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    Get Started With Retrace
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    Contents

    Get Started With Retrace

    • 3 Minutes to read
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    Article Summary

    The Retrace getting started guide will point you to the resources you’ll need to install, set up and start utilizing your account.

    Our goal is to help your team go from a few servers and users to a full roll-out and widespread adoption.

    Step 1. Retrace Installation

    Retrace offers many basic and advanced features for your .NET, Java, PHP, Node.js, Ruby, and Python applications. To get started, install the Retrace monitoring agent on your server:

    Automating Your Retrace Installation

    Install Retrace Screenshot.png

    How you install Retrace will vary depending on your programming language, type of deployment and hosting provider. Here are our integrations for easier deployment and scaling:

    Step 2. User Account Setup

    Add Users and Set Permissions

    Involving several people from your team gives added visibility into your applications. Additionally, role-based permissions help you manage access for various teams. To setup users & permissions start here.

    Stackify Pro Tip: setup your apps and environment first, then add teams and set their permissions, then add users to those roles… in that order.

    Retrace Users and Roles.png

    Configure Authorization Options

    Step 3. Customize Your Retrace Account

    Customize Logging

    Retrace's centralized logging supports sending your application logs from common logging frameworks.

    Custom Logging in Retrace allows you to pull in structured logs from your application that can show important details about point-in-time behavior and execution within your code. Have you ever wanted to see a custom field (logged in user, client ID, etc.) when looking through logs?

    Custom Logging Screenshot.png

    These documents will explain how to pull in your logs and guide you on how to add structured logging to your code.

    Customize APM

    There are a few different customization options for performance profiling. Refer to these guides when you see Untracked Application Code, or if you’re trying to track performance in a .NET or Java Service rather than a web app.

    Untracked Application Code Screenshot.png

    Custom Dashboards

    Custom Dashboards allow you to add and arrange widgets displaying anything from Error and Log monitors to Active alerts. At a quick glance, you can see what areas in your account need attention and dive in from the dashboard.

    Custom Dashboard Screenshote.png

    You can also make a dashboard public to share out or display on a screen within your office for full team visibility.

    Integrations

    • ALM and Task Tracking
      • Axosoft - export errors reported by Stackify into Axosoft’s issue management software for tracking
      • Visual Studio Team Services - push logging exceptions from Stackify into the Windows Team Foundation Server
      • Jira - push logging exceptions from Stackify into Jira work items
      • Slack - incoming Stackify alerts in the Slack app
    • Deployment Tracking
      • Retrace provides a simple HTTP API for tracking deployments. We have created recipes or plug-ins for some of the most popular deployment tools like Bamboo, TeamCity, Octopus Deploy, and more.

    Deployment Tracking Screenshot.png

    Step 4. Monitors, Alerts & Notifications

    Monitors and Monitor Configuration

    The first step to identifying issues within your Apps, Servers/Roles/VMs or other Resources is to configure Monitors to track behavior and health. With monitors in place, Retrace can highlight issues to help you prevent the impact on your business or customers.

    Monitor Screenshot.png

    Alerts

    Setting Alerts gives Retrace the ability to show where something has gone outside of a threshold you set. You can control how your Alerts behave, and how you interact with them (i.e. Snooze or Acknowledge) can direct their future behavior. You can also set Maintenance Windows to determine how Alerts and Notifications behave while you’re performing updates.

    Notifications

    Notification Groups define a set of individuals who receive emails or SMS messages when an Alert triggers. To ensure only the people who need to be notified of an Alert are contacted, you can specify groups, have individuals in more than one group, and customize them to your specific needs.

    Notification Groups Screenshot.png

    As you continue to get familiar with your account and have questions, don't hesitate to reach out to our support team.

    heisenbug.png

    They are all developers themselves and happy to help!

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