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Node.js and Grafana Cloud Tempo

note

Check out the source code on GitHub here.

Tracetest is a testing tool based on OpenTelemetry that allows you to test your distributed application. It allows you to use data from distributed traces generated by OpenTelemetry to validate and assert if your application has the desired behavior defined by your test definitions.

Grafana Tempo is an open-source, high-scale distributed tracing data store. It utilizes object storage to minimize costs, allowing you to store more information at a lower cost. It is deeply integrated with Grafana, Prometheus, and Loki. Grafana Tempo is also available as a paid hosted service at Grafana Cloud.

Grafana Cloud is a managed service offering from Grafana Labs that provides scalable and secure monitoring, visualization, and alerting for metrics, logs, and traces. It integrates seamlessly with various data sources, enabling users to create dynamic, interactive dashboards and gain insights into their system performance and reliability. With features like team collaboration, alerting, and plugins, Grafana Cloud is designed to simplify observability and help teams efficiently monitor their applications and infrastructure.

Node.js App with Grafana Cloud Tempo, OpenTelemetry and Tracetest​

This is a simple quick start on how to configure a Node.js app to use OpenTelemetry instrumentation with traces and Tracetest for enhancing your E2E and integration tests with trace-based testing. The infrastructure will use Tempo on Grafana Cloud as the trace data store, and OpenTelemetry Collector to receive traces from the Node.js app and send them to Tempo.

Prerequisites​

Tracetest Account:

Grafana Cloud Account

Docker: Have Docker and Docker Compose installed on your machine.

Run This Quckstart Example​

The example below is provided as part of the Tracetest project. You can download and run the example by following these steps:

Clone the Tracetest project and go to the Grafana Cloud Tempo Node.js Quickstart:

git clone https://github.com/kubeshop/tracetest
cd tracetest/examples/quick-start-grafana-cloud-tempo-nodejs

Follow these instructions to run the quick start:

  1. Copy the .env.template file to .env.
  2. Fill out the TRACETEST_TOKEN and ENVIRONMENT_ID details by editing your .env file.
  3. Fill out the GRAFANA_AUTH_READ_HASH and GRAFANA_AUTH_WRITE_HASH deatails from your Tempo setup
  4. Run docker compose run tracetest-run.
  5. Follow the links in the output to view the test results.

Follow along with the sections below for an in detail breakdown of what the example you just ran did and how it works.

Project Structure​

The project contains Tracetest Agent, OpenTelemetry Collector, Grafana Tempo, and a Node.js app.

The docker-compose.yaml file in the root directory of the quick start runs the Node.js app and the Tracetest Agent setup.

Configuring the Node.js App​

The Node.js app is a simple Express app, contained in the app.js file.

Configure the .env like shown below.

# Get the required information here: https://app.tracetest.io/retrieve-token

TRACETEST_TOKEN="<YOUR_TRACETEST_TOKEN>"
TRACETEST_ENVIRONMENT_ID="<YOUR_ENV_ID>"

# https://grafana.com/blog/2021/04/13/how-to-send-traces-to-grafana-clouds-tempo-service-with-opentelemetry-collector/
GRAFANA_AUTH_READ_HASH="<YOUR_GRAFANA_AUTH_READ_HASH>"
GRAFANA_AUTH_WRITE_HASH="<YOUR_GRAFANA_AUTH_WRITE_HASH>"

The OpenTelemetry tracing is contained in the tracing.otel.grpc.js or tracing.otel.http.js files. Traces will be sent to Grafana Tempo.

Choosing the tracing.otel.grpc.js file will send traces to OpenTelemetry Collector's GRPC endpoint.

Enabling the tracer is done by preloading the trace file. As seen in the package.json.

"scripts": {
  "app-with-grpc-tracer": "node -r ./tracing.otel.grpc.js app.js",
},

Run the Node.js App, OpenTelemetry Collector, and Tracetest Agent with Docker Compose​

The docker-compose.yaml file and Dockerfile in the root directory are for the Node.js app. The docker-compose.yaml contains one service for the Node.js app, as well as the Tracetest Agent, Tempo, and OpenTelemetry Collector.

The collector.config.yaml configures the OpenTelemetry Collector. It receives traces via either grpc or http. Then, exports them to Grafana Cloud Tempo via the OTLP exporter.

To start all the services, run this command:

docker compose run tracetest-run

This will:

  1. This will start the Node.js app the OpenTelemetry Collector and send the traces to Grafana Tempo.
  2. Start the Tracetest Agent.
  3. Configure the tracing backend and create tests in your environment.
  4. Run the tests.

Open the URL and start creating tests! Make sure to use the http://app:8080/ URL in your test creation, because your Node.js app and Tracetest are in the same network.

Learn More​

Feel free to check out our examples in GitHub and join our Slack Community for more info!