Troubleshooting
If you cannot find a solution to your problem in the product documentation, contact IBM Support.
If you are a SaaS user, gather the following information:
- A direct link in the Instana UI where you observe an issue or want to make some changes.
- A screenshot of the exact area of the issue in the Instana UI, if applicable.
- Agent logs if the agent is turned off due to a huge impact on your system. For more information about how to collect agent logs, see Collecting agent logs.
If you are a self-hosted user, gather the following information:
- Relevant agent or backend logs. For more information about how to collect agent or backend logs, see Collecting agent logs or Collecting backend logs.
- A screenshot of the issue in the Instana UI.
- Versions of software and technologies that are in use, which are relevant for the reported issue.
- Any recent changes that impacted the system performances.
Collect agent logs
If you have an issue on the agent side, you must follow some steps to collect the agent logs. For more information about how to collect agent logs for the following platforms, see:
To adjust log level and obtain agent debug logs, see:
Collect backend logs
If you have an issue on the Instana backend side, you can check the backend logs. For more information about how to collect backend logs, see How to collect Instana doc for Self-hosted Instana backend environments on Kubernetes/OpenShift
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To adjust log level for Custom Edition, see Adjusting log level for Instana components.
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To adjust log level for Classic Edition, see Adjusting log level for Instana services.
Check the Instana version support policy
For more information about the Instana version support policy, see Version support policy.
Check the release notes
Review the release notes to check whether your issue is already reported and a workaround or solution exists in the docs.
What happens after you open a case?
The standard support procedure acknowledges your case and checks if the relevant must-gathers are in place for further investigation. You can expect to receive a reply with the request for some specific additional information or logs, which help in the investigation of the case. If all is in place, you will be notified with approximate date of the next response.
Keep in mind that we prioritize your case based on the IBM enterprise support severity definitions.
If the reported issue starts to have a greater impact, you can update the case by using one of the following options:
- Provide more context of the problem, explaining how the impact increased on the system or on the company’s business operations. You can also increase the case severity in the Case Support Portal (CSP). For example, from Severity 3 to Severity 2.
- Escalate the case by clicking the Escalate button in the CSP. Use this option only in an emergency and only after you use first option to get more attention on the case.
When you use any of the two available options, update the case with the context of the action that you took (increased severity or escalation). This information helps the support team to understand the nature of the problem and engage extra resources to resolve it if necessary.
Once the case is resolved, complete the survey about the support process to tell us how satisfied you are with the case handling.
Further references
- Before engaging IBM Support, review the MustGather information to familiarize yourself with the troubleshooting process.
- For articles, FAQs, and other information, see Instana Support.
- Monthly Instana Support Newsletter.