Stan's Corner

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  • 1.  IBM APM v8 and Instana

    Posted Mon October 04, 2021 08:30 AM
    Hello.

    We are using IBM APM v8 for several years (before that IBM ITM and ITCAM) and now we would like to go on with Instana & Turbonomic. Does anyone already did that and how did you solved the migration of Agent Builder solutions which were custom made in ITM6 and APM8 - most of them custom SNMP (UPS, HW ....) and script provider. There is integration Instana & APM for OS agents but not for AB agents?
    Is there any solution for custom made checks.
    Thank you.

    Regards, Peter

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    Peter Mismas
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  • 2.  RE: IBM APM v8 and Instana

    IBM TechXchange Speaker
    Posted Mon October 04, 2021 10:18 AM
      |   view attached
    We're not quite ready to migrate Agent Builder solutions into Instana.   Custom monitoring is on the roadmap.

    The one thing that is there today, is the ability to integrate the APM v8 environment into Instana.  Currently, this is limited to the OS Agents.  Other Agents will be coming starting this quarter.   You can find information here:  https://www.instana.com/docs/ecosystem/ibm-apmproxy/.  It is pretty easy to setup.  You apply a patch to the APM v8 server and it starts to send metric data into Instana.

    In the attached picture, the Zone labeled "APMv8" are systems coming from my APM v8 server.

    ------------------------------
    Ben Stern
    Executive IT Specialist / Monitoring and Analytics Best Practices and Technical Evangelist
    IBM
    Durham NC
    919-224-1593
    ------------------------------



  • 3.  RE: IBM APM v8 and Instana

    Posted Tue October 05, 2021 05:38 AM
    Hello Ben,
    How about ITM v6 Integration? Is it on the roadmap?

    best regards
    Mike Hofmann

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    Mike Hofmann
    IBM
    Ehningen
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  • 4.  RE: IBM APM v8 and Instana

    IBM TechXchange Speaker
    Posted Tue October 05, 2021 06:30 AM
    @Mike Hofmann - not just on the roadmap, first versions are already available! :)

    https://www.instana.com/docs/ecosystem/ibm-itmv6

    https://www.instana.com/docs/releases/notes/build_209/

    -- Robert​

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    Robert Barron
    @flyingbarron on twitter & linkedin
    Blogging at https://flyingbarron.medium.com
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  • 5.  RE: IBM APM v8 and Instana

    IBM TechXchange Speaker
    Posted Tue October 05, 2021 07:13 AM
    Regarding ITM v6, the first version is available as a tech preview. It only covers the OS Agents initially.  Other Agents like MQ, WAS, DB2, etc. are in the works.  Expect a subset of the agents to be available in Q4 and then more in Q1.

    The approach for ITM v6 is a little different than APM v8.  With APM v8, you apply a patch to the APM v8 server.  With ITM v6, you will apply a patch to each TEMA.    This is primarily due to scaling limitations.  There is no way to query the HUB TEMS for the volume of data expected for the thousands of connected Agents.

    ------------------------------
    Ben Stern
    Executive IT Specialist / Monitoring and Analytics Best Practices and Technical Evangelist
    IBM
    Durham NC
    919-224-1593
    ------------------------------



  • 6.  RE: IBM APM v8 and Instana

    Posted Tue October 05, 2021 07:15 AM
    Thank you Robert.
    Who can read has a clear advantage :)

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    Mike Hofmann
    IBM
    Ehningen
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  • 7.  RE: IBM APM v8 and Instana

    Posted Fri October 08, 2021 06:01 AM
    Hi Ben.
    Thank you for your answer. Do you have any info when custom monitoring is planed -  short term or long term?
    Regards. Peter

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    Peter Mismas
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  • 8.  RE: IBM APM v8 and Instana

    IBM TechXchange Speaker
    Posted Fri October 08, 2021 08:45 AM
    No firm dates yet regarding capabilities like the Agent Builder. 

    but, there are some capabilities you can use today.   For example, you can bring in Prometheus data per the documentation below.  Notice that you don't even need a prometheus server.  You just need to make the sensor the target for the prometheus data.

    Prometheus
    Instana remove preview
    Prometheus
    Collecting metrics data with Prometheus is becoming more popular. With Instana, it is easy to capture Prometheus metrics and correlate them using our extensive knowledge graph. A typical example is custom business metrics. The Instana Prometheus sensor doesn't require a Prometheus server.
    View this on Instana >


    In addition, the Host Agent has a built in API that accepts Events and custom metrics:  Host Agent REST API
    Instana remove preview
    Host Agent REST API
    The Instana Agent provides a web service API which accepts custom event and trace data. Endpoint: http:// :42699/com.instana.plugin.generic.event Using the Event SDK REST Web Service, it is possible to integrate custom health checks and other event sources into Instana. Each one running the Instana Agent can be used to feed in manual events.
    View this on Instana >

    So, there are definitely capabilities today.   But Agent Builder and having user defined custom agents is still a roadmap item.



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    Ben Stern
    Executive IT Specialist / Monitoring and Analytics Best Practices and Technical Evangelist
    IBM
    Durham NC
    919-224-1593
    ------------------------------