Build 253

Build 253 is released on 18 July 2023.

Minimum version to update from directly: Build 249.

Cumulative release notes #252, #253

Features

AWS CloudFront

Instana now automatically discovers and monitors AWS CloudFront. For more information, see AWS support.

IBM MQ sensor

All status channels are added to the current channel table to show all the defined channels and active channels in current Queue Manager.

Node.js

The Instana Node.js SDK now has methods to mark spans as an error. For more information, see Node.js API.

Beta

Monitoring IBM PowerVC

A new sensor for monitoring IBM PowerVC is implemented as Beta. For more information, see Monitoring IBM PowerVC.

Recurrent maintenance windows

Apart from one-time maintenance windows (for downtime), Instana also supports setting up recurrent maintenance windows, which can be automatically scheduled at regular intervals. While you create the windows, you can choose from the following options: daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly. For more information, see Scheduling maintenance windows.

WebSphere Application Server sensor

Add events for WAS certification expiration

In the Instana UI, you can now see the remaining days before certificate expiration in the metrics that are related to WebSphere Application Server. For more information, see Monitoring WebSphere Application Server.

Add JMS connection data

In the Instana UI, you can now see the Java Message Service (JMS) connection data with the WAS application. For more information, see Monitoring WebSphere Application Server.

Tuxedo Application Sensor

The Tuxedo Application sensor instance monitors Tuxedo Application by extracting the data from topology file, Service Broker Project and Tuxedo Service performance data files. For more information, see Monitoring Tuxedo Application.

Application API changes

The application trace API is changed. The endpoint GET /api/application-monitoring/analyze/traces/{id} ( see OpenAPI) is marked as deprecated and might be removed in the future. The replacement for this API is GET /api/application-monitoring/v2/analyze/traces/{id} ( see OpenAPI). The new API supports pagination and does not provide call data and stacktrace information.

Native histogram metric support

Native histogram metric support is a technology preview feature that enables the storage and visualization of Prometheus histogram metrics as a native metric type. For more information, see Native histogram metric support (technology preview).

Node v20 support for Node.js tracer

Instana now supports Node.js v20.

Improvements

Role-based access control improvements

  • Groups:
    • Improved the Instana UI to clarify what is configured and simplify the role-based access control (RBAC) configuration.
    • Limited scope can now be set separately for Websites, Mobile apps, Applications, and Kubernetes.
    • Adding or removing users now takes affect immediately without having to save.
  • Users:
    • Improved the Instana UI to clarify what a user has access to.

For more information, see Managing user access.

ContainerD entity label

ContainerD labels now display namespace and pod name when these are available.

Screenshot showing ContainerD labels with namespace followed by pod name

Monitoring the mobile app

Android agent 6.0.2

The error handling on the beacon sending failure is improved by adding the slow sending mode support. For more information, see Slow sending mode.

Flutter agent 2.7.1
  • Flutter agent 2.7.1 is integrated with android agent 6.0.2 and iOSAgent 1.6.1.
  • The error handling on beacon sending failure is improved by adding the slow sending mode support. For more information, see Slow sending mode.
iOS agent 1.6.1

The error handling on beacon sending failure is improved by adding the slow sending mode support. For more information, see Slow sending mode.

Trace detail view

An orphan call indicator is added to the call tree.

Fixes

IBM DataPower sensor

You can now use Dynamic Focus Query (DFQ) in filters for all DataPower entities like appliance, cluster, domain, and service; for example: 'entity.ibmdatapower.domain.name:*'. For more information about using Dynamic Focus Query (DFQ), see Filtering with dynamic focus.

IBM Db2 LUW sensor

The issue that the latest full-backup information for IBM Db2 11.1.x is not retrieved and displayed on the Instana dashboard is fixed now.

IBM i sensor

  • Fixed Null pointer exception when user does not provide the Inactive Jobs information in the configuration.
  • Fixed the Unit NVMe not found issue by adding extra check for the Unit NVMe column of the solid state disk for IBM i versions that are greater than 7.4.
  • Removed the events that are created based on the metrics severity and message_type from the History Log table because events can't be created based on these metrics.

IBM MQ sensor

You can now use Dynamic Focus Query (DFQ) in filters for all MQ entities like channel, cluster, listener, mqttchannel, qm and queue; for example: 'entity.ibmmq.queue.name:*'. For more information about using Dynamic Focus Query (DFQ), see Filtering with dynamic focus.

Mobile App monitoring

In the Mobile App dashboard, when you click 3D to go to the 3D Globe view from the 2D map view, the link was broken. This issue is fixed now.

Service flow map

The broken "load more" link in the service flow map is fixed now. This link is used for pagination of incoming and outgoing services.

Services list

  • Fixed the filtering of services by Sybase technology.
  • Added a missing icon for the Sybase technology.

Trace detail view

Due to clock skew issue on monitored hosts, some calls might appear to start before their respective parent calls in the timeline and in the call tree. The issue is fixed now.

WebSphere Application Server sensor

Sometimes WebSphere application server 9 command line failed to be retrieved, so that WebSphere application server was not monitored by Instana. The issue is fixed now.

IBM i sensor

  • Fixed the storage usage calculation of Auxiliary Storage Pool (ASP).
  • Fixed the issue that all the services of AS400 were not being properly closed when the connection was closing.
  • Fixed a issue that retrieval of Solid State Disk (SSD) information based on OS version and Level failed because the UNIT_NVME condition was not available.

Monitoring the mobile app

Android agent 6.0.2
  • The beacon loss issue occurred when the number of beacons that were sent in single batch reached the limit 100. Now this issue is fixed.
  • Each crash beacon now has a view name.
iOS agent 1.6.1

The crashing issue that was caused by setting the metadata is fixed now.

Minor releases

253-1

Fixed an issue that would prevent additional update attempts after the first attempt had failed.