New Relic Monitoring

Note

These instructions are for use with Stackato. For further details, please see the New Relic site.

New Relic can be used to track your application analytics running in Stackato as well as for server monitoring. The languages it can currently be used with are:

1. Ruby
2. Python
3. Java
4. PHP

In order to use New Relic, you need a New Relic account.

Note

For security reasons, avoid committing your license key to source control.

New Relic Server Monitoring

To use New Relic for server monitoring, you'll need a New Relic account and a License Key. Then, run the following two commands on the Stackato Server:

$ sudo nrsysmond-config --set license_key=<license key>

$ sudo /etc/init.d/newrelic-sysmond start

New Relic for Ruby

The Ruby Gem

New Relic recommends installing the New Relic Ruby gem available on gemcutter as newrelic_rpm:

$ sudo gem install newrelic_rpm

Update the Ruby Gem at any time by running:

$ sudo gem update newrelic_rpm

Once the Ruby Gem is installed, add this line to your Gemfile:

$ gem 'newrelic_rpm'

Installing the Ruby agent with the Bundler Gem

Add the gem specification to your Gemfile. It's best to place the New Relic gem as low in the list as possible, allowing the frameworks above it to be instrumented when the gem initializes:

$ gem 'newrelic_rpm'

In the same folder as the Gemfile, run:

$ bundle install

Configuration File

After installing the agent, copy the newrelic.yml file into the config subdirectory of your application. You can download a fresh newrelic.yml that includes your license key from the Account Settings link when logged in to rpm.newrelic.com.

Whenever you update the agent, double-check that your Agent configuration file (config/newrelic.yml) is up to date. To do this, you'll need to do a visual inspection of the default newrelic.yml file that lives in the Agent plugin folder (vendor/plugins/newrelic_rpm/newrelic.yml). Look for new configuration options that aren't in your config/newrelic.yml file.

New Relic for Python

The New Relic Python agent is pre-installed on Stackato.

The minimal steps requried to integrate New Relic to your Python WSGI application:

1. At the top of wsgi.py, add:

   import newrelic.agent
   newrelic.agent.initialize()
   

2. In wsgi.py, wrap your application WSGI entry point, eg:

   application = newrelic.agent.wsgi_application()(application)
   

3. Add required newrelic environment variables to stackato.yml:

   env:
         NEW_RELIC_LOG: stderr
         NEW_RELIC_LOG_LEVEL: DEBUG  # <- this is optional
         NEW_RELIC_APP_NAME: <your application name>
         NEW_RELIC_LICENSE_KEY: <your license key>

An alternative to modifying your python is to wrap $PROCESSES_WEB in stackato.yml with newrelic-admin.

Bottle Currency Example

Bottle Currency with New Relic on GitHub.

New Relic for Java

The New Relic Java agent is not pre-installed on the Stackato VM. To add monitoring, you must include the agent with your application.

• Download a fresh newrelic_agent<version number>.zip that includes your license key from the Account Settings link when logged in to rpm.newrelic.com.

• Unpack the zip file in a convenient directory to edit the newrelic.yml file inside.

• Set the app_name in newrelic.yml to the actual name of your application as you would like it to appear in your New Relic dashboard.

• Save your changes and place the newrelic folder in the root directory of your application along with WEB-INF folder.

• Add the following section to a "hooks" section in stackato.yml:

  hooks:
      pre-running:
      - mv newrelic $STACKATO_APP_ROOT/tomcat/
      - cd $STACKATO_APP_ROOT/tomcat/newrelic
      - java -jar newrelic.jar install

Pet Catalog Example

Pet Catalog (Java EE) with New Relic on GitHub.

New Relic for PHP

The New Relic agent PHP libraries are pre-installed on Stackato. To add monitoring, you need to add an agent configuration file to the root directory of the application and make some modifications to stackato.yml.

• Add a newrelic.ini file in HOME directory containing the following:

  extension=newrelic.so
  
  newrelic.daemon.logfile="/app/logs/newrelic-daemon.log"
  newrelic.daemon.loglevel="warning"
  
  newrelic.logfile="/app/logs/php_agent.log"
  newrelic.loglevel="warning"
  
  newrelic.license="XXXXXXX-your-new-relic-key-XXXXXXXXXXX"
  newrelic.appname="YourAppName"
  

The license_key can be found in 'Account settings' section on the

Set newrelic.appname to the actual name of your application as you would like it to appear in your New Relic dashboard.

The above settings are described in detail in the New Relic PHP Agent Settings documentation.

• Add the following section to a "hooks" section in stackato.yml:

  hooks:
      pre-running:
      - mv -f newrelic.ini $STACKATO_APP_ROOT/apache/php/newrelic.ini

• Verify newrelic-daemon is writing logs to the specified location in newrelic.ini by running the following command:

$ stackato run appname "ps -ef | grep newrelic"

The output should contain:

/usr/bin/newrelic-daemon -l log-location -d log-level

If it is writing to the incorrect location, try restart or update the application.

WordPress Example

WordPress with New Relic on GitHub.

Results

Push the app to the Stackato server, and make a few requests to it in a browser. After a few minutes, check the New Relic dashboard to confirm the information is being logged correctly.