The latest Java Tracer supports all JVMs version 8 and higher. For additional information about JVM versions below 8, read Supported JVM runtimes.
For a full list of Datadog’s Java version and framework support (including legacy and maintenance versions), read Compatibility Requirements.
Follow the Quickstart instructions within the Datadog app for the best experience, including:
service, env, and version tags.Install and configure the Datadog Agent to receive traces from your instrumented application. By default, the Datadog Agent is enabled in your datadog.yaml file under apm_config with enabled: true and listens for trace data at http://localhost:8126. For containerized environments, follow the links below to enable trace collection within the Datadog Agent.
Set apm_non_local_traffic: true in the apm_config section of your main datadog.yaml configuration file.
See the specific setup instructions to ensure that the Agent is configured to receive traces in a containerized environment:
After the application is instrumented, the trace client attempts to send traces to the Unix domain socket /var/run/datadog/apm.socket by default. If the socket does not exist, traces are sent to http://localhost:8126.
If a different socket, host, or port is required, use the DD_TRACE_AGENT_URL environment variable. Some examples follow:
DD_TRACE_AGENT_URL=http://custom-hostname:1234
DD_TRACE_AGENT_URL=unix:///var/run/datadog/apm.socket
java -javaagent:<DD-JAVA-AGENT-PATH>.jar -jar <YOUR_APPLICATION_PATH>.jar
You can also use system properties:
java -javaagent:<DD-JAVA-AGENT-PATH>.jar \
-Ddd.trace.agent.url=$DD_TRACE_AGENT_URL \
-jar <YOUR_APPLICATION_PATH>.jar
Similarly, the trace client attempts to send stats to the /var/run/datadog/dsd.socket Unix domain socket. If the socket does not exist, then stats are sent to http://localhost:8125.
DD_SITE in the Datadog Agent to To set up Datadog APM in AWS Lambda, see the Tracing Serverless Functions documentation.
Tracing is available for a number of other environments, such as Heroku, Cloud Foundry, AWS Elastic Beanstalk, and Azure App Service.
For other environments, please refer to the Integrations documentation for that environment and contact support if you are encountering any setup issues.
After the agent is installed, to begin tracing your applications:
Download dd-java-agent.jar that contains the latest tracer class files, to a folder that is accessible by your Datadog user:
wget -O dd-java-agent.jar https://dtdg.co/latest-java-tracer
Note: To download a specific major version, use the https://dtdg.co/java-tracer-vX link instead, where vX is the desired version.
For example, use https://dtdg.co/java-tracer-v0 for the latest version 0.
Alternatively, see Datadog’s Maven repository for any specific version.
To run your app from an IDE, Maven or Gradle application script, or java -jar command, with the Continuous Profiler, deployment tracking, and logs injection (if you are sending logs to Datadog), add the -javaagent JVM argument and the following configuration options, as applicable:
java -javaagent:/path/to/dd-java-agent.jar -Ddd.profiling.enabled=true -XX:FlightRecorderOptions=stackdepth=256 -Ddd.logs.injection=true -Ddd.service=my-app -Ddd.env=staging -Ddd.version=1.0 -jar path/to/your/app.jar
Note: Enabling profiling may impact your bill depending on your APM bundle. See the pricing page for more information.
| Environment Variable | System Property | Description |
|---|---|---|
DD_ENV | dd.env | Your application environment (production, staging, etc.) |
DD_SERVICE | dd.service | The name of a set of processes that do the same job. Used for grouping stats for your application. |
DD_VERSION | dd.version | Your application version (for example, 2.5, 202003181415, 1.3-alpha, etc.) |
DD_PROFILING_ENABLED | dd.profiling.enabled | Enable the Continous Profiler |
DD_LOGS_INJECTION | dd.logs.injection | Enable automatic MDC key injection for Datadog trace and span IDs. See Advanced Usage for details. |
DD_TRACE_SAMPLE_RATE | dd.trace.sample.rate | Set a sampling rate at the root of the trace for all services. |
DD_TRACE_SAMPLING_SERVICE_RULES | dd.trace.sampling.service.rules | Set a sampling rate at the root of the trace for services that match the specified rule. |
Additional configuration options are described below.
Use the documentation for your application server to figure out the right way to pass in -javaagent and other JVM arguments. Here are instructions for some commonly used frameworks:
If your app is called my_app.jar, create a my_app.conf, containing:
JAVA_OPTS=-javaagent:/path/to/dd-java-agent.jar
For more information, see the Spring Boot documentation.
Open your Tomcat startup script file, for example setenv.sh on Linux, and add:
CATALINA_OPTS="$CATALINA_OPTS -javaagent:/path/to/dd-java-agent.jar"
Or on Windows, setenv.bat:
set CATALINA_OPTS=%CATALINA_OPTS% -javaagent:"c:\path\to\dd-java-agent.jar"
If a setenv file does not exist, create it in the ./bin directory of the Tomcat project folder.
In standalone mode:
Add the following line to the end of standalone.conf:
JAVA_OPTS="$JAVA_OPTS -javaagent:/path/to/dd-java-agent.jar"
standalone.conf.bat:set "JAVA_OPTS=%JAVA_OPTS% -javaagent:X:/path/to/dd-java-agent.jar"
In domain mode:
Add the following line in the file domain.xml, under the tag server-groups.server-group.jvm.jvm-options:
<option value="-javaagent:/path/to/dd-java-agent.jar"/>
For more details, see the JBoss documentation.
If you use jetty.sh to start Jetty as a service, edit it to add:
JAVA_OPTIONS="${JAVA_OPTIONS} -javaagent:/path/to/dd-java-agent.jar"
If you use start.ini to start Jetty, add the following line (under --exec, or add --exec line if it isn’t there yet):
-javaagent:/path/to/dd-java-agent.jar
In the administrative console:
-javaagent:/path/to/dd-java-agent.jar
For additional details and options, see the WebSphere docs.
Note
If you’re adding the -javaagent argument to your java -jar command, it needs to be added before the -jar argument, as a JVM option, not as an application argument. For example:
java -javaagent:/path/to/dd-java-agent.jar -jar my_app.jar
For more information, see the Oracle documentation.
Never add dd-java-agent to your classpath. It can cause unexpected behavior.
Automatic instrumentation for Java uses the java-agent instrumentation capabilities provided by the JVM. When a java-agent is registered, it can modify class files at load time.
Note: Classes loaded with remote ClassLoader are not instrumented automatically.
Instrumentation may come from auto-instrumentation, the OpenTracing API, or a mixture of both. Instrumentation generally captures the following info:
If needed, configure the tracing library to send application performance telemetry data as you require, including setting up Unified Service Tagging. Read Library Configuration for details.
Additional helpful documentation, links, and articles:
