF v5<br><br>NGINX Plus & JavaScript | `nginx-ic-nap-v5/nginx-plus-ingress:{{< nic-version >}}` | amd64 |
-|Debian-based image with NGINX App Protect DoS | ``debian:12-slim`` | NGINX App Protect DoS<br><br>NGINX Plus & JavaScript | `nginx-ic-dos/nginx-plus-ingress:{{< nic-version >}}` | amd64 |
-|Debian-based image with NGINX App Protect WAF and DoS | ``debian:12-slim`` | NGINX App Protect WAF and DoS<br><br>NGINX Plus & JavaScript | `nginx-ic-nap-dos/nginx-plus-ingress:{{< nic-version >}}` | amd64 |
-|Ubi-based image | ``redhat/ubi9-minimal`` | NGINX Plus JavaScript module | `nginx-ic/nginx-plus-ingress:{{< nic-version >}}-ubi` | arm64<br>amd64 |
-|Ubi-based image with NGINX App Protect WAF | ``redhat/ubi9`` | NGINX App Protect WAF and NGINX Plus JavaScript module | `nginx-ic-nap/nginx-plus-ingress:{{< nic-version >}}-ubi` | amd64 |
-|Ubi-based image with NGINX App Protect WAF v5 | ``redhat/ubi9`` | NGINX App Protect WAF v5 and NGINX Plus JavaScript module | `nginx-ic-nap-v5/nginx-plus-ingress:{{< nic-version >}}-ubi` | amd64 |
-|Ubi-based image with NGINX App Protect DoS | ``redhat/ubi8`` | NGINX App Protect DoS and NGINX Plus JavaScript module | `nginx-ic-dos/nginx-plus-ingress:{{< nic-version >}}-ubi` | amd64 |
-|Ubi-based image with NGINX App Protect WAF and DoS | ``redhat/ubi8`` | NGINX App Protect WAF and DoS<br><br>NGINX Plus JavaScript module | `nginx-ic-nap-dos/nginx-plus-ingress:{{< nic-version >}}-ubi` | amd64 |
+|Alpine-based image | ``alpine:3.21`` | NJS (NGINX JavaScript)<br>OpenTelemetry  | `nginx-ic/nginx-plus-ingress:{{< nic-version >}}-alpine` | arm64<br>amd64 |
+|Alpine-based image with FIPS inside | ``alpine:3.21`` | NJS (NGINX JavaScript)<br>OpenTelemetry<br>FIPS module and OpenSSL configuration | `nginx-ic/nginx-plus-ingress:{{< nic-version >}}-alpine-fips` | arm64<br>amd64 |
+|Alpine-based image with NGINX App Protect WAF & FIPS inside | ``alpine:3.19`` | NGINX App Protect WAF<br>NJS (NGINX JavaScript)<br>OpenTelemetry<br>FIPS module and OpenSSL configuration | `nginx-ic-nap/nginx-plus-ingress:{{< nic-version >}}-alpine-fips` | amd64 |
+|Alpine-based image with NGINX App Protect WAF v5 & FIPS inside | ``alpine:3.19`` | NGINX App Protect WAF v5<br>NJS (NGINX JavaScript)<br>OpenTelemetry<br>FIPS module and OpenSSL configuration | `nginx-ic-nap-v5/nginx-plus-ingress:{{< nic-version >}}-alpine-fips` | amd64 |
+|Debian-based image | ``debian:12-slim`` | NJS (NGINX JavaScript)<br>OpenTelemetry | `nginx-ic/nginx-plus-ingress:{{< nic-version >}}` | arm64<br>amd64 |
+|Debian-based image with NGINX App Protect WAF | ``debian:12-slim`` | NGINX App Protect WAF<br>NJS (NGINX JavaScript)<br>OpenTelemetry | `nginx-ic-nap/nginx-plus-ingress:{{< nic-version >}}` | amd64 |
+|Debian-based image with NGINX App Protect WAF v5 | ``debian:12-slim`` | NGINX App Protect WAF v5<br>NJS (NGINX JavaScript)<br>OpenTelemetry | `nginx-ic-nap-v5/nginx-plus-ingress:{{< nic-version >}}` | amd64 |
+|Debian-based image with NGINX App Protect DoS | ``debian:12-slim`` | NGINX App Protect DoS<br>NJS (NGINX JavaScript)<br>OpenTelemetry | `nginx-ic-dos/nginx-plus-ingress:{{< nic-version >}}` | amd64 |
+|Debian-based image with NGINX App Protect WAF and DoS | ``debian:12-slim`` | NGINX App Protect WAF and DoS<br>NJS (NGINX JavaScript)<br>OpenTelemetry | `nginx-ic-nap-dos/nginx-plus-ingress:{{< nic-version >}}` | amd64 |
+|Ubi-based image | ``redhat/ubi9-minimal`` | NJS (NGINX JavaScript)<br>OpenTelemetry | `nginx-ic/nginx-plus-ingress:{{< nic-version >}}-ubi` | arm64<br>amd64 |
+|Ubi-based image with NGINX App Protect WAF | ``redhat/ubi9`` | NGINX App Protect WAF<br>NJS (NGINX JavaScript)<br>OpenTelemetry | `nginx-ic-nap/nginx-plus-ingress:{{< nic-version >}}-ubi` | amd64 |
+|Ubi-based image with NGINX App Protect WAF v5 | ``redhat/ubi9`` | NGINX App Protect WAF v5<br>NJS (NGINX JavaScript)<br>OpenTelemetry | `nginx-ic-nap-v5/nginx-plus-ingress:{{< nic-version >}}-ubi` | amd64 |
+|Ubi-based image with NGINX App Protect DoS | ``redhat/ubi8`` | NGINX App Protect DoS<br>NJS (NGINX JavaScript)<br>OpenTelemetry | `nginx-ic-dos/nginx-plus-ingress:{{< nic-version >}}-ubi` | amd64 |
+|Ubi-based image with NGINX App Protect WAF and DoS | ``redhat/ubi8`` | NGINX App Protect WAF and DoS<br>NJS (NGINX JavaScript)<br>OpenTelemetry | `nginx-ic-nap-dos/nginx-plus-ingress:{{< nic-version >}}-ubi` | amd64 |
 {{% /bootstrap-table %}}
 
 ---
diff --git a/tests/Makefile b/tests/Makefile
index 3b955a6f04..8fe5f96035 100644
--- a/tests/Makefile
+++ b/tests/Makefile
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 SHELL                       = /bin/bash
 ROOT_DIR                    = $(shell git rev-parse --show-toplevel)
 CONTEXT                     =
-PULL_POLICY                 = IfNotPresent
+PULL_POLICY                 ?= IfNotPresent
 DEPLOYMENT_TYPE             = deployment
 SERVICE                     = nodeport
 NODE_IP                     =
diff --git a/tests/data/otel/configmap-with-all-except-endpoint.yaml b/tests/data/otel/configmap-with-all-except-endpoint.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..9940afb925
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/data/otel/configmap-with-all-except-endpoint.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+kind: ConfigMap
+apiVersion: v1
+metadata:
+  name: nginx-config
+  namespace: nginx-ingress
+data:
+  otel-exporter-header-name: "x-otel-header"
+  otel-exporter-header-value: "otel-header-value"
+  otel-service-name: "nginx-ingress-controller:nginx"
+  otel-trace-in-http: "true"
diff --git a/tests/data/otel/configmap-with-all.yaml b/tests/data/otel/configmap-with-all.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..3f0dbecbac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/data/otel/configmap-with-all.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+kind: ConfigMap
+apiVersion: v1
+metadata:
+  name: nginx-config
+  namespace: nginx-ingress
+data:
+  otel-exporter-endpoint: "otel.example.com:4317"
+  otel-exporter-header-name: "x-otel-header"
+  otel-exporter-header-value: "otel-header-value"
+  otel-service-name: "nginx-ingress-controller:nginx"
+  otel-trace-in-http: "true"
diff --git a/tests/data/otel/configmap-with-endpoint.yaml b/tests/data/otel/configmap-with-endpoint.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..fc462e2c79
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/data/otel/configmap-with-endpoint.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+kind: ConfigMap
+apiVersion: v1
+metadata:
+  name: nginx-config
+  namespace: nginx-ingress
+data:
+  otel-exporter-endpoint: "otel.example.com:4317"
diff --git a/tests/data/otel/configmap-with-header.yaml b/tests/data/otel/configmap-with-header.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..868b7017f5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/data/otel/configmap-with-header.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+kind: ConfigMap
+apiVersion: v1
+metadata:
+  name: nginx-config
+  namespace: nginx-ingress
+data:
+  otel-exporter-endpoint: "otel.example.com:4317"
+  otel-exporter-header-name: "x-otel-header"
+  otel-exporter-header-value: "otel-header-value"
diff --git a/tests/data/otel/configmap-with-only-header-name.yaml b/tests/data/otel/configmap-with-only-header-name.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..edac4d37cc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/data/otel/configmap-with-only-header-name.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+kind: ConfigMap
+apiVersion: v1
+metadata:
+  name: nginx-config
+  namespace: nginx-ingress
+data:
+  otel-exporter-endpoint: "otel.example.com:4317"
+  otel-exporter-header-name: "x-otel-header"
diff --git a/tests/data/otel/configmap-with-only-header-value.yaml b/tests/data/otel/configmap-with-only-header-value.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d7f95030cb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/data/otel/configmap-with-only-header-value.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+kind: ConfigMap
+apiVersion: v1
+metadata:
+  name: nginx-config
+  namespace: nginx-ingress
+data:
+  otel-exporter-endpoint: "otel.example.com:4317"
+  otel-exporter-header-value: "otel-header-value"
diff --git a/tests/data/otel/configmap-with-otel-trace.yaml b/tests/data/otel/configmap-with-otel-trace.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7cb1e2a87f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/data/otel/configmap-with-otel-trace.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+kind: ConfigMap
+apiVersion: v1
+metadata:
+  name: nginx-config
+  namespace: nginx-ingress
+data:
+  otel-exporter-endpoint: "otel.example.com:4317"
+  otel-trace-in-http: "true"
diff --git a/tests/data/otel/configmap-with-service-name.yaml b/tests/data/otel/configmap-with-service-name.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..29e29439cd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/data/otel/configmap-with-service-name.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+kind: ConfigMap
+apiVersion: v1
+metadata:
+  name: nginx-config
+  namespace: nginx-ingress
+data:
+  otel-exporter-endpoint: "otel.example.com:4317"
+  otel-service-name: "nginx-ingress-controller:nginx"
diff --git a/tests/data/otel/default-configmap.yaml b/tests/data/otel/default-configmap.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a6a6c812b5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/data/otel/default-configmap.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+kind: ConfigMap
+apiVersion: v1
+metadata:
+  name: nginx-config
+  namespace: nginx-ingress
+data:
diff --git a/tests/suite/test_otel.py b/tests/suite/test_otel.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..153527ca3a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/suite/test_otel.py
@@ -0,0 +1,473 @@
+import pytest
+from settings import TEST_DATA
+from suite.utils.resources_utils import (
+    extract_block,
+    get_nginx_template_conf,
+    replace_configmap_from_yaml,
+    wait_before_test,
+)
+
+WAIT_TIME = 1
+cm_default = f"{TEST_DATA}/otel/default-configmap.yaml"
+cm_endpoint = f"{TEST_DATA}/otel/configmap-with-endpoint.yaml"
+cm_header = f"{TEST_DATA}/otel/configmap-with-header.yaml"
+cm_header_only_name = f"{TEST_DATA}/otel/configmap-with-only-header-name.yaml"
+cm_header_only_value = f"{TEST_DATA}/otel/configmap-with-only-header-value.yaml"
+cm_service_name = f"{TEST_DATA}/otel/configmap-with-service-name.yaml"
+cm_otel_trace = f"{TEST_DATA}/otel/configmap-with-otel-trace.yaml"
+cm_all = f"{TEST_DATA}/otel/configmap-with-all.yaml"
+cm_all_except_endpoint = f"{TEST_DATA}/otel/configmap-with-all-except-endpoint.yaml"
+otel_module = "modules/ngx_otel_module.so"
+exporter = "otel.example.com:4317"
+otel_exporter_header_name = "x-otel-header"
+otel_exporter_header_value = "otel-header-value"
+otel_service_name = "nginx-ingress-controller:nginx"
+configmap_name = "nginx-config"
+
+
+@pytest.mark.otel
+class TestOtel:
+
+    def test_otel_not_enabled(
+        self,
+        kube_apis,
+        ingress_controller_prerequisites,
+        ingress_controller,
+    ):
+        """
+        Test:
+        1. NIC starts without otel configured in the `nginx-config`
+        2. Ensure that the otel is not enabled in the nginx.conf
+        """
+
+        print("Step 1: apply default nginx-config map")
+        replace_configmap_from_yaml(
+            kube_apis.v1,
+            configmap_name,
+            ingress_controller_prerequisites.namespace,
+            cm_default,
+        )
+
+        # Verify otel not present in nginx.conf
+        wait_before_test(WAIT_TIME)
+        nginx_config = get_nginx_template_conf(
+            kube_apis.v1, ingress_controller_prerequisites.namespace, print_log=False
+        )
+        assert "otel" not in (nginx_config)
+
+    def test_otel_endpoint(
+        self,
+        kube_apis,
+        ingress_controller_prerequisites,
+        ingress_controller,
+    ):
+        """
+        Test:
+        1. NIC starts with otel endpoint configured in the `nginx-config`
+        2. Ensure that the `ngx_otel_module.so` is loaded in the nginx.conf
+        3. Ensure that the `otel_exporter` is enabled in the nginx.conf
+        4. Ensure that the `endpoint` is enabled in the `otel_exporter` block.
+        5. Ensure that `otel_trace` is not configured
+        """
+        configmap_name = "nginx-config"
+
+        print("Step 1: apply nginx-config map")
+        replace_configmap_from_yaml(
+            kube_apis.v1,
+            configmap_name,
+            ingress_controller_prerequisites.namespace,
+            cm_endpoint,
+        )
+
+        wait_before_test(WAIT_TIME)
+        nginx_config = get_nginx_template_conf(
+            kube_apis.v1, ingress_controller_prerequisites.namespace, print_log=False
+        )
+
+        print("Step 2: Ensure that the otel module is loaded")
+        assert otel_module in (nginx_config)
+
+        exporter_block = extract_block(nginx_config, "otel_exporter")
+
+        print("Step 3: Ensure that the otel_exporter is enabled")
+        assert "otel_exporter" in (exporter_block)
+
+        print("Step 4: Ensure that the endpoint is correctly configured")
+        assert f"endpoint {exporter};" in (exporter_block)
+
+        print("Step 5: Ensure that otel_trace is not configured")
+        assert "otel_trace" not in (nginx_config)
+
+        print("Step 6: reset the configmap to default")
+        replace_configmap_from_yaml(
+            kube_apis.v1,
+            configmap_name,
+            ingress_controller_prerequisites.namespace,
+            cm_default,
+        )
+
+    def test_otel_header(
+        self,
+        kube_apis,
+        ingress_controller_prerequisites,
+        ingress_controller,
+    ):
+        """
+        Test:
+        1. NIC starts with otel endpoint configured in the `nginx-config`
+        2. Ensure that the `ngx_otel_module.so` is loaded in the nginx.conf
+        3. Ensure that the `otel_exporter` is enabled in the nginx.conf
+        4. Ensure that the `header` is enabled in the `otel_exporter` block.
+        5. Ensure that `otel_trace` is not configured
+        """
+        configmap_name = "nginx-config"
+
+        print("Step 1: apply nginx-config map")
+        replace_configmap_from_yaml(
+            kube_apis.v1,
+            configmap_name,
+            ingress_controller_prerequisites.namespace,
+            cm_header,
+        )
+
+        wait_before_test(WAIT_TIME)
+        nginx_config = get_nginx_template_conf(
+            kube_apis.v1, ingress_controller_prerequisites.namespace, print_log=False
+        )
+
+        print("Step 2: Ensure that the otel module is loaded")
+        assert otel_module in (nginx_config)
+
+        exporter_block = extract_block(nginx_config, "otel_exporter")
+
+        print("Step 3: Ensure that the otel_exporter is enabled")
+        assert "otel_exporter" in (exporter_block)
+
+        print("Step 4: Ensure that the header is correctly configured")
+        assert f'header {otel_exporter_header_name} "{otel_exporter_header_value}";' in (exporter_block)
+
+        print("Step 5: Ensure that otel_trace is not configured")
+        assert "otel_trace" not in (nginx_config)
+
+        print("Step 6: reset the configmap to default")
+        replace_configmap_from_yaml(
+            kube_apis.v1,
+            configmap_name,
+            ingress_controller_prerequisites.namespace,
+            cm_default,
+        )
+        wait_before_test(WAIT_TIME)
+
+    def test_otel_header_name_only(
+        self,
+        kube_apis,
+        ingress_controller_prerequisites,
+        ingress_controller,
+    ):
+        """
+        Test:
+        1. NIC starts with otel endpoint configured in the `nginx-config`
+        2. Ensure that the `ngx_otel_module.so` is loaded in the nginx.conf
+        3. Ensure that the `otel_exporter` is enabled in the nginx.conf
+        4. Ensure that the `header` is not in the `otel_exporter` block.
+        5. Ensure that `otel_trace` is not configured
+        """
+        configmap_name = "nginx-config"
+
+        print("Step 1: apply nginx-config map")
+        replace_configmap_from_yaml(
+            kube_apis.v1,
+            configmap_name,
+            ingress_controller_prerequisites.namespace,
+            cm_header_only_name,
+        )
+
+        wait_before_test(WAIT_TIME)
+        nginx_config = get_nginx_template_conf(
+            kube_apis.v1, ingress_controller_prerequisites.namespace, print_log=False
+        )
+
+        print("Step 2: Ensure that the otel module is loaded")
+        assert otel_module in (nginx_config)
+
+        exporter_block = extract_block(nginx_config, "otel_exporter")
+
+        print("Step 3: Ensure that the otel_exporter is enabled")
+        assert "otel_exporter" in (exporter_block)
+
+        print("Step 4: Ensure that the header is not configured")
+        assert f"header" not in (exporter_block)
+
+        print("Step 5: Ensure that otel_trace is not configured")
+        assert "otel_trace" not in (nginx_config)
+
+        print("Step 6: reset the configmap to default")
+        replace_configmap_from_yaml(
+            kube_apis.v1,
+            configmap_name,
+            ingress_controller_prerequisites.namespace,
+            cm_default,
+        )
+        wait_before_test(WAIT_TIME)
+
+    def test_otel_header_value_only(
+        self,
+        kube_apis,
+        ingress_controller_prerequisites,
+        ingress_controller,
+    ):
+        """
+        Test:
+        1. NIC starts with otel endpoint configured in the `nginx-config`
+        2. Ensure that the `ngx_otel_module.so` is loaded in the nginx.conf
+        3. Ensure that the `otel_exporter` is enabled in the nginx.conf
+        4. Ensure that the `header` is not in the `otel_exporter` block.
+        5. Ensure that `otel_trace` is not configured
+        """
+        configmap_name = "nginx-config"
+
+        print("Step 1: apply nginx-config map")
+        replace_configmap_from_yaml(
+            kube_apis.v1,
+            configmap_name,
+            ingress_controller_prerequisites.namespace,
+            cm_header_only_value,
+        )
+
+        wait_before_test(WAIT_TIME)
+        nginx_config = get_nginx_template_conf(
+            kube_apis.v1, ingress_controller_prerequisites.namespace, print_log=False
+        )
+
+        print("Step 2: Ensure that the otel module is loaded")
+        assert otel_module in (nginx_config)
+
+        exporter_block = extract_block(nginx_config, "otel_exporter")
+
+        print("Step 3: Ensure that the otel_exporter is enabled")
+        assert "otel_exporter" in (exporter_block)
+
+        print("Step 4: Ensure that the header is not configured")
+        assert f"header" not in (exporter_block)
+
+        print("Step 5: Ensure that otel_trace is not configured")
+        assert "otel_trace" not in (nginx_config)
+
+        print("Step 6: reset the configmap to default")
+        replace_configmap_from_yaml(
+            kube_apis.v1,
+            configmap_name,
+            ingress_controller_prerequisites.namespace,
+            cm_default,
+        )
+        wait_before_test(WAIT_TIME)
+
+    def test_otel_service_name(
+        self,
+        kube_apis,
+        ingress_controller_prerequisites,
+        ingress_controller,
+    ):
+        """
+        Test:
+        1. NIC starts with otel endpoint configured in the `nginx-config`
+        2. Ensure that the `ngx_otel_module.so` is loaded in the nginx.conf
+        3. Ensure that the `otel_exporter` is enabled in the nginx.conf
+        4. Ensure that the `service-name` is enabled in the nginx.conf
+        5. Ensure that `otel_trace` is not configured
+        """
+        configmap_name = "nginx-config"
+
+        print("Step 1: apply nginx-config map")
+        replace_configmap_from_yaml(
+            kube_apis.v1,
+            configmap_name,
+            ingress_controller_prerequisites.namespace,
+            cm_service_name,
+        )
+
+        wait_before_test(WAIT_TIME)
+        nginx_config = get_nginx_template_conf(
+            kube_apis.v1, ingress_controller_prerequisites.namespace, print_log=False
+        )
+
+        print("Step 2: Ensure that the otel module is loaded")
+        assert otel_module in (nginx_config)
+
+        exporter_block = extract_block(nginx_config, "otel_exporter")
+
+        print("Step 3: Ensure that the otel_exporter is enabled")
+        assert "otel_exporter" in (exporter_block)
+
+        print("Step 4: Ensure that the service-name is correctly configured")
+        assert f"otel_service_name {otel_service_name}" in (nginx_config)
+
+        print("Step 5: Ensure that otel_trace is not configured")
+        assert "otel_trace" not in (nginx_config)
+
+        print("Step 6: reset the configmap to default")
+        replace_configmap_from_yaml(
+            kube_apis.v1,
+            configmap_name,
+            ingress_controller_prerequisites.namespace,
+            cm_default,
+        )
+        wait_before_test(WAIT_TIME)
+
+    def test_otel_trace(
+        self,
+        kube_apis,
+        ingress_controller_prerequisites,
+        ingress_controller,
+    ):
+        """
+        Test:
+        1. NIC starts with otel endpoint configured in the `nginx-config`
+        2. Ensure that the `ngx_otel_module.so` is loaded in the nginx.conf
+        3. Ensure that the `otel_exporter` is enabled in the nginx.conf
+        4. Ensure that `otel_trace` is configured in the nginx.conf
+        """
+        configmap_name = "nginx-config"
+
+        print("Step 1: apply nginx-config map")
+        replace_configmap_from_yaml(
+            kube_apis.v1,
+            configmap_name,
+            ingress_controller_prerequisites.namespace,
+            cm_otel_trace,
+        )
+
+        wait_before_test(WAIT_TIME)
+        nginx_config = get_nginx_template_conf(
+            kube_apis.v1, ingress_controller_prerequisites.namespace, print_log=False
+        )
+
+        print("Step 2: Ensure that the otel module is loaded")
+        assert otel_module in (nginx_config)
+
+        exporter_block = extract_block(nginx_config, "otel_exporter")
+
+        print("Step 3: Ensure that the otel_exporter is enabled")
+        assert "otel_exporter" in (exporter_block)
+
+        print("Step 4: Ensure that otel_trace is configured")
+        assert "otel_trace on;" in (nginx_config)
+
+        print("Step 5: reset the configmap to default")
+        replace_configmap_from_yaml(
+            kube_apis.v1,
+            configmap_name,
+            ingress_controller_prerequisites.namespace,
+            cm_default,
+        )
+        wait_before_test(WAIT_TIME)
+
+    def test_otel_all(
+        self,
+        kube_apis,
+        ingress_controller_prerequisites,
+        ingress_controller,
+    ):
+        """
+        Test:
+        1. NIC starts with otel endpoint configured in the `nginx-config`
+        2. Ensure that the `ngx_otel_module.so` is loaded in the nginx.conf
+        3. Ensure that the `otel_exporter` is enabled in the nginx.conf
+        4. Ensure that the `endpoint` is enabled in the `otel_exporter` block.
+        5. Ensure that the `header` is enabled in the `otel_exporter` block.
+        6. Ensure that the `service-name` is enabled in the nginx.conf
+        7. Ensure that `otel_trace` is configured in the nginx.conf
+        """
+        configmap_name = "nginx-config"
+
+        print("Step 1: apply nginx-config map")
+        replace_configmap_from_yaml(
+            kube_apis.v1,
+            configmap_name,
+            ingress_controller_prerequisites.namespace,
+            cm_all,
+        )
+
+        wait_before_test(WAIT_TIME)
+        nginx_config = get_nginx_template_conf(
+            kube_apis.v1, ingress_controller_prerequisites.namespace, print_log=False
+        )
+
+        print("Step 2: Ensure that the otel module is loaded")
+        assert otel_module in (nginx_config)
+
+        exporter_block = extract_block(nginx_config, "otel_exporter")
+
+        print("Step 3: Ensure that the otel_exporter is enabled")
+        assert "otel_exporter" in (exporter_block)
+
+        print("Step 4: Ensure that the endpoint is correctly configured")
+        assert f"endpoint {exporter};" in (exporter_block)
+
+        print("Step 5: Ensure that the header is correctly configured")
+        assert f'header {otel_exporter_header_name} "{otel_exporter_header_value}";' in (exporter_block)
+
+        print("Step 6: Ensure that the service-name is correctly configured")
+        assert f"otel_service_name {otel_service_name}" in (nginx_config)
+
+        print("Step 7: Ensure that otel_trace is configured")
+        assert "otel_trace on;" in (nginx_config)
+
+        print("Step 8: reset the configmap to default")
+        replace_configmap_from_yaml(
+            kube_apis.v1,
+            configmap_name,
+            ingress_controller_prerequisites.namespace,
+            cm_default,
+        )
+        wait_before_test(WAIT_TIME)
+
+    def test_otel_all_except_endpoint(
+        self,
+        kube_apis,
+        ingress_controller_prerequisites,
+        ingress_controller,
+    ):
+        """
+        Test:
+        1. NIC starts with all otel configuration except endpoint configured in the `nginx-config`
+        2. Ensure that the `ngx_otel_module.so` is not in the nginx.conf
+        3. Ensure that the `otel_exporter` is not in the nginx.conf
+        4. Ensure that the `service-name` is not in the nginx.conf
+        5. Ensure that `otel_trace` is not in the nginx.conf
+        """
+        configmap_name = "nginx-config"
+
+        print("Step 1: apply nginx-config map")
+        replace_configmap_from_yaml(
+            kube_apis.v1,
+            configmap_name,
+            ingress_controller_prerequisites.namespace,
+            cm_all_except_endpoint,
+        )
+
+        wait_before_test(WAIT_TIME)
+        nginx_config = get_nginx_template_conf(
+            kube_apis.v1, ingress_controller_prerequisites.namespace, print_log=False
+        )
+
+        print("Step 2: Ensure that the otel module is not loaded")
+        assert otel_module not in (nginx_config)
+
+        print("Step 3: Ensure that the otel_exporter is not enabled")
+        assert "otel_exporter" not in (nginx_config)
+
+        print("Step 4: Ensure that the service-name is not correctly configured")
+        assert f"otel_service_name {otel_service_name}" not in (nginx_config)
+
+        print("Step 5: Ensure that otel_trace is not configured")
+        assert "otel_trace on;" not in (nginx_config)
+
+        print("Step 6: reset the configmap to default")
+        replace_configmap_from_yaml(
+            kube_apis.v1,
+            configmap_name,
+            ingress_controller_prerequisites.namespace,
+            cm_default,
+        )
+        wait_before_test(WAIT_TIME)
diff --git a/tests/suite/utils/resources_utils.py b/tests/suite/utils/resources_utils.py
index 1916bf4992..9a25cc0aea 100644
--- a/tests/suite/utils/resources_utils.py
+++ b/tests/suite/utils/resources_utils.py
@@ -1011,7 +1011,7 @@ def clear_file_contents(v1: CoreV1Api, file_path, pod_name, pod_namespace):
     )
 
 
-def get_nginx_template_conf(v1: CoreV1Api, ingress_namespace, ic_pod_name=None) -> str:
+def get_nginx_template_conf(v1: CoreV1Api, ingress_namespace, ic_pod_name=None, print_log=True) -> str:
     """
     Get contents of /etc/nginx/nginx.conf in the pod
     :param v1: CoreV1Api
@@ -1022,7 +1022,7 @@ def get_nginx_template_conf(v1: CoreV1Api, ingress_namespace, ic_pod_name=None)
     if ic_pod_name is None:
         ic_pod_name = get_first_pod_name(v1, ingress_namespace)
     file_path = "/etc/nginx/nginx.conf"
-    return get_file_contents(v1, file_path, ic_pod_name, ingress_namespace)
+    return get_file_contents(v1, file_path, ic_pod_name, ingress_namespace, print_log)
 
 
 def get_ingress_nginx_template_conf(v1: CoreV1Api, ingress_namespace, ingress_name, pod_name, pod_namespace) -> str:
@@ -1070,6 +1070,19 @@ def get_ts_nginx_template_conf(v1: CoreV1Api, resource_namespace, resource_name,
     return get_file_contents(v1, file_path, pod_name, pod_namespace)
 
 
+def extract_block(nginx_config, block_name):
+    """
+    Extract a block of configuration from the nginx config file.
+
+    :param nginx_config: The nginx config file content as a string.
+    :param block_name: The name of the block to extract.
+    :return: The extracted block as a string.
+    """
+    start = nginx_config.find(block_name)
+    end = nginx_config.find("}", start) + 1
+    return nginx_config[start:end]
+
+
 def create_example_app(kube_apis, app_type, namespace) -> None:
     """
     Create a backend application.