Enabling optional features for Custom Edition

For self-hosted Instana environments on Kubernetes with large metric loads, you should deploy BeeInstana by using the BeeInstana operator. See the documentation for using BeeInstana on Kubernetes.

Now the BeeInstana data pipeline must be added to the operator Core spec, and the following feature flags must be enabled. The main feature flag feature.beeinstana.infra.metrics.enabled activates new components and a set of features based on them.

apiVersion: instana.io/v1beta2
kind: Core
metadata:
  name: instana-core
  namespace: core
spec:
...
  datastoreConfigs:
    beeInstanaConfig:
      clustered: true
      authEnabled: true
      hosts:
        - <beeinstana_operator_service>
  ...
  featureFlags:
    - name: feature.beeinstana.infra.metrics.enabled
      enabled: true
  ...
 

In addition, you can enable Smart Alerts for Infrastructure (public preview).

To enable the Smart Alerts for Infrastructure feature, set these feature flags:

  ...
  featureFlags:
    - name: feature.beeinstana.infra.metrics.enabled
      enabled: true
    - name: feature.infra.smart.alerts.enabled
      enabled: true
  ...

 

In addition, the credentials for the BeeInstana cluster or host must be configured in the core secret as follows:

...
datastoreConfigs:
  ...
  beeinstanaConfig:
    user: beeinstana-user
    password: <SECRET_PASSWORD>
  ...
...
 

If instana-console is used as the database backend, a dual-host installation is recommended, with a second Clickhouse instance on another host. For this purpose, the second host needs to be set up with a settings.hcl file as follows:

type      = "dual-clickhouse"
host_name = "<IP-accessible-from-the-k8s-cluster>"

dir {
  metrics    = "" // data dir for metrics
  traces     = "/mnt/traces" // data dir for log data
  data       = "/mnt/data" // data dir for any other data
  logs       = "/var/log/instana" // log dir
}

docker_repository {
  base_url = "artifact-public.instana.io"
  username = "_"
  password = "<Your-agent-key>"
}
 

In this scenario, set up another Clickhouse cluster according to the operator instructions.

On the operator side, the Core spec needs two Clickhouse entries and the feature flag feature.logging.enabled.

apiVersion: instana.io/v1beta2
kind: Core
metadata:
  name: instana-core
  namespace: core
spec:
...
  clickhouseConfigs:
    - clusterName: local
      authEnabled: true
      hosts:
        - <application_ch_cluster>
      schemas:
        - application
        - slis
    - clusterName: local
      authEnabled: true
      hosts:
        - <logs_ch_cluster>
      schemas:
        - logs
  ...
  featureFlags:
    - name: feature.logging.enabled
      enabled: true
  ...
 

In addition, configure the credentials for the new Clickhouse cluster or host in the core secret as follows:

...
datastoreConfigs:
  ...
  clickhouseConfigs:
    - user: clickhouse-application-user
      password: <USER_GENERATED_PASSWORD>
      adminUser: clickhouse-application-user
      adminPassword: <USER_GENERATED_PASSWORD>
      schemas:
        - application
        - slis
    - user: clickhouse-logs-user
      password: <USER_GENERATED_PASSWORD>
      adminUser: clickhouse-logs-user
      adminPassword: <USER_GENERATED_PASSWORD>
      schemas:
        - logs
  ...
...
 

To enable automation framework components, update the featureFlags section in the core.yaml file as shown in the following example:

...
featureFlags:
  - name:  feature.automation.enabled
    enabled: true
...
 

For more information about this feature, see Managing automation.

You can use this feature to enable generative AI to create manual and script actions.

To enable AI action generation components, update the `featureFlags` section in the `core.yaml` file as shown in the following example:

featureFlags:
  - name:  feature.action.ai.generation.enabled
    enabled: true
 

For more information about the AI action generation feature, see Intelligent Remediation: Action generation with AI (public preview).

The AI gateway feature enables the AI gateway to enable configuration of LLM gateways.

To enable AI gateway, update the `featureFlags` section in the `core.yaml` file as shown in the following example:

featureFlags:
  - name:  feature.ai.gateway.enabled
    enabled: true
 

For more information about the AI gateway feature, see AI gateway (public preview).

Before enabling Synthetic monitoring, configure two external storage configurations in the storageConfigs section in the Core spec (synthetics, syntheticsKeystore).

By default, the data stored in the Synthetics storage configuration is retained for 60 days. To modify the retention for Synthetic monitoring, see Synthetic monitoring data retention.

Currently, GCloud and S3 or compatible Buckets are supported, and the file system is based on a multi read/write persistent volume.

For more information about storageConfigs spec for synthetics, see storageConfigs.

To enable Synthetic monitoring components, set the following feature flag under the featureFlags configuration in the Core spec.

...
featureFlags:
    - name: feature.synthetics.enabled
      enabled: true
...
 

You can upload JavaScript source mapping files for private websites monitoring with Instana SaaS. Before uploading JavaScript source maps, you need to configure external storage in the storageConfigs section in the Core spec. The following are the 3 options for storing JavaScript source maps:

• S3 (or compatible)
• Google Cloud Storage
• Filesystem

For more information about StorageConfigs spec for end user monitoring (EUM) source maps, see StorageConfigs.

To disable Kubecost, set the enabled property associated with feature flag feature.kubecost.enabled to false in the core.yaml file as shown in the following example:

apiVersion: instana.io/v1beta2
kind: Core
metadata:
  name: instana-core
  namespace: core
spec:
  ...
  featureFlags:
    - name: feature.kubecost.enabled
      enabled: false
  ...
 

To enable VMware Tanzu, set the following configuration in the core.yaml file:

apiVersion: instana.io/v1beta2
kind: Core
metadata:
  name: instana-core
  namespace: core
spec:
  ...
  featureFlags:
    - name: feature.pcf.enabled
      enabled: true
  ...
 

To enable VMware vSphere, set the following configuration in the core.yaml file:

apiVersion: instana.io/v1beta2
kind: Core
metadata:
  name: instana-core
  namespace: core
spec:
  ...
  featureFlags:
    - name: feature.vsphere.enabled
      enabled: true
  ...
 

To enable OpenStack, set the following configuration in the core.yaml file:

apiVersion: instana.io/v1beta2
kind: Core
metadata:
  name: instana-core
  namespace: core
spec:
  ...
  featureFlags:
    - name: feature.openstack.enabled
      enabled: true
  ...
 

To enable IBM Power HMC, set the following configuration in the core.yaml file:

apiVersion: instana.io/v1beta2
kind: Core
metadata:
  name: instana-core
  namespace: core
spec:
  ...
  featureFlags:
    - name: feature.phmc.enabled
      enabled: true
  ...
 

To enable IBM Power VC, set the following configuration in the core.yaml file:

apiVersion: instana.io/v1beta2
kind: Core
metadata:
  name: instana-core
  namespace: core
spec:
  ...
  featureFlags:
    - name: feature.powervc.enabled
      enabled: true
  ...
 

To enable IBM Z HMC, set the following configuration in the core.yaml file:

apiVersion: instana.io/v1beta2
kind: Core
metadata:
  name: instana-core
  namespace: core
spec:
  ...
  featureFlags:
    - name: feature.zhmc.enabled
      enabled: true
  ...
 

To enable Business processes components, set the following feature flag under the featureFlags configuration in the core.yaml file:

...
featureFlags:
    - name: feature.business.observability.enabled
      enabled: true
...
 

To enable Windows Hyper-V, set the following configuration in the core.yaml file:

apiVersion: instana.io/v1beta2
kind: Core
metadata:
  name: instana-core
  namespace: core
spec:
  ...
  featureFlags:
    - name: feature.windowshypervisor.enabled
      enabled: true
  ...
 

For more information, see Monitoring Windows Hyper-V.

To enable XenServer, set the following configuration in the core.yaml file:

apiVersion: instana.io/v1beta2
kind: Core
metadata:
  name: instana-core
  namespace: core
spec:
  ...
  featureFlags:
    - name: feature.xenserver.enabled
      enabled: true
  ...
 

To enable Linux KVM hypervisor, set the following configuration in the core.yaml file:

apiVersion: instana.io/v1beta2
kind: Core
metadata:
  name: instana-core
  namespace: core
spec:
  ...
  featureFlags:
    - name: feature.linuxkvmhypervisor.enabled
      enabled: true
  ...
 

For more information, see Monitoring Linux KVM Hypervisor.

You can enable WalkMe to display guided tours, tooltips, and in-product messages that help users onboard faster, discover key features, and obtain contextual support. To enable WalkMe, in the core.yaml file, set the following feature flag in the featureFlags configuration:

...
featureFlags:
    - name: feature.walkme.tool.enabled
      enabled: true
...
 

To enable the Get answers button, set the corresponding feature flag in the core.yaml file. When the Get answers button is enabled, you can click the button in the Instana UI to access WalkMe guidance and the AssistMe support panel.

...
featureFlags:
    - name: feature.walkme.tool.enabled 
      enabled: true
    - name: feature.assistme.enabled
      enabled: true
...
 

To disable the Kubernetes Horizontal Pod Autoscaler monitoring, in the core.yaml file, set the following feature flag in the featureFlags configuration:

...
featureFlags:
    - name: feature.kubernetes.horizontal.pod.autoscaler.enabled
      enabled: false
...