Legacy manual instrumentation for Lambda monitoring

To instrument your Go-language Lambda:

1. Download our Go agent package and place it in the same directory as your function.

2. Install the agent: go get -u github.com/newrelic/go-agent/v3/newrelic.

3. Install the nrlambda integration go get -u github.com/newrelic/go-agent/v3/integrations/nrlambda.

4. In your Lambda code, import our components, create an application, and update how you start your Lambda. See our instrumentation examples:

   • Extension repo
   • Go agent repo

5. Optional: Add custom events that will be associated with your Lambda invocation by using the RecordCustomEvent API. For example:

   func handler(ctx context.Context) {
     if txn := newrelic.FromContext(ctx); nil != txn {
       txn.Application().RecordCustomEvent("MyEvent", map[string]interface{}{
         "zip": "zap",
       })
     }
     fmt.Println("hello world!")
   }

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6. Build and zip your Lambda function and upload it to AWS.

6. The following environment variables are not required for Lambda monitoring to function but they are required if you want your Lambda functions to be included in distributed traces. To enable distributed tracing, set these environment variables in the AWS console:

   • NEW_RELIC_ACCOUNT_ID. Your account ID.
   • NEW_RELIC_TRUSTED_ACCOUNT_KEY. This is also your account ID. If your account is a child account, this is the account ID for the root/parent account.

7. Optional: To configure logging, see Go agent logging.

8. Invoke the Lambda at least once. This creates a CloudWatch log group, which must be present for the next step to work.

   Our wrapper gathers data about the Lambda execution, generates a JSON message, and logs it to CloudWatch Logs. Next, you'll configure CloudWatch to send those logs to New Relic.

Monitoring for AWS Lambda in Java doesn't use our APM Java agent. Instead, it uses these two OpenTracing dependencies:

• AWS Lambda OpenTracing Java SDK: OpenTracing instrumentation for AWS Lambda RequestHandler and RequestStreamHandler.

• Our AWS Lambda OpenTracing Tracer: An OpenTracing Tracer implementation designed to monitor AWS Lambda. It generates spans, error events, transaction events, error traces, and provides distributed tracing support.

  Tip

  Supported OpenTracing Versions

  • OpenTracing 0.31.0:
    • Lambda Tracer: com.newrelic.opentracing:newrelic-java-lambda:1.1.1
    • Lambda SDK: com.newrelic.opentracing:java-aws-lambda:1.0.0
  • OpenTracing 0.32.0, 0.33.0:
    • Lambda Tracer: com.newrelic.opentracing:newrelic-java-lambda:2.2.1
    • Lambda SDK: com.newrelic.opentracing:java-aws-lambda:2.1.0

  To instrument your Java Lambda:

1. In your project’s build.gradle file, include our OpenTracing AWS Lambda Tracer and the AWS Lambda OpenTracing SDK dependencies:

   dependencies {
       compile("com.newrelic.opentracing:java-aws-lambda:2.1.0")
       compile("com.newrelic.opentracing:newrelic-java-lambda:2.2.1")
       compile("io.opentracing:opentracing-util:0.33.0")
   }

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2. Implement the AWS Lambda RequestHandler interface as shown in the Java Lambda example and override the doHandleRequest method.

3. In the doHandleRequest method, call the LambdaTracing.instrument(...) API to create a root span to trace the lambda function's execution. This is also where you will define your business logic for the lambda function.

4. Register a LambdaTracer.INSTANCE as the OpenTracing Global tracer, as shown in the Java Lambda example.

5. Create a ZIP deployment package and upload it to AWS Lambda. Or deploy it via other means.

6. In the AWS Lambda console, set the handler. For the example Java Lambda, the handler would be com.handler.example.MyLambdaHandler::handleRequest. Because handleRequest is assumed, you could also use com.handler.example.MyLambdaHandler.

7. The following AWS console environment variables are required if you want your Lambda function to be included in distributed tracing. This is recommended.

   • NEW_RELIC_ACCOUNT_ID. Your account ID.
   • NEW_RELIC_PRIMARY_APPLICATION_ID. This is also your account ID.
   • NEW_RELIC_TRUSTED_ACCOUNT_KEY. This is also your account ID. If your account is a child account, this must be the account ID for the root/parent account.

8. Optional: In the Lambda console, enable debug logging by adding this environment variable: NEW_RELIC_DEBUG is true.

9. Invoke the Lambda at least once. This creates a CloudWatch log group, which must be present for the next step to work.

   Our wrapper gathers data about the Lambda execution, generates a JSON message, and logs it to CloudWatch Logs. Next, you'll configure CloudWatch to send those logs to New Relic.

   Please see the AWS Lambda distributed tracing example for a complete project that illustrates common use cases such as:

• Distributed tracing between Lambda functions
• Manual span creation (aka custom instrumentation)
• Tracing external calls
• Adding custom attributes (aka Tags) to spans

Our monitoring of .NET Core-based AWS Lambda functions doesn't use our standard .NET Core APM agent. Instead, it uses a NuGet package.

To instrument your .NET Core Lambda:

1. In your Lambda Functions project, install the NewRelic.OpenTracing.AmazonLambda.Tracer NuGet package.

   Note: NewRelic.OpenTracing.AmazonLambda.Tracer depends on version 1.2.0+ of Amazon.Lambda.APIGatewayEvent NuGet package. If the environment already uses a lower version of Amazon.Lambda.APIGatewayEvent, the New Relic package may produce errors such as System.MissingMethodException .

2. Import the NuGet package and OpenTracing utils:

   using OpenTracing.Util;
   using NewRelic.OpenTracing.AmazonLambda;

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3. Instrument your function, as shown in this example:

public class Function
{
  static Function()
  {
    // Register The NewRelic Lambda Tracer Instance
    GlobalTracer.Register(NewRelic.OpenTracing.AmazonLambda.LambdaTracer.Instance);
  }

  public object FunctionWrapper(ILambdaContext context)
  {
    // Instantiate NewRelic TracingWrapper and pass your FunctionHandler as
    // an argument
    return new TracingRequestHandler().LambdaWrapper(FunctionHandler, context);
  }

  /// <summary>
  /// A simple function that takes a string and does a ToUpper
  /// </summary>
  /// <param name="input"></param>
  /// <param name="context"></param>
  /// <returns></returns>
  public object FunctionHandler(ILambdaContext context)
  { ... }
  
}

If your handler function returns a Task, the Lambda wrapper will block on the return task until it completes, so that it can measure the duration and capture exceptions, if any are present. In addition, you may also inherit from the APIGatewayProxyFunction.

For an example, see below:

public async Task<int> FunctionHandlerAsync(ILambdaContext lambdaContext)
{
  return await new TracingRequestHandler().LambdaWrapper(
                        ActualFunctionHandlerAsync, lambdaContext);
}

public async Task<APIGatewayProxyResponse> ActualFunctionHandlerAsync(ILambdaContext
lambdaContext)
{ 
  // Function can make other async operations here
  ...
}

public class LambdaFunction : APIGatewayProxyFunction
{
  static LambdaFunction()
  {
    // Register The NewRelic Lambda Tracer Instance
    OpenTracing.Util.GlobalTracer.Register(NewRelic.OpenTracing.AmazonLambda.LambdaTracer.Instance);
  }

  public override Task<APIGatewayProxyResponse> FunctionHandlerAsync(APIGatewayProxyRequest request, ILambdaContext lambdaContext)
  {
    Task<APIGatewayProxyResponse> task = new TracingRequestHandler().LambdaWrapper(ActualFunctionHandlerAsync, request, lambdaContext);
    return task;
  }

  public Task<APIGatewayProxyResponse> ActualFunctionHandlerAsync(APIGatewayProxyRequest request, ILambdaContext lambdaContext)
  {
    return base.FunctionHandlerAsync(request, lambdaContext);
  }
}

4. Optional for SQS and SNS: Starting in version 1.0 of our .NET Lambda Tracer, distributed tracing support has been added for SQS and SNS. To enable distributed tracing for SQS or SNS you will need to complete the items in this step as well as setup the environment variables in the step that follows this one.

   Important

   Enabling distributed tracing support for SQS and SNS will disable automatic instrumentation for both of SQS and SNS and require the use of these wrappers to instrument them.

   1. Set the NEW_RELIC_USE_DT_WRAPPER environment variable to true.
   2. To instrument SQS and SNS calls you will need to use the provided wrappers.

// SQS Client
AmazonSQSClient client = new AmazonSQSClient("AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY", AWS_REGION);

// SendMessageRequest
SendMessageRequest sendRequest = new SendMessageRequest("QUEUE_URI_STRING", "An SQS Message");
Task<SendMessageResponse> responseOne = SQSWrapper.WrapRequest(client.SendMessageAsync, sendRequest);

// String-based
Task<SendMessageResponse> responseTwo = SQSWrapper.WrapRequest(client.SendMessageAsync, "QUEUE_URI_STRING", "Another SQS Message");

// SendMessageBatchRequest
List<SendMessageBatchRequestEntry> batchEntries = new List<SendMessageBatchRequestEntry>();
batchEntries.Add(new SendMessageBatchRequestEntry("id1", "First SQS Message"));
batchEntries.Add(new SendMessageBatchRequestEntry("id2", "Second SQS Message"));
batchEntries.Add(new SendMessageBatchRequestEntry("id3", "Third SQS Message"));
SendMessageBatchRequest sendBatchRequest = new SendMessageBatchRequest(QUEUE_URI, batchEntries);
Task<SendMessageBatchResponse> response = SQSWrapper.WrapRequest(client.SendMessageBatchAsync, sendBatchRequest);

// SendMessageBatchRequestEntry List
List<SendMessageBatchRequestEntry> moreBatchEntries = new List<SendMessageBatchRequestEntry>();
batchEntries.Add(new SendMessageBatchRequestEntry("id4", "Fourth SQS Message"));
batchEntries.Add(new SendMessageBatchRequestEntry("id5", "Fifth SQS Message"));
batchEntries.Add(new SendMessageBatchRequestEntry("id6", "Sixth SQS Message"));
Task<SendMessageBatchResponse> response = SQSWrapper.WrapRequest(client.SendMessageBatchAsync, moreBatchEntries);

// SNS Client
AmazonSimpleNotificationServiceClient client = new Amazon.SimpleNotificationService.AmazonSimpleNotificationServiceClient("AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY", AWS_REGION);

// PublishRequest - Phone Number
PublishRequest phonePublishRequest = new PublishRequest();
phonePublishRequest.PhoneNumber = +1XXX5555100;
phonePublishRequest.Message = "An SNS Message for phones";
Task<PublishResponse> phoneResponse = SNSWrapper.WrapRequest(client.PublishAsync, phonePublishRequest);

// PublishRequest - ARN
PublishRequest publishRequest = new PublishRequest("TOPIC_ARN", "An SNS Message");
Task<PublishResponse> publishResponse = SNSWrapper.WrapRequest(client.PublishAsync, publishRequest);

// String-based without subject
Task<PublishResponse> responseOne = SNSWrapper.WrapRequest(client.PublishAsync, "TOPIC_ARN", "Another SNS Message");

// String-based with subject
Task<PublishResponse> responseTwo = SNSWrapper.WrapRequest(client.PublishAsync, "TOPIC_ARN", "Yet Another SNS Message", "A Subject");

5. The following environment variables are not required for Lambda monitoring to function but they are required if you want your Lambda functions to be included in distributed traces. To enable distributed tracing, set these environment variables in the AWS Lambda console:

   • NEW_RELIC_ACCOUNT_ID: The account ID the Lambda is reporting to.
   • NEW_RELIC_TRUSTED_ACCOUNT_KEY: This is also the account ID. If your account is a child account, this needs to be the account ID for the root/parent account.

6. Ensure that the wrapper function (FunctionWrapper in above example) is set up as the function handler.

7. Invoke the Lambda at least once. This creates a CloudWatch log group, which must be present for the next step to work.

   Our wrapper gathers data about the Lambda execution, generates a JSON message, and logs it to CloudWatch Logs. Next you'll configure CloudWatch to send those logs to New Relic.

To instrument your Node.js Lambda:

1. Download our Node.js agent package and place it in the same directory as your function, ensuring the agent is installed as a dependency in the node_modules directory. Use the Node Package Manager:

$
npm install newrelic --save

2. Install our AWS SDK module alongside the Node.js agent:

$
npm install @newrelic/aws-sdk --save

3. In your Lambda code, require the agent module and the AWS SDK at the top of the file, and wrap the handler function. For example:

const newrelic = require('newrelic');
require('@newrelic/aws-sdk');

// Other module loads go under the two require statements above

module.exports.handler = newrelic.setLambdaHandler((event, context, callback) => {
  // This is your handler function code
  console.log('Lambda executed');
  callback();
});

4. Optional: You can also add custom events to your Lambda using the recordCustomEvent API. For example:

module.exports.handler = newrelic.setLambdaHandler((event, context, callback) => {
  newrelic.recordCustomEvent('MyEventType', { foo: 'bar' });
  console.log('Lambda executed');
  callback();
});

5. Zip your Lambda function and the Node.js agent folder together. Requirements and recommendations:

   • The New Relic files outside the New Relic agent folder don't need to be included.
   • If your Lambda function file name is, for example, lambda_function.node, we recommend naming your zip file lambda_function.zip. Do not use a tarball.
   • Your Lambda and its associated modules must all be in the zip file's root directory. This means that if you zip a folder that contains the files, it won't work.

6. Upload the zipped file to your AWS Lambda account.

7. In the AWS console, set these environment variables:

   • NEW_RELIC_NO_CONFIG_FILE. Set to true if not using a configuration file.
   • NEW_RELIC_APP_NAME: Your application name.
   • NEW_RELIC_ACCOUNT_ID. Your account ID.
   • NEW_RELIC_TRUSTED_ACCOUNT_KEY. This is also your account ID. If your account is a child account, this needs to be the account ID for the root/parent account.

8. Optional: To run the agent in serverless mode outside of AWS in a local environment, set the environment variable NEW_RELIC_SERVERLESS_MODE_ENABLED to true. (When executing this in an AWS Lambda environment, the agent will automatically run in serverless mode. Do not use this variable if you're running in AWS.)

9. Optional: To enable logging in serverless mode, set these environment variables:

   • Set NEW_RELIC_LOG_ENABLED to true.
   • Set NEW_RELIC_LOG to stdout for output to CloudWatch, or set to any writeable file location.
   • NEW_RELIC_LOG_LEVEL is set to info by default, and it's only used when sending function logs in your Lamba. See other log levels.

10. Invoke the Lambda at least once. This creates a CloudWatch log group, which must be present for the next step to work.

Our wrapper gathers data about the Lambda execution, generates a JSON message, and logs it to CloudWatch Logs. Next you'll configure CloudWatch to send those logs to New Relic.

Read more on how to send function logs with Lambda.

To instrument your Python Lambda:

1. Download our Python agent package and place it in the same directory as your function. To do this, use pip:

$
pip install -t . newrelic

2. In your Lambda code, import the Python agent module and decorate the handler function using the New Relic decorator. The New Relic package must be imported first in your code. Here's an example:

import newrelic.agent
newrelic.agent.initialize()
@newrelic.agent.lambda_handler()
def handler(event, context):
...

3. Optional: You can also add custom events to your Lambda using the record_custom_event API. Here's an example:

@newrelic.agent.lambda_handler()
def handler(event, context):
newrelic.agent.record_custom_event('CustomEvent', {'foo': 'bar'})
...

4. Zip your lambda_function.py and newrelic/ folder together using these guidelines:

   • The New Relic files outside the newrelic/ folder don't need to be included.
   • If your Lambda function file name is, for example, lambda_function.py, name your zip file lambda_function.zip. Do not use a tarball.
   • Your Lambda and its associated modules must all be in the zip file's root directory. This means that if you zip a folder that contains the files, it won't work.

5. Upload the zipped file to your AWS Lambda account.

6. In the AWS console, set this environment variable:

   • NEW_RELIC_SERVERLESS_MODE_ENABLED. Set to true

7. The following environment variables are not required for Lambda monitoring to function but they are required if you want your Lambda functions to be included in distributed traces. To enable distributed tracing, set these environment variables in the AWS console:

   • NEW_RELIC_DISTRIBUTED_TRACING_ENABLED. Set to true.
   • NEW_RELIC_ACCOUNT_ID. Your account ID.
   • NEW_RELIC_TRUSTED_ACCOUNT_KEY. This is also your account ID. If your account is a child account, this needs to be the account ID for the root/parent account.

8. Optional: To configure logging, use the NEW_RELIC_LOG and NEW_RELIC_LOG_LEVEL environment variables in the AWS Console.

9. Invoke the Lambda at least once. This creates a CloudWatch log group, which must be present for the next step to work.

   The New Relic decorator gathers data about the Lambda execution, generates a JSON message, and logs it to CloudWatch Logs. Next, configure CloudWatch to send those logs to New Relic.