Install the Ruby Library (legacy)

Before you start

Verify the following to ensure the library can collect and transmit data:

• The platform where your APM library will be installed is supported.

• Your application components are supported by the library.

• Your firewall configuration permits TCP/HTTPS/TLS outbound connections to apm.collector.xx-yy.cloud.solarwinds.com (where xx-yy is determined by the URL you use to access SolarWinds Observability, described in Data centers and endpoint URIs) using port 443. See Firewall or access control requirements.

  If your firewall or access control requirements do not allow such connections, configure the library to send data through a proxy.

Do not run other APM libraries alongside the SolarWinds Observability Ruby Library. Remove other APM libraries and agents from your Ruby application before using the SolarWinds Observability Ruby Library. See Remove other APM libraries.

Dependencies

The solarwinds_apm gem includes a c-extension that is available for Linux x86_64 systems and needs to compile on installation. The following must be on your system to install the gem:

• Ruby header files
• The gnu compiler
• The make commandline command

On Debian/Ubuntu:

sudo apt install ruby-dev g++ make

On RHEL/CentOS/Amazon Linux:

sudo yum install ruby-devel gcc-c++ make

On Alpine:

sudo apk add ruby-dev g++ make

Install

Ruby

The solarwinds_apm gem is hosted on RubyGems. To install, run gem install solarwinds_apm or list gem 'solarwinds_apm' at the end of your Gemfile if the application manages gems using Bundler.

Ideally all application gems are required by Bundler.require, which guarantees loading in the order they appear in the Gemfile. If Bundler.require does not require all application gems, call require 'solarwinds_apm' after all gems that need instrumentation are loaded.

Rails

Add gem 'solarwinds_apm' to the end of the Gemfile so Rails will load the solarwinds_apm gem and instrument the application automatically.

To set additional configuration options, run the command bundle exec rails generate solarwinds_apm:install to create a config file config/initializers/solarwinds_apm.rb. This config file contains a documented list of all configurations options, with most options initially commented out. See Configure the Ruby Library.

Sinatra

To instrument your Sinatra application, list gem 'solarwinds_apm' after sinatra in your Gemfile and use Bundler.require during initialization. Alternatively, call require 'solarwinds_apm' after sinatra is loaded.

The solarwinds_apm gem will automatically detect sinatra on boot and instrument key components.

If desired, replace the SolarWindsAPM.logger with the logger you are using. For example: SolarWindsAPM.logger = MySinatra.logger

Padrino

To instrument your Padrino application, list gem 'solarwinds_apm' after padrino in your Gemfile and use Bundler.require during initialization. Alternatively, call require 'solarwinds_apm' after padrino is loaded.

The solarwinds_apm gem automatically detects padrino on boot and instruments key components.

Fine tuning the SolarWindsAPM configuration is best done in the Padrino.before_load block in your config/boot.rb file. For example:

Padrino.before_load do

  # The solarwinds_apm Ruby client has the ability to sanitize query literals
  # from SQL statements. By default this is enabled. Disable to
  # collect and report query literals to SolarWinds Observability.
  SolarWindsAPM::Config[:sanitize_sql] = false
end

Grape

To instrument your Grape application, list gem 'solarwinds_apm' after grape in your Gemfile and use Bundler.require during initialization. Alternatively, call require 'solarwinds_apm' after grape is loaded.

Rails metal controllers

To instrument your Ruby on Rails metal controllers, include the gem (see Rails) and add the following code to the bottom of your metal controller declaration. Add a profile_method line for every method you want to instrument.

class MetalController > ActionController::Metal
  def index
    self.response_body = 'Hello Metal!'
  end
end

opts = {}
opts[:backtrace] = true
SolarWindsAPM::API.profile_method(MetalController, :index, opts)

See more detailed documentation in Ruby Library instrumentation SDK.

Azure App Service

If your Ruby application platform is the Azure App Service on Linux, SolarWinds recommends deploying it as a custom container, since the pre-defined stack has an open issue that prevents the library from loading. See Migrate custom software to Azure App Service using a custom container in the Microsoft Azure documentation.

You may need to configure the container port number, SSH access, and other aspects for it to run under App Service. See Configure a custom container for Azure App Service in the Microsoft Azure documentation.

When building the image for your custom container, follow the instructions on this page to install and enable the Ruby Library for your application. The Service key can be configured in the Azure portal for your App Service using application settings. After the container is deployed in App Service you should see trace data and metrics shortly.

Uninstall the library

Remove gem solarwinds_apm from the Gemfile (or gemspec file), and remove any require 'solarwinds_apm' from the code. The next time the application is started after these items are removed, the application won’t be instrumented.

To remove the gem from your system entirely, after you removed the gem and require statements from your Gemfile and code, do one of the following:

• For gems managed through Bundler, run bundle clean
• For all other gems, run gem uninstall solarwinds_apm

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