Expecting exception when connecting to Sentry failed

[snowboy932]

Is there an existing issue for this?

• I have checked for existing issues https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-javascript/issues
• I have reviewed the documentation https://docs.sentry.io/
• I am using the latest SDK release https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-javascript/releases

How do you use Sentry?

Self-hosted/on-premise

Which SDK are you using?

@sentry/node

SDK Version

10.19.0

Framework Version

Node 22.20.0-alpine3.22 (Docker)

Link to Sentry event

No response

Reproduction Example/SDK Setup

import *  as Sentry from '@sentry/node';
/* <...> */
try {
    console.log('[DBG] sentry init starting...');
    Sentry.init({
      dsn: sentryDsn,
      environment: globals.RELEASE_STAGE,
      sendDefaultPii: true,
    });
    console.log('[DBG] sentry init finished...');

    console.log('[DBG] sending typo fn:');
    consolee.logg('[DBG] force sentry exception');

  } catch (e) {
    console.error('[DBG] console error: ', e)
    Sentry.captureException(e);
  };

Steps to Reproduce

1. Created Docker image with node app, @sentry/node imported, Sentry init'ed
2. Launched it on a machine with wrong DNS settings (in my case, my self-hosted Sentry's DNS wasn't available in my nameserver)
3. Didn't get any errors in self-hosted Sentry

Expected Result

Expected some exceptions during connecting or error pushing to self-hosted Sentry.

Actual Result

No errors during Sentry.init() or Sentry.captureException().
When I fixed DNS settings, I've got tracked errors in Sentry dashboard.

Additional Context

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Ready to provide more details.

[linear]

JS-1063

[andreiborza]

Hey @snowboy932, thanks for filing this.

We have a connectivity helper for browser SDKs to check for connectivity to Sentry but this wouldn't do much for you.

sentry-javascript/packages/browser/src/diagnose-sdk.ts

Line 12 in 9742f9e

export async function diagnoseSdkConnectivity(): Promise<

We could potentially offer something similar for node-based SDKs but this will not be something that ends up as an issue in Sentry because it's a chicken-egg problem. To get errors in Sentry, Sentry must be correctlt initialized (or you need a correctly initialized client).

I'll add this to the backlog but it's unlikely this will get worked on anytime soon.

[snowboy932]

We have a connectivity helper for browser SDKs to check for connectivity to Sentry but this wouldn't do much for you.

sentry-javascript/packages/browser/src/diagnose-sdk.ts
We could potentially offer something similar for node-based SDKs but this will not be something that ends up as an issue in Sentry because it's a chicken-egg problem. To get errors in Sentry, Sentry must be correctlt initialized (or you need a correctly initialized client).

I'll add this to the backlog but it's unlikely this will get worked on anytime soon.

@andreiborza Thanks for your response and special thanks for this hint, I will use it in my projects!

Though, as a new to Sentry, I was expecting some kind of connection error because it seemed to be an obvious behavior for me. Therefore, It would be nice if Sentry connector will become more responsive by returning any info/error messages from init() to log (like "init success"/"init failed" or just exceptions when it's failed).

Also, I haven't found any info about "Connectivity helper" in "Troubleshooting" section of Node.js connector - I think, it would be good to create a reference there.

[s1gr1d]

The connectivity helper is currently only available in the browser SDK. As you can see it's a simple fetch call to a DSN. Feel free to just create such a fetch call with your own DSN.