@opentelemetry/sdk-node

What is @opentelemetry/sdk-node?

The @opentelemetry/sdk-node package is part of the OpenTelemetry project, which aims to provide a set of APIs, libraries, agents, and instrumentation to provide observability for applications. Specifically, the @opentelemetry/sdk-node package is designed for Node.js applications and allows developers to collect traces and metrics, and export them to various observability backends for analysis. This helps in monitoring applications, understanding performance bottlenecks, and troubleshooting issues.

What are @opentelemetry/sdk-node's main functionalities?

Tracing

This feature allows the collection of trace data, which represents the lifecycle of a request through the system. The code sample initializes a tracer provider, sets up a span processor with a Jaeger exporter, and registers the provider. This setup enables the tracing of operations and requests, facilitating the monitoring and debugging of distributed systems.

const { NodeTracerProvider } = require('@opentelemetry/sdk-node');
const { SimpleSpanProcessor } = require('@opentelemetry/tracing');
const { JaegerExporter } = require('@opentelemetry/exporter-jaeger');

const provider = new NodeTracerProvider();
provider.addSpanProcessor(new SimpleSpanProcessor(new JaegerExporter()));
provider.register();

Metrics

This feature enables the collection and export of metrics data, such as counters, gauges, and histograms. The code sample demonstrates how to set up a MeterProvider with a Prometheus exporter, which collects metrics data and makes it available for scraping by Prometheus at a specified port. This is useful for monitoring application performance and resource usage.

const { MeterProvider } = require('@opentelemetry/sdk-node');
const { PrometheusExporter } = require('@opentelemetry/exporter-prometheus');

const meterProvider = new MeterProvider({
  exporter: new PrometheusExporter({ port: 9464 }),
  interval: 1000
});
meterProvider.start();

Other packages similar to @opentelemetry/sdk-node

jaeger-client

Jaeger-client is a Node.js library for reporting tracing data to Jaeger, a distributed tracing system. While it is focused specifically on integration with Jaeger, @opentelemetry/sdk-node provides a more flexible approach, allowing for the export of traces to multiple backends, not just Jaeger.

prom-client

Prom-client is a Node.js client library for Prometheus metrics. It is similar to the metrics functionality provided by @opentelemetry/sdk-node but is dedicated solely to Prometheus metrics collection and exposition. In contrast, @opentelemetry/sdk-node supports multiple metrics backends and integrates with the broader OpenTelemetry ecosystem for observability.

README

OpenTelemetry SDK for Node.js

This package provides the full OpenTelemetry SDK for Node.js including tracing and metrics.

Quick Start

To get started you need to install @opentelemetry/sdk-node, a metrics and/or tracing exporter, and any appropriate instrumentation for the node modules used by your application.

Installation

$ # Install the SDK
$ npm install @opentelemetry/sdk-node

$ # Install exporters and plugins
$ npm install \
    @opentelemetry/exporter-jaeger \ # add tracing exporters as needed
    @opentelemetry/exporter-prometheus # add metrics exporters as needed
    @opentelemetry/instrumentation-http # add instrumentations as needed

$ # or install all officially supported core and contrib plugins
$ npm install @opentelemetry/auto-instrumentations-node

Note: this example is for Node.js. See examples/tracer-web for a browser example.

Initialize the SDK

Before any other module in your application is loaded, you must initialize the SDK. If you fail to initialize the SDK or initialize it too late, no-op implementations will be provided to any library which acquires a tracer or meter from the API.

This example uses Jaeger and Prometheus, but exporters exist for other tracing backends.

const opentelemetry = require("@opentelemetry/sdk-node");
const { JaegerExporter } = require("@opentelemetry/exporter-jaeger");
const { PrometheusExporter } = require("@opentelemetry/exporter-prometheus");
const {
  getNodeAutoInstrumentations,
} = require("@opentelemetry/auto-instrumentations-node");

const jaegerExporter = new JaegerExporter();
const prometheusExporter = new PrometheusExporter({ startServer: true });

const sdk = new opentelemetry.NodeSDK({
  // Optional - if omitted, the tracing SDK will not be initialized
  traceExporter: jaegerExporter,
  // Optional - If omitted, the metrics SDK will not be initialized
  metricExporter: prometheusExporter,
  // Optional - you can use the metapackage or load each instrumentation individually
  instrumentations: [getNodeAutoInstrumentations()],
  // See the Configuration section below for additional  configuration options
});

// You can optionally detect resources asynchronously from the environment.
// Detected resources are merged with the resources provided in the SDK configuration.
sdk.start().then(() => {
  // Resources have been detected and SDK is started
});

// You can also use the shutdown method to gracefully shut down the SDK before process shutdown
// or on some operating system signal.
const process = require("process");
process.on("SIGTERM", () => {
  sdk
    .shutdown()
    .then(
      () => console.log("SDK shut down successfully"),
      (err) => console.log("Error shutting down SDK", err)
    )
    .finally(() => process.exit(0));
});

Configuration

Below is a full list of configuration options which may be passed into the NodeSDK constructor;

autoDetectResources

Detect resources automatically from the environment using the default resource detectors. Default true.

contextManager

Use a custom context manager. Default: AsyncHooksContextManager

textMapPropagator

Use a custom propagator. Default: CompositePropagator using W3C Trace Context and Baggage

metricProcessor

Use a custom processor for metrics. Default: UngroupedProcessor

metricExporter

Configure a metric exporter. If an exporter is not configured, the metrics SDK will not be initialized and registered.

metricInterval

Configure an interval for metrics export in ms. Default: 60,000 (60 seconds)

instrumentations

Configure instrumentations. By default none of the instrumentation is enabled, if you want to enable them you can use either metapackage or configure each instrumentation individually.

resource

Configure a resource. Resources may also be detected by using the autoDetectResources method of the SDK.

sampler

Configure a custom sampler. By default all traces will be sampled.

spanProcessor

traceExporter

Configure a trace exporter. If an exporter OR span processor is not configured, the tracing SDK will not be initialized and registered. If an exporter is configured, it will be used with a BatchSpanProcessor.

spanLimits

Configure tracing parameters. These are the same trace parameters used to configure a tracer.

Useful links

• For more information on OpenTelemetry, visit: https://opentelemetry.io/
• For more about OpenTelemetry JavaScript: https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-js
• For help or feedback on this project, join us in GitHub Discussions

License

Apache 2.0 - See LICENSE for more information.