Instrumenting Apache Server

To try the preview for RUM Auto-Instrumentation, follow the instructions on this page to set up the SDK injector.

Overview

RUM Auto-Instrumentation works by injecting the RUM Browser SDK into the HTML responses being served through a web server or proxy.

Limitations

Keep in mind the following limitations when using this setup:

  • This instrumentation method does not support advanced RUM configurations, except for allowedTracingUrls and excludedActivityUrls.
  • If your web server is acting as a proxy and the upstream server uses end-to-end encryption (TLS) or content compression (gzip, zstd, Brotli), the RUM Browser SDK may not be injected. To ensure proper instrumentation:
    • Disable content compression on the upstream server.
    • Enable TLS origination on the web server.

Prerequisites

The Datadog Agent is installed and configured.

Set up your RUM application

The Auto-Instrumentation method leverages the Apache httpd Modules capability to implement a response body filter. The filter injects the RUM Browser SDK into the response body for responses identified as HTML.

For more granular control over the instrumentation of the RUM application, you can also manually install and configure the module.

To automatically instrument your RUM application:

  1. In Datadog, navigate to the Digital Experience > Add an Application Page and select the JavaScript (JS) application type.
  2. Select Auto-Instrumentation and Apache httpd.
  3. Set your Session and Session Replay sample rates. See guidance on configuring sampling.
  4. Copy and run the installer command to load the Datadog httpd Module with the RUM SDK Injector onto httpd.
  5. After the installer successfully installs the SDK Injector, restart Apache HTTP Server to begin collecting RUM sessions.
  6. (Optional) To verify the module is successfully injecting the RUM Browser SDK into HTML pages, check the error logs for relevant messages. The module logs important steps during the injection process. Ensure that Apache HTTP Server is configured with at least the info log level.

To manually instrument your RUM application:

Download the module file

  1. Download the zipped module.
  2. Extract the zip to obtain the mod_datadog.so file. Move it to a location that Apache HTTP Server has access to (referenced as <RUM_MODULE_PATH> in the steps below).

Update Apache HTTP server configuration

  1. Locate the configuration file. You can use apachectl -V to find the default configuration path. Add the following line to load the module:

    LoadModule datadog_module <RUM_MODULE_PATH>

  2. Within the appropriate root or location section, add the following:

    # APM Tracing is enabled by default. The following line disables APM Tracing
DatadogTracing Off
DatadogRum On
<DatadogRumSettings "v6">
    DatadogRumOption "applicationId" "<DATADOG_APPLICATION_ID>"
    DatadogRumOption "clientToken" "<DATADOG_CLIENT_TOKEN>"
    DatadogRumOption "site" "<DATADOG_SITE>"
    DatadogRumOption "service" "my-web-application"
    DatadogRumOption "env" "production"
    DatadogRumOption "version" "1.0.0"
    DatadogRumOption "sessionSampleRate" "100"
    DatadogRumOption "sessionReplaySampleRate" "100"
    DatadogRumOption "trackResources" "true"
    DatadogRumOption "trackLongTasks" "true"
    DatadogRumOption "trackUserInteractions" "true"
</DatadogRumSettings>

Restart your server

  1. Restart the Apache HTTP Server to begin collecting data for your Datadog RUM application. By default, the RUM SDK is injected to all HTML documents. You may need to clear your browser cache.
  2. (Optional) To verify the module is successfully injecting the RUM Browser SDK into HTML pages, check the httpd error logs for relevant messages. The module logs important steps during the injection process. Ensure that Apache HTTP Server is configured with at least the info log level.

Updating your RUM application

You can adjust your Session Sampling and Session Replay Sampling rates from the Application Management page.

To update your RUM Application:

  1. Go to your RUM application from the Application Management list.
  2. On the Instrument your application page, adjust the slider or enter a specific percentage in the input box for Session Sampling or Session Replay Sampling.
  3. Copy and paste the configuration snippet to your /opt/datadog-httpd/datadog.conf file.

Troubleshooting

RUM is not injected

If you notice that RUM is not being injected into HTML pages, consider the following potential causes:

  • Content-Type mismatch: RUM is injected only into HTML pages. If the Content-Type header does not correctly indicate text/html, the injection is skipped.
  • Upstream server has end-to-end encryption or content compression: See Limitations.
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