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page	E2E Transaction Logger

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This first tutorial covers the basics of logging the transactions of a simple HTTP server. It shows how easy it is to start using the E2E Transaction Logger to log your transactions in a structured way. This allows you to get log files which can be analyzed by hand but preferably using the Dashboards that generate graphical views of how your services perform.

Building a simple example

Creating the server

Let's use a simple example taken directly from the Node.js homepage.

Code Block

language	js

var http = require('http');
http.createServer(function (req, res) {
  res.writeHead(200, {'Content-Type': 'text/plain'});
  res.end('Hello World\n');
}).listen(1337, '127.0.0.1');
console.log('Server running at http://127.0.0.1:1337/');

Starting this and going to http://127.0.0.1:1337/ with your favorite browser will simply show "Hello world".

Now we have a simple HTTP server and we can make requests to it.

Logging the requests

Let's start using the E2E Transaction Logger to trace our requests. First add a dependency to e2e-transaction-logger in your package.json and use it to trace the hello world requests.

Code Block

language	js

var http = require('http');
var e2eLogger = require('e2e-transaction-logger');
http.createServer(function (req, res) {
    var trx = e2eLogger.startTransaction('Hello World');
    res.writeHead(200, {'Content-Type': 'text/plain'});
    res.end('Hello World\n');
    trx.end();
}).listen(1337, '127.0.0.1');
console.log('Server running at http://127.0.0.1:1337/');

We use startTransaction at the beginning to create the transaction and simply call end on the returned object when it is done.

If you run again your HTTP server and do some hello world requests you will see that a folder logs is created with a file called transaction_YYYY-MM-DD.log.

It contains info about the transactions you made, e.g.:

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language	bash
linenumbers	true

2014-04-09	15:22:27	+0200	43aa5924-1403-4102-a9d1-0c861ab9cb59	1	Hello World	0	OK	INTERFACE	SERVICE_ENTER		
2014-04-09	15:22:27	+0200	43aa5924-1403-4102-a9d1-0c861ab9cb59	1	Hello World	5	OK	INTERFACE	SERVICE_EXIT		
2014-04-09	15:22:27	+0200	73fb299c-ffcb-4e01-831e-4b481e5b003b	2	Hello World	0	OK	INTERFACE	SERVICE_ENTER		
2014-04-09	15:22:27	+0200	73fb299c-ffcb-4e01-831e-4b481e5b003b	2	Hello World	2	OK	INTERFACE	SERVICE_EXIT		
2014-04-09	15:22:59	+0200	f1920118-ec33-4da9-b7f7-43eeaf9872d2	3	Hello World	0	OK	INTERFACE	SERVICE_ENTER		
2014-04-09	15:22:59	+0200	f1920118-ec33-4da9-b7f7-43eeaf9872d2	3	Hello World	1	OK	INTERFACE	SERVICE_EXIT		
2014-04-09	15:22:59	+0200	7aa73586-b368-4b3e-bea0-352d5eca63c1	4	Hello World	0	OK	INTERFACE	SERVICE_ENTER		
2014-04-09	15:22:59	+0200	7aa73586-b368-4b3e-bea0-352d5eca63c1	4	Hello World	1	OK	INTERFACE	SERVICE_EXIT

Transaction log files

In the transaction log files, each line corresponds to a log entry and the logged parameters are separated by tabs ('\t').

The parameters are in the following order:

Parameter	Format	Description
Date	YYYY-MM-DD	The current date.
Time	HH:mm:s	The time.
Timezone	+/-HHMM	The timezone offset.
Transaction ID	string	The transaction id is defined by the developer or uniquely generated.
Request ID	number	This is the unique id of the request on this server. It is automatically generated.
Name	string	The name of this transaction, defined by the developer.
Elapsed time	number	The number of milliseconds elapsed since the start of the transaction.
State	string	The state of the entry. Can be 'OK' or 'ERROR'. It is used to differentiate successful operations and failed ones.
Domain	string	The domain indicates which kind of entry it is. In case of transactions the domain is 'INTERFACE'.
Log type	string	The log type indicates the type of entry. In case of transactions it can be 'SERVICE_ENTER' on transaction start and 'SERVICE_EXIT' on transaction end.
Parameter 1

...

Same as parameter 1.

Extending the Logging

Multiple transactions

On a real server, you would have different transactions. This is when logging becomes interesting to see the count of of each, the time they took and more.

Code Block

language	js

http.createServer(function (req, res) {
    var trx;
    switch(req.url){
        case '/hello':
            trx = e2eLogger.startTransaction('Say Hello')
            sayHello(req, res, function(){
                trx.end();
            });
            break;
        case '/goodbye':
            trx = e2eLogger.startTransaction('Say Good Bye')
            sayGoodBye(req, res, function(){
                trx.end();
            });
            break;
        case '/do-something':
            trx = e2eLogger.startTransaction('Do Something')
            doSomething(req, res, function(){
                trx.end();
            });
            break;
        default:
            res.end();
    }
}).listen(1337, '127.0.0.1');

And you will then get some logs looking like this:

Code Block

language	bash
linenumbers	true

2014-04-09	15:59:41	+0200	e8275fb5-549a-415f-b905-b4014437123b	1	Say Hello	0	OK	INTERFACE	SERVICE_ENTER		
2014-04-09	15:59:41	+0200	e8275fb5-549a-415f-b905-b4014437123b	1	Say Hello	3	OK	INTERFACE	SERVICE_EXIT		
2014-04-09	15:59:48	+0200	4235ecb3-fab7-45ab-ac97-de53d01fd6b8	2	Do Something	0	OK	INTERFACE	SERVICE_ENTER		
2014-04-09	15:59:49	+0200	4235ecb3-fab7-45ab-ac97-de53d01fd6b8	2	Do Something	823	OK	INTERFACE	SERVICE_EXIT		
2014-04-09	15:59:56	+0200	74961668-363c-43cb-aae8-33a5381fefd0	3	Say Hello	0	OK	INTERFACE	SERVICE_ENTER		
2014-04-09	15:59:56	+0200	74961668-363c-43cb-aae8-33a5381fefd0	3	Say Hello	1	OK	INTERFACE	SERVICE_EXIT		
2014-04-09	15:59:57	+0200	41ea397d-4c10-4bd0-9e27-9540159e85bd	4	Say Hello	0	OK	INTERFACE	SERVICE_ENTER		
2014-04-09	15:59:57	+0200	41ea397d-4c10-4bd0-9e27-9540159e85bd	4	Say Hello	2	OK	INTERFACE	SERVICE_EXIT		
2014-04-09	16:00:07	+0200	173e7bd5-29ce-4d88-a5ae-8b83a3b16a7c	5	Do Something	0	OK	INTERFACE	SERVICE_ENTER		
2014-04-09	16:00:08	+0200	173e7bd5-29ce-4d88-a5ae-8b83a3b16a7c	5	Do Something	497	OK	INTERFACE	SERVICE_EXIT		
2014-04-09	16:00:31	+0200	84e3469a-eaf6-43c5-bd04-ffbb14906019	6	Say Good Bye	0	OK	INTERFACE	SERVICE_ENTER		
2014-04-09	16:00:31	+0200	84e3469a-eaf6-43c5-bd04-ffbb14906019	6	Say Good Bye	1	OK	INTERFACE	SERVICE_EXIT

Success or fail

The end function of a transaction takes a parameter which allow you to set the success or fail of the transaction. The valid values are true or 'OK' for success and false or 'ERROR' for fail.

Code Block

language	js

case '/do-something':
            trx = e2eLogger.startTransaction('Do Something')
            doSomething(req, res, function(success){
                trx.end(success);
            });
            break;

Then you can see the state of the end entries.

Code Block

language	bash
linenumbers	true

2014-04-09    16:14:32    +0200    221bb52f-a96c-4858-8af3-65cca3258214    10    Say Hello    0    OK    INTERFACE    SERVICE_ENTER        
2014-04-09    16:14:32    +0200    221bb52f-a96c-4858-8af3-65cca3258214    10    Say Hello    1    OK    INTERFACE    SERVICE_EXIT        
2014-04-09    16:14:36    +0200    41e1b8e1-0728-4971-b0e5-ae9778f680fd    11    Do Something    0    OK    INTERFACE    SERVICE_ENTER        
2014-04-09    16:14:36    +0200    41e1b8e1-0728-4971-b0e5-ae9778f680fd    11    Do Something    790    OK    INTERFACE    SERVICE_EXIT        
2014-04-09    16:14:38    +0200    bf5e1563-a2b2-4da7-8d51-b30beb55fae8    12    Do Something    0    OK    INTERFACE    SERVICE_ENTER        
2014-04-09    16:14:38    +0200    bf5e1563-a2b2-4da7-8d51-b30beb55fae8    12    Do Something    303    ERROR    INTERFACE    SERVICE_EXIT        
2014-04-09    16:14:41    +0200    07d52997-80fa-4bba-82ee-c4588618da95    13    Say Hello    0    OK    INTERFACE    SERVICE_ENTER        
2014-04-09    16:14:41    +0200    07d52997-80fa-4bba-82ee-c4588618da95    13    Say Hello    1    OK    INTERFACE    SERVICE_EXIT        
2014-04-09    16:14:44    +0200    8a0a47b1-0b32-45f6-888a-7ec2aa65e0e7    14    Do Something    0    OK    INTERFACE    SERVICE_ENTER        
2014-04-09    16:14:45    +0200    8a0a47b1-0b32-45f6-888a-7ec2aa65e0e7    14    Do Something    195    OK    INTERFACE    SERVICE_EXIT        
2014-04-09    16:14:50    +0200    e3098583-8b08-475b-87fd-c326d3bfed0c    15    Say Good Bye    0    OK    INTERFACE    SERVICE_ENTER        
2014-04-09    16:14:50    +0200    e3098583-8b08-475b-87fd-c326d3bfed0c    15    Say Good Bye    1    OK    INTERFACE    SERVICE_EXIT        
2014-04-09    16:14:53    +0200    10a8b04d-f753-4a30-b5bc-6b7597ff310a    16    Do Something    0    OK    INTERFACE    SERVICE_ENTER        
2014-04-09    16:14:54    +0200    10a8b04d-f753-4a30-b5bc-6b7597ff310a    16    Do Something    798    ERROR    INTERFACE    SERVICE_EXIT        
2014-04-09    16:14:56    +0200    7c7f580b-72f5-43bb-b8ac-20f991f105af    17    Do Something    0    OK    INTERFACE    SERVICE_ENTER        
2014-04-09    16:14:56    +0200    7c7f580b-72f5-43bb-b8ac-20f991f105af    17    Do Something    30    ERROR    INTERFACE    SERVICE_EXIT        
2014-04-09    16:14:56    +0200    981d75be-178e-4387-96e0-158a3e881af6    18    Do Something    0    OK    INTERFACE    SERVICE_ENTER        
2014-04-09    16:14:57    +0200    981d75be-178e-4387-96e0-158a3e881af6    18    Do Something    610    OK    INTERFACE    SERVICE_EXIT        
2014-04-09    16:14:59    +0200    b5db172e-9add-4c10-9ef6-803b258ea968    19    Do Something    0    OK    INTERFACE    SERVICE_ENTER        
2014-04-09    16:14:59    +0200    b5db172e-9add-4c10-9ef6-803b258ea968    19    Do Something    229    ERROR    INTERFACE    SERVICE_EXIT        
2014-04-09    16:15:04    +0200    ec7d0643-33fd-4001-b834-e034486d0f64    20    Say Good Bye    0    OK    INTERFACE    SERVICE_ENTER        
2014-04-09    16:15:04    +0200    ec7d0643-33fd-4001-b834-e034486d0f64    20    Say Good Bye    1    OK    INTERFACE    SERVICE_EXIT

You can download the complete example file from this page (httpServer.js).

Dashboards

These log files are fully compatible with the E2E Dashboards services, so they can be loaded into the database and used with the dashboards to analyze the performance of your services.

Find below some examples of the views you would get with this simple HTTP server.

Figure: Table View of the E2E Service Dashboard

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Figure: Graphical View of the E2E Service Dashboard

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page	E2E Transaction Logger

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Versions Compared

Old Version 1

New Version Current

Key

Building a simple example

Creating the server

Logging the requests

Transaction log files

Extending the Logging

Multiple transactions

Success or fail

Dashboards

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Page History

Versions Compared

Old Version 1

New Version Current

Key

Building a simple example

Creating the server

Logging the requests

Transaction log files

Extending the Logging

Multiple transactions

Success or fail

Dashboards