IBM is pleased to announce a new release of IBM Observability by Instana — version 1.0.197, for both on-premises and Software as a Service — is available as of April 6, 2021.
This release expands the coverage of IBM Observability by Instana observability platform and automated Application Performance Monitoring (APM) solution, designed specifically for the challenges of managing microservice and cloud native applications. This latest release delivers enhancements and additional coverage from what was delivered with version 1.0.193 for traditional IBM clients. This new release leverages prior investments in IBM middleware and brings visibility into the observability platform.
Several features are released as Technical Preview, which gives users an early view of the capabilities we intend to deliver in future releases. We include the Technical Preview capabilities and look forward to your feedback to make sure we are meeting your needs and addressing the challenges you need to tackle.
Main themes driving content for IBM clients in this new release
- Help clients get more value – features already in the Instana offering are now side-by-side with new features proposed to extend the monitoring capabilities supporting IBM-specific items:
- IBM DataPower (Technical Preview): Customers will be able to monitor and display key metrics and health events for IBM DataPower, ensuring the ability to capture performance issues that could impact security, control, integration and optimized access to a full range of mobile, web, application programming interface (APIs), service-oriented architecture (SOA), B2B and cloud workloads. For more information, refer to the IBM DataPower docs.
- IBM App Connect Enterprise (Technical Preview): Customers will be able to monitor IBM App Connect Enterprise (ACE) to monitor and display key metrics and health events related to the integrations ACE implements across a modern digital enterprise. You can install IBM App Connect Enterprise software on a physical machine, in a VMware virtual machine, in a Docker image or in a public cloud like IBM Cloud, AWS or Microsoft Azure. This new feature will help provide observability for them all. For more information, refer to the IBM App Connect Enterprise docs.
- IBM Cloud Platform (Technical Preview): The following IBM Cloud Platform services are supported. There is monitoring of key metrics, and with the use of health signatures, issues or incidents can be triggered. This new feature enables platform metrics collection and eventing to proactively avoid any service interruption. For more information, refer to the IBM Cloud Platform docs:
- IBM APM V8 (Technical Preview): This technical preview allows Instana to ingest IBM APM V8 generated metrics to preserve customers’ investments and allow them to leverage and exploit the full set of powerful native Instana features. For more information, refer to the IBM APM V8 docs.
- Globalization and online doc translation into Spanish, French and German: Customers will be able to interact with the offering in their native language to ensure a better user experience.
- Watson AIOps integration (General Availability): Customers will be able to leverage enhanced AI and Automation capabilities connecting Instana, as the preferred observability platform, into IBM Watson AIOps. With IBM Watson AIOPS Alert Channel Integration, it is now possible to use IBM Watson AIOps as an alert channel, providing data consumed by Instana and turned into alert notifications (see documentation).
- Mainframe transactions integration with Z APM Connect: We started expanding our supported z/OS technologies so Instana customers can trace all of their business-critical applications from mobile to mainframe. In this initial release, the support is primarily focused on customers using z/OS Connect to call CICS and IMS applications. This support will allow customers to follow transactions from z/OS Connect to various CICS and IMS regions to related backends like Db2, IMS DB and VSAM. Applications also making HTTP calls direct to CICS will be supported in this first continuous delivery release. You can find more details in this blog post.
Additional features, improvements, and fixes were made to the enterprise observability platform and automated Application Performance Monitoring solution since the 193 release: