apache/skywalking-graalvm-distro repository overview

⁠Apache SkyWalking GraalVM Distro

GraalVM native-image distribution of the Apache SkyWalking⁠ OAP server.

A self-contained native binary for distributed tracing, metrics, logging, and profiling, with faster startup and lower memory usage. No JVM installation is required.

This distribution is experimental. See the release notes⁠ for the upstream SkyWalking version and changes in each release.

⁠Image Tags

Pull the latest release:

docker pull apache/skywalking-graalvm-distro:latest

The examples below use latest. Pin a specific release tag or image digest for reproducible deployments.

Release images are also available at ghcr.io/apache/skywalking-graalvm-distro. Development images on GHCR use the full Git commit SHA as the tag.

⁠Supported Architectures

• linux/amd64
• linux/arm64

Docker selects the matching architecture automatically. On macOS, Docker runs the Linux image. Separate native binaries are available from GitHub Releases⁠.

⁠Quick Start with Docker Compose

For local evaluation, download and extract the latest release's Source code archive from GitHub Releases⁠, then open a terminal in its root directory. This provides the Compose configuration and BanyanDB image pin for that release.

Create an override that selects the published OAP image and adds the admin port used by Horizon UI:

cat > docker/compose.release.yml <<'YAML'
services:
  oap:
    image: apache/skywalking-graalvm-distro:latest
    ports:
      - "17128:17128"
YAML

docker compose \
  -f docker/docker-compose.yml \
  -f docker/compose.release.yml \
  up -d --pull always

When pinning an image version, use the source archive from the same release.

Once OAP has initialized, verify its health from the host:

curl -fsS http://localhost:12800/healthcheck

Point SkyWalking agents at localhost:11800 when running them on the same host. Applications on other hosts should use the OAP host's address.

⁠Run with an Existing BanyanDB

Replace banyandb.example.com:17912 with a compatible BanyanDB endpoint reachable from the container:

docker run -d --pull always --name skywalking-oap \
  -p 12800:12800 \
  -p 11800:11800 \
  -p 17128:17128 \
  -e SW_STORAGE_BANYANDB_TARGETS=banyandb.example.com:17912 \
  -e SW_CLUSTER=standalone \
  -e SW_CONFIGURATION=none \
  apache/skywalking-graalvm-distro:latest

Use the BanyanDB build pinned in your selected release's docker/docker-compose.yml as the compatibility reference.

⁠Connect Horizon UI

Run SkyWalking Horizon UI⁠ separately to visualize and manage OAP data.

Configure both OAP endpoints in Horizon's horizon.yaml:

oap:
  queryUrl: http://oap:12800
  adminUrl: http://oap:17128

Here, oap must resolve from the Horizon container or server. It is the OAP service name when Horizon joins the same Compose network; otherwise, use the reachable OAP hostname.

This is the OAP connection section only. Follow the Horizon UI setup documentation⁠ to configure deployment and authentication. Horizon releases independently of OAP.

⁠Ports

The examples publish 12800, 11800, and 17128. Publish additional ports as required by your deployment.

⁠Environment Variables

JAVA_OPTS supports native-image arguments such as Java system properties; it is not a JVM launcher.

See the configuration reference⁠ for the current development configuration. For a specific image release, use the documentation at the matching release tag.

⁠Storage and Feature Scope

• BanyanDB is the only supported storage backend. Elasticsearch, OpenSearch, H2, MySQL, and PostgreSQL are not included.
• Modules and providers are selected at build time. Configure the included providers through environment variables.
• DSL rules are compiled into the native binary. Bundled rule catalogs and DSL live debugging are supported.
• Runtime DSL rule changes are unsupported. Rule modification and compilation endpoints return HTTP 501; changing compiled rules requires rebuilding the distro.

SkyWalking agents and compatible ecosystem clients send data to the normal OAP receiver endpoints. OpenTelemetry traces, metrics, and logs use OTLP gRPC on port 11800. Zipkin ingestion and querying are available when enabled.

⁠Kubernetes

Use apache/skywalking-graalvm-distro with your selected image tag as the OAP container image. For a standalone OAP instance, these environment variables and probes can be used in the container specification:

env:
  - name: SW_STORAGE_BANYANDB_TARGETS
    value: "banyandb:17912"
  - name: SW_CLUSTER
    value: "standalone"
  - name: SW_CONFIGURATION
    value: "none"
startupProbe:
  httpGet:
    path: /healthcheck
    port: 12800
  periodSeconds: 5
  failureThreshold: 120
readinessProbe:
  httpGet:
    path: /healthcheck
    port: 12800

For Kubernetes cluster discovery, use SW_CLUSTER=kubernetes and configure the namespace, pod label selector, and pod UID settings listed in the configuration reference⁠. The OAP service account also needs permission to discover cluster pods.

⁠Documentation

• Project repository⁠
• Releases and downloads⁠
• Release notes⁠
• Distribution policy and limitations⁠
• Horizon UI documentation⁠

⁠License

Apache License 2.0⁠