Application Real-Time Monitoring Service:Use Zipkin to perform tracing analysis on NGINX

Overview

If a slow response occurs in a microservice that uses NGINX as a proxy, you cannot estimate the impact of the slow response because no data is collected. In this case, you can use Tracing Analysis to trace NGINX requests for the microservice and calculate the number of page views that are affected by the slow response.

Deploy and trace NGINX in a Docker container

1. Download, build, and then deploy a Dockerfile:

   wget https://arms-apm.oss-cn-hangzhou.aliyuncs.com/demo/nginx-zipkin-docker.tgz
   tar -xzvf nginx-zipkin-docker.tgz
   cd nginx-zipkin
   # Build the Dockerfile.
   docker build --rm --tag nginx-zipkin:0.1

2. Run Docker:

   docker run --rm  -p 80:80 -e "COLLECTOR_HOST=${ZIPKIN_ENDPOINT}?" -d nginx-zipkin:0.1

   Set the ${ZIPKIN_ENDPOINT} variable to the version 1 endpoint of Zipkin that you copy in Prerequisites, but remove "http://" and suffix the value with a question mark (?).

   Example:

   docker run --rm  -p 80:80 -e "COLLECTOR_HOST=tracing-analysis-dc-hz.aliyuncs.com/adapt_123@abc_456@efg/api/v1/spans?" -d nginx-zipkin:0.1

Deploy and trace NGINX on an ECS instance

1. Install NGINX.

   1. Download and decompress the NGINX source code:

      wget http://nginx.org/download/nginx-1.14.2.tar.gz
      tar -xzvf nginx-1.14.2.tar.gz

   2. Compile the NGINX source code:

      cd nginx-1.14.2
      ./configure --with-compat
      make
      sudo make install

2. Install OpenTracing.

   1. Download and decompress the OpenTracing package:

      wget https://github.com/opentracing-contrib/nginx-opentracing/releases/download/v0.7.0/linux-amd64-nginx-1.14.0-ngx_http_module.so.tgz
      tar -xzvf linux-amd64-nginx-1.14.0-ngx_http_module.so.tgz

   2. Copy the .so file to the modules folder of NGINX. If the folder does not exist, create the folder:

      sudo mkdir /usr/local/nginx/modules
      sudo cp ngx_http_opentracing_module.so /usr/local/nginx/modules/ngx_http_opentracing_module.so

3. Use Zipkin to perform tracing analysis.

   1. Download Zipkin to a working directory:

      wget  https://github.com/rnburn/zipkin-cpp-opentracing/releases/download/v0.5.2/linux-amd64-libzipkin_opentracing_plugin.so.gz
      gunzip linux-amd64-libzipkin_opentracing_plugin.so.gz
      sudo cp linux-amd64-libzipkin_opentracing_plugin.so /usr/local/lib/libzipkin_opentracing_plugin.so 

   2. Configure the /usr/local/nginx/conf/nginx.conf file:

      load_module modules/ngx_http_opentracing_module.so;
      events {}
      http {
        opentracing on;
        opentracing_load_tracer /usr/local/lib/libzipkin_opentracing.so /etc/zipkin-config.json;
        server {
          error_log /var/log/nginx/debug.log debug;
          listen 80;
          location  ~ {
            opentracing_operation_name $uri;
            opentracing_trace_locations off;
            # The service that you use to navigate to the proxy. Set the value based on your business requirements. 
            proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8081;
            opentracing_propagate_context;
          }
        }
      }

      Note

      For information about the parameters, see opentracing-contrib.

   3. Set the Zipkin parameters in the /etc/zipkin-config.json file:

      {
        "service_name": "nginx",
        "collector_host": "zipkin"
      }

      If you use the Zipkin service that is managed by Alibaba Cloud, set the collector_host parameter to an endpoint of Zipkin.

      Note

      Enter the version 1 endpoint of Zipkin that you copy in Prerequisites, but remove "http://" and suffix the value with a question mark (?).

      "collector_host": "tracing-analysis-dc-hz.aliyuncs.com/adapt_abc123@abc456_abc123@abc356/api/v1/spans?"

   4. Set the sample_rate parameter to specify the sampling ratio:

      // Set the sampling ratio to 10%.
      "sample_rate":0.1

   5. Run NGINX and access the NGINX service:

      sudo /usr/local/nginx/sbin/nginx
      curl "http://localhost"

Deploy and trace NGINX on other environments

1. Pull an image from Container Registry:

   sudo docker pull registry.cn-hangzhou.aliyuncs.com/public-community/nginx-zipkin:0.1

2. Run NGINX in a Docker container:

   docker run --rm  -p 80:80 -e "COLLECTOR_HOST=${ZIPKIN_ENDPOINT}?" -d registry.cn-hangzhou.aliyuncs.com/public-community/nginx-zipkin:0.1

   Set the ${ZIPKIN_ENDPOINT} variable to the version 1 endpoint of Zipkin that you copy in Prerequisites, but remove "http://" and suffix the value with a question mark (?).

   Example:

   docker run --rm  -p 80:80 -e "COLLECTOR_HOST=tracing-analysis-dc-hz.aliyuncs.com/adapt_******_******/api/v1/spans?" -d registry.cn-hangzhou.aliyuncs.com/public-community/nginx-zipkin:0.1

3. Go to the NGINX page by using a browser.

   Enter localhost/nginx.conf or curl "localhost/nginx.conf" in the address bar of a browser to go to the NGINX page.

Check the result