Build 248

Build 248 is released on 2 May 2023.

Breaking changes

  • Tibco EMS sensor: In the Instana SaaS release 249, Tibco EMS sensor will be significantly changed to support monitoring all the topics and queues of a Tibco EMS instance. These changes impact not only Tibco EMS sensor but also the Instana backend and Instana UI and might result in the loss of historical data. The historical data might be present in the database but won't appear in the Instana UI.

Features

Apache HTTPd Tracing for AIX

Instana supports tracing IBM HTTP Server on AIX now. For more information, see Apache HTTPd docs.

Couchbase Tracing Support for Node.js

Support for tracing Couchbase (https://www.npmjs.com/package/couchbase) has been added in Node.js collector version 2.21.0.

Open Beta

Synthetic Monitoring: Custom properties in API responses and filters

The open APIs for retrieving Synthetic test results are updated to include custom properties in the response payload. In addition, custom properties are available to filter the test results. The custom properties are defined by the Synthetic test script author and consist of key-value pairs. The names of the key-value pairs are unique to each script author. However, the key-value pairs might be used in multiple Synthetic tests. Surfacing these custom properties as filters allows you to capture a set of Synthetic tests with the same custom property key and value. You can use the returned set of Synthetic test IDs in other APIs. For example, you can create a Smart Alert for those Synthetic tests by using the Smart Alert APIs. The '/api/synthetics/results/list', '/api/synthetics/results', and '/api/synthetics/results/testsummarylist' sections in Open API documentation for Synthetic Test Playback Results are updated to explain the use of custom properties in filters and the API response payload.

Website monitoring

Now you are able to upload the Javascript source maps to parse stack trace with error beacons. For more information, see Uploading Javascript source maps.

Improvements

Alert notifications: Add an alert about end-of-life Python runtime

Now when an end-of-life (EOL) Python runtime is detected, an alert is displayed in the Instana UI.

Alert notifications: Add an alert about end-of-life Ruby runtime

Now when an end-of-life (EOL) Ruby runtime is detected, an alert is displayed in the Instana UI.

DataPower Tracing agent

  • Added unique service name for each DataPower API Gateway instance. The naming rule is datapower:<datapower-appliance-name>.

  • Added linking between the tracing calls and metrics. You can now link to DataPower Appliance metric from tracing call page, or link to DataPower service from DataPower Appliance metrics page.

  • Showed the full infrastructure stack information for DataPower tracing. To see the infrastructure stack information, go to the Instana UI, click Applications > Services, click a DataPower service, and then click Stack.

  • Enriched display of error message when an HTTP error occurs.

  • Added the unique span name for each DataPower tracing call. Now the span name is datapower.http.server and datapower.http.client.

    Scrrenshot showing span name

IBM ACE sensor

You can filter the flow nodes based on the node type by using the flowNodesExcludedRegex field in the <agent_install_dir>/etc/instana/configuration.yaml configuration file. For more information, see the description of the flowNodesExcludedRegex field in the sample configuration file.

IBM i sensor

Non-volatile memory metrics and overall system disk status are added. For more information, see Non-volatile memory express and Overall disk status.

Identity Provider group mapping

For new users who join a tenant with a deployed Identity Provider and active automated group mappings, if they don't get access due to the restrictions of group mappings, they will not be added to the list of users. The existing users of a tenant are not affected.

Fixes

Custom dashboard: Pie and Top List widgets

Fixed a bug on aggregations of all other groups of the Pie and Top List widgets when data source is either Websites (Beacons) or Mobile Apps (Beacons).

DataPower Tracing agent

The incorrect display of span type is fixed. Now the first incoming request is set as Entry span, the outgoing request is set as Exit span, and other API calls in DataPower is set as Intermediate span.

Db2LUW sensor

hadr_log_gap metric issue: Fix for setting events based on Standby ID

Previously, it was only possible to set events for the entire HADR pair by using the hadr_log_gap metric. However, now you can use the Standby ID to set events for a specified HADR pair. You can create events in the Create new Event page in the Instana UI by using the following settings:

  • Entity Type to Db2.

  • Metric to hadr > HADR Log Gap.

  • Matching operator to is.

  • Standby ID to <Standby ID in HADR Generic Table>

  • Aggregation as min, Operator as >=, and Bytes as <threshold Byte value>.

    Then, the event is triggered on the primary database when hadr_log_gap metric reaches the threshold limit in bytes.

log_utilization_percent metric issue: Fix decimal places of percentage value

Previously, log_utilization_percent metric was not working as expected. Now it is fixed by correcting the decimal places of the percentage value.

Entities lifecycle

In large environments with a scaled-out filler component, some entities might be marked as offline even though they are monitored by another filler instance. For example, when a Kubernetes agent changes leadership, all entities in a cluster report to another filler instance. The filler instance that was monitoring these entities might mark them as offline due to inactivity.

IBM ACE sensor

The Java heap memory dump issue is fixed by breaking down the large metrics payload.

IBM MQ sensor

  • The issue that IBM MQ was not always shown in the assigned availability zone is fixed.
  • The issue with the slow cleanup of the Channel Down event is fixed. When a channel is down, a Channel Down event is triggered in the instana UI. When the channel was started, the Channel Down event was cleaned very slowly before the fix. After the fix, the Channel Down event is cleaned in 2 minutes.

IBM WebSphere Application Server Infrastructure sensor

The issue that the WebSphere Application Server Infrastructure with WebSphere Application Server 8.5.5 wasn't shown in the Instana UI because of a NullPointerException is fixed.

Incorrect value of Earliest Timestamp for a group of calls

The value of the Earliest Timestamp for a group of calls is fixed in the unbounded analytics page of the Instana UI. Previously, the Earliest timestamp used a rounded-down value. Now the Earliest timestamp shows the actual timestamp when the first call happens in the call analytics.

Open Beta

Synthetic Monitoring: Missing lines in test result details

Fixed a problem with missing stacked bars in the Synthetic test results timeline. The problem was caused by changes for aligning Synthetic test result data with Smart Alerts data in charts in the Summary page. The calculations for the stacked bars were changed so the lines can be drawn. A hotfix was provided for Instana 247 after the rollout and is included in Instana 248.

OS Process sensor: Fix abnormal process termination

eBPF sensor 1.0.25 provides the ebpf-sensor binary 0.2.0 with the following fixes:

  • Fixed a problem that the binary file of eBPF sensor occupies 100% CPU.
  • Added filtering of irrelevant Linux commands that exit abnormally to reduce the CPU load.

Pod health indicator

Fixed a bug in the pods list in the Instana UI. Previously, the color of a pod's health indicator failed to accurately reflect its health status. Also, in the detailed view page of a pod, the health indicator icon misreported the health status of the pod. Now, the health indicator icon displays the accurate health status of the pod.

Deprecation warnings

Host agent and Windows installer for the 32-bit Windows architecture

Starting from Instana 248, the host agent and Windows installer for the 32-bit Windows architecture are no longer updated. However, the 32-bit dynamic agent and static agent on Windows remain available for installation, and the dynamic host agent is still able to receive updates.