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  • 1.  How to set TAGS for an Instana agent

    Posted 02/02/26 12:41 PM

    Hi,

    when using the REST API to query existing agents the response contains an intersting array: tags (see example output here)

    We have not found a way though to set those tags for an agent instance. Can someone explain if there is a way to use like the configuration.yaml for this? Or do we need to go through the REST API with a POST to create those tags?

    Thanks for enlightment :-)

    {
  "items": [
    {
      "from": 1770053475000,
      "host": "96:5a:fd:ff:fe:54:2f:51",
      "label": "Instana Agent @ Hr",
      "plugin": "instanaAgent",
      "snapshotId": "pXDWyYT998G1QqcV5yhJ4RJgVV0",
      "tags": [],
      "to": null
    }
  ]
}

    #Agent
    #RESTAPI

    ------------------------------
    Rainer Schuppe Rainer Schuppe
    Instana veteran (since 2016), APM oldtimer (since 2003 Wily, Dynatrace, AppDynamics, Instana, OpenTelemetry)
    https://observability-heroes.com
    ------------------------------


  • 2.  RE: How to set TAGS for an Instana agent

    Posted 02/03/26 04:46 AM

    Hey Rainer,

    Unfortunately, it seems it's not possible using the Rest API, but, you can use the configuration YAML or environment tags, for example, this is for Kubernetes:

    https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/instana-observability/1.0.312?topic=kubernetes-administering-agent#configuring-the-agent__title__1

    Search the word tags and you're going to see how to add them in the configuration YAML using a custom resource.

    Hope this helps.



    ------------------------------
    Israel Ochoa
    CSM Architect - NCEE Market
    IBM
    Stockholm
    Visit "IBM Instana - The Lost Docs" -> https://isreal8a.github.io/instana-docs
    ------------------------------



  • 3.  RE: How to set TAGS for an Instana agent

    Posted 02/03/26 05:39 AM
    Edited by Rainer Schuppe 02/03/26 05:41 AM

    Hey Israel,

    Thanks for the reply. We tried that, but when we set the tags in the configuration.yaml they are applied to the host only and are not applied to the agent on that host. The JSON example in this thread is the output for a query where there are tags set on the host, but the agent tags array is empty.

    That's why I asked how to set those.

    Any idea how to get something into the tags array of the agent? - Update: There is an environment variable INSTANA_AGENT_TAGS which can be used. But that seems to be the only way - at least documented.

    Thanks and regs,

    Rainer



    ------------------------------
    Rainer Schuppe Rainer Schuppe
    Instana veteran (since 2016), APM oldtimer (since 2003 Wily, Dynatrace, AppDynamics, Instana, OpenTelemetry)
    https://observability-heroes.com
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: How to set TAGS for an Instana agent

    Posted 02/13/26 07:35 AM

    And you're correct, this will not work, the REST API doesn't support that, my suggestion is to create an idea for this.



    ------------------------------
    Israel Ochoa
    CSM Architect - NCEE Market
    IBM
    Stockholm
    Visit "IBM Instana - The Lost Docs" -> https://isreal8a.github.io/instana-docs
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


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