Setting up agent-based Node.js monitoring

If your Node.js application runs in a Kubernetes and Red Hat OpenShift environment, you can install the Instana Node.js collector automatically or manually as follows:

• Automatic collector installation (preferred): To install the collector automatically, complete the following steps:

  1. Install the Instana AutoTrace webhook.

     Note: If you plan to use the Instana Node.js SDK, review the Using the API together with the AutoTrace webhook section.

  2. If your Node.js application and the Instana agent run in a Kubernetes cluster, configure network access for monitored applications. For more information, see Kubernetes network access.

• Manual collector installation: To install the collector manually, see Installing the Node.js collector manually. Use the manual approach only if automatic installation is not feasible.

To install the Instana Node.js collector on Cloud Foundry, select one of the following options:

• Automatic collector installation (preferred): For Tile 1.177.0 and later versions, install the Node.js collector by using the Instana buildpack to automate the setup of Node.js applications on Cloud Foundry.

• Manual collector installation: To install the collector manually, see Installing the Node.js collector manually. Use the manual approach only if automatic installation is not feasible.

To use the Instana Node.js collector package with Apigee Microgateway (also known as edgemicro ), follow the instructions in Monitoring Apigee Microgateway with the Instana Node.js collector.

To use the Instana Node.js collector for monitoring Next.js applications, complete the following steps:

1. Install the collector globally or locally.
2. Use the load flags to activate the collector.

To install the Instana Node.js collector, install the npm package @instana/collector in your application by running the following command:

npm install --save @instana/collector
 

After you install the collector, activate the collector to set up monitoring. For instructions, see Activate the Node.js collector.

As an alternative approach, you can install the Node.js collector globally by completing the following steps:

1. Install the package @instana/collector on the target system:

   • If you use npm, run the following command:

     npm install -g @instana/collector
      

   • If you use yarn, run the following command:

     yarn global add @instana/collector
      

   If you are installing the collector into a containerized application, you can add the preceding statement to Dockerfile.

2. Determine the location where the package is installed. The location depends on the operating system. For more information about where npm puts installed packages, see the Node.js documentation about folders.

3. Ensure that the package @instana/collector with all its dependencies is available on the target system in a well-known location, such as /path/to/instana/node_modules/@instana/collector.

After you install the collector, activate the collector to set up monitoring. For instructions, see Activate the Node.js collector.

For applications that use CommonJS modules, activate the Node.js collector by using one of the following methods:

• Use the --require load flag for activation.
• Require and initialize the Node.js collector as the first statement in your application.

These methods load and initialize the Node.js collector before your application code.

If your application uses ECMAScript and the @instana/collector collector that is installed as a dependency, you can activate the collector by loading the Instana Node.js collector by using the Node.js load flags.

If the application uses ECMAScript modules, complete either of the following steps when you start the node executable. Setting NODE_OPTIONS or using the --import argument initializes the Node.js collector before the application code. For more information about ECMAScript modules, see the Node.js official documentation.

• Set the NODE_OPTIONS variable before you start the Node.js activation process:

  If you build the application with Docker, set NODE_OPTIONS by adding the following line to your Dockerfile (after the last FROM statement and before the final CMD or ENTRYPOINT that starts the node process):

  Use the following command to import the Instana collector (Node.js 18.19 and later):

  ENV NODE_OPTIONS="--import /path/to/instana/node_modules/@instana/collector/esm-register.mjs"
   

• Alternatively, include the --import parameter when you start Node.js. If you start your application with node app/index.js, append the --import command.

  Use the following command to import the Instana collector (Node.js 18.19 and later):

  node --import /path/to/instana/node_modules/@instana/collector/esm-register.mjs app/index.js
   

  The loader automatically initializes the Instana Node.js collector.

When you pre-process your Node.js server application with a bundler, such as Webpack or Rollup, make sure that you bundle only your code and not the code of your dependencies from the node_modules folder.

You must exclude the dependencies due to the following reasons:

• The module @instana/collector does not support being pre-processed with Webpack. Among other problems, dynamic require statements that are used in your code are not resolved correctly.
• To instrument third-party libraries, the npm package @instana/collector intercepts the require process of Node.js. But if those libraries are not loaded at run time and instead are bundled with your own code at build time, no require process is run, and the instrumentation is not applied. Therefore, Instana tracing doesn't work or works partially, that is, tracing works only for Node.js core modules like http because those modules are excluded from bundling by default.

Thus, you must configure your bundler by using the module webpack-node-externals so that everything in node_modules is excluded from all code transformations:

// your webpack.config.js:

const nodeExternals = require('webpack-node-externals');

module.exports = {
  ...
  // externals: nodeModules,
  externals: [nodeExternals()],
  ...
};
 

If you use Angular CLI, in particular with Angular Universal or SSR, you need to add "externalDependencies": ["@instana/collector"] (and possibly other libraries that @instana/collector instruments) to your angular.json file to exclude them from bundling.

If you are using a transpiler, such as TypeScript or Babel, make sure that your transpiler produces CommonJS or ECMAScript dist code.

Initialize the tracer via the load flags for CommonJS and ECMAScript.

For more information about accessing the SDK within your code, see ECMAScript modules.

If you install your dependencies with npm install --no-optional or yarn --ignore-optional command, npm or yarn doesn't try to install the native add-ons.

To fix the issue of not installing the native add-ons by npm or yarn, either remove the flags from the installation step, or add the following installation steps:

• npm install @instana/autoprofile or yarn add @instana/autoprofile
• npm install event-loop-stats or yarn add event-loop-stats
• npm install gcstats.js or yarn add gcstats.js