Empowering Observability: Installing Instana Agents on IBM i Systems

In today’s fast-paced IT landscapes, observability is essential for maintaining system reliability and performance. With the Instana host agent available for IBM i, businesses can enhance the IBM i platform with advanced monitoring and tracing capabilities. This enables real-time visibility into applications, middleware, and databases that runs on IBM i, ensuring quick identification of bottlenecks and seamless operations. By deploying the Instana agent, organizations can integrate IBM i into their broader observability ecosystem, empowering them to proactively manage workloads and improve overall system health.

Why Observability on IBM i?

IBM i is renowned for its stability and power, often serving as the backbone of enterprise applications. However, monitoring and managing the intricate operations of IBM i is challenging. By integrating Instana, you can gain visibility into critical metrics, logs, and traces, ensuring optimal performance.

Unlocking the Power of IBM i: Supported Sensors

The following sensors are supported sensors by the Instana host agent on IBM i:

• IBM i: Monitors overall system health, resource usage, jobs, queues, disk, performance metrics and many more. For more information, see Monitoring IBM i instances.
•       Db2 for IBM i: Tracks database activities like query performance, reads/writes, and transactions. For more information, see Monitoring Db2 for IBM i
•       Java virtual machine (JVM): Instana JVM sensor provides deep visibility into Java performance, helping you identify bottlenecks and optimize efficiency. Upon installing the Instana host agent, the JVM sensor activates automatically, collecting real-time metrics and tracing data. These insights, available in the Instana UI, help monitor JVM performance, including garbage collection, memory usage, and thread activity, which help you to pinpoint issues and enhance application reliability. For more information, see Monitoring Java virtual machine.
•       OS Process: Monitors OS-level processes, tracking resource consumption, and operational health. For more information, see Monitoring OS Process.
• WebSphere Application Server: Monitors the health, server status, and application performance of WebSphere. For more information, see Monitoring WebSphere Application Server.
• WebSphere Liberty: Monitors WebSphere Liberty performance by capturing the essential metrics for web applications. To enable monitoring, activate the monitor-1.0 feature in the server.xml file, which is located in the

<websphere-liberty-install-dir>/usr/servers/<specific-server>/directory 

Add the required configuration lines to enable detailed performance insights.
For more information, see Monitoring WebSphere Liberty.

For more information about the supported technology, see supported sensors.

Prerequisites for Installation

Before installing the agent, ensure that your system meets the following prerequisites:

• IBM licensed programs: Required modules like 5770-SS1 and 5770-JV1.
• Open-source packages: Key dependencies include YUM, bash, and others for seamless deployment.
• Agent configuration: Decide on manual or automated installation (for example, Ansible).

For more information, see Agent Prerequisites.

Installation Process

§  Manual Installation: 

1.  Prerequisites: Ensure that the IBM i system has all necessary licensed programs (for example, 5770-SS1) and open source packages installed.

2.  Download Agent: Retrieve the Instana agent package via the provided URL or repository.

3.  Configure Agent: Edit configuration files for your environment.

4.  Deploy Agent: Use manual or automated tools like Ansible.

5.  Start Monitoring: Verify installation and view real-time metrics in Instana.

§  Auomated Deployment  with Ansible: A Streamlined Approach: 

Automating the deployment of the Instana host agent on IBM i by using Ansible simplifies installation across multiple systems. To set up automated deployment, follow these steps:

1.  Set up Ansible Environment: Install and configure Ansible on a control node with connectivity to your IBM i systems.

2.  Create playbooks: Develop YAML-based playbooks detailing the installation steps, including downloading the agent, setting  up dependencies, and configuring it for your environment.

3.  Define inventory: List the target IBM i hosts in the inventory file, specifying connection details and required credentials.

4.  Run playbooks: Run the Ansible playbook.

5.  Verify installation: Post-deployment, confirm that the agent is running and reporting data to Instana.

This method is ideal for large-scale environments, saving time and minimizing manual effort.

For more information on installing the Instana agent by using Ansible, see Installing Agent Using Ansible.
This resource covers step-by-step configurations, including automating deployment and managing multiple IBM i systems efficiently.

Integration and Monitoring

The Instana agent seamlessly integrates with native IBM i sensors, including Db2, WebSphere Liberty, and more. This allows comprehensive data collection and visualization in Instana's unified dashboard.

Starting and Stopping the Instana Host Agent on IBM i

§  Starting the Host Agent:

To initialize the Instana host agent, run the following command in the IBM i environment:

SBMJOB CMD(QSH CMD('export JAVA_HOME=<java-home>; exec bash <instana-agent-dir> /bin/start')) JOBQ(QUSRNOMAX) 

This command starts the agent in the QUSRWRK subsystem under the current user, who must have *ALLOBJ authority. Upon successful initialization, three primary jobs that are named QZSHSH remain active to handle agent operations. These include:

• •       Parent Job: Handles overarching tasks.
  •       Direct Child Job: Manages intermediate processing.
  •      Second-Level Child Job: Operates JVM-based functions

§  Stopping the Host Agent

        To stop the Instana agent, run the following command from the agent’s directory:

<instana-agent-dir>/bin/stop 

This ensures the agent halts all monitoring activities gracefully, maintaining system integrity.

Troubleshooting and Support

If the sensor detects any issues during the monitoring process, Instana provides robust support and logs to identify and resolve them swiftly, ensuring minimal downtime. For more information, see Instana Support.

Conclusion

With this new capability, businesses can harness the full potential of IBM i systems and maintain high operational standards. For more information, see Native Agent support for IBM i .