---
title: Monitoring AWS Lambda Node.js Functions
description: The Node.js APM Agent can be used with AWS Lambda to monitor the execution of your AWS Lambda functions. To get started with APM for your Node.js AWS...
url: https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3028/reference/apm/agents/nodejs/lambda
products:
- APM Agent
- APM Node.js Agent
applies_to:
- Serverless Observability projects: Generally available
- Elastic Stack: Generally available
- Application Performance Monitoring Agent for Node.js: Generally available
---
# Monitoring AWS Lambda Node.js Functions
The Node.js APM Agent can be used with AWS Lambda to monitor the execution of your AWS Lambda functions.
## Quick Start
To get started with APM for your Node.js AWS Lambda functions follow the steps below.
### Prerequisites
You need an APM Server to send APM data to. Follow the [APM Quick start](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3028/solutions/observability/apm/get-started) if you have not set one up yet. For the best-possible performance, we recommend setting up APM on Elastic Cloud in the same AWS region as your AWS Lambda functions.
### Step 1: Add the APM Layers to your Lambda function
Both the [Elastic APM AWS Lambda extension](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3028/reference/apm/aws-lambda) and the Node.js APM Agent are added to your Lambda function as [AWS Lambda Layers](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/lambda/latest/dg/invocation-layers.html). Therefore, you need to add the corresponding Layer ARNs (identifiers) to your Lambda function.
To add the layers to your Lambda function through the AWS Management Console:
1. Navigate to your function in the AWS Management Console
2. Scroll to the Layers section and click the *Add a layer* button 
3. Choose the *Specify an ARN* radio button
4. Copy and paste the following ARNs of the Elastic APM AWS Lambda extension layer and the APM agent layer in the *Specify an ARN* text input:
- APM Extension layer:
```
arn:aws:lambda:{AWS_REGION}:267093732750:layer:elastic-apm-extension-{{apm-lambda-ext-v}}-{ARCHITECTURE}:1
```
- APM agent layer:
```
arn:aws:lambda:{AWS_REGION}:267093732750:layer:elastic-apm-node-{{apm-node-v}}:1
```
5. Click the *Add* button
To add the Layer ARNs of the Elastic APM AWS Lambda extension and the APM agent through the AWS command line interface execute the following command:
```bash
aws lambda update-function-configuration --function-name yourLambdaFunctionName \
--layers arn:aws:lambda:{AWS_REGION}:267093732750:layer:elastic-apm-extension-{{apm-lambda-ext-v}}-{ARCHITECTURE}:1 \
arn:aws:lambda:{AWS_REGION}:267093732750:layer:elastic-apm-node-{{apm-node-v}}:1
```
In your SAM `template.yml` file add the Layer ARNs of the Elastic APM AWS Lambda extension and the APM agent as follows:
```yaml
...
Resources:
yourLambdaFunction:
Type: AWS::Serverless::Function
Properties:
...
Layers:
- arn:aws:lambda:{AWS_REGION}:267093732750:layer:elastic-apm-extension-{{apm-lambda-ext-v}}-{ARCHITECTURE}:1
- arn:aws:lambda:{AWS_REGION}:267093732750:layer:elastic-apm-node-{{apm-node-v}}:1
...
```
In your `serverless.yml` file add the Layer ARNs of the Elastic APM AWS Lambda extension and the APM agent to your function as follows:
```yaml
...
functions:
yourLambdaFunction:
handler: ...
layers:
- arn:aws:lambda:{AWS_REGION}:267093732750:layer:elastic-apm-extension-{{apm-lambda-ext-v}}-{ARCHITECTURE}:1
- arn:aws:lambda:{AWS_REGION}:267093732750:layer:elastic-apm-node-{{apm-node-v}}:1
...
```
To add theElastic APM AWS Lambda extension and the APM agent to your function add the ARNs to the `layers` property in your Terraform file:
```yaml
...
resource "aws_lambda_function" "your_lambda_function" {
...
layers = ["arn:aws:lambda:{AWS_REGION}:267093732750:layer:elastic-apm-extension-{{apm-lambda-ext-v}}-{ARCHITECTURE}:1", "arn:aws:lambda:{AWS_REGION}:267093732750:layer:elastic-apm-node-{{apm-node-v}}:1"]
}
...
```
To add the Elastic APM AWS Lambda extension and the APM agent to your container-based function extend the Dockerfile of your function image as follows:
```Dockerfile
FROM docker.elastic.co/observability/apm-lambda-extension-{IMAGE_ARCH}:latest AS lambda-extension
FROM docker.elastic.co/observability/apm-agent-nodejs:latest AS nodejs-agent
# FROM ... <-- this is the base image of your Lambda function
COPY --from=lambda-extension /opt/elastic-apm-extension /opt/extensions/elastic-apm-extension
COPY --from=nodejs-agent /opt/nodejs/ /opt/nodejs/
# ...
```
### Step 2: Configure APM on AWS Lambda
The Elastic APM AWS Lambda extension and the APM Node.js agent are configured through environment variables on the AWS Lambda function.
For the minimal configuration, you will need the *APM Server URL* to set the destination for APM data and an [APM Secret Token](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3028/solutions/observability/apm/secret-token). If you prefer to use an [APM API key](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3028/solutions/observability/apm/api-keys) instead of the APM secret token, use the `ELASTIC_APM_API_KEY` environment variable instead of `ELASTIC_APM_SECRET_TOKEN` in the following configuration.
For production environments, we recommend [using the AWS Secrets Manager to store your APM authentication key](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3028/reference/apm/aws-lambda/aws-lambda-secrets-manager) instead of providing the secret value as plaintext in the environment variables.
To configure APM through the AWS Management Console:
1. Navigate to your function in the AWS Management Console
2. Click on the *Configuration* tab
3. Click on *Environment variables*
4. Add the following required variables:
```bash
NODE_OPTIONS = -r elastic-apm-node/start
ELASTIC_APM_LAMBDA_APM_SERVER =
ELASTIC_APM_SECRET_TOKEN =
ELASTIC_APM_SEND_STRATEGY = background
```
To configure APM through the AWS command line interface execute the following command:
```bash
aws lambda update-function-configuration --function-name yourLambdaFunctionName \
--environment "Variables={NODE_OPTIONS=-r elastic-apm-node/start,ELASTIC_APM_LAMBDA_APM_SERVER=,ELASTIC_APM_SECRET_TOKEN=,ELASTIC_APM_SEND_STRATEGY=background}"
```
In your SAM `template.yml` file configure the following environment variables:
```yaml
...
Resources:
yourLambdaFunction:
Type: AWS::Serverless::Function
Properties:
...
Environment:
Variables:
NODE_OPTIONS: -r elastic-apm-node/start
ELASTIC_APM_LAMBDA_APM_SERVER:
ELASTIC_APM_SECRET_TOKEN:
ELASTIC_APM_SEND_STRATEGY: background
...
```
In your `serverless.yml` file configure the following environment variables:
```yaml
...
functions:
yourLambdaFunction:
...
environment:
NODE_OPTIONS: -r elastic-apm-node/start
ELASTIC_APM_LAMBDA_APM_SERVER:
ELASTIC_APM_SECRET_TOKEN:
ELASTIC_APM_SEND_STRATEGY: background
...
```
In your Terraform file configure the following environment variables:
```yaml
...
resource "aws_lambda_function" "your_lambda_function" {
...
environment {
variables = {
NODE_OPTIONS = "-r elastic-apm-node/start"
ELASTIC_APM_LAMBDA_APM_SERVER = ""
ELASTIC_APM_SECRET_TOKEN = ""
ELASTIC_APM_SEND_STRATEGY = "background"
}
}
}
...
```
Environment variables configured for an AWS Lambda function are passed to the container running the lambda function. You can use one of the other options (through AWS Web Console, AWS CLI, etc.) to configure the following environment variables:
```bash
NODE_OPTIONS = -r elastic-apm-node/start
ELASTIC_APM_LAMBDA_APM_SERVER =
ELASTIC_APM_SECRET_TOKEN =
ELASTIC_APM_SEND_STRATEGY = background
```
1. The [`ELASTIC_APM_SEND_STRATEGY`](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3028/reference/apm/aws-lambda/aws-lambda-config-options#_elastic_apm_send_strategy) defines when APM data is sent to your Elastic APM backend. To reduce the execution time of your lambda functions, we recommend to use the `background` strategy in production environments with steady load scenarios.
You can optionally [fine-tune the Node.js agent](https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3028/reference/apm/agents/nodejs/configuration) or the [configuration of the Elastic APM AWS Lambda extension](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3028/reference/apm/aws-lambda/aws-lambda-config-options).
That’s it. After following the steps above, you’re ready to go! Your Lambda function invocations should be traced from now on.
## Features
The AWS Lambda instrumentation will report a transaction for all function invocations and trace any [supported modules](/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3028/reference/apm/agents/nodejs/supported-technologies#compatibility-frameworks). In addition, the created transactions will capture additional data for a number of Lambda trigger types — API Gateway, SNS, SQS, S3 (when the trigger is a single event), and ELB.
A transaction will be reported for Lambda invocations that fail due to a timeout, crash, `uncaughtException`, or `unhandledRejection`. (This requires APM agent v3.45.0 or later and [Elastic’s APM Lambda extension](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3028/reference/apm/aws-lambda) version 1.4.0 or later.)
## Caveats and Troubleshooting
- System and custom metrics are not collected for Lambda functions. This is both because most of those are irrelevant and because the interval-based event sending model is not suitable for FaaS environments.
- The APM agent does not yet support a Lambda handler module that uses ECMAScript modules (ESM). That means your handler file name should end with ".js" (and not have `"type": "module"` in package.json if you have one) or end with ".cjs". A handler file that uses the ".mjs" suffix will not be instrumented by the APM agent.