If your app is written in Java, you can get started quickly with LightStep. Download the Auto-Installer, then configure it to communicate with your LightStep Satellites. When you deploy your app, all supported third-party framework libraries (like the Elasticsearch client, RxJava, or the Kafka client) will begin sending trace data to LightStep.

Installation can be static or dynamic, allowing you to install without requiring the application’s source code to be modified or re-compiled.

Supported Java Versions

Java versions 1.7 or later are supported.

Install the Agent

Download the JAR file from Maven.

Configure the Agent to Send Data to LightStep

To send data from your system to LightStep, you need to configure the agent to point to your Satellites.

To configure the agent:

1. Configure the agent to point to the LightStep Satellites by setting these environment variables. Use the right values, depending on if you are using on-premise, LightStep public, or Developer Mode Satellites.

# Options for On Premise Satellites

-Dsa.tracer=lightstep
-Dls.collectorHost=$(your_load_balancer_DNS_name_or_IP_address)
-Dls.collectorProtocol=$(your_satellite_protocol) 
-Dls.collectorPort=$(your_satellite_port) 
-Dls.accessToken=$(your_LightStep_token) 
-Dls.componentName=${your_service_name}

# Options for LightStep Public Satellites

-Dsa.tracer=lightstep 
-Dls.collectorHost=ingest.lightstep.com 
-Dls.collectorProtocol=https 
-Dls.collectorPort=443 
-Dls.accessToken=$(your_LightStep_token) 
-Dls.componentName=${your_service_name}

# Options for LightStep Public Satellites

-Dsa.tracer=lightstep 
-Dls.collectorHost=localhost
-Dls.collectorProtocol=https 
-Dls.collectorPort=8360 
-Dls.accessToken=$(your_LightStep_token) 
-Dls.componentName=${your_service_name}

Run the Java Special Agent

You can install the agent statically (you will need to restart your app) or dynamically (you can install while the app is running).

Static

For a static attach, use the -javaagent argument to start up your app.

-javaagent:$(path_to_special_agent) 
-jar $(path_to_your_jar_file)

Dynamic

For a dynamic attach, you need to determine your application’s PID and then attach the agent.

-jar opentracing-specialagent-1.5.0.jar <PID>

-Xbootclasspath/a:$JAVA_HOME/lib/tools.jar 
-jar opentracing-specialagent-1.4.0.jar <PID>

All supported OpenTracing plugins are now installed! If you did a dynamic attachment and the third-party apps that have plugins are running, you'll immediately start to see spans in LightStep. If you did a static attach, you'll get spans as soon as your apps are all running.

Read the next section to learn how to configure SpecialAgent to tune the amount of data sent.

Configure Java SpecialAgent Plugins

Java SpecialAgent supports many plugins out of the box. You can add the following additional configuration properties on the command line for plugin configuration.

Set the verbose property.

By default, all plugins except Concurrent have this property set to false.

To set all plugins to true:
-Dsa.instrumentation.plugins.verbose=true

Or to set individual plugins to true:
-Dsa.instrumentation.plugin.${RULE_NAME_PATTERN}.verbose=true

The ${RULE_NAME_PATTERN} is the artifactId of the plugin, and is shown in the table, below.

Disable a plugin

All plugins are installed by default. You can disable any you don't need:
-Dsa.instrumentation.plugin.${RULE_NAME_PATTERN}.disable

The ${RULE_NAME_PATTERN} is the artifactId of the plugin, and is shown in the table, below.

Enable a plugin

All plugins are installed by default. If you've disabled a plugin, you can re-enable it:
-Dsa.instrumentation.plugin.${RULE_NAME_PATTERN}.enable

The ${RULE_NAME_PATTERN} is the artifactId of the plugin, and is shown in the table, below.

What's Auto-Instrumented

Following are the supported plugins that are auto-instrumented when you run your app.