Demo Setting up X Ray with a Sample Application

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Prerequisites

• An AWS account with permissions for CloudWatch, X-Ray, CloudFormation, ECS, DynamoDB, and IAM
• AWS CLI or Console access

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Step 1: Deploy the Sample Application via CloudFormation

1. Log in to the AWS Console and open CloudWatch.
2. In the left sidebar, expand X-Ray Traces and select Service Map.
3. Click Setup Demo App, then choose Create Sample Application with CloudFormation.
4. Proceed through the wizard without changing defaults:
   • Next → Next
   • Acknowledge IAM capabilities → Submit

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Step 2: Wait for Stack Completion

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Step 3: Retrieve the Load Balancer URL

1. Once complete, switch to the Outputs tab.
2. Copy the LoadBalancerUrl value.

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Step 4: Launch the Scorekeep Web App

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Step 5: Create and Play a Game Session

1. Click Create.
2. Enter a session name (e.g., “ABC Tools Tic-Tac-Toe”).
3. Click Create, then Play.

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Step 6: View the Service Map

1. In the Scorekeep UI, click View Service Map.
2. This opens the X-Ray console displaying your microservices topology.

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Drill Into Nodes and Traces

• Select any node (e.g., DynamoDB for user data).
• View metrics, latency distributions, and HTTP metadata.
• Click View traces to access individual X-Ray segments.

• A GET call to the Scorekeep endpoint
• The corresponding GetItem action on DynamoDB
• Latency and HTTP status codes for each segment

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AWS X-Ray Key Components

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Best Practices

• Enable X-Ray tracing in production by integrating the AWS X-Ray SDK into your code.
• Use sampling rules to control data volume and cost.
• Tag resources for trace grouping and filtering.

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References

• AWS X-Ray Developer Guide
• Amazon CloudWatch Documentation
• AWS CloudFormation User Guide