Setting up native tracing for .NET or .NET Core-based AWS Lambda functions

Enabling tracing through the AWS web console

To enable tracing of .NET or .NET Core Lambda functions, complete the following steps in the AWS Lambda UI:

1. Add the Instana Lambda layer to your function as shown in the following steps:

   1. In the Configuration tab of your Lambda function, click Layers > Add a layer.

      

   2. In the "Add layer" window, select Specify an ARN.

   3. Copy and paste the Amazon Resource Name (ARN) for the Instana Lambda layer that matches your region in the Specify an ARN field. You can find the right ARN for the Instana Lambda layer in the Instana Lambda layers section. Then, click Verify.

   4. Click Add.

2. Configure the following environment variables to connect to the Instana backend:

   Environment variables	Value
   CORECLR_ENABLE_PROFILING	1
   CORECLR_PROFILER	{cf0d821e-299b-5307-a3d8-b283c03916dd}
   CORECLR_PROFILER_PATH	/opt/instana_tracing/CoreProfiler.co
   DOTNET_STARTUP_HOOKS	/opt/Instana.Tracing.Core.dll
   INSTANA_AGENT_KEY	<your_instana_agent_key>
   INSTANA_ENDPOINT_URL	<serverless_instana_endpoint>
   INSTANA_AWS_ACCOUNT_ID	<your_aws_account_id>
   LAMBDA_HANDLER	<Assembly::Namespace.ClassName::MethodName>

   Make sure that you use the correct Instana endpoint URL for your region that starts with https://serverless-. For more information, see Endpoints for serverless monitoring.
   

   If your default handler doesn't use the Assembly::Namespace.ClassName::MethodName format, then set your default handler in the LAMBDA_HANDLER format. Otherwise, don't set the variable or leave it empty. If the correlation data, which shows connection between traces and infrastructure entities, is missing in the Instana UI, use LAMBDA_HANDLER to set the correct format.
   

   You can also obtain the correct values for these environment variables from your Instana UI. To obtain the correct values for these environment variables, click More > Agents > Install Agents > Platform: AWS > Technology: AWS Lambda in the Instana UI.

Enabling tracing through AWS command-line interface

If you want to automate the Instana integration of your AWS Lambdas, see the following AWS CLI command example:

# Do not copy and paste this verbatim!
# It will overwrite any previously defined collection of layers and
# environment variables.
aws --region $YOUR_REGION lambda update-function-configuration \
   --function-name $YOUR_LAMBDA_FUNCTION_NAME \
   --layers $INSTANA_LAYER_ARN \
   --environment "Variables={CORECLR_ENABLE_PROFILING=1, CORECLR_PROFILER=\"{cf0d821e-299b-5307-a3d8-b283c03916dd}\", CORECLR_PROFILER_PATH=/opt/instana_tracing/CoreProfiler.so, DOTNET_STARTUP_HOOKS=/opt/Instana.Tracing.Core.dll, INSTANA_ENDPOINT_URL=... , INSTANA_AGENT_KEY=... , ...}"

Instana Lambda layers

The ARNs of the latest version of the AWS Lambda layers for .NET according to the region are as follows:

For example, the ARN pattern is arn:aws:lambda:${region}:410797082306:layer:instana-dotnetcore:${layer-version}. For AWS regions in China the ARN pattern is arn:aws-cn:lambda:${region}:107998019096:layer:instana-dotnetcore:${layer-version}.

Make sure that you always use the latest version of the Instana Lambda layer. Update the layer version that you use at regular intervals to benefit from the features and fixes that the new version of the layer provides.