Enabling optional features
Some features are not enabled in a self-hosted backend by default. You can enable such features by using more configuration options.
The following features are optional:
Feature name | Feature flag |
---|---|
Action & Automation | feature.automation.enabled |
Analyze Infrastructure (BeeInstana) | feature.beeinstana.infra.metrics.enabled |
Business monitoring components | feature.business.observability.enabled |
Log Analytics | feature.logging.enabled |
IBM Power HMC platform dashboard | feature.phmc.enabled |
IBM Power VC platform dashboard | feature.powervc.enabled |
IBM Z HMC dashboard | feature.zhmc.enabled |
OpenStack dashboard | feature.openstack.enabled |
Pivotal Cloud Foundry (PCF) platform dashboard | feature.pcf.enabled |
SAP dashboard | feature.sap.enabled |
Synthetic monitoring | feature.synthetics.enabled |
VMware vSphere dashboard | feature.vsphere.enabled |
Get answers button | feature.assistme.enabled |
Notes:
-
You can enable the documented features yourself as described here. IBM support might advise you to enable other public preview features in the same way.
-
To enable one or more features, add the
featureFlags:
block with your choice of feature flags in thecore.yaml
file. Each of the following sections shows an example of setting the feature flag for the one feature. The following example enables two features:apiVersion: instana.io/v1beta2 kind: Core metadata: name: instana-core namespace: core spec: ... featureFlags: - name: feature.pcf.enabled enabled: true - name: feature.zhmc.enabled enabled: true ...
After updating the core configuration, apply your settings to the cluster.
- BeeInstana Metrics Pipeline
- Analyze logs
- Automation framework
- Synthetic monitoring
- End-user monitoring
- Extra platform dashboards
- Business monitoring
- Integration of WalkMe and AssistMe with the Get answers button
BeeInstana Metrics Pipeline
This feature includes a new data pipeline with more Instana backend components and a data store (BeeInstana) to the store of the infrastructure metrics. Based on this data, further features are activated in the product.
- Custom Infrastructure Dashboards
- Infrastructure Unbound Analytics (public preview)
Run and configure BeeInstana data store with Operator
For self-hosted Instana environments on Kubernetes with large metric loads, you should deploy BeeInstana by using the BeeInstana operator. See the documentation for using BeeInstana on Kubernetes.
Configuration for the core
Now the BeeInstana data pipeline must be added to the operator Core spec, and the following feature flags must be enabled. The main feature flag feature.beeinstana.infra.metrics.enabled
activates new components
and a set of features based on them.
apiVersion: instana.io/v1beta2
kind: Core
metadata:
name: instana-core
namespace: core
spec:
...
datastoreConfigs:
beeInstanaConfig:
clustered: true
authEnabled: true
hosts:
- <beeinstana_operator_service>
...
featureFlags:
- name: feature.beeinstana.infra.metrics.enabled
enabled: true
...
In addition, you can enable Native histogram metric support (public preview).
To enable the native histogram metric feature, set these feature flags:
...
featureFlags:
- name: feature.beeinstana.infra.metrics.enabled
enabled: true
- name: feature.beeinstana.histograms.enabled
enabled: true
...
In addition, the credentials for the BeeInstana cluster or host must be configured in the core secret as follows:
...
datastoreConfigs:
...
beeinstanaConfig:
user: beeinstana-user
password: <SECRET_PASSWORD>
...
Analyze logs
Analyze logs must be enabled by using a feature flag in the Core spec.
Analyze logs uses a new Clickhouse schema (logs
). You are highly recommended to use a separate Clickhouse cluster or host.
Using instana-console data store host
If instana-console is used as the database backend, a dual-host installation is recommended, with a second Clickhouse instance on another host. For this purpose, the second host needs to be set up with a settings.hcl
file as follows:
type = "dual-clickhouse"
host_name = "<IP-accessible-from-the-k8s-cluster>"
dir {
metrics = "" // data dir for metrics
traces = "/mnt/traces" // data dir for log data
data = "/mnt/data" // data dir for any other data
logs = "/var/log/instana" // log dir
}
docker_repository {
base_url = "artifact-public.instana.io"
username = "_"
password = "<Your-agent-key>"
}
By default, the logging data is stored in the existing ClickHouse cluster. A separate ClickHouse cluster must be configured for the distribution of the data from Application Analytics and Logging.
Using Clickhouse operator cluster
In this scenario, set up another Clickhouse cluster according to the operator instructions.
Operator Core spec
On the operator side, the Core spec needs two Clickhouse entries and the feature flag feature.logging.enabled
.
apiVersion: instana.io/v1beta2
kind: Core
metadata:
name: instana-core
namespace: core
spec:
...
clickhouseConfigs:
- clusterName: local
authEnabled: true
hosts:
- <application_ch_cluster>
schemas:
- application
- clusterName: local
authEnabled: true
hosts:
- <logs_ch_cluster>
schemas:
- logs
...
featureFlags:
- name: feature.logging.enabled
enabled: true
...
In addition, configure the credentials for the new Clickhouse cluster or host in the core secret as follows:
...
datastoreConfigs:
...
clickhouseConfigs:
- user: clickhouse-application-user
password: <USER_GENERATED_PASSWORD>
adminUser: clickhouse-application-user
adminPassword: <USER_GENERATED_PASSWORD>
schemas:
- application
- user: clickhouse-logs-user
password: <USER_GENERATED_PASSWORD>
adminUser: clickhouse-logs-user
adminPassword: <USER_GENERATED_PASSWORD>
schemas:
- logs
...
Automation framework
This feature enables an automation framework in Instana to remediate events. You can use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to associate actions with events and run actions directly from the Issues tab in the Instana UI.
Enable automation framework components by using feature flag
To enable automation framework components, update the featureFlags
section in the core.yaml
file as shown in the following example:
featureFlags:
...
- name: feature.automation.enabled
enabled: true
For more information about this feature, see Managing automation.
Synthetic monitoring
This feature includes support for enabling Synthetic monitoring in the self-hosted operator. With this feature enabled, the Operator can deploy Synthetic monitoring components. Those components can be used by a Synthetic Point-of-Presence (PoP) agent to run Synthetic tests against your web applications and display results in the Instana UI.
Configure external storage for Synthetic monitoring
Before enabling Synthetic monitoring, configure two external storage configurations in the storageConfigs
section in the Core spec (synthetics
, syntheticsKeystore
).
By default, the data stored in the Synthetics storage configuration is retained for 60 days. To modify the retention for Synthetic monitoring, see Synthetic monitoring data retention.
Currently, GCloud and S3 or compatible Buckets are supported, and the file system is based on a multi read/write persistent volume.
For more information about storageConfigs spec for synthetics, see storageConfigs
Enable the feature flag for Synthetic monitoring components
To enable Synthetic monitoring components, set the following feature flag under the featureFlags
configuration in the Core spec.
featureFlags:
...
- name: feature.synthetics.enabled
enabled: true
End-user monitoring
Configure external storage for uploading the JavaScript source maps
You can upload JavaScript source mapping files for private websites monitoring with Instana SaaS. Before uploading JavaScript source maps, you need to configure external storage
in the storageConfigs
section in the Core spec. The following are the 3 options for storing JavaScript source maps:
- S3 (or compatible)
- Google Cloud Storage
- Filesystem
For more information about StorageConfigs spec for End-User Monitoring (EUM) source maps, see StorageConfigs.
Extra platform dashboards
The following infrastructure platform dashboards are not available in the product by default. To add a dashboard to the Platforms menu item, set its feature flag in the Core spec.
SAP
To enable the SAP platform dashboard, set the following configuration in the core.yaml
file:
apiVersion: instana.io/v1beta2
kind: Core
metadata:
name: instana-core
namespace: core
spec:
...
featureFlags:
- name: feature.sap.enabled
enabled: true
...
Pivotal Cloud Foundry (PCF)
To enable the PCF platform dashboard, set as follows in the core.yaml
file:
apiVersion: instana.io/v1beta2
kind: Core
metadata:
name: instana-core
namespace: core
spec:
...
featureFlags:
- name: feature.pcf.enabled
enabled: true
...
VMware vSphere
To enable the VMware vSphere platform dashboard, set as follows in the core.yaml
file:
apiVersion: instana.io/v1beta2
kind: Core
metadata:
name: instana-core
namespace: core
spec:
...
featureFlags:
- name: feature.vsphere.enabled
enabled: true
...
OpenStack
To enable the OpenStack platform dashboard, set as follows in the core.yaml
file:
apiVersion: instana.io/v1beta2
kind: Core
metadata:
name: instana-core
namespace: core
spec:
...
featureFlags:
- name: feature.openstack.enabled
enabled: true
...
IBM Power HMC
To enable the IBM Power HMC platform dashboard, set as follows in the core.yaml
file:
apiVersion: instana.io/v1beta2
kind: Core
metadata:
name: instana-core
namespace: core
spec:
...
featureFlags:
- name: feature.phmc.enabled
enabled: true
...
IBM Power VC
To enable the IBM Power VC platform dashboard, set as follows in the core.yaml
file:
apiVersion: instana.io/v1beta2
kind: Core
metadata:
name: instana-core
namespace: core
spec:
...
featureFlags:
- name: feature.powervc.enabled
enabled: true
...
IBM Z HMC
To enable the IBM Z HMC platform dashboard, set as follows in the core.yaml
file:
apiVersion: instana.io/v1beta2
kind: Core
metadata:
name: instana-core
namespace: core
spec:
...
featureFlags:
- name: feature.zhmc.enabled
enabled: true
...
Business monitoring
This feature includes support for enabling Business monitoring in the self-hosted Instana Enterprise operator. With this feature enabled, the Operator can deploy Business monitoring components.
Enabling the feature flag for Business monitoring components
To enable Business monitoring components, set the following feature flag under the featureFlags
configuration in the core.yaml
file:
featureFlags:
...
- name: feature.business.observability.enabled
enabled: true