AppOptics APM

The appoptics-apm module provides AppOptics instrumentation for Node.js.

It supports most commonly used databases, frameworks, and packages automatically. An API allows anything to be instrumented.

An AppOptics account is required to view metrics. Accounts are free for development and testing use. For production usage a free trial is a great way to start.

Dependencies

This is a Linux Only package with no Mac or Windows support. When installed on Mac or Windows (for development) it will degrade gracefully.

It is compatible with Node versions 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18. See node status for more.

It is dependent on @appoptics/apm-bindings binary add-on. The AppOptics APM Agent will first attempt to install a prebuilt binary add-on using node-pre-gyp and only if that fails, will it attempt to build the add-on from source using node-gyp.

Building with node-gyp (via node-pre-gyp) requires:

• Python (2 or 3 depending on version of npm)
• make
• A proper C/C++ compiler toolchain, like GCC

Installation

The appoptics-apm module is available on npm and can be installed by navigating to your app root and running:

npm install --save appoptics-apm

The agent requires a service key, obtained from the AppOptics dashboard under "Organization Details", to connect to your account. This is set via the APPOPTICS_SERVICE_KEY environment variable, make sure it is available in the environment where your application is running:

export APPOPTICS_SERVICE_KEY="api-token-here:your-service-name"

Then, at the top of your main js file for your app, add this:

require('appoptics-apm')

Now restart your app and you should see data in your AppOptics dashboard in a minute or two.

Important!

appoptics-apm should be the first file required. If, for example, you are using the esm package to enable ES module syntax (import rather than require) and you use the following command to invoke your program node -r esm index.js then esm.js is loaded first and appoptics-apm is unable to instrument modules. You can use it, just make sure to require appoptics-apm first, e.g., node -r appoptics-apm -r esm index.js.

If you are using the custom instrumentation SDK then appoptics must be loaded in the code so that a reference to the SDK is obtained, like const ao = require('appoptics-apm'). It is still be possible to use the command line node -r appoptics-apm -r esm index.js; the require in the code will just get a reference to the results of the command line require.

Configuration

See the Configuration Guide

Upgrading

To upgrade an existing installation, navigate to your app root and run:

npm install --save appoptics-apm@latest

Support

If you find a bug or would like to request an enhancement, feel free to file an issue. For all other support requests, please email [email protected].

License

Copyright (c) 2016 - 2021 SolarWinds, LLC

Released under the Apache License 2.0