Introducing a new buildpack for monitoring Heroku applications

Heroku, a platform-as-a-service, streamlines application deployment by abstracting complex infrastructure tasks, employing buildpacks to modify runtime environments. The introduction of a new Heroku buildpack allows for the installation of the latest Datadog Agent, supporting distributed tracing and application performance monitoring (APM). Initially developed by Mike Fiedler to facilitate custom metric transmission via a Python-based DogStatsD server, the buildpack had to be rewritten as the Datadog Agent transitioned to a Go binary. Heroku's security model restricts root access and standard directory writes, necessitating the buildpack's installation in non-standard directories. The buildpack automatically tags metrics for easier aggregation and monitoring, with configuration options available to stabilize hostnames and manage costs. By using the buildpack, users can collect comprehensive metrics, and those new to Datadog can explore its capabilities with a complimentary 14-day trial.