Get began with an open supply buyer knowledge platform

RudderStack is an open supply, warehouse-first buyer knowledge pipeline. It collects and routes occasion stream (or clickstream) knowledge and robotically builds your buyer knowledge lake in your knowledge warehouse.

RudderStack is usually generally known as the open supply different to the shopper knowledge platform (CDP), Segment. It offers a safer, versatile, and cost-effective answer compared. You get all of the CDP performance with added safety and full possession of your buyer knowledge.

Warehouse-first instruments like RudderStack are architected to construct purposeful knowledge lakes within the person’s knowledge warehouse. The advantages are improved knowledge management, elevated flexibility in software use, and (ceaselessly) decrease prices. Since it is open supply, you possibly can see how difficult processes—like constructing your id graph—are finished with out counting on a vendor’s black field.

Getting the RudderStack workspace token

Before you get began, you’ll need the RudderStack workspace token out of your RudderStack dashboard. To get it:

1. Go to the RudderStack dashboard.
2. Log in utilizing your credentials (or join an account, when you do not have already got one).
3. Once you’ve got logged in, you need to see the workspace token in your RudderStack dashboard.

Installing RudderStack

Setting up a RudderStack open supply occasion is simple. You have two set up choices:

1. On your Kubernetes cluster, utilizing RudderStack’s Helm charts
2. On your Docker container, utilizing the docker-compose command

This tutorial explains the best way to use each choices however assumes that you have already got Git installed on your system.

Deploying with Kubernetes

You can deploy RudderStack in your Kubernetes cluster utilizing the Helm bundle supervisor.

If you propose to make use of RudderStack in manufacturing, we strongly suggest utilizing this technique. This is as a result of the Docker photos are up to date with bug fixes extra ceaselessly than the GitHub repository (which follows a month-to-month launch cycle).

Before you possibly can deploy RudderStack on Kubernetes, ensure you have the next conditions in place:

Once you’ve got accomplished all of the conditions, deploy RudderStack in your default Kubernetes cluster:

1. Find the Helm chart required to deploy RudderStack on this repo.
2. Install the Helm chart with a launch title of your selection (my-release, on this instance) from the foundation listing of the repo within the earlier step:

   $ helm set up 
   my-release ./ --set 
   rudderWorkspaceToken="<your workspace token from RudderStack dashboard>"

This deploys RudderStack in your default Kubernetes cluster configured with kubectl utilizing the workspace token you obtained from the RudderStack dashboard.

For extra particulars on the configurable parameters within the RudderStack Helm chart or updating the variations of the pictures used, seek the advice of the documentation.

Deploying with Docker

Docker is the simplest and quickest technique to arrange your open supply RudderStack occasion.

First, get the workspace token from the RudderStack dashboard by following the steps above.

Once you have got the RudderStack workspace token:

1. Download the rudder-docker.yml docker-compose file required for the set up.
2. Replace <your_workspace_token> on this file together with your RudderStack workspace token.
3. Set up RudderStack in your Docker container by working:

   docker-compose -f rudder-docker.yml up

Now RudderStack must be up and working in your Docker occasion.

Verifying the set up

You can confirm your RudderStack set up by sending check occasions utilizing the bundled shell script:

1. Clone the GitHub repository:

   git clone https://github.com/rudderlabs/rudder-server.git

2. In this tutorial, you’ll confirm RudderStack by sending check occasions to Google Analytics. Make certain you have got a Google Analytics account and maintain the monitoring ID helpful. Also, notice that the Google Analytics account must have a Web property.
3. In the RudderStack hosted control plane:
   • Add a supply on the RudderStack dashboard by following the Adding a source and destination in RudderStack information. You can use both of RudderStack’s occasion stream software program growth kits (SDKs) for sending occasions out of your app. This instance units up the JavaScript SDK as a supply on the dashboard. Note: You aren’t truly putting in the RudderStack JavaScript SDK in your web site on this step; you might be simply creating the supply in RudderStack.
   • Configure a Google Analytics vacation spot on the RudderStack dashboard utilizing the directions within the information talked about beforehand. Use the Google Analytics monitoring ID you stored from step 2 of this part:
4. As talked about earlier than, RudderStack bundles a shell script that generates check occasions. Get the Source write key from the RudderStack dashboard:
5. Next, run:

   ./scripts/generate-event <YOUR_WRITE_KEY> https://hosted.rudderlabs.com/v1/batch

6. Finally, log into your Google Analytics account and confirm that the occasions had been delivered. In your Google Analytics account, navigate to RealTime -> Events. The RealTime view is vital as a result of some dashboards can take one to 2 days to refresh.

Optional: Setting up the open supply management aircraft

RudderStack’s core structure incorporates two main elements: the information aircraft and the management aircraft. The knowledge aircraft, rudder-server, delivers your occasion knowledge, and the RudderStack hosted management aircraft manages the configuration of your sources and locations.

However, if you wish to handle the supply and vacation spot configurations domestically, you possibly can set an open supply management aircraft in your setting utilizing the RudderStack Config Generator. (You should have Node.js put in in your system to make use of it.)

Here are the steps to arrange the management aircraft:

1. Install and arrange RudderStack on the platform of your selection by following the directions above.
2. Run the next instructions on this order:
   • cd utils/config-gen
   • npm set up
   • npm begin

You ought to now have the ability to entry the open supply management aircraft at http://localhost:3000 by default. If your setup is profitable, you will note the person interface.

To export the prevailing workspace configuration from the RudderStack-hosted management aircraft and have RudderStack use it, seek the advice of the docs.

RudderStack and open supply

The core of RudderStack is within the rudder-server repository. It is open supply, licensed beneath AGPL-3.0. A majority of the vacation spot integrations reside within the rudder-transformer repository. They are open supply as properly, licensed beneath the MIT License. The SDKs and instrumentation repositories, a number of software and utility repositories, and even some dbt mannequin repositories for use-cases like buyer journey evaluation and sessionization for the information residing in your knowledge warehouse are open supply, licensed beneath the MIT License, and out there within the GitHub repository.

You can use RudderStack’s open supply providing, rudder-server, in your platform of selection. There are setup guides for Docker, Kubernetes, native installation, and developer machines.

RudderStack open supply provides:

1. RudderStack occasion stream
2. 15+ SDKs and supply integrations to ingest occasion knowledge
3. 80+ vacation spot and warehouse integrations
4. Slack neighborhood assist

RudderStack Cloud

RudderStack additionally provides a managed possibility, RudderStack Cloud. It is quick, dependable, and extremely scalable with a multi-node structure and complicated error-handling mechanism. You can hit peak occasion quantity with out worrying about downtime, lack of occasions, or latency.

Explore our open supply repos on GitHub, subscribe to our blog, and observe us on social media: Twitter, LinkedIn, dev.to, Medium, and YouTube!