Managed Service for OpenTelemetry:Use SkyWalking to report Java application data

Step 1: Download the agent

Download SkyWalking Java Agent 8.16.0 and extract it.

Step 2: Get a reporting endpoint

Retrieve the endpoint and authentication token from the Managed Service for OpenTelemetry console. The console provides two interfaces:

Step 3: Configure the agent

Open config/agent.config in the agent folder and set the following properties:

# Reporting endpoint from the Managed Service for OpenTelemetry console
collector.backend_service=<endpoint>

# Authentication token from the console
agent.authentication=<token>

# A unique name for your service
agent.service_name=<your-service-name>

Replace the placeholders with your actual values:

Step 4: Attach the agent to your application

Choose the attachment method for your runtime environment. In each example below, replace <skywalking-agent-path> with the absolute path to skywalking-agent.jar in the agent folder.

CATALINA_OPTS="$CATALINA_OPTS -javaagent:<skywalking-agent-path>"; export CATALINA_OPTS

set "CATALINA_OPTS=-javaagent:<skywalking-agent-path>"

java -javaagent:<skywalking-agent-path> -jar yourApp.jar

--exec
-javaagent:<skywalking-agent-path>

Step 5: Restart the application

Restart your application.

Agent attributes

Configuration methods

Override agent.config values with any of the following methods, listed from highest to lowest precedence:

1. Agent options -- Append key-value pairs after the agent JAR path in the JVM argument:

      # Syntax
      -javaagent:/path/to/skywalking-agent.jar=[key1]=[value1],[key2]=[value2]
   
      # Example
      java -javaagent:/path/to/skywalking-agent.jar=agent.service_name=<your-service-name>,agent.authentication=<your-token> -jar your-project.jar

2. System properties -- Pass values with the -Dskywalking. prefix:

      java -javaagent:/path/to/skywalking-agent.jar -Dskywalking.agent.service_name=<your-service-name> -jar your-project.jar

3. Environment variables -- Export the corresponding environment variable defined in agent.config. For example, agent.service_name maps to SW_AGENT_NAME:

      export SW_AGENT_NAME=<your-service-name>

4. Configuration file -- Set values directly in config/agent.config (lowest precedence).

Official plug-ins

All JAR files in the /plugins directory are active by default. Remove a JAR to deactivate a plug-in; add a JAR to activate one.

Optional plug-ins

Additional plug-ins are available in the optional-plugins folder. To activate an optional plug-in, move its JAR file into the /plugins directory.

Bootstrap plug-ins

Bootstrap plug-ins are stored in the bootstrap-plugins folder and are disabled by default due to potential stability risks. To use a bootstrap plug-in, copy its JAR file into the /plugins directory.

Third-party plug-ins

Some plug-ins are maintained outside the core SkyWalking repository due to performance considerations. For details, see java-plugin-extensions on GitHub.

Develop a custom plug-in

To build a custom SkyWalking Java agent plug-in, see the SkyWalking plug-in development guide. Managed Service for OpenTelemetry supports trace reporting from custom plug-ins.