Installing and configuring self-hosted Instana backend

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Install and configure a self-hosted Instana backend instead of using the Instana software as a service (SaaS) solution.

Note: If you want to use the Instana SaaS solution, you don't need to install the self-hosted Instana backend. For an Instana SaaS solution, you need only Instana agents to monitor your systems. For more information, see Installing Instana agents.

About self-hosted Instana backend

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The following information provides an overview of a self-hosted Instana backend:

  • You can install self-hosted Instana backend in Kubernetes and Red Hat® OpenShift® Container Platform environments.
  • An Instana backend includes an Instana server and data stores.
  • You can install a self-hosted Instana backend in an environment that is connected to the internet or is offline (air-gapped).
  • After you install the self-hosted Instana backend, you need to install the Instana agents for collecting data from systems that you want to monitor.

Self-Hosted editions

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For more information about the Self-Hosted editions, see Installation options.

Note: Important: You can use the same license for any Self-Hosted Edition. For example, from release 271 onwards, if you have a license for the keyword.self_docker, you can use the same license to migrate to the keyword.self_se.

Self-Hosted Classic Edition (Docker)

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Note: Self-Hosted Classic Edition (Docker) offers fewer features and capabilities. Install or migrate to Standard Edition for additional features and capabilities. If you are deploying Instana for the first time, you must install Standard Edition instead of Classic Edition.

Install the Instana backend as several components and services that run as Docker containers and have their own sizing configurations.

For more information, see Installing Self-Hosted Classic Edition (Docker) .

Supported optional features

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You can enable or disable optional features on Instana self-hosted. Some optional features are disabled by default.

The following table outlines the feature flags for optional features and their supported editions:

Table 1. Optional features
Feature name Default state Feature flag Standard Edition Custom Edition Classic Edition
Action & Automation Disabled feature.automation.enabled Yes Yes No
AI action generation Disabled feature.action.ai.generation.enabled Yes Yes No
AI gateway Disabled feature.ai.gateway.enabled Yes Yes No
Analyze infrastructure (BeeInstana) Disabled feature.beeinstana.infra.metrics.enabled Yes Yes Yes
Business processes Disabled feature.business.observability.enabled Yes Yes No
Get answers button (AssistMe) Disabled feature.assistme.enabled Note: For this feature flag to work, the feature.walkme.tool.enabled feature flag must be enabled. Yes Yes Yes
WalkMe Disabled feature.walkme.tool.enabled Yes Yes Yes
IBM Power HMC Disabled feature.phmc.enabled Yes Yes Yes
IBM Power VC Disabled feature.powervc.enabled Yes Yes No
IBM Z HMC Disabled feature.zhmc.enabled Yes Yes Yes
Kubecost Enabled feature.kubecost Yes Yes Yes
Kubernetes Horizontal Pod Autoscaler Enabled feature.kubernetes.horizontal.pod.autoscaler.enabled Yes Yes No
Logging Disabled feature.logging.enabled Yes Yes No
OpenStack Disabled feature.openstack.enabled Yes Yes Yes
SAP Enabled feature.sap.enabled Yes Yes Yes
Smart Alerts for Infrastructure (public preview) Disabled feature.infra.smart.alerts.enabled Yes Yes No
Synthetic monitoring Disabled feature.synthetics.enabled Yes Yes No
Turbonomic actions Enabled feature.resource.optimization.actions.enabled Yes Yes No
VMware Tanzu Disabled feature.pcf.enabled Yes Yes Yes
VMware vSphere Disabled feature.vsphere.enabled Yes Yes Yes
ServiceNow ITSM app alert channel Disabled feature.alert.channel.bidirectional.enabled and feature.service.now.advanced.enabled Yes Yes No

For more information about enabling the optional features, see the following topics:

Related information:

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