Application Insights SDK for Python¶

This project extends the Application Insights API surface to support Python. Application Insights is a service that allows developers to keep their application available, performing and succeeding. This Python module will allow you to send telemetry of various kinds (event, trace, exception, etc.) to the Application Insights service where they can be visualized in the Azure Portal.

Requirements¶

Python 2.7 and Python 3.4 are currently supported by this module.

Installation¶

To install the latest release you can use pip.

$ pip install appinsights

Usage¶

Once installed, you can send telemetry to Application Insights. Here are a few samples.

Note: before you can send data to you will need an instrumentation key. Please see the Getting an Application Insights Instrumentation Key section for more information.

Sending a simple event telemetry item

from applicationinsights import TelemetryClient
tc = TelemetryClient('<YOUR INSTRUMENTATION KEY GOES HERE>')
tc.track_event("Test event")
tc.flush()

Sending an event telemetry item with custom properties and measurements

from applicationinsights import TelemetryClient
tc = TelemetryClient('<YOUR INSTRUMENTATION KEY GOES HERE>')
tc.track_event('Test event', { 'foo': 'bar' }, { 'baz': 42 })
tc.flush()

Sending a trace telemetry item with custom properties

from applicationinsights import TelemetryClient
tc = TelemetryClient('<YOUR INSTRUMENTATION KEY GOES HERE>')
tc.track_trace('Test trace', { 'foo': 'bar' })
tc.flush()

Sending a metric telemetry item

from applicationinsights import TelemetryClient
tc = TelemetryClient('<YOUR INSTRUMENTATION KEY GOES HERE>')
tc.track_metric('My Metric', 42)
tc.flush()

Sending an availability telemetry item

from applicationinsights import TelemetryClient
tc = TelemetryClient('<YOUR INSTRUMENTATION KEY GOES HERE>')
tc.track_availability('My Service', 250, True, "West Europe")
tc.flush()

Sending an exception telemetry item with custom properties and measurements

import sys
from applicationinsights import TelemetryClient
tc = TelemetryClient('<YOUR INSTRUMENTATION KEY GOES HERE>')
try:
    raise Exception('blah')
except:
    tc.track_exception()

try:
    raise Exception("blah")
except:
    tc.track_exception(*sys.exc_info(), properties={ 'foo': 'bar' }, measurements={ 'x': 42 })

tc.flush()

Configuring context for a telemetry client instance

from applicationinsights import TelemetryClient
tc = TelemetryClient('<YOUR INSTRUMENTATION KEY GOES HERE>')
tc.context.application.ver = '1.2.3'
tc.context.device.id = 'My current device'
tc.context.device.oem_name = 'Asus'
tc.context.device.model = 'X31A'
tc.context.device.type = "Other"
tc.context.user.id = 'santa@northpole.net'
tc.track_trace('My trace with context')
tc.flush()

Configuring channel related properties

from applicationinsights import TelemetryClient
tc = TelemetryClient('<YOUR INSTRUMENTATION KEY GOES HERE>')
# flush telemetry every 30 seconds (assuming we don't hit max_queue_item_count first)
tc.channel.sender.send_interval_in_milliseconds = 30 * 1000
# flush telemetry if we have 10 or more telemetry items in our queue
tc.channel.queue.max_queue_length = 10

Configuring synchronous (default) channel properties

from applicationinsights import TelemetryClient
tc = TelemetryClient('<YOUR INSTRUMENTATION KEY GOES HERE>')
# flush telemetry if we have 10 or more telemetry items in our queue
tc.channel.queue.max_queue_length = 10
# send telemetry to the service in batches of 5
tc.channel.sender.send_buffer_size = 5

Configuring an asynchronous channel instead of the synchronous default

from applicationinsights import TelemetryClient, channel
sender = channel.AsynchronousSender()
queue = channel.AsynchronousQueue(sender)
channel = channel::TelemetryChannel(None, queue)
tc = TelemetryClient('<YOUR INSTRUMENTATION KEY GOES HERE>', channel)
# Note: the event will be sent on a separate thread; if the app finishes before
#       the thread finishes, the data is lost
tc.track_event('My event')

Configuring asynchronous channel properties

from applicationinsights import TelemetryClient, channel
sender = channel.AsynchronousSender()
queue = channel.AsynchronousQueue(sender)
channel = channel::TelemetryChannel(None, queue)
tc = TelemetryClient('<YOUR INSTRUMENTATION KEY GOES HERE>', channel)
# flush telemetry if we have 10 or more telemetry items in our queue
tc.channel.queue.max_queue_length = 10
# send telemetry to the service in batches of 5
tc.channel.sender.send_buffer_size = 5
# the background worker thread will be active for 5 seconds before it shuts down. if
# during this time items are picked up from the queue, the timer is reset.
tc.channel.sender.send_time = 5
# the background worker thread will poll the queue every 0.5 seconds for new items
tc.channel.sender.send_interval = 0.5

Basic logging configuration (first option)

import logging
from applicationinsights.logging import enable

# set up logging
enable('<YOUR INSTRUMENTATION KEY GOES HERE>')

# log something (this will be sent to the Application Insights service as a trace)
logging.info('This is a message')

# logging shutdown will cause a flush of all un-sent telemetry items
# alternatively flush manually via handler.flush()

Basic logging configuration (second option)

import logging
from applicationinsights.logging import LoggingHandler

# set up logging
handler = LoggingHandler('<YOUR INSTRUMENTATION KEY GOES HERE>')
logging.basicConfig(handlers=[ handler ], format='%(levelname)s: %(message)s', level=logging.DEBUG)

# log something (this will be sent to the Application Insights service as a trace)
logging.debug('This is a message')

try:
    raise Exception('Some exception')
except:
    # this will send an exception to the Application Insights service
    logging.exception('Code went boom!')

# logging shutdown will cause a flush of all un-sent telemetry items
# alternatively flush manually via handler.flush()

Advanced logging configuration

import logging
from applicationinsights.logging import LoggingHandler

# set up logging
handler = LoggingHandler('<YOUR INSTRUMENTATION KEY GOES HERE>')
handler.setLevel(logging.DEBUG)
handler.setFormatter(logging.Formatter('%(levelname)s: %(message)s'))
my_logger = logging.getLogger('simple_logger')
my_logger.setLevel(logging.DEBUG)
my_logger.addHandler(handler)

# log something (this will be sent to the Application Insights service as a trace)
my_logger.debug('This is a message')

# logging shutdown will cause a flush of all un-sent telemetry items
# alternatively flush manually via handler.flush()

Logging unhandled exceptions

from applicationinsights.exceptions import enable

# set up exception capture
enable('<YOUR INSTRUMENTATION KEY GOES HERE>')

# raise an exception (this will be sent to the Application Insights service as an exception telemetry object)
raise Exception('Boom!')

Logging requests

from flask import Flask
from applicationinsights.requests import WSGIApplication

# instantiate the Flask application and wrap its WSGI application
app = Flask(__name__)
app.wsgi_app = WSGIApplication('<YOUR INSTRUMENTATION KEY GOES HERE>', app.wsgi_app)

# define a simple route
@app.route('/')
def hello_world():
    return 'Hello World!'

# run the application
if __name__ == '__main__':
    app.run()

Integrating with Django

Place the following in your settings.py file:

# If on Django < 1.10
MIDDLEWARE_CLASSES = [
    # ... or whatever is below for you ...
    'django.middleware.security.SecurityMiddleware',
    'django.contrib.sessions.middleware.SessionMiddleware',
    'django.middleware.common.CommonMiddleware',
    'django.middleware.csrf.CsrfViewMiddleware',
    'django.contrib.auth.middleware.AuthenticationMiddleware',
    'django.contrib.auth.middleware.SessionAuthenticationMiddleware',
    'django.contrib.messages.middleware.MessageMiddleware',
    'django.middleware.clickjacking.XFrameOptionsMiddleware',
    # ... or whatever is above for you ...
    'applicationinsights.django.ApplicationInsightsMiddleware',   # Add this middleware to the end
]

# If on Django >= 1.10
MIDDLEWARE = [
    # ... or whatever is below for you ...
    'django.middleware.security.SecurityMiddleware',
    'django.contrib.sessions.middleware.SessionMiddleware',
    'django.middleware.common.CommonMiddleware',
    'django.middleware.csrf.CsrfViewMiddleware',
    'django.contrib.auth.middleware.AuthenticationMiddleware',
    'django.contrib.messages.middleware.MessageMiddleware',
    'django.middleware.clickjacking.XFrameOptionsMiddleware',
    # ... or whatever is above for you ...
    'applicationinsights.django.ApplicationInsightsMiddleware',   # Add this middleware to the end
]

APPLICATION_INSIGHTS = {
    # (required) Your Application Insights instrumentation key
    'ikey': "00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000",

    # (optional) By default, request names are logged as the fully-qualified
    # name of the view.  To disable this behavior, specify:
    'use_operation_url': True,

    # (optional) By default, arguments to views are tracked as custom
    # properties.  To disable this, specify:
    'record_view_arguments': False,

    # (optional) Events are submitted to Application Insights asynchronously.
    # send_interval specifies how often the queue is checked for items to submit.
    # send_time specifies how long the sender waits for new input before recycling
    # the background thread.
    'send_interval': 1.0, # Check every second
    'send_time': 3.0, # Wait up to 3 seconds for an event

    # (optional, uncommon) If you must send to an endpoint other than the
    # default endpoint, specify it here:
    'endpoint': "https://dc.services.visualstudio.com/v2/track",
}

This will log all requests and exceptions to the instrumentation key specified in the APPLICATION_INSIGHTS setting. In addition, an appinsights property will be placed on each incoming request object in your views. This will have the following properties:

client: This is an instance of the applicationinsights.TelemetryClient type, which will submit telemetry to the same instrumentation key, and will parent each telemetry item to the current request.
request: This is the applicationinsights.channel.contracts.RequestData instance for the current request. You can modify properties on this object during the handling of the current request. It will be submitted when the request has finished.
context: This is the applicationinsights.channel.TelemetryContext object for the current ApplicationInsights sender.

You can also hook up logging to Django. For example, to log all builtin Django warnings and errors, use the following logging configuration in settings.py:

LOGGING = {
    'version': 1,
    'disable_existing_loggers': False,
    'handlers': {
        # The application insights handler is here
        'appinsights': {
            'class': 'applicationinsights.django.LoggingHandler',
            'level': 'WARNING'
        }
    },
    'loggers': {
        'django': {
            'handlers': ['appinsights'],
            'level': 'WARNING',
            'propagate': True,
        }
    }
}

See Django’s logging documentation for more information: https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.11/topics/logging/

Application Insights SDK for Python¶

Requirements¶

Installation¶

Usage¶

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