Docker and other container environments: Install PHP agent

You can install the PHP agent on a Docker container or other container to monitor one or more of your PHP applications. This is supported for containers that meet the standard PHP agent compatibility and requirements.

Container options

The PHP agent requires two components to work: the PHP agent (one for each application) and a daemon, which aggregates data sent from one or more agents and sends it to New Relic. For this reason, there are two options for enabling the PHP agent for container environments:

• Install agent and daemon on different containers. This is the recommended setup.
• Install agent and daemon on the same container. This may be useful if you want to reduce your number of containers.

Install agent and daemon in different containers

Installing the agent and daemon in different containers is supported starting with New Relic PHP agent release 9.2.0.

To see an example application, go to New Relic's Support Forum. If you're using short-lived application containers, we recommend you use a separate container for the PHP agent's daemon.

Set up the daemon container

If you use Docker, you can pull our daemon image from Docker Hub:

1. Run this command: docker pull newrelic/php-daemon.
2. To customize the image, follow the steps on Docker Hub.

You can also build your own daemon image:

1. To install the daemon, download the PHP agent package from New Relic's tar file download site, and run the newrelic-install script with the install_daemon argument.
2. Start the daemon using --address and --watchdog-foreground arguments.

The --address argument sets a port for the daemon to accept connections. The --watchdog-foreground argument ensures that the daemon runs in the foreground.

Set up the PHP agent container

To set up the PHP agent container for Docker:

1. Make sure a PHP installation is available in the container. For example, use a Docker "Official Image" for php like php:fpm or php:cli.
2. To install the agent, download the PHP agent package from New Relic's download site, and run the newrelic-install script with the install argument.
3. In the newrelic.ini file, set the application name and license key with the newrelic.appname and newrelic.license entries .
4. Point the agent to the daemon by setting the newrelic.daemon.address option in the newrelic.ini file. Make sure the value for this option is HOST:PORT, where HOST is the name or IP address of the host where the daemon is running, and PORT is the port number where the daemon is listening

Install agent and daemon in the same container

To set up the PHP agent and daemon in the same Docker container:

1. Make sure a PHP installation is available in the container. For example, use a Docker "Official Image" for php like php:fpm or php:cli.
2. To install the agent, download the PHP agent package from New Relic's download site and run the newrelic-install script with the install argument.
3. Set the application name and license key via the newrelic.license and newrelic.appname entries in the newrelic.ini file.

FROM php:fpm

# Install the latest New Relic PHP Agent
RUN \
    cd /tmp \
    # Discover the latest released version:
    && export NEW_RELIC_AGENT_VERSION=$(curl -s https://download.newrelic.com/php_agent/release/ | grep -o '[1-9][0-9]\?\(\.[0-9]\+\)\{3\}' | head -n1) \
    # Discover libc provider
    && export NR_INSTALL_PLATFORM=$(ldd --version 2>&1 | grep -q musl && echo "linux-musl" || echo "linux") \
    # Download the discovered version:
    && curl -o newrelic-php-agent.tar.gz https://download.newrelic.com/php_agent/release/newrelic-php5-${NEW_RELIC_AGENT_VERSION}-${NR_INSTALL_PLATFORM}.tar.gz \
    # Install the downloaded agent:
    && tar xzf newrelic-php-agent.tar.gz \
    && NR_INSTALL_USE_CP_NOT_LN=1 NR_INSTALL_SILENT=0 ./*/newrelic-install install \
    # Configure the agent to use license key from NEW_RELIC_LICENSE_KEY env var:
    && sed -ie 's/[ ;]*newrelic.license[[:space:]]=.*/newrelic.license=${NEW_RELIC_LICENSE_KEY}/' $(php-config --ini-dir)/newrelic.ini \
    # Configure the agent to use app name from NEW_RELIC_APP_NAME env var:
    && sed -ie 's/[ ;]*newrelic.appname[[:space:]]=.*/newrelic.appname=${NEW_RELIC_APP_NAME}/' $(php-config --ini-dir)/newrelic.ini \
    # Cleanup temporary files:
    && rm newrelic-php-agent.tar.gz && rm -rf newrelic-php5-*-linux