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1.1. Initialize your environment

Step 1: Log on to Grafana​

You've been given access to a Grafana Cloud instance for the purposes of this workshop.

  1. Go to the Grafana URL that you have been given (usually: https://xxxxx.grafana.net).

  2. If you are presented with a choice of sign-in options, click Sign in with SSO.

  3. At the Grafana Labs Workshops login screen, enter the username (not email) and password that you were given by your instructor.

    info

    If you didn't receive a username and password, please speak to your friendly instructor!

Step 2: Log on to your IDE​

You've also been given access to an online development environment. You'll be using this to complete the lab exercises.

  1. Go to the IDE URL that has been shared with you.

  2. Click Launch OpenTelemetry Workshop. (Or click Login if you have not already logged in.)

  3. Verify that your lab environment looks good.

  4. Change the theme to suit your preference: click on the Command Palette icon located in the top right:

    • Then type theme to find the Theme command in the list.

    • Then, select a theme of your choice. Light? Dark? Whatever you prefer!

Step 3: Run the demo app​

In this first lab, we'll be working with demo application called Rolldice.

Let's test out this app:

  1. Open your virtual development environment.

  2. Launch a new Terminal by going to Terminal -> New Terminal

  3. In the terminal, run the following command to copy the first project into your persistent workspace:

    cp -r /opt/rolldice persisted/

  4. Then, run the following commands to start the application:

    cd persisted/rolldice

    ./run.sh

    The application starts.

  5. Create a second terminal, either using the split terminal icon (located at the right edge of the tab bar where "Terminal 1" is located), or by going to Terminal -> New Terminal.

  6. In the second terminal, use curl to make a sample request to the rolldice service:

    curl localhost:8080/rolldice

    The rolldice service returns a random number.

  7. Change back to the first terminal by clicking on its tab, then press Ctrl+C to stop the application.

Summary​

You've just run the demo application that we'll use in this lab. However, the application is rather isolated, and so far un-observed!

In the next lab, we'll add OpenTelemetry instrumentation to the app, and begin shipping telemetry signals to Grafana Cloud.

Click on the next module below to proceed.