Java agent v8.8.0

New features and improvements

• Add support for Jetty 12, including Jetty’s implementation of the Jakarta EE 8, 9, and 10 specs. 1621
• Add support for Vert.x versions 4.0.0 through 4.4.x 1588
• Add instrumentation for graphql-java 21 1454
• Instrument r2dbc-postgresql 0.9.2 till latest 1413
• Reintroduce the legacy HTTP Attributes that were removed in v8.0.0 to support customers with alerts and dashboards that require them 1671 The attributes are:
• httpResponseCode
• httpResponseMessage
• response.status
• response.statusMessage

Attribute reporting is configurable via the following means.

YAML:

attributes:
  http_attribute_mode: both

System property:

-Dnewrelic.config.attributes.http_attribute_mode=both

Environment variable:

NEW_RELIC_ATTRIBUTES_HTTP_ATTRIBUTE=both

The configuration options are:

• standard : The agent will send new standard attributes. This configuration is recommended but requires that any alerts or dashboards using attributes be updated to use these new attributes. This setting will reduce the amount of ingest used for attribute reporting.

• legacy : The agent will send the legacy attributes referenced above. Customers with alerts or dashboard requiring these attributes can continue to be used as-is. This setting will reduce the amount of ingest used for attribute reporting.

• both : This is the default configuration, the agent will send BOTH legacy AND standard HTTP attributes. This configuration was intended to support customers that are unable to modify their alerts or dashboards but this configuration will increase data ingest.

• Add an interface for our error API. Our error API can now be called via the code NewRelic.getAgent().getErrorApi() 1577

• Add log4j2 JsonLayout support and support log4j2 till latest. 1545

• Add httpstatus in the external segment for Spring Webclient 1610

• Enable slow transaction detection by default and bump the threshold to 10 minutes 1629

• Add support for string formatting with JBoss Logging. 1650

• Add logic to remove specific classes from being excluded from being weaved if the IAST security feature is enabled. 1453

The affected classes belong in the following formats:

• ^java/security/.*
• ^javax/crypto/.* These are crypto classes which can cause class circularity errors if they get too far along in the class transformer.
• ^net/sf/saxon.*

If you wish to re-include these excluded rules, you can do so via the following means.

YAML:

class_transformer:
    excludes: ^javax/crypto/.*,^java/security/.*,^net/sf/saxon.*

System property:

-Dnewrelic.config.class_transformer.excludes=^javax/crypto/.*,^java/security/.*,^net/sf/saxon.*

Environment variable:

NEW_RELIC_CLASS_TRANSFORMER_EXCLUDES=^javax/crypto/.*,^java/security/.*,^net/sf/saxon.*

• Prevent license_key value from being written to the agent logs when using debug and/or audit_mode logging 1653

IAST

• The IAST feature now also supports Async HTTP client version 2 and above 142
• Added support for Sun Net HTTP Server 142
• JSON version bump to 1.1.1 142
• Add critical error logging via LogMessage event 142

Fixes

• Fix transaction naming in Spring controllers with a CGLIB proxy. Transactions now use the actual class name as opposed to the proxied class name. 1574
• Fix a NullPointerException caused by ServletContext in servlet instrumentation modules. 1636
• Fix a memory leak caused by Lettuce instrumentation. Duplicate code for transaction linking has been removed from the Lettuce instrumentation and is handled by netty-reactor instead. 1608
• Fix a bug where invalidating a license key causes a memory leak. Reconnection tasks are now capped in the event of a LicenseException. 1606
• Fix a NullPointerException caused by RPMServiceManager 1604
• Add a workaround for a memory leak that may occur in rare scenarios with instrumentation using the legacy async API in the Java Agent (which async servlets and Jetty Continuations use). 1555

You can configure the option via the following means:

Agent config file (this will update dynamically if the config file is changed)

common: &default_settings
  legacy_async_api_skip_suspend: true

System Property

-Dnewrelic.config.legacy_async_api_skip_suspend=true

Environment Variable

NEW_RELIC_LEGACY_ASYNC_API_SKIP_SUSPEND=true

IAST

• DynamoDB v2 issue: missing attribute values for conditionCheck method in case of transactWriteItems operation on DynamoDB 142

• Fixed an Insecure cookie attack vulnerability. 142

• Never print LicenseKey 142

Deprecations

The following instrumentation modules are deprecated and will be removed in the next major release:

• aws-wrap-0.7.0
• java.completable-future-jdk8
• play-2.3
• spring-3.0.0
• netty-3.4
• Struts v1

Update to latest version

To identify which version of the Java agent you're currently using, run java -jar newrelic.jar -v. Your Java agent version will be printed to your console.

Then, to update to the latest Java agent version:

1. Back up the entire Java agent root directory to another location. Rename that directory to NewRelic_Agent#.#.#, where #.#.# is the agent version number.
2. Download the agent.
3. Unzip the new agent download file, then copy newrelic-api.jar and newrelic.jar into the original Java agent root directory.
4. Compare your old newrelic.yml with the newly downloaded newrelic.yml from the zip, and update the file if needed.
5. Restart your Java dispatcher.

If you experience issues after the Java agent update, restore from the backed-up New Relic agent directory.

Update agent config differences

We add new settings to newrelic.yml as we release new versions of the agent. You can use diff or another diffing utility to see what's changed, and add the new config settings to your old file. Make sure not to overwrite any customizations you've made to the file, such as your license key, app name, or changes to default settings.

For example, if you diff the default newrelic.yml files for Java agent versions 7.10.0 and 7.11.0, the results printed to the console will display:

➜ diff newrelic_7.10.0.yml newrelic_7.11.0.yml
...
107a108,119
>       # Whether the log events should include context from loggers with support for that.
>       include_context_data:
>
>         # When true, application logs will contain context data.
>         enabled: false
>
>         # A comma separated list of attribute keys whose values should be sent to New Relic.
>         #include:
>
>         # A comma separated list of attribute keys whose values should not be sent to New Relic.
>         #exclude:
>
125a138
>
128c141
<     enabled: false
---
>     enabled: true
...

In this example, these lines were added to the default newrelic.yml in Java agent version 7.11.0. If you are moving to 7.11.0 or higher, you should add these new lines to your original newrelic.yml.

Support statement:

• New Relic recommends that you upgrade the agent regularly to ensure that you're getting the latest features and performance benefits. Additionally, older releases will no longer be supported when they reach end-of-life.