AWS Lambda OpenTracing Java SDK

This SDK provides Open Tracing instrumentation for AWS Lambda. Releases for this project will be on an "as needed" basis. As new features of Lambda come out we will evaluate them and if useful will add support for them here.

Versioning will have the following format: {majorVersion}.{minorVersion}.{pointVersion}

Supported OpenTracing Versions

• OpenTracing 0.31.0: com.newrelic.opentracing:java-aws-lambda:1.0.0
• OpenTracing 0.33.0: com.newrelic.opentracing:java-aws-lambda:2.0.0

How it Works

The SDK provides LambdaTracing and StreamLambdaTracing classes that instrument requests. When a Lambda function that is using an implementation of either class is invoked, the handler will obtain the globally registered OpenTracing Tracer and create/start an OpenTracing Span to capture timing information and key:value pairs (Tags/Logs) detailing the trace data.

As part of the implementation the user's handler must call the instrument method, passing a callback that contains the business logic for their handler.

Collected Span Tags/Logs

Below are a list of the collected Lambda attributes:

Tag key	Tag type	Note
aws.requestId	String	AWS Request ID is a unique GUID assigned to each invocation
aws.lambda.arn	String	ARN of the current Lambda function
aws.lambda.eventSource.arn	String	ARN of the invocation source
aws.lambda.coldStart	boolean	Indicates if Lambda invocation was a cold start, omitted if false

Below are a list of the collected exception attributes:

Log key	Log type	Note
event	String "error"	Indicates that an error event has occurred
error.object	Throwable	The Throwable object
message	Throwable message	The detail message string of the throwable
stack	Throwable stacktrace	The the stack trace information of the throwable
error.kind	String "Exception"	Indicates that the error was an Exception

How to Use

Add Dependency

You can add the dependency by adding the following to your build.gradle file:

dependencies {
    implementation "com.newrelic.opentracing:java-aws-lambda:2.1.1"
}

Implement

1. Implement the TracingRequestHandler interface as shown in the example, defining the Lambda function input and output types that your function requires.
2. Override the doHandleRequest method from the interface and execute your function logic within it. Note: If you are refactoring a pre-existing Lambda handler to take advantage of this SDK's tracing request handler make sure that it overrides doHandleRequest but not handleRequest.
3. Register the OpenTracing Tracer of your choice (e.g. New Relic, Jaeger, etc).
4. See Amazon's documentation on creating a ZIP deployment package for a Java Lambda function
5. When creating your Lambda function in AWS Lambda console the handler for the given example would be entered as com.handler.example.MyLambdaHandler::handleRequest or just com.handler.example.MyLambdaHandler, the latter of which will use handleRequest as the handler method by default. Note: handleRequest is used as the handler entry point as it will call doHandleRequest.

Example Usage

public class YourLambdaHandler implements RequestHandler<APIGatewayProxyRequestEvent, APIGatewayProxyResponseEvent> {
    static {
        // Obtain an instance of the OpenTracing Tracer of your choice
        Tracer tracer = LambdaTracer.INSTANCE;
        // Register your tracer as the Global Tracer
        GlobalTracer.registerIfAbsent(tracer);
    }
 
    @Override
    public APIGatewayProxyResponseEvent handleRequest(APIGatewayProxyRequestEvent apiGatewayProxyRequestEvent, Context context) {
        return LambdaTracing.instrument(apiGatewayProxyRequestEvent, context, (event, ctx) -> {
            // Your business logic here
            return doSomethingWithTheEvent(event);
        });
    }
}

Getting Started

Requirements

• AWS Lambda instance
• Java 8
• Gradle

Building

Run the following command:

./gradlew jar

This generates a jar artifact in the following subdirectory:

java-aws-lambda/build/libs/java-aws-lambda.jar

Publishing to maven local

If you'd like to publish a version of this project to your local maven repository run the following command:

./gradlew publishToMavenLocal

Testing

Run the following gradle task:

./gradlew test

Support

New Relic hosts and moderates an online forum where customers can interact with New Relic employees as well as other customers to get help and share best practices. Like all official New Relic open source projects, there's a related Community topic in the New Relic Explorers Hub. You can find this project's topic/threads here:

Java Agent Support Forum

Contributing

We encourage your contributions to improve AWS Lambda OpenTracing Java SDK! Keep in mind that when you submit your pull request, you'll need to sign the CLA via the click-through using CLA-Assistant. You only have to sign the CLA one time per project.

If you have any questions, or to execute our corporate CLA (which is required if your contribution is on behalf of a company), drop us an email at opensource@newrelic.com.

A note about vulnerabilities

As noted in our security policy, New Relic is committed to the privacy and security of our customers and their data. We believe that providing coordinated disclosure by security researchers and engaging with the security community are important means to achieve our security goals.

If you believe you have found a security vulnerability in this project or any of New Relic's products or websites, we welcome and greatly appreciate you reporting it to New Relic through HackerOne.

If you would like to contribute to this project, review these guidelines.

Licensing

The AWS Lambda OpenTracing Java SDK is licensed under the Apache 2.0 License.