Administering the Instana agent on Docker

After you install the host agent, you can check the status of the host agent in the Instana UI or on the host. For more information, see Checking the status of the host agent.

In addition to the required environment variables, additional environment variables can be configured during startup. For more information about available variables, see Environment variables for host agent.

Mount the main configuration files into the /root directory. The files are copied in place when the agent archive (.tar) file is unpacked.

You can configure the Instana agent to report to multiple backends. For general considerations and notes about the configuration, see Configuring multiple backends.

To add additional backends to the Instana host agent, mount the backend files such as com.instana.agent.main.sender.Backend-2.cfg.

See the following example argument for a containerized agent:

--mount type=bind,source=<path-to-additional-backend-config>,target=/opt/instana/agent/etc/instana/com.instana.agent.main.sender.Backend-2.cfg

To use your own agent repository mirror, you must configure the dynamic agent by using INSTANA_MVN_REPOSITORY_URL, INSTANA_MVN_REPOSITORY_SHARED_PATH and INSTANA_MVN_REPOSITORY_FEATURES_PATH environment variables. For more information about using environment variables to configure the repository mirror, see the example in the Setting up agent repositories for dynamic host agents topic.

The Instana agent reaches out to two different endpoints; the Instana backend system for sending all collected data, and a repository for fetching agent and sensor updates. You can configure both of these endpoints to use proxy settings. The following three approaches are available:

1. No proxy settings for both endpoints — no configuration required for proxy settings.

2. Same proxy settings for both backend and repository — configure only the "Agent" proxy settings.

3. Different proxy settings for backend and repository — configure both proxies separately and make sure to set INSTANA_REPOSITORY_PROXY_ENABLED=true.

   For example, if you need to configure a proxy only for the repository, use the following configuration:

   • Set all INSTANA_AGENT_PROXY_ variables to "" (empty string).
   • Set INSTANA_REPOSITORY_PROXY_ENABLED=true
   • Set all INSTANA_REPOSITORY_PROXY_ variables to the proxy configuration as needed.

Similarly, for agent proxy settings, enable INSTANA_AGENT_PROXY_ENABLED and set all INSTANA_AGENT_PROXY_ variables to the proxy configuration as needed.

You can control the agent updates and pin versions that you require by using environment variables. For more information, see Control updates in containerized agents.

After you install the host agent, the following configuration files are created:

/opt/instana/agent/etc/mvn-settings.xml
/opt/instana/agent/etc/org.ops4j.pax.url.mvn.cfg
/opt/instana/agent/etc/instana/com.instana.agent.bootstrap.AgentBootstrap.cfg
/opt/instana/agent/etc/instana/com.instana.agent.main.config.Agent.cfg
/opt/instana/agent/etc/instana/com.instana.agent.main.config.UpdateManager.cfg
/opt/instana/agent/etc/instana/com.instana.agent.main.sender.Backend.cfg
/opt/instana/agent/etc/instana/configuration.yaml

You can customize the configuration of the agent as you need. For example, you can change the TCP port and hostname of the Instana backend and services that your host agent connects to, configure the agent to report to multiple backends, or configure a proxy for indirect communication from the host agent to the Instana backend.

For more information about customizing the agent configuration, see the following topics:

• Agent logging
• Configuring Instana backend
• Configuring host agent mode
• Configuring host agents by using the agent configuration file
• Converting a static agent to a dynamic agent
• Limiting host agent CPU and memory
• Retrieving current version of dynamic agents
• Setting up an agent proxy
• Setting up TLS encryption for agent endpoint
• Updating interval of dynamic agents
• Version pinning of dynamic agents

You can complete the following operations by using the Agent Management dashboard in the Instana UI:

• Changing agent modes
• Changing log level
• Updating agents
• Resetting agents
• Rebooting agents
• Viewing sensors
• Configuration management
  • Initializing configuration management
  • Updating configuration management
• Self-monitoring

To open the Agent Management dashboard, complete the following steps:

1. In the sidebar of the Instana UI, select Infrastructure.
2. Click a specific monitored host.
3. On the host dashboard, click Open Agent Management.