aws-embedded-metrics

Generate CloudWatch Metrics embedded within structured log events. The embedded metrics will be extracted so you can visualize and alarm on them for real-time incident detection. This allows you to monitor aggregated values while preserving the detailed event context that generated them.

• Use Cases
• Installation
• Usage
• API
• Configuration
• Examples
• Testing Examples
• Development

Use Cases

• Generate custom metrics across compute environments

  • Easily generate custom metrics from Lambda functions without requiring custom batching code, making blocking network requests or relying on 3rd party software.
  • Other compute environments (EC2, On-prem, ECS, EKS, and other container environments) are supported by installing the CloudWatch Agent.
    • Examples can be found in examples/README.md

• Linking metrics to high cardinality context

  Using the Embedded Metric Format, you will be able to visualize and alarm on custom metrics, but also retain the original, detailed and high-cardinality context which is queryable using CloudWatch Logs Insights. For example, the library automatically injects environment metadata such as Lambda Function version, EC2 instance and image ids into the structured log event data.

Installation

npm install aws-embedded-metrics

Important Versions 4.1.1+, 3.0.2+, 2.0.7+ are required for usage in Lambda with JSON log format. Using previous versions in such Lambda environments will lead to metric loss.

Usage

To get a metric logger, you can either decorate your function with a metricScope, or manually create and flush the logger.

Using the metricScope decorator without function parameters:

const { metricScope, Unit, StorageResolution } = require("aws-embedded-metrics");

const myFunc = metricScope(metrics =>
  async () => {
    metrics.putDimensions({ Service: "Aggregator" });
    metrics.putMetric("ProcessingLatency", 100, Unit.Milliseconds, StorageResolution.Standard);
    metrics.putMetric("Memory.HeapUsed", 1600424.0, Unit.Bytes, StorageResolution.High);
    metrics.setProperty("RequestId", "422b1569-16f6-4a03-b8f0-fe3fd9b100f8");
    // ...
  });

await myFunc();

Using the metricScope decorator with function parameters:

const { metricScope, Unit, StorageResolution } = require("aws-embedded-metrics");

const myFunc = metricScope(metrics =>
  async (param1: string, param2: number) => {
    metrics.putDimensions({ Service: "Aggregator" });
    metrics.putMetric("ProcessingLatency", 100, Unit.Milliseconds, StorageResolution.Standard);
    metrics.putMetric("Memory.HeapUsed", 1600424.0, Unit.Bytes, StorageResolution.High);
    metrics.setProperty("RequestId", "422b1569-16f6-4a03-b8f0-fe3fd9b100f8");
    // ...
  });

await myFunc('myParam', 0);

Manually constructing and flushing the logger:

const { createMetricsLogger, Unit, StorageResolution } = require("aws-embedded-metrics");

const myFunc = async () => {
  const metrics = createMetricsLogger();
  metrics.putDimensions({ Service: "Aggregator" });
  metrics.putMetric("ProcessingLatency", 100, Unit.Milliseconds, StorageResolution.Standard);
  metrics.putMetric("Memory.HeapUsed", 1600424.0, Unit.Bytes, StorageResolution.High);
  metrics.setProperty("RequestId", "422b1569-16f6-4a03-b8f0-fe3fd9b100f8");
  // ...
  await metrics.flush();
};

await myFunc();

Lambda

If you are running on Lambda, export your function like so:

const { metricScope } = require("aws-embedded-metrics");

const myFunc = metricScope(metrics =>
  async () => {
    // ...
  });

exports.handler = myFunc;

API

MetricLogger

The MetricLogger is the interface you will use to publish embedded metrics.

• putMetric(String name, Double value, Unit? unit, StorageResolution? storageResolution)

Adds a new metric to the current logger context. Multiple metrics using the same key will be appended to an array of values. Multiple metrics cannot have same key and different storage resolution. The Embedded Metric Format supports a maximum of 100 values per key. If more metric values are added than are supported by the format, the logger will be flushed to allow for new metric values to be captured.

Requirements:

• Name Length 1-255 characters
• Name must be ASCII characters only
• Values must be in the range of 8.515920e-109 to 1.174271e+108. In addition, special values (for example, NaN, +Infinity, -Infinity) are not supported.
• Metrics must meet CloudWatch Metrics requirements, otherwise a InvalidMetricError will be thrown. See MetricDatum for valid values.

Storage Resolution

An OPTIONAL value representing the storage resolution for the corresponding metric. Setting this to High specifies this metric as a high-resolution metric, so that CloudWatch stores the metric with sub-minute resolution down to one second. Setting this to Standard specifies this metric as a standard-resolution metric, which CloudWatch stores at 1-minute resolution. If a value is not provided, then a default value of Standard is assumed. See Cloud Watch High-Resolution metrics

Examples:

// Standard Resolution example
putMetric("Latency", 200, Unit.Milliseconds)
putMetric("Latency", 201, Unit.Milliseconds, StorageResolution.Standard)

// High Resolution example
putMetric("Memory.HeapUsed", 1600424.0, Unit.Bytes, StorageResolution.High);

• setProperty(String key, Object value)

Adds or updates the value for a given property on this context. This value is not submitted to CloudWatch Metrics but is searchable by CloudWatch Logs Insights. This is useful for contextual and potentially high-cardinality data that is not appropriate for CloudWatch Metrics dimensions.

Requirements:

• Length 1-255 characters

Examples:

setProperty("RequestId", "422b1569-16f6-4a03-b8f0-fe3fd9b100f8")
setProperty("InstanceId", "i-1234567890")
setProperty("Device", {
  Id: "61270781-c6ac-46f1-baf7-22c808af8162",
  Name: "Transducer",
  Model: "PT-1234"
});

• putDimensions(Record<String, String> dimensions)

Adds a new set of dimensions that will be associated to all metric values.

WARNING: Every distinct value will result in a new CloudWatch Metric. If the cardinality of a particular value is expected to be high, you should consider using setProperty instead.

Requirements:

• Length 1-255 characters
• ASCII characters only
• Dimensions must meet CloudWatch Dimensions requirements, otherwise a InvalidDimensionError or DimensionSetExceededError will be thrown. See Dimensions for valid values.

Examples:

putDimensions({ Operation: "Aggregator" })
putDimensions({ Operation: "Aggregator", DeviceType: "Actuator" })

• setDimensions(Record<String, String> | Record<String, String>[] dimensions, boolean useDefault)

Explicitly override all dimensions. This will remove the default dimensions unless the useDefault parameter is set to true (defaults to false).

WARNING: Every distinct value will result in a new CloudWatch Metric. If the cardinality of a particular value is expected to be high, you should consider using setProperty instead.

Requirements:

• Length 1-255 characters
• ASCII characters only
• Dimensions must meet CloudWatch Dimensions requirements, otherwise a InvalidDimensionError or DimensionSetExceededError will be thrown. See Dimensions for valid values.

Examples:

// Overwrites custom dimensions - keeps default dimensions
setDimensions({Operation: "Aggregator"}, true)

// Overwrites custom dimensions - removes default dimensions
setDimensions([
  { Operation: "Aggregator" },
  { Operation: "Aggregator", DeviceType: "Actuator" }
])

• resetDimensions(boolean useDefault)

Explicitly clear all custom dimensions. Set useDefault to true to keep the default dimensions.

Example:

resetDimensions(false)  // this will clear all custom dimensions as well as disable default dimensions

• setNamespace(String value)

Sets the CloudWatch namespace that extracted metrics should be published to. If not set, a default value of aws-embedded-metrics will be used.

Requirements:

• Name Length 1-255 characters
• Name must be ASCII characters only
• Namespaces must meet CloudWatch Namespace requirements, otherwise a InvalidNamespaceError will be thrown. See Namespace for valid values.

Example:

setNamespace("MyApplication");

• setTimestamp(Date | number timestamp)

Sets the CloudWatch timestamp that extracted metrics are associated with. If not set a default value of new Date() will be used.

If set for a given MetricsLogger, timestamp will be preserved across calls to flush().

Requirements:

• Date or Unix epoch millis, up to two weeks in the past and up to two hours in the future, as enforced by CloudWatch. If the timestamp is outside of this range, a InvalidTimestampError will be thrown.

Examples:

setTimestamp(new Date())
setTimestamp(new Date().getTime())

• flush()

Flushes the current MetricsContext to the configured sink and resets all properties and metric values. The namespace and default dimensions will be preserved across flushes. Custom dimensions are preserved by default, but this behavior can be changed by setting logger.flushPreserveDimensions = false. Timestamp will be preserved if set explicitly via setTimestamp().

Examples:

logger.flush()  // custom and default dimensions will be preserved after each flush

logger.flushPreserveDimensions = false
logger.flush()  // only default dimensions will be preserved after flush()

logger.flushPreserveDimensions = false
logger.resetDimensions(false)
logger.flush()  // default dimensions are disabled - no dimensions will be preserved after flush()

Configuration

All configuration values can be set using environment variables with the prefix (AWS_EMF_). Configuration should be performed as close to application start up as possible.

ServiceName: Overrides the name of the service. For services where the name cannot be inferred (e.g. Java process running on EC2), a default value of Unknown will be used if not explicitly set.

Requirements:

• Name Length 1-255 characters
• Name must be ASCII characters only

Example:

// in process
const { Configuration } = require("aws-embedded-metrics");
Configuration.serviceName = "MyApp";

// environment
AWS_EMF_SERVICE_NAME=MyApp

ServiceType: Overrides the type of the service. For services where the type cannot be inferred (e.g. Java process running on EC2), a default value of Unknown will be used if not explicitly set.

Requirements:

• Name Length 1-255 characters
• Name must be ASCII characters only

Example:

// in process
const { Configuration } = require("aws-embedded-metrics");
Configuration.serviceType = "NodeJSWebApp";

// environment
AWS_EMF_SERVICE_TYPE=NodeJSWebApp

LogGroupName: For agent-based platforms, you may optionally configure the destination log group that metrics should be delivered to. This value will be passed from the library to the agent in the Embedded Metric payload. If a LogGroup is not provided, the default value will be derived from the service name: -metrics

Requirements:

• Name Length 1-512 characters
• Log group names consist of the following characters: a-z, A-Z, 0-9, '_' (underscore), '-' (hyphen), '/' (forward slash), and '.' (period). Pattern: [.-_/#A-Za-z0-9]+

Example:

// in process
const { Configuration } = require("aws-embedded-metrics");
Configuration.logGroupName = "LogGroupName";

// environment
AWS_EMF_LOG_GROUP_NAME=LogGroupName

LogStreamName: For agent-based platforms, you may optionally configure the destination log stream that metrics should be delivered to. This value will be passed from the library to the agent in the Embedded Metric payload. If a LogGroup is not provided, the default value will be derived by the agent (this will likely be the hostname).

Requirements:

• Name Length 1-512 characters
• The ':' (colon) and '*' (asterisk) characters are not allowed. Pattern: [^:]*

Example:

// in process
const { Configuration } = require("aws-embedded-metrics");
Configuration.logStreamName = "LogStreamName";

// environment
AWS_EMF_LOG_STREAM_NAME=LogStreamName

AgentEndpoint: For agent-based platforms, you may optionally configure the endpoint to reach the agent on.

Example:

// in process
const { Configuration } = require("aws-embedded-metrics");
Configuration.agentEndpoint = "udp://127.0.0.1:1000";

// environment
AWS_EMF_AGENT_ENDPOINT="udp://127.0.0.1:1000"

EnvironmentOverride: Short circuit auto-environment detection by explicitly defining how events should be sent. This is not supported through programatic access due to #43.

Valid values include:

• Local: no decoration and sends over stdout
• Lambda: decorates logs with Lambda metadata and sends over stdout
• Agent: no decoration and sends over TCP
• EC2: decorates logs with EC2 metadata and sends over TCP
• ECS: decorates logs with ECS metadata and enables support for Firelens

Example:

AWS_EMF_ENVIRONMENT=Local

EnableDebugLogging: Enable debug logging for the library. If the library is not behaving as expected, you can set this to true to log to console.

Example:

// in process
const { Configuration } = require("aws-embedded-metrics");
Configuration.debuggingLoggingEnabled = true;

// environment
AWS_EMF_ENABLE_DEBUG_LOGGING=true

Namespace: Sets the CloudWatch namespace that extracted metrics should be published to. If not set, a default value of aws-embedded-metrics will be used.

Requirements:

• Name Length 1-255 characters
• Name must be ASCII characters only

Example:

// in process
const { Configuration } = require("aws-embedded-metrics");
Configuration.namespace = "Namespace";

// environment
AWS_EMF_NAMESPACE=Namespace

Examples

Check out the examples directory to get started.

Testing Examples

Check out the unit test examples directory to get started. Here we provide a few examples to help you write tests against code that depends on this package.

Development

Building

This project uses Volta to pin the currently supported version of node.

npm i && npm run build

Running Locally

If you are running the CW agent locally, you can test the workflow:

npm i && npm link
cd examples/agent && npm link aws-embedded-metrics

After linking you'll need to rebuild any changes:

npm run build

Testing

We have 2 different types of tests:

1. Unit tests which can be run using the following commands:

npm test
# or
npm run watch

2. Integration tests. These tests require Docker to run the CloudWatch Agent and valid AWS credentials. Tests can be run by:

export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=
export AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=
export AWS_REGION=us-west-2
npm run integ

Formatting

We use Prettier for auto-formatting. You should install the plugin for your editor-of-choice and enabled format-on-save.

License

This project is licensed under the Apache-2.0 License.