Containerization has become an essential part of modern software development, allowing applications to be deployed consistently across various environments. When it comes to containerizing Java applications, Jib is a popular build tool that simplifies the process by creating optimized Docker images without the need for a Docker daemon or writing a Dockerfile.

However, when running containerized applications in a distributed environment, it becomes crucial to have visibility into the performance and behavior of your application. This is where distributed tracing solutions come into play. Distributed tracing enables you to track requests as they flow through various services and provides valuable insights into latency, dependencies, and potential issues in your application.

In this article, we’ll explore how to integrate Jib with popular distributed tracing solutions like Jaeger and Zipkin to gain visibility into your Java containers’ performance and seamlessly trace requests.

1. Integrating Jib with Jaeger for Distributed Tracing

Jaeger is an open-source, end-to-end distributed tracing system that is widely used for monitoring and troubleshooting complex microservices architectures. Let’s see how we can integrate Jib with Jaeger for distributed tracing.

To integrate Jib and Jaeger, you need to add the necessary dependencies to your project’s build configuration file, such as Maven or Gradle. For Maven users, add the following dependencies to your pom.xml:

<dependency>
    <groupId>io.opentracing.contrib</groupId>
    <artifactId>opentracing-jdbc</artifactId>
    <version>0.2.0</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
    <groupId>io.jaegertracing</groupId>
    <artifactId>jaeger-core</artifactId>
    <version>1.6.0</version>
</dependency>

Once you’ve added the dependencies, you can create a Tracer instance with the Jaeger tracer configuration and register it as a global tracer:

import io.jaegertracing.Configuration;
import io.jaegertracing.internal.JaegerTracer;

public class Tracing {
    public static void init() {
        Configuration.SamplerConfiguration samplerConfig = Configuration.SamplerConfiguration.fromEnv().withType("const").withParam(1);
        Configuration.ReporterConfiguration reporterConfig = Configuration.ReporterConfiguration.fromEnv().withLogSpans(true);
        Configuration config = new Configuration("your-service-name").withSampler(samplerConfig).withReporter(reporterConfig);
        JaegerTracer tracer = config.getTracer();
        GlobalTracer.register(tracer);
    }
}

After initializing the Jaeger tracer, you can start instrumenting your code using the OpenTracing API. Jib will automatically include the necessary Java agents and environment variables to forward the traced requests to the Jaeger agent running in your container.

2. Integrating Jib with Zipkin for Distributed Tracing

Zipkin is another popular distributed tracing system widely used in microservices architectures. Integrating Jib with Zipkin is straightforward, and much like integrating with Jaeger.

First, add the necessary dependencies to your project’s build configuration file. For Maven, include the following dependencies in your pom.xml:

<dependency>
    <groupId>io.zipkin.brave</groupId>
    <artifactId>brave-opentracing</artifactId>
    <version>VERSION</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
    <groupId>io.zipkin.reporter2</groupId>
    <artifactId>zipkin-reporter</artifactId>
    <version>VERSION</version>
</dependency>

Once you’ve added the dependencies, you can create a Tracer instance with the Zipkin tracer configuration and register it as a global tracer:

import brave.Tracing;
import brave.opentracing.BraveTracer;

public class Tracing {
    public static void init() {
        Tracing tracing = Tracing.newBuilder().localServiceName("your-service-name").build();
        io.opentracing.Tracer tracer = BraveTracer.create(tracing);
        GlobalTracer.register(tracer);
    }
}

Like with Jaeger, Jib will automatically include the necessary Java agents and environment variables to forward the traced requests to the Zipkin server running in your container.

Conclusion

Integrating Jib with distributed tracing solutions like Jaeger and Zipkin allows you to gain valuable insights into the performance and behavior of your containerized Java applications. By following the steps outlined in this article, you can easily set up tracing for your Jib-built containers and have visibility into request flows and potential issues.

#Java #Containerization #Jib #DistributedTracing