HTTP Tracing

Enabling Tracing via N|Solid

To enable the Tracing using N|Solid, set the env var NSOLID_TRACING_ENABLED=1. By enabling this feature, you can troubleshoot HTTP, DNS and other network request problems that you might encounter using the N|Solid Console.

Using Distributed Tracing

Distributed tracing in the N|Solid Console is basically an extension of the HTTP tracing in N|Solid. This documentation will use the following examples to cover how it works on the Console side under the following conditions:

1. An application handling the authentication process:

  // console.js
  const http = require('http')
  const PORT = process.env.PORT || 3000
  http.createServer((req, res) => {
    if (req.url === '/auth') {
      console.log('AUTH handler')
      const authURL = 'http://localhost:4000'
      const gReq = http.request(authURL)
      gReq.end()
      gReq.on('close', () => res.writeHead(200).end('Google made it'))
    } else if (req.url === '/auth-2fa') {
      const authURL = 'http://localhost:4000/2fa'
      const twoFactor = http.request(authURL)
      twoFactor.end()
      twoFactor.on('close', () => res.writeHead(200).end('Auth made it with sms'))
    } else {
      res.end('ok')
    }
  }).listen(PORT)

2. Another application doing the two-factor authentication process (google-auth):

  // google-auth.js
  const http = require('http')
  const PORT = process.env.PORT || 4000
  http.createServer((req, res) => {
    if (req.url === '/2fa') {
      const smsServiceURL = 'http://localhost:5000'
      const smsService = http.request(smsServiceURL)
      res.writeHead(200).end('Auth made it')
      smsService.end()
    } else {
      console.log('Auth root handler')
      res.writeHead(200).end('ok')
    }
  }).listen(PORT)

3. The authentication requires a two-factor authentication
4. The two-factor authentication service uses an SMS service to send a message (twilio):

  // twilio.js
  const http = require('http')
  const PORT = process.env.PORT || 5000
  http.createServer((req, res) => {
    res.writeHead(200).end('ok')
  }).listen(PORT)

5. The N|Solid Console receives traces from all services involved in the distributed system.