Step‑by‑Step Guide to Install and Configure Apache SkyWalking with ElasticSearch and DingTalk Alerts

Overview

Apache SkyWalking is an open‑source APM platform for microservices, cloud‑native and container‑based architectures. It collects, aggregates and visualizes metrics and distributed traces, providing topology views, endpoint monitoring and alarm rules.

Architecture

Probes (Agents) : collect data from services and report to the backend.

Platform backend (OAP) : processes, stores and serves data.

Storage : persists metrics (e.g., ElasticSearch, InfluxDB, MySQL, TiDB, H2).

UI : visualizes data and alerts.

Download and Installation

Two distribution types exist: ElasticSearch‑backed and non‑ES. This guide uses the ES version.

Download URLs:

https://skywalking.apache.org/downloads/

https://archive.apache.org/dist/skywalking/

After extraction the directory contains agent, bin, config, oap‑libs and webapp folders.

Storage Selection

Supported storages: H2, ElasticSearch 6/7, MySQL, TiDB, InfluxDB. For production InfluxDB is recommended; the guide proceeds with ElasticSearch 7.

Reference documentation: https://github.com/apache/skywalking/blob/master/docs/en/setup/backend/backend-storage.md

Installing ElasticSearch 7

Download from the official site (e.g., https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/7.10/targz.html) and start:

# start
./bin/elasticsearch -d -p pid
# stop
pkill -F pid

ElasticSearch 7 requires Java 11+. Common startup issues and fixes:

Increase file descriptor limits and virtual memory (edit /etc/security/limits.conf and /etc/sysctl.conf).

Set cluster.initial_master_nodes and network.host in elasticsearch.yml.

Example three‑node cluster (IPs 192.168.100.14, .15, .19) with identical elasticsearch.yml and JVM options ( -Xms2g -Xmx2g). Start each node and verify logs.

Configuring SkyWalking Backend

Edit config/application.yml to point to the ES cluster:

storage:
  selector: ${SW_STORAGE:elasticsearch7}
  elasticsearch7:
    nameSpace: ${SW_NAMESPACE:""}
    clusterNodes: ${SW_STORAGE_ES_CLUSTER_NODES:192.168.100.14:9200,192.168.100.15:9200,192.168.100.19:9200}

Installing and Configuring the Agent

Copy the agent directory to each service host: scp -r ./agent [email protected]:~/ Optional plugins can be placed in plugins. Edit agent/config/agent.config (or use environment variables) to set service name and collector address:

agent.service_name=${SW_AGENT_NAME:user-center}
collector.backend_service=${SW_AGENT_COLLECTOR_BACKEND_SERVICES:192.168.100.17:11800}

Start the Java application with the agent:

java -javaagent:/path/to/skywalking-agent/skywalking-agent.jar -jar yourApp.jar

Launching SkyWalking Services

Adjust webapp/webapp.yml for port and backend address, then start: bin/startup.sh Or start components individually:

bin/oapService.sh
bin/webappService.sh

Verify logs and access the UI at http://127.0.0.1:9000.

Alarm Configuration

Edit alarm-settings.yml to define rules and notifications. For DingTalk integration, create a DingTalk robot and configure its webhook and secret.

Key Maven dependency for custom alarm handling (optional):

<dependency>
  <groupId>org.apache.skywalking</groupId>
  <artifactId>server-core</artifactId>
  <version>8.2.0</version>
</dependency>

Define a DTO for alarm messages ( AlarmMessageDTO) and implement a service ( DingTalkAlarmService) that signs the request and sends a text message via the DingTalk robot API. Expose a REST endpoint ( /skywalking/alarm) in AlarmController to receive alarm payloads and forward them to the DingTalk service.