Setup Sentry via Python on Ubuntu 16.04

<?xml encoding="utf-8" ??>

Introduction

Sentry is an open source solution for error tracking. Sentry tracks exceptions and other useful messages from applications that would traditionally be written to log files, and instead utilizes a user-friendly interface.

Prerequisites

Some basic prerequisites which you’ll need in order to run Sentry:

• An up-to-date Ubuntu 16.04 Server.
• A sudo user.

Installation

First update your system:

sudo apt-get update

Create the sentry user that will be running the software:

sudo adduser sentry
sudo adduser sentry sudo

Install python and build-essential packages:

sudo apt-get install -y python build-essential

Create the file /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pgdg.list:

sudo touch /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pgdg.list

Import the signing key and update package lists:

wget --quiet -O - https://www.postgresql.org/media/keys/ACCC4CF8.asc | sudo apt-key add -
sudo apt-get update

Install PostgreSQL:

sudo apt-get install postgresql-9.5

Download the Latest Redis 4.x source:

wget http://download.redis.io/releases/redis-4.0.1.tar.gz

Unzip the Redis source into its own folder, so we can cd in and build it in the next step:

tar -xvf redis-4.0.1.tar.gz

Build it from source:

cd redis-4.0.1
make

Run Redis in background:

src/redis-server --daemonize yes

Install pip and related libraries:

cd ~
sudo apt-get install python-setuptools python-dev libxslt1-dev gcc libffi-dev libjpeg-dev libxml2-dev libxslt-dev libyaml-dev libpq-dev python-pip

Install Python virtual environment:

sudo pip install -U virtualenv

Install postgresql-contrib:

sudo apt-get install postgresql-contrib-9.5

Login as the postgres user and enable the citext extension:

sudo su - postgres
$ psql -d template1 -U postgres
psql (9.5.12)
Type "help" for help.
template1=# create extension citext;
CREATE EXTENSION
template1=# \q

Create the sentry database:

$ createdb sentry_db
$ createuser sentry --pwprompt
$ psql -d template1 -U postgres

template1=# GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE sentry_db to sentry;
GRANT
template1=# ALTER USER sentry WITH SUPERUSER;
ALTER ROLE
template1=# \q
exit

Login as the sentry user and create a virtual environment for Sentry:

sudo su - sentry
virtualenv ~/sentry_app/
source ~/sentry_app/bin/activate

Install Sentry on the machine:

pip install -U sentry

Initialize Sentry:

sentry init

This command will create the configuration files in the directory ~/.sentry/.

Open the configuration file ~/.sentry/sentry.conf.py:

nano ~/.sentry/sentry.conf.py

Then add the database credentials. It should look like the following example:

DATABASES = {
    'default': {
        'ENGINE': 'sentry.db.postgres',
        'NAME': 'sentry_db',
        'USER': 'sentry',
        'PASSWORD': 'securedpassword',
        'HOST': 'localhost',
        'PORT': '5432',
        'AUTOCOMMIT': True,
        'ATOMIC_REQUESTS': False,
    }
}

Initialize the database:

sentry upgrade

Running Sentry as a service

Log out of the sentry user:

exit

Install Supervisor:

sudo apt-get install -y supervisor

Configure the Sentry server to startup whenever the server boots using supervisord. Put the following configuration in the file /etc/supervisor/conf.d/sentry.conf:

[program:sentry-web]
directory=/home/sentry/sentry_app/
environment=SENTRY_CONF="/home/sentry/.sentry"
command=/home/sentry/sentry_app/bin/sentry run web
autostart=true
autorestart=true
redirect_stderr=true
user=sentry
stdout_logfile=syslog
stderr_logfile=syslog

[program:sentry-worker]
directory=/home/sentry/sentry_app/
environment=SENTRY_CONF="/home/sentry/.sentry"
command=/home/sentry/sentry_app/bin/sentry run worker
autostart=true
autorestart=true
redirect_stderr=true
user=sentry
stdout_logfile=syslog
stderr_logfile=syslog

[program:sentry-cron]
directory=/home/sentry/sentry_app/
environment=SENTRY_CONF="/home/sentry/.sentry"
command=/home/sentry/sentry_app/bin/sentry run cron
autostart=true
autorestart=true
redirect_stderr=true
stdout_logfile=syslog
stderr_logfile=syslog

Save the file and reload Supervisor:

sudo supervisorctl reread
sudo supervisorctl update
sudo supervisorctl start all

Sentry is now configured and listens on port 9000. Navigate to http://you_server_ip:9000 in your favorite browser to finish setting up Sentry.