# Configuring AWS X-Ray debugging
<a name="environment-configuration-debugging"></a>

You can use the AWS Elastic Beanstalk console or a configuration file to run the AWS X-Ray daemon on the instances in your environment. X-Ray is an AWS service that gathers data about the requests that your application serves, and uses it to construct a service map that you can use to identify issues with your application and opportunities for optimization.

**Note**  
Some regions don't offer X-Ray. If you create an environment in one of these regions, you can't run the X-Ray daemon on the instances in your environment.  
For information about the AWS services offered in each Region, see [Region Table](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/global-infrastructure/regional-product-services/).

![\[The service map for a web API application that uses Amazon DynamoDB to store data\]](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/elasticbeanstalk/latest/dg/images/scorekeep-servicemap.png)


X-Ray provides an SDK that you can use to instrument your application code, and a daemon application that relays debugging information from the SDK to the X-Ray API.

**Supported platforms**

You can use the X-Ray SDK with the following Elastic Beanstalk platforms:
+ **Go** - version 2.9.1 and later
+ **Java 8** - version 2.3.0 and later
+ **Java 8 with Tomcat 8** - version 2.4.0 and later
+ **Node.js** - version 3.2.0 and later
+ **Windows Server** - all platform versions released on or after December 18th, 2016
+ **Python** - version 2.5.0 and later

On supported platforms, you can use a configuration option to run the X-Ray daemon on the instances in your environment. You can enable the daemon in the [Elastic Beanstalk console](#environment-configuration-debugging-console) or by using a [configuration file](#environment-configuration-debugging-namespace).

To upload data to X-Ray, the X-Ray daemon requires IAM permissions in the **AWSXrayWriteOnlyAccess** managed policy. These permissions are included in [the Elastic Beanstalk instance profile](concepts-roles-instance.md). If you don't use the default instance profile, see [Giving the Daemon Permission to Send Data to X-Ray](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/xray/latest/devguide/xray-daemon.html#xray-daemon-permissions) in the *AWS X-Ray Developer Guide*.

Debugging with X-Ray requires the use of the X-Ray SDK. See the [Getting Started with AWS X-Ray](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/xray/latest/devguide/xray-gettingstarted.html) in the *AWS X-Ray Developer Guide* for instructions and sample applications.

If you use a platform version that doesn't include the daemon, you can still run it with a script in a configuration file. For more information, see [ Downloading and Running the X-Ray Daemon Manually (Advanced)](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/xray/latest/devguide/xray-daemon-beanstalk.html#xray-daemon-beanstalk-manual) in the *AWS X-Ray Developer Guide*.

**Topics**
+ [Configuring debugging](#environment-configuration-debugging-console)
+ [The aws:elasticbeanstalk:xray namespace](#environment-configuration-debugging-namespace)

## Configuring debugging
<a name="environment-configuration-debugging-console"></a>

You can enable the X-Ray daemon on a running environment in the Elastic Beanstalk console.

**To enable debugging in the Elastic Beanstalk console**

1. Open the [Elastic Beanstalk console](https://console.aws.amazon.com/elasticbeanstalk), and in the **Regions** list, select your AWS Region.

1. In the navigation pane, choose **Environments**, and then choose the name of your environment from the list.

1. In the navigation pane, choose **Configuration**.

1. In the **Updates, monitoring, and logging** configuration category, choose **Edit**.

1. In the **Amazon X-Ray** section, select **Activated**.

1. To save the changes choose **Apply** at the bottom of the page.

You can also enable this option during environment creation. For more information, see [The create new environment wizard](environments-create-wizard.md).

## The aws:elasticbeanstalk:xray namespace
<a name="environment-configuration-debugging-namespace"></a>

You can use the `XRayEnabled` option in the `aws:elasticbeanstalk:xray` namespace to enable debugging.

To enable debugging automatically when you deploy your application, set the option in a [configuration file](ebextensions.md) in your source code, as follows.

**Example .ebextensions/debugging.config**  

```
option_settings:
  aws:elasticbeanstalk:xray:
    XRayEnabled: true
```