Ruby on Rails OpenTelemetry Instrumentation

Send Traces to SigNoz Cloud

Based on your application environment, you can choose the setup below to send traces to SigNoz Cloud.

From VMs, there are two ways to send data to SigNoz Cloud.

Send traces directly to SigNoz Cloud

Step 1. Install dependencies

Install dependencies related to OpenTelemetry SDK and exporter using gem.

gem install opentelemetry-sdk
gem install opentelemetry-exporter-otlp
gem install opentelemetry-instrumentation-all

Include the required packages into your gemfile.

gem 'opentelemetry-sdk'
gem 'opentelemetry-exporter-otlp'
gem 'opentelemetry-instrumentation-all'

Run the bundle install command:

bundle install

Step 2. Initialize the OpenTelemetry SDK

Initialize the otel sdk by adding below lines to config/environment.rb of your Ruby on Rails application.

require 'opentelemetry/sdk'
require_relative 'application'

OpenTelemetry::SDK.configure do |c|
  c.use_all
end

Rails.application.initialize!

Step 3. Running your Ruby application

Run the application using the below:

OTEL_EXPORTER=otlp \
OTEL_SERVICE_NAME=<service_name> \
OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT=https://ingest.{region}.signoz.cloud:443 \
OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_HEADERS=signoz-ingestion-key=SIGNOZ_INGESTION_KEY \
rails server
  • <service_name> : Name of service. For example, sampleRailsApp
  • SIGNOZ_INGESTION_KEY : The ingestion key sent by SigNoz over email. It can also be found in the settings section of your SigNoz Cloud UI.

Depending on the choice of your region for SigNoz cloud, the ingest endpoint will vary according to this table.

RegionEndpoint
USingest.us.signoz.cloud:443
INingest.in.signoz.cloud:443
EUingest.eu.signoz.cloud:443

Send traces via OTel Collector binary

OTel Collector binary helps to collect logs, hostmetrics, resource and infra attributes. It is recommended to install Otel Collector binary to collect and send traces to SigNoz cloud. You can correlate signals and have rich contextual data through this way.

You can find instructions to install OTel Collector binary here in your VM. Once you are done setting up your OTel Collector binary, you can follow the below steps for instrumenting your Ruby on Rails application.

Step 1. Install dependencies

Install dependencies related to OpenTelemetry SDK and exporter using gem.

gem install opentelemetry-sdk
gem install opentelemetry-exporter-otlp
gem install opentelemetry-instrumentation-all

Include the required packages into your gemfile.

gem 'opentelemetry-sdk'
gem 'opentelemetry-exporter-otlp'
gem 'opentelemetry-instrumentation-all'

Run the bundle install command:

bundle install

Step 2. Initialize the OpenTelemetry SDK

Initialize the otel sdk by adding below lines to config/environment.rb of your Ruby on Rails application.

require 'opentelemetry/sdk'
require_relative 'application'

OpenTelemetry::SDK.configure do |c|
  c.use_all
end

Rails.application.initialize!

Step 3. Running your Ruby application

Run the application using the below:

OTEL_EXPORTER=otlp \
OTEL_SERVICE_NAME=<service_name> \
OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT=http://localhost:4318 \
rails server
  • <service_name> : Name of service. For example, sampleRailsApp

In case you have OtelCollector Agent in different VM, replace localhost:4318 with <IP Address of the VM>:4318.

Send Traces to Self-Hosted SigNoz

You can follow these steps to send your traces directly to your Self-Host SigNoz instance.

Step 1. Install dependencies

Install dependencies related to OpenTelemetry SDK and exporter using gem.

gem install opentelemetry-sdk
gem install opentelemetry-exporter-otlp
gem install opentelemetry-instrumentation-all

Include the required packages into your gemfile.

gem 'opentelemetry-sdk'
gem 'opentelemetry-exporter-otlp'
gem 'opentelemetry-instrumentation-all'

Run the bundle install command:

bundle install

Step 2. Initialize the OpenTelemetry SDK

Initialize the otel sdk by adding below lines to config/environment.rb of your Ruby on Rails application.

require 'opentelemetry/sdk'
require_relative 'application'

OpenTelemetry::SDK.configure do |c|
  c.use_all
end

Rails.application.initialize!

Step 3. Running your Ruby application

Run the application using the below:

OTEL_EXPORTER=otlp \
OTEL_SERVICE_NAME=<service_name> \
OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT=http://localhost:4318 \
rails server
  • <service_name> : Name of service. For example, sampleRailsApp

In case you have OtelCollector Agent in different VM, replace localhost:4318 with <IP Address of the VM>:4318.

Tutorials

Here's a tutorial with step by step guide on how to install SigNoz and start monitoring a sample Ruby on Rails app.

Sample Ruby on Rails application

We have included a sample Ruby on Rails application with README.md at Sample Rails App Github Repo.

Feel free to use this repo to test out OpenTelemetry instrumentation and how to send telemetry data to SigNoz.

Frequently Asked Questions

  1. How to find what to use in IP of SigNoz if I have installed SigNoz in Kubernetes cluster?

    Based on where you have installed your application and where you have installed SigNoz, you need to find the right value for this. Please use this grid to find the value you should use for IP of SigNoz

  2. I am sending data from my application to SigNoz, but I don't see any events or graphs in the SigNoz dashboard. What should I do?

    This could be because of one of the following reasons:

    1. Your application is generating telemetry data, but not able to connect with SigNoz installation

      Please use this troubleshooting guide to find if your application is able to access SigNoz installation and send data to it.

    2. Your application is not actually generating telemetry data

      Please check if the application is generating telemetry data first. You can use Console Exporter to just print your telemetry data in console first. Join our Slack Community if you need help on how to export your telemetry data in console

    3. Your SigNoz installation is not running or behind a firewall

      Please double check if the pods in SigNoz installation are running fine. docker ps or kubectl get pods -n platform are your friends for this.

What Cloud Endpoint Should I Use?

The primary method for sending data to SigNoz Cloud is through OTLP exporters. You can either send the data directly from your application using the exporters available in SDKs/language agents or send the data to a collector agent, which batches/enriches telemetry and sends it to the Cloud.

My Collector Sends Data to SigNoz Cloud

Using gRPC Exporter

The endpoint should be ingest.{region}.signoz.cloud:443, where {region} should be replaced with in, us, or eu. Note that the exporter endpoint doesn't require a scheme for the gRPC exporter in the collector.

# Sample config with `us` region
exporters:
    otlp:
        endpoint: "ingest.us.signoz.cloud:443"
        tls:
            insecure: false
        headers:
            "signoz-ingestion-key": "<SIGNOZ_INGESTION_KEY>"

Using HTTP Exporter

The endpoint should be https://ingest.{region}.signoz.cloud:443, where {region} should be replaced with in, us, or eu. Note that the endpoint includes the scheme https for the HTTP exporter in the collector.

# Sample config with `us` region
exporters:
    otlphttp:
        endpoint: "https://ingest.us.signoz.cloud:443"
        tls:
            insecure: false
        headers:
            "signoz-ingestion-key": "<SIGNOZ_INGESTION_KEY>"

My Application Sends Data to SigNoz Cloud

The endpoint should be configured either with environment variables or in the SDK setup code.

Using Environment Variables

Using gRPC Exporter

Examples with us region

  • OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_PROTOCOL=grpc OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT=https://ingest.us.signoz.cloud:443 OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_HEADERS=signoz-ingestion-key=<SIGNOZ_INGESTION_KEY>
Using HTTP Exporter
  • OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_PROTOCOL=http/protobuf OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT=https://ingest.us.signoz.cloud:443 OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_HEADERS=signoz-ingestion-key=<SIGNOZ_INGESTION_KEY>

Configuring Endpoint in Code

Please refer to the agent documentation.

Sending Data from a Third-Party Service

The endpoint configuration here depends on the export protocol supported by the third-party service. They may support either gRPC, HTTP, or both. Generally, you will need to adjust the host and port. The host address should be ingest.{region}.signoz.cloud:443, where {region} should be replaced with in, us, or eu, and port 443 should be used.

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