Disabling instrumentation plugins

You can disable specific instrumentation plugins to reduce overhead or exclude certain technologies from tracing.

Supported technologies

Instana supports disabling plugins for the following technology groups:

  • Redis
  • Logging
  • DynamoDB
  • Kafka

Disabling plugin groups

To disable an entire plugin group, configure the agent configuration.yaml file (instanaAgentDir/etc/instana/configuration.yaml) as follows:

com.instana.plugin.javatrace:
  instrumentation:
    plugins:
      Redis: false
      Logging: false
      DynamoDB: false
      Kafka: false

You can disable one or more plugin groups by setting their value to false. When a plugin group is disabled, all instrumentation plugins associated with that technology are deactivated.

Plugin group details

The following table describes the plugin groups, their associated instrumentation, and configuration methods:

Plugin group Description Affected instrumentation Agent config Environment variable System property
Redis Disables all Redis client instrumentation Jedis, Lettuce, Redisson, Vertx Redis clients plugins: Redis: false Not supported Not supported
Logging Disables all logging framework instrumentation SLF4J, Log4j, Log4j2, Java Util Logging plugins: Logging: false INSTANA_LOG_LEVEL_CAPTURE=OFF instana_log_level_capture=OFF
DynamoDB Disables AWS DynamoDB client instrumentation AWS SDK DynamoDB clients plugins: DynamoDB: false Not supported Not supported
Kafka Disables all Kafka client instrumentation Kafka Producer, Consumer, Streams plugins: Kafka: false Not supported Not supported

Configuration notes

  • Agent config: All plugin groups can be disabled through the agent configuration.yaml file.
  • Logging plugin group: This plugin group can also be disabled by using environment variable INSTANA_LOG_LEVEL_CAPTURE=OFF or system property instana_log_level_capture=OFF.
  • Redis, DynamoDB, and Kafka: These plugin groups can be disabled only through the agent configuration file.

Configuration examples

Disable Redis plugins only:

com.instana.plugin.javatrace:
  instrumentation:
    plugins:
      Redis: false

Disable multiple plugin groups:

com.instana.plugin.javatrace:
  instrumentation:
    plugins:
      Redis: false
      DynamoDB: false
Note: After editing the agent configuration.yaml file, restart the agent or application for the changes to take effect.

Disabling individual plugins

In addition to disabling entire plugin groups, you can disable individual instrumentation plugins by name. To disable a specific plugin, add it to the plugins configuration with a false value:

com.instana.plugin.javatrace:
  instrumentation:
    plugins:
      JedisExit: false
      Kafka011Exit: false
Note: Most individual plugins can only be disabled through the agent configuration.yaml file. However, certain plugins support additional configuration methods through environment variables or JVM system properties.

Plugins with environment variable and system property support

The following plugins can be disabled by using environment variables or JVM system properties in addition to the agent configuration file:

Plugin name Environment variable System property Description
JBPMPlugin INSTANA_JBPM_ENABLED=false com.instana.jbpm.enabled=false Disables jBPM instrumentation
BAWPlugin INSTANA_BAW_ENABLED=false com.instana.baw.enabled=false Disables IBM Business Automation Workflow instrumentation
WeblogicEjbExit INSTANA_WEBLOGIC_EJB_TRACE_CORRELATION=false com.instana.weblogic.ejb.trace.correlation=false Disables WebLogic EJB trace correlation

Configuration scope

  • Environment variables: Apply to all processes or a specific process, depending on how and where they are set:
    • System-wide environment variables affect all JVMs on the system
    • User-level environment variables affect all JVMs started by that user
    • Process-specific environment variables (set before starting a JVM) affect only that specific JVM
  • JVM system properties: Apply only to the specific JVM where the property is set (for example, -Dcom.instana.jbpm.enabled=false)
  • Agent configuration file: Applies to all JVMs monitored by that agent instance

Use environment variables when you need flexible scope control (system-wide, user-level, or process-specific), system properties for explicit JVM-specific control, or the agent configuration file for centralized management across all monitored JVMs.

Available individual plugins

The following tables list the individual instrumentation plugins that can be disabled. Unless listed in the preceding table, all plugins are configured only through the agent configuration.yaml file by using the format as shown in the Disabling individual plugins section. Plugins are organized by technology category for easier reference.

HTTP and web frameworks

The following plugins provide instrumentation for HTTP servers and web frameworks.

Plugin name Description
ServletEntry Java Servlet API entry instrumentation
FilterEntry Servlet Filter entry instrumentation
AkkaHttpEntry Akka HTTP server entry instrumentation
AkkaHttpExit Akka HTTP client exit instrumentation
VertxEntry Vert.x HTTP server entry instrumentation
VertxExit Vert.x HTTP client exit instrumentation
Vertx4Entry Vert.x 4.x HTTP server entry instrumentation
Vertx4Exit Vert.x 4.x HTTP client exit instrumentation
Play23Entry Play Framework 2.3 entry instrumentation
Play24Entry Play Framework 2.4 entry instrumentation
Play26Entry Play Framework 2.6 entry instrumentation
Play3Entry Play Framework 3.x entry instrumentation
Play25Exit Play Framework 2.5 exit instrumentation
Play27Exit Play Framework 2.7 exit instrumentation
SpringWebEntry Spring Web MVC entry instrumentation
SpringWeb6Entry Spring Web 6.x entry instrumentation
SpringWebfluxEntry Spring WebFlux entry instrumentation
SpringWebfluxExit Spring WebFlux exit instrumentation
SpringWebflux3Entry Spring WebFlux 3.x entry instrumentation
SpringWebflux3Entry2x Spring WebFlux 3.x entry (alternative) instrumentation
SpringWebflux3Exit Spring WebFlux 3.x exit instrumentation
SpringCloudGateway20Entry Spring Cloud Gateway 2.0 entry instrumentation
SpringCloudGateway21Entry Spring Cloud Gateway 2.1 entry instrumentation
SpringCloudGateway20Exit Spring Cloud Gateway 2.0 exit instrumentation
SpringCloudGateway21Exit Spring Cloud Gateway 2.1 exit instrumentation
SpringCloudGateway22Exit Spring Cloud Gateway 2.2 exit instrumentation
SpringCloudGateway4Exit Spring Cloud Gateway 4.x exit instrumentation
JerseyEntry JAX-RS Jersey entry instrumentation
JerseyExit JAX-RS Jersey exit instrumentation
Jersey3Entry JAX-RS Jersey 3.x entry instrumentation
Jersey3Exit JAX-RS Jersey 3.x exit instrumentation
ResteasyEntry JBoss RESTEasy entry instrumentation
ResteasyExit JBoss RESTEasy exit instrumentation
Resteasy4Entry JBoss RESTEasy 4.x entry instrumentation
Resteasy4Exit JBoss RESTEasy 4.x exit instrumentation
Resteasy6Entry JBoss RESTEasy 6.x entry instrumentation
Resteasy6Exit JBoss RESTEasy 6.x exit instrumentation
TomcatEntry Apache Tomcat entry instrumentation
GrizzlyEntry Grizzly HTTP server entry instrumentation
RatpackEntry Ratpack entry instrumentation
RatpackExit Ratpack exit instrumentation
NanoHttpdEntry NanoHTTPD entry instrumentation
WicketEntry Apache Wicket entry instrumentation
VaadinEntry Vaadin entry instrumentation
SprayEntry Spray HTTP entry instrumentation
SprayExit Spray HTTP exit instrumentation
ScalatraEntry Scalatra entry instrumentation
FinagleEntry Twitter Finagle entry instrumentation
FinagleExit Twitter Finagle exit instrumentation
MicronautHttpEntry Micronaut HTTP entry instrumentation
MicronautHttpExit Micronaut HTTP exit instrumentation
Http4s019Entry Http4s 0.19 entry instrumentation
Http4s019Exit Http4s 0.19 exit instrumentation
Http4s020Entry Http4s 0.20 entry instrumentation
Http4s020Exit Http4s 0.20 exit instrumentation
HttpKitEntry HTTP Kit entry instrumentation
UndertowAuthEntry Undertow authentication entry instrumentation
LibertyHttpChannelEntry IBM Liberty HTTP channel entry instrumentation

HTTP clients

The following plugins provide instrumentation for HTTP client libraries.

Plugin name Description
UrlConnectionExit Java URLConnection HTTP client exit instrumentation
HttpClient3Exit Apache HttpClient 3.x exit instrumentation
HttpClient4Exit Apache HttpClient 4.x exit instrumentation
HttpClient5Exit Apache HttpClient 5.x exit instrumentation
HttpComponents4NioEntry Apache HttpComponents 4.x NIO entry instrumentation
HttpComponents44NioEntry Apache HttpComponents 4.4 NIO entry instrumentation
OkHttp2Exit OkHttp 2.x exit instrumentation
OkHttp3Exit OkHttp 3.x exit instrumentation
AsyncHttp19Exit AsyncHttpClient 1.9 exit instrumentation
AsyncHttp20Exit AsyncHttpClient 2.0 exit instrumentation
AsyncHttp21Exit AsyncHttpClient 2.1 exit instrumentation
Java9HttpClientExit Java 9+ HTTP client exit instrumentation
Java11HttpClientExit Java 11+ HTTP client exit instrumentation
FeignExit Feign HTTP client exit instrumentation
SpringRestTemplateExit Spring RestTemplate exit instrumentation
SpringRestTemplate6Exit Spring RestTemplate 6.x exit instrumentation

Databases - JDBC

The following plugins provide instrumentation for database access through JDBC and reactive database drivers.

Plugin name Description
JdbcExit JDBC database exit instrumentation
R2dbcExit R2DBC reactive database exit instrumentation

Databases - NoSQL

The following table lists the available NoSQL database plugins:

Plugin name Description
MongoDB2Exit MongoDB 2.x driver exit instrumentation
MongoDB3Exit MongoDB 3.x driver exit instrumentation
MongoDB3AsyncExit MongoDB 3.x async driver exit instrumentation
MongoDB36Exit MongoDB 3.6 driver exit instrumentation
MongoDB36AsyncExit MongoDB 3.6 async driver exit instrumentation
MongoDB38Exit MongoDB 3.8 driver exit instrumentation
MongoDB38AsyncExit MongoDB 3.8 async driver exit instrumentation
MongoDB4Exit MongoDB 4.x driver exit instrumentation
MongoDB4AsyncExit MongoDB 4.x async driver exit instrumentation
MongoDB5Exit MongoDB 5.x driver exit instrumentation
MongoDB5AsyncExit MongoDB 5.x async driver exit instrumentation
ReactiveMongoExit ReactiveMongo exit instrumentation
ReactiveMongo14Exit ReactiveMongo 1.4 exit instrumentation
ReactiveMongo15Exit ReactiveMongo 1.5 exit instrumentation
Cassandra2Exit Cassandra 2.x driver exit instrumentation
Cassandra3Exit Cassandra 3.x driver exit instrumentation
Cassandra4Exit Cassandra 4.x driver exit instrumentation
CouchbaseExit Couchbase 2.x SDK exit instrumentation
Couchbase3Exit Couchbase 3.x SDK exit instrumentation
Couchbase35Exit Couchbase 3.5 SDK exit instrumentation
Neo4jExit Neo4j driver exit instrumentation
Neo4j5Exit Neo4j 5.x driver exit instrumentation
Neo4j6Exit Neo4j 6.x driver exit instrumentation
Neo4j526Exit Neo4j 5.26 driver exit instrumentation
HbaseExit Apache HBase exit instrumentation
AerospikeExit Aerospike exit instrumentation
FaunaDBExit FaunaDB exit instrumentation

Caching

The following table lists the available caching plugins:

Plugin name Description
EhCacheExit EhCache exit instrumentation
SpyMemcachedExit SpyMemcached exit instrumentation
NettyMemcacheExit Netty Memcache exit instrumentation
XMemcachedExit XMemcached exit instrumentation
HazelcastExit Hazelcast 3.x exit instrumentation
Hazelcast4Exit Hazelcast 4.x exit instrumentation
DataGridExit Data Grid exit instrumentation
DataGridExit13 Data Grid 1.3 exit instrumentation
DataGridExit14 Data Grid 1.4 exit instrumentation

Redis clients

The following table lists the available Redis client plugins (part of Redis plugin group):

Plugin name Description
JedisExit Jedis 2.x Redis client exit instrumentation
Jedis3Exit Jedis 3.x Redis client exit instrumentation
Jedis4Exit Jedis 4.x Redis client exit instrumentation
LettuceExit Lettuce Redis client exit instrumentation
RedissonExit Redisson Redis client exit instrumentation
Redisson3166Exit Redisson 3.16.6 Redis client exit instrumentation
VertxRedisExit Vert.x Redis client exit instrumentation
VertxRedis37Exit Vert.x 3.7 Redis client exit instrumentation
VertxRedis4Exit Vert.x 4.x Redis client exit instrumentation

Logging frameworks

The following table lists the available logging framework plugins (part of Logging plugin group):

Plugin name Description
Slf4jExit SLF4J logging exit instrumentation
Log4jExit Log4j 1.x logging exit instrumentation
Log4j2Exit Log4j 2.x logging exit instrumentation
JavaLoggingExit Java Util Logging exit instrumentation

Messaging - Kafka (part of Kafka plugin group)

Plugin name Description
KafkaEntry Kafka consumer entry instrumentation
KafkaExit Kafka producer exit instrumentation
Kafka011Entry Kafka 0.11+ consumer entry instrumentation
Kafka011Exit Kafka 0.11+ producer exit instrumentation
Kafka011StreamIntermediate Kafka Streams intermediate instrumentation

Messaging - JMS

Plugin name Description
JmsEntry JMS consumer entry instrumentation
JmsExit JMS producer exit instrumentation

Messaging - IBM MQ

Plugin name Description
MqEntry IBM MQ consumer entry instrumentation
MqExit IBM MQ producer exit instrumentation

Messaging - RabbitMQ

Plugin name Description
RabbitMqEntry RabbitMQ consumer entry instrumentation
RabbitMqExit RabbitMQ producer exit instrumentation

Messaging - Other

Plugin name Description
HornetQEntry HornetQ consumer entry instrumentation
HornetQExit HornetQ producer exit instrumentation
AmazonSqsEntry Amazon SQS consumer entry instrumentation
AmazonSqsExit Amazon SQS producer exit instrumentation
AmazonSqs2xEntry Amazon SQS 2.x consumer entry instrumentation
AmazonSqs2xExit Amazon SQS 2.x producer exit instrumentation
AmazonSnsExit Amazon SNS exit instrumentation
AmazonSns2Exit Amazon SNS 2.x exit instrumentation
KinesisExit Amazon Kinesis exit instrumentation
AmazonKinesis2xExit Amazon Kinesis 2.x exit instrumentation
GoogleCloudPubSubEntry Google Cloud Pub/Sub consumer entry instrumentation
GoogleCloudPubSubExit Google Cloud Pub/Sub producer exit instrumentation
GoogleCloudPubSubAdminExit Google Cloud Pub/Sub admin exit instrumentation
RocketMqEntry Apache RocketMQ consumer entry instrumentation
RocketMqExit Apache RocketMQ producer exit instrumentation
SpringAwsMessagingEntry Spring AWS Messaging entry instrumentation
SpringAwsMessaging3Entry Spring AWS Messaging 3.x entry instrumentation
SpringSolaceEntry Spring Solace entry instrumentation
SpringSolaceExit Spring Solace exit instrumentation

AWS Services (part of DynamoDB plugin group)

Plugin name Description
DynamoDBExit AWS DynamoDB exit instrumentation

AWS Services - Other

Plugin name Description
S3Exit Amazon S3 exit instrumentation
AwsLambdaEntry AWS Lambda entry instrumentation

Google Cloud Services

Plugin name Description
GoogleCloudStorageExit Google Cloud Storage exit instrumentation
GoogleCloudDatastoreExit Google Cloud Datastore exit instrumentation
GoogleCloudBigtableExit Google Cloud Bigtable exit instrumentation

RPC and remote communication

Plugin name Description
GrpcEntry gRPC server entry instrumentation
GrpcExit gRPC client exit instrumentation
RmiEntry Java RMI server entry instrumentation
RmiExit Java RMI client exit instrumentation
SunCorbaEntry Sun CORBA server entry instrumentation
SunCorbaExit Sun CORBA client exit instrumentation
OncRpcEntry ONC RPC server entry instrumentation
OncRpcExit ONC RPC client exit instrumentation
DubboEntry Apache Dubbo server entry instrumentation
DubboExit Apache Dubbo client exit instrumentation
SofaRpcEntry SOFA RPC server entry instrumentation
SofaRpcExit SOFA RPC client exit instrumentation
AkkaRemoteEntry Akka Remote server entry instrumentation
AkkaRemoteExit Akka Remote client exit instrumentation
AkkaRemote213Entry Akka Remote 2.13 server entry instrumentation
AkkaRemote213Exit Akka Remote 2.13 client exit instrumentation

EJB

The following table lists the EJB plugins:

Plugin name Description
JBossEjbEntry JBoss EJB server entry instrumentation
JBossEjbExit JBoss EJB client exit instrumentation
OpenEjbEntry OpenEJB server entry instrumentation
OpenEjbExit OpenEJB client exit instrumentation
WeblogicEjbEntry WebLogic EJB server entry instrumentation
WeblogicEjbExit WebLogic EJB client exit instrumentation
WildflyEjb11Entry WildFly EJB 1.1 entry instrumentation
WebsphereEjbEntry WebSphere EJB entry instrumentation
WeblogicRpcEntry WebLogic RPC entry instrumentation
WeblogicRpcExit WebLogic RPC exit instrumentation
WeblogicRpcIntermediate WebLogic RPC intermediate instrumentation

Integration frameworks

The following table lists the integration framework plugins:

Plugin name Description
CamelEntry Apache Camel entry instrumentation
MuleEntry MuleSoft entry instrumentation
MuleExit MuleSoft exit instrumentation
MuleHttpExit MuleSoft HTTP exit instrumentation
WebmethodsEntry webMethods Integration Server entry instrumentation
WebmethodsIntermediate webMethods intermediate instrumentation
WebmethodsContextSwitch webMethods context switch instrumentation
WebmethodsConsumerEntry webMethods consumer entry instrumentation
WebmethodsProducerExit webMethods producer exit instrumentation
WebmethodsClientExit webMethods client exit instrumentation
WebmethodsGlueExit webMethods Glue exit instrumentation
IbmJcaExit IBM JCA exit instrumentation
ImsExit IBM IMS exit instrumentation

BPM and workflow

The following table lists the BPM and workflow plugins:

Plugin name Description Environment variable configuration JVM arg configuration
CamundaEntry Camunda BPM entry instrumentation
Camunda8Entry Camunda 8 entry instrumentation
JBPMPlugin jBPM plugin instrumentation INSTANA_JBPM_ENABLED -Dcom.instana.jbpm.enabled=true
BAWPlugin IBM Business Automation Workflow plugin instrumentation

Schedulers

The following table lists the scheduler plugins:

Plugin name Description
Quartz1Entry Quartz Scheduler 1.x entry instrumentation
Quartz2Entry Quartz Scheduler 2.x entry instrumentation
SpringBatchEntry Spring Batch entry instrumentation
GlassfishScheduleEntry GlassFish scheduler entry instrumentation
JBossScheduleEntry JBoss scheduler entry instrumentation
JBossSchedulerEntry JBoss EAP scheduler entry instrumentation

GraphQL

The following table lists the GraphQL plugins:

Plugin name Description
GraphQLEntry GraphQL server entry instrumentation
GraphQLExit GraphQL client exit instrumentation

SOAP and web services

The following table lists the SOAP and web services plugins:

Plugin name Description
CxfEntry Apache CXF entry instrumentation
CxfExit Apache CXF exit instrumentation
Cxf4Entry Apache CXF 4.x entry instrumentation
AxisEntry Apache Axis entry instrumentation
AxisExit Apache Axis exit instrumentation
Axis2Entry Apache Axis2 entry instrumentation
Axis2Exit Apache Axis2 exit instrumentation

Mail

The following table lists the mail plugins:

Plugin name Description
JavaMailExit JavaMail exit instrumentation
JavaMail3Exit JavaMail 3.x exit instrumentation

LDAP

The following table lists the LDAP plugins:

Plugin name Description
LdapExit LDAP exit instrumentation
LdaptiveExit Ldaptive exit instrumentation

FTP

The following table lists the FTP plugins:

Plugin name Description
FtpClientExit FTP client exit instrumentation
SFtpExit SFTP client exit instrumentation

Context switching

The following table lists the context switching plugins:

Plugin name Description
ThreadPoolExecutorContextSwitch Thread pool executor context switch
ForkJoinContextSwitch Fork/Join framework context switch
ThreadContextSwitch Thread context switch
VertxContextSwitch Vert.x context switch
VertxMessageContextSwitch Vert.x message context switch
AkkaLightArraySchedulerContextSwitch Akka scheduler context switch
AkkaMessageQueueContextSwitch Akka message queue context switch
RatpackContextSwitch Ratpack context switch
MuleQueueContextSwitch Mule queue context switch
TibcoContextSwitch TIBCO context switch
LiftMessageQueueContextSwitch Lift message queue context switch
NettyContextSwitch Netty context switch
KotlinCoroutineContextSwitch Kotlin coroutine context switch
WorkManagerContextSwitch Work manager context switch
WebsphereThreadPoolContextSwitch WebSphere thread pool context switch
SpringContextSwitch Spring context switch
ReactorContextSwitch Project Reactor context switch
ReactorContextSwitch35 Project Reactor 3.5 context switch
ReactorContextSwitch2x Project Reactor 2.x context switch
FlinkContextSwitch Apache Flink context switch

Other plugins

The following table lists other plugins:

Plugin name Description
GwtEntry Google Web Toolkit entry instrumentation
HibernateIntermediate Hibernate intermediate instrumentation
TabexExit Tabex exit instrumentation
DistributeMeEntryExit DistributeMe entry/exit instrumentation
BlockhoundEvent BlockHound event instrumentation
HttpServletEumInjectionPlugin End User Monitoring injection plugin
TracerDebuggerPlugin Tracer debugger plugin