Using NewRelic with Play!

Ryan Neufeld

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Jul 26, 2011, 12:41:40 PM7/26/11

to play-framework

I'm attempting to set up NewRelic monitoring for production usage and
I'm having trouble getting the newrelic.jar agent to report any
transactions to the service.

Basic rundown:

* Drop into a Play! project (with play-scala module, in our case)
* Add the necessary newrelic/newrelic.jar and newrelic/newrelic.yml to
the project - enabling monitoring for development, keys, etc.
* $ play run -javaagent:./newrelic/newrelic.jar

The application loads and runs correctly. Inspecting newrelic/logs/
newrelic_agent.log shows activity, and my NewRelic page shows my
application as a host. I submit some requests to the page and wait the
requisite couple minutes. The agent logs show activity and messages
like: "Jul 26, 2011 11:40:07 AM NewRelic FINE: Reported 30
timeslices", however NewRelic doesn't show any transactions in their
UI.

Has anyone successfully used NewRelic as a standalone agent in Play!
or run into this same issue? Any help or advice would be appreciated.

Nicolas

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Jul 26, 2011, 3:57:15 PM7/26/11

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Play is also running a java agent so check that yours is actually included...

Donovan Muller

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Dec 24, 2011, 2:16:26 PM12/24/11

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Hi,

Sorry to resurrect this thread but did you (or anyone) ever get this to work properly?

I too added the javaagent and newrelic is receiving data but nothing on the dashboards...

Cheers

scott clasen

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Dec 29, 2011, 2:19:57 PM12/29/11

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Newrelic dosent support Netty directly yet, so you dont get the full capability of newrelic with play.

If you annotate your controller methods with newrelic annotations you can get some metrics, but the traces show up in the "Background Tasks" tab rather than Web tab.

I would urge anyone who wants to see netty support in newrelic to open suport tickets with newrelic, asking for native netty support.

Donovan Muller

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Feb 20, 2012, 7:37:19 AM2/20/12

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Hi guys,

newrelic now supports Play natively:

http://blog.newrelic.com/2012/02/03/our-latest-java-agent-release-includes-support-for-play-and-more/

Been using it for a while, works great...

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Grzegorz Slowikowski

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Oct 12, 2012, 10:03:31 AM10/12/12

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Hi Donovan and others

I've found NewRelic recently. It looks very interresting, so I've decided to try it with Play! 1.2.5,
first on new, simple project.

It does not work for me.
I've started with Real User Monitoring (https://newrelic.com/docs/java/real-user-monitoring-in-java).
I've installed everything, set:

browser_monitoring:
    # By default the agent automatically inserts API calls in compiled JSPs to
    # inject the monitoring JavaScript into web pages.
    # Set this attribute to false to turn off this behavior.
    auto_instrument: false
    # Set this attribute to false to prevent injection of the monitoring JavaScript.
    # Default is true.
    enabled: true

in newrelic.yml,
added NewRelic java files from newrelic-api.jar to "app" folder,
modified "app/views/main.html" file, now it looks like:

<!DOCTYPE html>

<html>
    <head>
        <title>#{get 'title' /}</title>
        <meta charset="${_response_encoding}">
${com.newrelic.api.agent.NewRelic.getBrowserTimingHeader().raw()}
        <link rel="stylesheet" media="screen" href="@{'/public/stylesheets/main.css'}">
        #{get 'moreStyles' /}
        <link rel="shortcut icon" type="image/png" href="@{'/public/images/favicon.png'}">
        <script src="@{'/public/javascripts/jquery-1.5.2.min.js'}" type="text/javascript" charset="${_response_encoding}"></script>
        #{get 'moreScripts' /}
    </head>
    <body>
        #{doLayout /}
${com.newrelic.api.agent.NewRelic.getBrowserTimingFooter().raw()}
    </body>
</html>

After starting Play! I see:

paź 12, 2012 15:28:24 +0200 NewRelic 20 FINER: Real user monitoring is disabled
paź 12, 2012 15:28:24 +0200 NewRelic 20 FINER: Got browser timing header in NewRelic API:
paź 12, 2012 15:28:24 +0200 NewRelic 20 FINER: Real user monitoring is disabled
paź 12, 2012 15:28:24 +0200 NewRelic 20 FINER: Got browser timing footer in NewRelic API:

in newrelic_agent.log file.
Of course, there is no javascript injected in the page. Why is this feature disabled?

When I tried to configure NewRelic with my real project things went even worse,
but I will not write about it yet.

Can someone help me?

Greetings
Grzegorz Slowikowski

Tom Carchrae

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Oct 12, 2012, 11:46:13 AM10/12/12

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Hi Grzegorz,

You should file a support ticket with NewRelic as well if you have not.

I did have a lot of issues with NewRelic but after a bit of back and forth, they actually sent me a version that would work with Play. The earlier version was terrible and threw many many exceptions.

The last link they sent me was https://download.newrelic.com/newrelic/java-agent/newrelic-api/2.7.0/ (I did not actually test with the 2.7 release version, just the beta)

I did nothing to their default configuration file, just ran it out of the box. I ran it on heroku. (the heroku docs are outdated and link to an old version of the newrelic jar)

I tend to use it to profile my application during the 'tweak and optimize' phase of development rather than leaving it running all the time. I'm not sure I'd be comfortable leaving it on all the time, but could just be paranoid.

Tom

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/play-framework/-/Ucrsc6OQF1sJ.

Chris Webb

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Oct 12, 2012, 12:38:55 PM10/12/12

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You can find the latest releases of NewRelic here, http://download.newrelic.com/newrelic/java-agent/newrelic-api/

rgds,

Chris

Grzegorz Słowikowski

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Oct 12, 2012, 1:58:12 PM10/12/12

to play-fr...@googlegroups.com, Chris Webb

Thanks

I have the latest 2.9.0 version. I've submitted support request. Now we have to wait.

Grzegorz Slowikowski

On 2012-10-12 18:38, Chris Webb wrote:

You can find the latest releases of NewRelic here,ďż˝http://download.newrelic.com/newrelic/java-agent/newrelic-api/

rgds,

Chris

On Fri, Oct 12, 2012 at 4:46 PM, Tom Carchrae <t...@carchrae.net> wrote:

Hi Grzegorz,

You should file a support ticket with NewRelic as well if you have not. ďż˝

I did have a lot of issues with NewRelic but after a bit of back and forth, they actually sent me a version that would work with Play. ďż˝ The earlier version was terrible and threw many many exceptions.

The last link they sent me wasďż˝https://download.newrelic.com/newrelic/java-agent/newrelic-api/2.7.0/ďż˝ (I did not actually test with the 2.7 release version, just the beta)

I did nothing to their default configuration file, just ran it out of the box. ďż˝I ran it on heroku. ďż˝(the heroku docs are outdated and link to an old version of the newrelic jar)

I tend to use it to profile my application during the 'tweak and optimize' phase of development rather than leaving it running all the time. ďż˝I'm not sure I'd be comfortable leaving it on all the time, but could just be paranoid.

Tom

On Fri, Oct 12, 2012 at 7:03 AM, Grzegorz Slowikowski <gslowi...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Donovan and others

I've found NewRelic recently. It looks very interresting, so I've decided to try it with Play! 1.2.5,
first on new, simple project.

It does not work for me.
I've started with Real User Monitoring (https://newrelic.com/docs/java/real-user-monitoring-in-java).
I've installed everything, set:

ďż˝ browser_monitoring:
ďż˝ďż˝ďż˝ # By default the agent automatically inserts API calls in compiled JSPs to
ďż˝ďż˝ďż˝ # inject the monitoring JavaScript into web pages.
ďż˝ďż˝ďż˝ # Set this attribute to false to turn off this behavior.
ďż˝ďż˝ďż˝ auto_instrument: false
ďż˝ďż˝ďż˝ # Set this attribute to false to prevent injection of the monitoring JavaScript.
ďż˝ďż˝ďż˝ # Default is true.
ďż˝ďż˝ďż˝ enabled: true

in newrelic.yml,
added NewRelic java files from newrelic-api.jar to "app" folder,
modified "app/views/main.html" file, now it looks like:

<!DOCTYPE html>

<html>

ďż˝ďż˝ďż˝ <head>
ďż˝ďż˝ďż˝ďż˝ďż˝ďż˝ďż˝ <title>#{get 'title' /}</title>
ďż˝ďż˝ďż˝ďż˝ďż˝ďż˝ďż˝ <meta charset="${_response_encoding}">
${com.newrelic.api.agent.NewRelic.getBrowserTimingHeader().raw()}
ďż˝ďż˝ďż˝ďż˝ďż˝ďż˝ďż˝ <link rel="stylesheet" media="screen" href="@{'/public/stylesheets/main.css'}">
ďż˝ďż˝ďż˝ďż˝ďż˝ďż˝ďż˝ #{get 'moreStyles' /}
ďż˝ďż˝ďż˝ďż˝ďż˝ďż˝ďż˝ <link rel="shortcut icon" type="image/png" href="@{'/public/images/favicon.png'}">
ďż˝ďż˝ďż˝ďż˝ďż˝ďż˝ďż˝ <script src="@{'/public/javascripts/jquery-1.5.2.min.js'}" type="text/javascript" charset="${_response_encoding}"></script>
ďż˝ďż˝ďż˝ďż˝ďż˝ďż˝ďż˝ #{get 'moreScripts' /}
ďż˝ďż˝ďż˝ </head>
ďż˝ďż˝ďż˝ <body>
ďż˝ďż˝ďż˝ďż˝ďż˝ďż˝ďż˝ #{doLayout /}
${com.newrelic.api.agent.NewRelic.getBrowserTimingFooter().raw()}
ďż˝ďż˝ďż˝ </body>

</html>

After starting Play! I see:

paďż˝ 12, 2012 15:28:24 +0200 NewRelic 20 FINER: Real user monitoring is disabled
paďż˝ 12, 2012 15:28:24 +0200 NewRelic 20 FINER: Got browser timing header in NewRelic API:
paďż˝ 12, 2012 15:28:24 +0200 NewRelic 20 FINER: Real user monitoring is disabled
paďż˝ 12, 2012 15:28:24 +0200 NewRelic 20 FINER: Got browser timing footer in NewRelic API:

in newrelic_agent.log file.
Of course, there is no javascript injected in the page. Why is this feature disabled?

When I tried to configure NewRelic with my real project things went even worse,
but I will not write about it yet.

Can someone help me?

Greetings
Grzegorz Slowikowski

W dniu poniedziaďż˝ek, 20 lutego 2012 13:37:19 UTC+1 uďż˝ytkownik Donovan Muller napisaďż˝:

Johan Vosloo

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Oct 15, 2012, 4:46:50 AM10/15/12

to play-fr...@googlegroups.com, Chris Webb

We currently use the 2.8.0 agent version (as well as an older version on a test box). Works fine for us on Play 1.2.5.

You should have the "auto instrument" stuff switched off (and manually instrument), however have "real user monitoring" enabled - seems like you've instrumented, but have have not enabled real user monitoring.

Anyway - what we did is to disable real user monitoring to begin with and get basic app monitoring working.

After that we added the agent jar to dependencies.yml and added the manual instrumentation - works well.

Grzegorz Słowikowski

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Oct 16, 2012, 6:36:16 AM10/16/12

to play-fr...@googlegroups.com, Johan Vosloo, Chris Webb

Thanks Johan

I've placed my project here http://maven-play-plugin.googlecode.com/svn/tmp/test-projects/newrelic/
Can you take a look, what's wrong with it, please?

Grzegorz Slowikowski

On 2012-10-15 10:46, Johan Vosloo wrote:

We currently use the 2.8.0 agent version (as well as an older version on a test box). Works fine for us on Play 1.2.5.

You should have the "auto instrument" stuff switched off (and manually instrument),ďż˝ďż˝however have "real user monitoring" enabled - seems like you've instrumented, but have have not enabled real user monitoring.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/play-framework/-/g6y0GGsaNYsJ.

Johan Vosloo

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Oct 17, 2012, 1:25:45 AM10/17/12

to play-fr...@googlegroups.com, Johan Vosloo, Chris Webb

Your config looks correct as far as I can tell.

In your NewRelic dashboard, is real user monitoring enabled? You can override it there, even if it's set to "true" in the config file.

Other than that - I don't know what could be the problem.

Incidently, we use Play's dependency management to add the newrelic-aip.jar

Here's our dependencies.yml: http://pastebin.com/Ae4nMvJE

Abhijeet Kumar

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Feb 12, 2013, 9:40:53 PM2/12/13

to play-fr...@googlegroups.com, Johan Vosloo, Chris Webb

Just heard from New Relic support - they don't support play 2.x yet! Bummer!

John Papadakis

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Jun 6, 2013, 4:31:56 PM6/6/13

to play-fr...@googlegroups.com, Johan Vosloo, Chris Webb

New relic updated with PlayFramework 2 support

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