boomcatch

A standalone, node.js-based beacon receiver for boomerang. Read more.

• boomcatch version: 3.2.5
• node.js versions: 0.10 and later

Installation

At the system level

First you must install node.

You can then install boomcatch via npm:

npm install -g boomcatch

Local to a node.js project

Add boomcatch to the dependencies in your project's package.json, then run:

npm install

Usage

From the command line

To see the list of command line options run:

boomcatch --help

Available options are:

• --host <name>: Host name to accept HTTP connections on. The default is 0.0.0.0 (INADDR_ANY).

• --port <port>: Port to accept HTTP connections on. Defaults to 80 for HTTP or 443 for HTTPS.

• --https: Start the server in HTTPS mode.

• --httpsPfx: PFX/PKCX12 string containing the private key, certificate and CA certs for HTTPS mode.

• --httpsKey: Path to private key file for HTTPS mode. Ignored if --httpsPfx is set.

• --httpsCert: Path to certificate file for HTTPS mode. Ignored if --httpsPfx is set.

• --httpsPass: Passphrase for --httpsPfx or --httpsKey options.

• --path <path>: URL path to accept requests to. The default is /beacon.

• --referer <regex>: HTTP referers to accept requests from. The default is .*.

• --origin <origin>: Comma-separated list of URL(s) for the Access-Control-Allow-Origin header. The default is * (any origin), specify 'null' to force same origin.

• --limit <milliseconds>: Minimum elapsed time to allow between requests from the same IP adderss. The default is 0.

• --maxSize <bytes>: Maximum body size to allow for POST requests. The default is -1 (unlimited).

• --silent: Prevent the command from logging output to the console.

• --syslog <facility>: Use syslog-compatible logging, with the specified facility level.

• --workers <count>: The number of worker processes to spawn. The default is -1 (one worker per CPU).

• --delayRespawn <milliseconds>: The length of time to delay before respawning worker processes. The default is 0.

• --maxRespawn <count>: The maximum number of times to respawn worker processes. The default is -1 (unlimited).

• --validator <path>: Validator used to accept or reject request data. The default is permissive (always accept requests).

• --mapper <path>: Data mapper used to transform data before forwarding, loaded with require. The default is statsd.

• --prefix <prefix>: Prefix for mapped metric names. The default is the empty string (no prefix).

• --forwarder <path>: Forwarder used to send data, loaded with require. The default is udp.

• --fwdHost <name>: Host name to forward mapped data to. The default is 127.0.0.1. This option is only effective with the UDP forwarder.

• --fwdPort <port>: Port to forward mapped data on. The default is 8125. This option is only effective with the UDP forwarder.

• --fwdSize <bytes>: Maximum packet size for forwarded data. The default is 512. This option is only effective with the UDP forwarder.

• --fwdUrl <url>: URL to forward mapped data to. This option is only effective with the HTTP forwarder.

• --fwdMethod <method>: Method to forward mapped data with. The default is GET. This option is only effective with the HTTP forwarder.

• --fwdDir <path>: Directory to write mapped data to. This option is only effective with the file forwarder.

From a node.js project

var path = require('path'),
    boomcatch = require('boomcatch');
 
boomcatch.listen({
    host: 'rum.example.com',                  // Defaults to '0.0.0.0' (INADDR_ANY)
    port: 8080,                               // Defaults to 80 for HTTP or 443 for HTTPS
    https: true,                              // Defaults to false
    httpsKey: 'foo.key',
    httpsCert: 'bar.cert',
    httpsPass: 'baz',
    path: '/perf',                            // Defaults to '/beacon'
    referer: /^\w+\.example\.com$/,           // Defaults to /.*/
    origin: [                                 // Defaults to '*'
      'http://foo.example.com',
      'http://bar.example.com'
    ],
    limit: 100,                               // Defaults to 0
    maxSize: 1048576,                         // Defaults to -1
    log: console,                             // Defaults to object with `info`, `warn` and `error` log functions.
    workers: require('os').cpus().length,     // Defaults to 0
    validator: path.resolve('./myvalidator'), // Defaults to 'permissive'
    mapper: path.resolve('./mymapper'),       // Defaults to 'statsd'
    prefix: 'mystats.rum.',                   // Defaults to ''
    forwarder: 'http',                        // Defaults to 'udp'
    fwdUrl: 'https://stats.example.com/',     // No default
    fwdMethod: 'POST'                         // Defaults to 'GET'
});

Extensions

Boomcatch implements four extension points to control how beacon requests are handled: validators, filters, mappers and forwarders.

Read more about them here.

Development

Before sumitting any pull requests, please ensure that you have adhered to the contribution guidelines.

To clone the repository:

git clone git@github.com:nature/boomcatch.git

To set up the development environment:

npm install

To lint the code:

npm run lint

To run the unit tests:

npm test

Change log

History

Support

You can have a look at the Springer Nature Frontend Playbook for an explanation of how we support our open source projects.

License

GPL 3

Copyright © 2014, 2015, 2016 Springer Nature