Configure Wavefront for Spring Boot with a sample application.

In this tutorial, you use Wavefront for Spring Boot with the Spring pet clinic sample application. This tutorial sets dependencies explicitly. In most cases, it makes sense to use the Spring Initializr instead to explore supported combinations.

Prerequisites

  • Spring Boot 2.3.0 or above.
  • Java 8 or above.
  • Maven 3.3+ or Gradle 6.3 or later.
    See System Requirements in the Spring Boot documentation.
  • Clone the sample pet clinic application. 
    git clone https://github.com/spring-projects/spring-petclinic.git
  • Build the project and start it. 
    cd spring-petclinic
./mvnw spring-boot:run

Send Data to Wavefront

  1. Open the sample pet clinic application using an IDE and add the following code: 
     <dependency>
   <groupId>com.wavefront</groupId>
   <artifactId>wavefront-spring-boot-starter</artifactId>
 </dependency>
  2. Import the Wavefront for Spring Boot Bill of Materials (BOM) to your project. 
     <dependencyManagement>
 <dependencies>
   <dependency>
     <groupId>com.wavefront</groupId>
     <artifactId>wavefront-spring-boot-bom</artifactId>
     <version>2.0.2</version>
     <type>pom</type>
     <scope>import</scope>
   </dependency>
 </dependencies>
 </dependencyManagement>

  3. Add the following dependency to send trace data to Wavefront using Spring Cloud Sleuth or OpenTracing. Pick either Spring Cloud Sleuth or OpenTracing and use it across all your microservices.

    1. Open your application and add the following code to your pom.xml file. 

      <dependency>
  <groupId>org.springframework.cloud</groupId>
  <artifactId>spring-cloud-starter-sleuth</artifactId>
</dependency>

    2. Import the Spring Cloud Bill of Materials (BOM) to your project. Add the following code under <dependencyManagement>.

      <dependencyManagement>
<dependencies>
.....
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework.cloud</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-cloud-dependencies</artifactId>
<version>Hoxton.SR8</version>
<type>pom</type>
<scope>import</scope>
</dependency>
.....
<dependencies>
<dependencyManagement>

    Open your application and add the following code to your pom.xml file. 

    <dependency>
  <groupId>io.opentracing.contrib</groupId>
  <artifactId>opentracing-spring-cloud-starter</artifactId>
  <version>0.5.7</version>
</dependency>
  4. Add the following configurations to the application.properties file so that your application is named spring-demo, and the service is named spring-petclinic. 
     wavefront.application.name=spring-demo
 wavefront.application.service=spring-petclinic
  5. Restart the application and navigate to http://localhost:8080.
  6. Add data by clicking on the pet clinic user interface. For example:
    1. Add an Owner and a Pet via the User Interface.
    2. Click ERROR to trigger errors.
  7. Click the one-time use link to access the Wavefront Service Dashboard and view data.

    Example:

     To share this account, make sure the following is added to your configuration:

  management.metrics.export.wavefront.api-token=44444-34this-45is-123a-sampletoken
  management.metrics.export.wavefront.uri=https://wavefront.surf

 Connect to your Wavefront dashboard using this one-time use link:
 https://wavefront.surf/us/example

Examine Inventory Data

When you click the link in the Wavefront Spring Boot starter, you are taken to the Spring Boot Inventory dashboard. This dashboard provides real-time visibility into your Spring Boot application landscape. The dashboard has several sections that include the following charts:

  • Status of hosts, applications, and services.
  • Request rate
  • Inventory details
  • Hosts. Use the pulldown menus to group the hosts.

If one or more applications are enabled for tracing, click the link in the Tracing section to be directed to the Tracing dashboard.

Spring Boot inventory screenshot

Examine RED Metrics and Traces

When you click the link in the Spring Boot Inventory dashboard, you are taken to the Spring Boot Traces Browser where you can:

  • View the trace data of the spring-petclinic service.
    • Once in the Traces Browser, you see the traces from the application and the trace related to the error you created.
    • If you configured your application to send trace data using OpenTracing, you can see span logs for the errors you triggered. Span logs for the pet clinic applciation
  • View details specific to an application service, such as the Request, Error, and Duration (RED) metrics by clicking service dashboard on the Traces Browser. See Explore the Default Service Dashboard for details.

    Wavefront Service dashboard

Next Steps

  • See the Wavefront for Spring Boot FAQs.
  • You cannot save changes that you make to the preconfigured Spring Boot Inventory and Wavefront Service Dashboards. If you want custom dashboards, clone and edit it the Wavefront dashboard. For details, see Create and Customize Dashboards.
  • Wavefront customers or trial users can create smart alerts that dynamically filter noise and find true anomalies. For details, see Alerts.
  • Try out the pet clinic application with the Micrometer. See Wavefront for Spring Boot: Getting Started for details.