Working with the user interface
You can access Instana through user interface.
For the list of web browsers supported for accessing the Instana UI, see Supported web browsers.
Signing in
Before you sign in to Instana, make sure that authentication is configured. For more information, see Configuring authentication.
To sign in to Instana, complete the following steps:
- Enter the Instana URL in a supported browser. The Instana log-in page is displayed.
- Complete one of the following steps:
- Sign in with the email address that is registered with Instana:
- In the E-mail field, enter the email address that is registered with Instana.
- Enter the password.
- Sign in with Google
Single Sign-On (SSO):
- Click Sign in with Google.
- Select the Google account that is enabled for SSO.
- Sign in with the email address that is registered with Instana:
To sign out of Instana, go to the Instana GUI and then click More > Sign out.
Home page
The home page is the initial page that you see when you log in to Instana.
The Instana home page consists of the following elements:
- Navigation menu: Access all the sections on the Instana UI from the side navigation menu.
- Share button: Share URLs from Instana and invite users to access Instana.
- Date and time picker: Select the time range for the data that is displayed in Instana.
- Live button: Display real-time data in Instana.
- Show what's new button: View the latest changes to Instana.
- Set up a data source button: Deploy agents and install OpenTelemetry collectors on Instana.
- Add user button: Add users to Instana.
- IBM Documentation button: Access the Instana documentation.
- Release notes button: View the latest version of the Instana SaaS release notes.
- Community blogs button: Read the latest blogs from IBM Instanauts, the Instana blog community.
The home page also includes the following predefined dashboards:
- Websites & Mobile Apps
- Applications
- Platforms
- Infrastructure
- Events
- Business processes
You create dashboards on the home page.
Navigation menu
The navigation menu consists of the following items:
- Websites & Mobile Apps: Monitor websites and mobile applications
- Business processes: Monitor business processes
- Applications: Manage application perspectives
- Platforms: Monitor platforms
- GenAI observability: Monitor generative AI (gen AI) applications
- Infrastructure: Monitor infrastructure
- Custom Dashboards: Monitor custom dashboards
- Logs: Analyze logs
- Synthetic Monitoring: Manage Synthetic tests
- Analytics: Analyze data
- Vulnerabilities: View Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE)
- Events: Monitor events
- Automation: Automate actions
- AI gateway (Preview): Connect to watsonx.ai or other external LLM services
- Service Levels: Monitor services
- Settings: View and edit Instana settings
- Data source: Install and view agents and OTel collectors
- More: Access Instana documentation and release notes, open support tickets, and sign out of Instana
- Software Catalog: Discover, learn, and try IBM Observability Software capabilities that build on Instana
Sharing an Instana URL
You can share URLs from Instana and invite users to access the URLs. Instana can turn the URL into a shorter link that is easy to share. When the shared link is opened, the Instana URL with the same time range is opened even in a different time zone.
You can send an email with the URL or copy the URL from the Page link field and share it without sending the email.
To share an Instana URL over email, complete the following steps:
- Click the Share button on the Instana UI. The Share pageName dialog is displayed.
- In the Email address field, enter an email address. Click Add user to add multiple email addresses.
- Optional: In the Email message field, enter a message. This message is included in the email.
- Click Send.
An email is sent with the subject fullName wants to share a page in Instana."
- If the email is mapped to a user on the Instana, the user can sign in to Instana and the URL.
- If the email is not mapped to any user on the Instana, the user needs to sign up on the Instana to access the URL.
Interacting with graphs
The prebuilt dashboards in Instana provide information about your environment in charts and tables. The dashboard is automatically displayed when you select an item in the menu.
You can set a time range to view data in charts. To change the time range for the dashboard, click the clock icon next to the short link icon. The range that you select in the date picker or time picker applies to all the charts and tables in the dashboard.
- To view charts in real-time, click Live.
- To view the most recent data in the charts, click Last minute in the time range.
- To view second-by-second data, hover over a graph point.
Show and hide data in a chart
You can show or hide data in a chart. To hide an item, click the name of the item in the legend. In the following chart, the values for "Users" are hidden:
In the following chart, the values for "Users" are visible:
Zoom in on a time range
You can zoom in on a time range in a graph.
To zoom in on a time range in a graph, complete the following steps:
- Select a time range:
Figure 4. Select time range 
- Click Zoom to time range:
Highlight a time range in all charts
You can highlight a time range in all the charts in a dashboard. To highlight a range in all graphs, complete the following steps:
- Select a time range in a chart:
- Select Highlight on all charts:
To stop highlighting, click Clear highlight.
Download data from charts
You can download the data in a chart in JSON or CSV format.
To download the chart date, complete the following steps:
- Click a chart.
- Click Download JSON or Download CSV. A dialog box is displayed.
- Click Allow.
The JSON file or CSV file is downloaded depending on the option that you selected.
Dynamic Graph
Dynamic Graph contains configuration data, dependencies, performance information, and health indicators. It drives other components of Instana, from mapping and visualization to tracing and automated root cause analysis. Dynamic Graph is created and updated automatically. The definition of some components such as services, can be further specified through service configuration.
For more information, see Leveraging the Dynamic Graph
Unbounded analytics
Unbounded analytics automatically associate data in the context you need. Either path directs you to the specific graph, bar chart, or text description that help you find the root cause. You can apply filters to the trace data set in effectively unlimited combinations to find the exact request or trace that requires attention. Information is organized and displayed in Dynamic Graph to reveal the dependencies between your application components automatically. The conditions that lead to and result from an issue are associated with that issue, so you can look forward or backward for cause and effect
Unbounded analytics uses the browser and backend trace details that are collected with the Dynamic Graph to easily understand performance issues and optimize performance. For more information, see Unbounded analytics.