Configuring Instana

You can enable self monitoring of your Self-Hosted Standard Edition host by installing the host agent.

We recommend self monitoring on the same backend only for test installations. For reliable self monitoring, ideally use a second backend. It is sufficient to use the demo installation type on the second backend host. On the system to be monitored, you must assign the agent acceptor endpoint to the agent by using the --agent-endpoint-host flag.

You can find the agent acceptor endpoint URL on the Instana UI > Install Agent > <Platform> page. Look for an endpoint value that starts with agent-acceptor. For more information, see Installing the host agent on Kubernetes.

From the command-line interface of your host, run the following command to install the agent or update the agent configuration:

• If you are using the same backend for self monitoring, run the following command:

  stanctl agent apply
  

• If you are using a second backend for self monitoring, run the following command:

  stanctl agent apply --agent-endpoint-host <endpoint-of-the-second-backend> --agent-key <agent-key-of-the-second-backend> --agent-cluster-name <your-custom-local-cluster-name> --agent-zone-name <your-custom-local-cluster-zone-name>
  

To uninstall the Instana host agent and stop self monitoring, run the following command:

stanctl agent delete

To install and configure Standard Edition with a single domain, run the following command:

stanctl backend apply --core-use-tu-url-path \
   --core-acceptors-agent-port=<desired-acceptor-port> \
   --core-acceptors-otlp-http-port=<desired-otlp-http-port> \
   --core-acceptors-otlp-grpc-port=<desired-otlp-grpc-port> \
   --core-acceptors-eum-port=<desired-eum-port> \
   --core-acceptors-synthetics-port=<desired-synthetics-port> \
   --core-acceptors-serverless-port=<desired-serverless-port>

This setting causes the base domain to be used for UI, API, and all acceptor traffic. It is useful when subdomains cannot be used due to restrictions.

To use a custom transport layer security (TLS) certificate and key, use the following command:

stanctl backend apply --core-tls-crt <full-path-to-certificate-file> --core-tls-key <full-path-to-key-file>

To configure a Service Provider, run the following command:

stanctl backend apply --core-service-provider-password <pem-password> --core-service-provider-pem <full-path-to-combined-pem-file>

Some external services, such as mail server and Alert Channel recipients, are accessible only through a proxy server. For the Instana backend to reach these services, you must configure a proxy server. Use the following command:

stanctl backend apply --core-proxy-host <proxy-host> --core-proxy-port <proxy-port> --core-proxy-user <proxy-user> --core-proxy-password <proxy-password>

To use all mail functions in the backend, configure an SMPT mail server.

stanctl backend apply --core-smtp-check-server-identity=true --core-smtp-use-ssl=true --core-smtp-start-tls=false --core-smtp-from <sender-email-address> --core-smtp-host <SMTP-host> --core-smtp-port <SMTP-port> --core-smtp-user <SMTP-username> --core-smtp-password <SMTP-password>

Some external services use certificates that are signed by a custom certificate authority (CA). To use these services in Instana, add their certificates to the trust stores. If these certificates are not from a root CA, Instana imports the complete certificate chain (your certificate, intermediary certificates, and the root certificate) into the operator JVM key store.

stanctl backend apply --core-custom-ca-crt <ca-certificate-file>

Instana backend components support automatic scaling using Kubernetes Horizontal Pod Autoscaling (HPA). This feature is enabled by default and helps optimize resource usage by scaling pods based on workload demand.

If you want to explicitly disable or re-enable HPA, use the following flag:

stanctl backend apply --core-enable-hpa=<true|false>