Instana

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Instana is an observability platform that delivers automated Application Performance Monitoring (APM), used for website, infrastructure, and application monitoring.

Instana parameters and supported features in Nobl9

General support:: Release channel: Stable, Beta; Connection method: Agent, Direct; Replay and SLI Analyzer: Not supported; Event logs: Supported; Query checker: Not supported; Query parameters retrieval: Not supported; Timestamp cache persistence: Supported
Query parameters:: Query interval: 1 min; Query delay: 1 min; Jitter: 15 sec; Timeout: 30 sec
Agent details and minimum required versions for supported features:: Environment variable: INSTANA_QUERY_DELAY; Plugin name: n9instana; Timestamp cache persistence: 0.65.0
Additional notes:: No support for website and application (ratio) monitoring metrics; Learn more

Authentication

Instana uses an API token for authorization. When setting up the Nobl9 agent or direct connection to your Instana instance, you need to provide an API token.

You can get your Instana API token in two ways:

By entering the following URL in your browser:

https://${BASE_URL}/#/config/team/accessControl/apiTokens

where the ${BASE_URL} is the URL that points to your Instana instance, for example:
- for SaaS, https://instance-example.instana.io
- for self-hosted solutions, http://instana-service:9000
In the Instana UI, by selecting Settings > Team Settings > Access Control > API Tokens > Add API Token

For more information on authentication, refer to the Instana API | Instana documentation.

warning

Do not add any additional permissions to the API token. Metrics fetching works well with a clean API token.

Adding Instana as a data source

To ensure data transmission between Nobl9 and Instana, it may be necessary to list Nobl9 IP addresses as trusted.

💻ip allowlist

IP addresses to include in your allowlist for secure access:

If you're using app.nobl9.com instance:

18.159.114.21
18.158.132.186
3.64.154.26

If you're using us1.nobl9.com instance:

34.121.54.120
34.123.193.191
34.134.71.10
35.192.105.150
35.225.248.37
35.226.78.175
104.198.44.161

You can add the Instana data source using the direct or agent connection methods.

Direct connection method

A direct connection to Instana requires users to enter their credentials, which Nobl9 stores safely.

Nobl9 Web

To set up this type of connection:

Navigate to Integrations > Sources.
Click .
Click the required Source button.
Choose Direct.

Select one of the following Release Channels:
- The stable channel is fully tested by the Nobl9 team. It represents the final product; however, this channel does not contain all the new features of a beta release. Use it to avoid crashes and other limitations.
- The beta channel is under active development. Here, you can check out new features and improvements without the risk of affecting any viable SLOs. Remember that features in this channel can change.
Add the URL to connect to your data source (mandatory).
Provide the base URL that points to your Instana instance. For more details, refer to the Authentication section above.
Enter your Instana API Token (mandatory).
To use Instana web REST API, you need to create an API token. For more details, refer to the Authentication section above.

Select a Project.
Specifying a project is helpful when multiple users are spread across multiple teams or projects. When the Project field is left blank, Nobl9 uses the default project.
Enter a Display Name.
You can enter a user-friendly name with spaces in this field.
Enter a Name.
The name is mandatory and can only contain lowercase, alphanumeric characters, and dashes (for example, my-project-1). Nobl9 duplicates the display name here, transforming it into the supported format, but you can edit the result.
Enter a Description.
Here you can add details such as who is responsible for the integration (team/owner) and the purpose of creating it.
Specify the Query delay to set a customized delay for queries when pulling the data from the data source.
- The default value in Instana integration for Query delay is 1 minute.
info
Changing the Query delay may affect your SLI data. For more details, check the Query delay documentation.
Click Add Data Source.

sloctl

The YAML for setting up a direct connection to Instana looks like this:

apiVersion: n9/v1alpha
kind: Direct
metadata:
  name: instana-direct
  displayName: Instana Direct
  project: default
spec:
  description: Direct settings for Instana datasource
  sourceOf:
  - Metrics
  - Services
  queryDelay:
      unit: Minute # string, one of: Second || Minute
      value: 720 # numeric, must be a number less than 1440 minutes (24 hours)
  logCollectionEnabled: false # boolean, defaults to 'false'. Set to true if you'd like your source to collect logs. Available for data sources connected using the direct method only. Reach out to support@nobl9.com to activate it.
  instana:
    apiToken: "" # secret
    url: https://instance-example.instana.io

Field	Type	Description
`queryDelay.unit` mandatory	enum	Specifies the unit for the query delay. Possible values: `Second` \| `Minute`. • Check query delay documentation for default unit of query delay for each source.
`queryDelay.value` mandatory	numeric	Specifies the value for the query delay. • Must be a number less than 1440 minutes (24 hours). • Check query delay documentation for default unit of query delay for each source.
`logCollectionEnabled` optional	boolean	Optional. Defaults to `false`. Set to `true` if you'd like your direct to collect event logs. Contact us to activate it.
`releaseChannel` mandatory	enum	Specifies the release channel. Accepted values: `beta` \| `stable`.
Source-specific fields
`instana.apiToken` mandatory	string, secret	See authentication section above for more details.
`instana.url` mandatory	string	Base URL that points to your Instana instance. See authentication for more details

Agent connection method

Nobl9 Web

Follow the instructions below to set up an agent connection.

Navigate to Integrations > Sources.
Click .
Click the required Source button.
Choose Direct.

Select one of the following Release Channels:
- The stable channel is fully tested by the Nobl9 team. It represents the final product; however, this channel does not contain all the new features of a beta release. Use it to avoid crashes and other limitations.
- The beta channel is under active development. Here, you can check out new features and improvements without the risk of affecting any viable SLOs. Remember that features in this channel can change.
Add the URL to connect to your data source (mandatory).

Select a Project.
Specifying a project is helpful when multiple users are spread across multiple teams or projects. When the Project field is left blank, Nobl9 uses the default project.
Enter a Display Name.
You can enter a user-friendly name with spaces in this field.
Enter a Name.
The name is mandatory and can only contain lowercase, alphanumeric characters, and dashes (for example, my-project-1). Nobl9 duplicates the display name here, transforming it into the supported format, but you can edit the result.
Enter a Description.
Here you can add details such as who is responsible for the integration (team/owner) and the purpose of creating it.
Specify the Query delay to set a customized delay for queries when pulling the data from the data source.
- The default value in Instana integration for Query delay is 1 minute.
info
Changing the Query delay may affect your SLI data. For more details, check the Query delay documentation.
Click Add Data Source.

sloctl

The YAML for setting up an agent connection to Instana looks like this:

apiVersion: n9/v1alpha
kind: Agent
metadata:
  name: instana-agent
  displayName: Instana Agent
  project: default
spec:
  description: Agent settings for instana datasource
  sourceOf:
    - Metrics
    - Services
  releaseChannel: stable
  queryDelay:
      unit: Minute
      value: 720
  instana:
    url: https://instance-example.instana.io

Field	Type	Description
`queryDelay.unit` mandatory	enum	Specifies the unit for the query delay. Possible values: `Second` \| `Minute`. • Check query delay documentation for default unit of query delay for each source.
`queryDelay.value` mandatory	numeric	Specifies the value for the query delay. • Must be a number less than 1440 minutes (24 hours). • Check query delay documentation for default unit of query delay for each source.
`releaseChannel` mandatory	enum	Specifies the release channel. Accepted values: `beta` \| `stable`.
Source-specific fields
`instana.url` mandatory	string	Base URL that points to your Instana instance. See authentication section above for more details

warning

You can deploy only one agent in one YAML file by using the sloctl apply command.

Agent deployment

When you add the data source, Nobl9 automatically generates a Kubernetes configuration and a Docker command line for you to use to deploy the agent. Both of these are available in the web UI, under the Agent Configuration section. Be sure to swap in your credentials (e.g., replace <INSTANA_API_TOKEN> with your API token).

Kubernetes
Docker

If you use Kubernetes, you can apply the supplied YAML config file to a Kubernetes cluster to deploy the agent.

# DISCLAIMER: This deployment description contains only the fields necessary for the purpose of this demo.
# It is not a ready-to-apply k8s deployment description, and the client_id and client_secret are only exemplary values.

apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
  name: nobl9-agent-dev-instana-myagent
  namespace: default
type: Opaque
stringData:
  client_id: "Redeemed"
  client_secret: "Redeemed"
  instana_api_token: "<INSTANA_API_TOKEN>"
---
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: nobl9-agent-dev-instana-myagent
  namespace: default
spec:
  replicas: 1
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      nobl9-agent-name: "instana-agent"
      nobl9-agent-project: "instana-project"
      nobl9-agent-organization: "my-org"
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        nobl9-agent-name: "instana-agent"
        nobl9-agent-project: "instana-project"
        nobl9-agent-organization: "my-org"
    spec:
      containers:
        - name: agent-container
          image: nobl9/agent:0.82.2
          resources:
            requests:
              memory: "350Mi"
              cpu: "0.1"
          env:
            - name: N9_CLIENT_ID
              valueFrom:
                secretKeyRef:
                  key: client_id
                  name: nobl9-agent-dev-instana-myagent
            - name: N9_CLIENT_SECRET
              valueFrom:
                secretKeyRef:
                  key: client_secret
                  name: nobl9-agent-dev-instana-myagent
            - name: AUTH_METHOD
              value: api_token
            - name: API_TOKEN
              valueFrom:
                secretKeyRef:
                  key: instana_api_token
                  name: nobl9-agent-dev-instana-myagent
            # The N9_METRICS_PORT is a variable specifying the port to which the /metrics and /health endpoints are exposed.
            # The 9090 is the default value and can be changed.
            # If you don’t want the metrics to be exposed, comment out or delete the N9_METRICS_PORT variable.
            - name: N9_METRICS_PORT
              value: "9090"

If you use Docker, you can run the supplied Docker command to deploy the agent. It will look something like this:

# DISCLAIMER: This Docker command contains only the fields necessary for the purpose of this demo.
# It is not a ready-to-apply command, and you will need to replace the placeholder values with your own values.

docker run -d --restart on-failure \
  --name nobl9-agent-dev-instana-myagent \
  -e N9_CLIENT_ID="unique_client_id" \
  -e N9_CLIENT_SECRET="client_secret" \
  # The N9_METRICS_PORT is a variable specifying the port to which the /metrics and /health endpoints are exposed.
  # The 9090 is the default value and can be changed.
  # If you don’t want the metrics to be exposed, comment out or delete the N9_METRICS_PORT variable.
  -e N9_METRICS_PORT=9090 \
  -e AUTH_METHOD="api_token" \
  -e API_TOKEN="INSTANA_API_TOKEN" \
  nobl9/agent: 0.82.2

Creating SLOs with Instana

Instana allows you to create SLOs based on:

Infrastructure metrics (for infrastructure components)
Application metrics (for defined applications, discovered services, and endpoints)

Infrastructure metrics can be defined as either Threshold metrics or Ratio metrics, but Application metrics can only be defined as Threshold metrics.

See the instructions in the following sections for more details.

Nobl9 Web

Threshold – Infrastructure
Threshold – Application
Ratio – Infrastructure

Follow the instructions below to create an SLO based on a Threshold metric using the Infrastructure type:

Navigate to Service Level Objectives.
Click the button.
In step 1 of the SLO wizard, select the Service the SLO will be associated with.
In step 2, select Instana as the data source for your SLO, then specify the Metric.
Select Threshold metric > Infrastructure.
Enter the Plugin ID (the ID of the plugin available in your monitored system for which you want to retrieve the metric). For more information, refer to the Instana metrics.
Enter the Metric ID, meaning the ID of the metric you want to retrieve. For more information, refer to the Instana metrics.
From the Metric Retrieval Method picklist, select a method to obtain the specific metrics with:

Query, using Dynamic Focus search and filter function:

To provide the query, go to Infrastructure > Map in the Instana UI and build the query in the input field, for example, entity.selfType:zookeeper AND entity.label:replica.1.

Snapshot ID, a unique immutable set of metadata, a snapshot:

You can get the Snapshot ID from the URL in Instana’s UI by looking for the snapshotId=[SNAPSHOT_ID] parameter, for example, GbMUvWHy12TTRsIm3Lko4LDAklw.

For more information, refer to the Instana metrics.

Enter the Query or the Snapshot ID.
In step 3, define a Time Window for the SLO.
In step 4, specify the Error Budget Calculation Method and your Objective(s).
In step 5, add a Name, Description, and other details about your SLO. You can also select Alert policies and Labels on this screen.
When you've finished, click Create SLO.

Follow the instructions below to create an SLO based on a Threshold metric using the Application type:

Navigate to Service Level Objectives.

Click the button.

In step 1 of the SLO wizard, select the Service the SLO will be associated with.

In step 2, select Instana as the data source for your SLO, then specify the Metric.

Select Threshold metric > Application.

Select the Metric ID you want to use from the following list:

Calls - to monitor the number of received calls
Erroneous Calls - to monitor the number of erroneous calls
Erroneous Calls Rate - to monitor the error rate of received calls
Latency - to monitor the latency of received calls in milliseconds

Select the Aggregation. The following list shows the aggregations available for each Metric ID:

Calls: sum
Erroneous Calls: sum
Erroneous Calls Rate: mean
Latency: sum, mean, max, min, p25, p50, p75, p90, p95, p98, p99

Note that the value in the Aggregation field is selected by default for Calls, Erroneous Calls, and Erroneous Calls Rate Metric ID values.

Enter the API query. You must create this in the Instana UI and copy and paste it here. There are two methods you can use to specify the query:

Method 1:
From the Applications tab, by selecting the Application, Service, or Endpoint you want to observe and clicking the Analyze Calls button.

In the Filter field, you can already see a partially defined query. The applied filter must point to the exact entity you want to be observed, for example:

Filter using entity name - be as specific as possible. Providing only the endpoint name or a service name in the filter will most likely be insufficient. There can be a lot of GET / endpoints belonging to different services and applications. Likewise, the same service name can appear in various applications.

Any additional manual selections from the left panel in Instana UI will be included in the API query, for example, HTTP Status or Technologies.

Decide which of the hidden calls you’d like to include - Synthetic or Internal. They are not included in the API query and need to be passed to Nobl9 manually.

Copy the API query. Make sure you have the toggle Include filter sidebar items on, otherwise, the additional manual selections won’t be included in the API query.

Select the Group, meaning the single entity you want to be observed. Group by the most specific parameter in the created filter. You can always view the resulting groups below the charts in the Analytics view.

Follow these guidelines to apply the correct grouping:

A combination of filters and group elements must point to a single entity.
Group by the last logical element in the defined filter. Be as specific as possible.
The state of the monitored system may change and more than one group can be associated with the previously applied grouping. Therefore, group by entity names as accurately as possible.
You may have to change the group element accordingly when you change the applied filter.

Method 2:
Go to Analytics, specify the query, and follow the instructions above.
For more information, refer to the Application Analyze | Instana Documentation.

Enter the Tag, Tag Entity, and Tag Second Level Key (if applicable). You can get the Group details in two ways:

In the Instana UI, look for the groupBy=(...) section in the URL.

Note that field names vary between the Instana API and the Nobl9 API:

Field name in Instana	Field name in Nobl9
`groupbyTag`	`tag`
`groupbyTagEntity`	`tagEntity`
`groupbyTagSecondLevelKey`	`tagSecondLevelKey`

Parse the deeplink by using the following script and convert it to YAML for the Nobl9 sloctl:

#!/bin/bash
  echo "$DEEPLINK" |
    sed 's/;/\n/g' |
    grep groupBy |
    sed 's/groupBy=(//' |
    sed 's/).*//' |
    tr -d '\n' |
    awk '
      BEGIN {RS = "~"; print "groupBy:"}
      {ctr++}
      ctr == 1 {key = $0}
      ctr == 2 {value = $0; printf "  %s: \"%s\"\n", key, value; ctr = 0}' |
    sed 's/groupbyT/t/g' |
    awk -F':' '
      BEGIN {tagEntityExists = 0}
      $1 ~ "tagEntity" {tagEntityExists = 1}
      {print}
      END {
        if(tagEntityExists == 0)
          {print "  tagEntity: \"NOT_APPLICABLE\""}
      }'

If you want to include the hidden calls, check the Synthetic or Internal checkbox in the Include Hidden Calls field.

In step 3, define a Time Window for the SLO.

In step 4, specify the Error Budget Calculation Method and your Objective(s).

In step 5, add a Name, Description, and other details about your SLO. You can also select Alert policies and Labels on this screen.

When you’ve finished, click Create SLO.

Follow the instructions below to create an SLO based on a Ratio metric using the Infrastructure type:

Navigate to Service Level Objectives.

Click the button.

In step 1 of the SLO wizard, select the Service the SLO will be associated with.

In step 2, select Instana as the data source for your SLO, then specify the Metric.

Select Ratio metric > Infrastructure.

Choose the Data Count Method:

Non-incremental: counts incoming metric values one-by-one. So the resulting SLO graph is pike-shaped.

Incremental: counts the incoming metric values incrementally, adding every next value to previous values. It results in a constantly increasing SLO graph.

Enter the Plugin ID for Good and Total metrics (that is, the ID of the plugin available in your monitored system for which you want to retrieve the metric).

Instana Metrics | Nobl9 Documentation

Enter the Metric ID for the Good and Total metrics (the ID of the metric you want to retrieve).

Instana Metrics | Nobl9 Documentation

From the Metric Retrieval Method picklist, select a method to obtain the specific metrics with:

Query using Dynamic Focus search and filter function

Snapshot ID, a unique immutable set of metadata, a snapshot.

Enter the Query or the Snapshot ID for the good and total metrics:

To provide the query, go to Infrastructure > Map in the Instana UI and build the query in the input field, for example, entity.selfType:zookeeper AND entity.label:replica.1.

Build the query using entity names filters - be as specific as possible. Since Nobl9 can only process a single dataset and there is no aggregation on the Nobl9 side, the applied filter must point to the exact entity you want to be observed.

You can get the Snapshot ID from the URL in Instana’s UI by looking for the snapshotId=[SNAPSHOT_ID] parameter, for example, GbMUvWHy12TTRsIm3Lko4LDAklw.

For more information, refer to the Instana metrics.

Note: Ratio metric allows you to combine different Metric Retrieval Methods. For example, you can use query method for the good metric, and Snapshot ID method for the total metric.

In step 3, define a Time Window for the SLO.

In step 4, specify the Error Budget Calculation Method and your Objective(s).

In step 5, add a Name, Description, and other details about your SLO. You can also select Alert policies and Labels on this screen.

When you’ve finished, click Create SLO.

SLI values for good and total

When choosing the query for the ratio SLI (countMetrics), keep in mind that the values resulting from that query for both good and total:

Must be positive.
While we recommend using integers, fractions are also acceptable.

If using fractions, we recommend them to be larger than 1e-4 = 0.0001.

Shouldn't be larger than 1e+20.

sloctl

Generic schema with a description of objects and field validations:

apiVersion: n9/v1alpha
kind: SLO
metadata:
  name: string
  displayName: string # optional
  project: string
spec:
  description: string # optional
  service: [service name] # name of the service you defined in the same project as the SLO
  indicator:
    metricSource:
      name: [datasource name] # name of the data source you defined
      project: [project name] # optional if not defined, project is the same as the SLO
    rawMetric:
      # exactly one of possible source types which depends on selected metricSource for the SLO
      instana: # application XOR infrastructure
        metricType: oneOf{"application", "infrastructure"} # mandatory
        infrastructure:
          metricRetrievalMethod: oneOf{"query", "snapshot"} # mandatory
          query: "string" # XOR with snapshotId
          snapshotId: "string" # XOR with query
          metricId: "string" # mandatory
          pluginId: "string" # mandatory
        application:
          metricId: # mandatory, oneOf{"calls", "erroneousCalls", "errors", "latency"}
          aggregation: "" # mandatory, value depends on the metricId type. See notes below
          groupBy: # mandatory
            tag: "" # mandatory
            tagEntity: "" # mandatory, oneOf{"DESTINATION", "SOURCE", "NOT_APPLICABLE"}
            tagSecondLevelKey: "" # mandatory
          apiQuery: "{}" # mandatory, API query user passes in a JSON format. Must be a valid JSON
          includeInternal: false # optional, default value is false
          includeSynthetic: false # optional, default value is false

Notes:

aggregation - Depends on the value specified for metricId:
- For calls and erroneousCalls: use sum.
- For errors: use mean.
- For latency: use one of the values sum, mean, min, max, p25, p50, p75, p90, p95, p98, p99.

rawMetric

Application query
Infrastructure query
Infrastructure snapshot

Here’s an example of Instana using rawMetric (Threshold metric) with metricType=”application”, and the Query retrieval method:

apiVersion: n9/v1alpha
kind: SLO
metadata:
  name: opentsdb-datanode-latency-95th-application-query
  project: instana
spec:
  service: instana-service
  indicator:
    metricSource:
      name: instana
      project: instana
  timeWindows:
    - unit: Week
      count: 1
      calendar:
        startTime: 2020-01-21 12:30:00 # date with time in 24h format
        timeZone: America/New_York # name as in IANA Time Zone Database
  budgetingMethod: Occurrences
  objectives:
    - displayName: Healthy
      value: 10
      op: lte
      rawMetric:
        query:
          instana:
            metricType: "application"
            application:
              metricId: "latency"
              aggregation: "p95"
              groupBy:
                tag: "endpoint.name"
                tagEntity: "DESTINATION"
                tagSecondLevelKey: ""
              includeInternal: false
              includeSynthetic: false
              apiQuery: "{}"
      target: 0.99
    - displayName: Slower
      value: 30
      op: lte
      rawMetric:
        query:
          instana:
            metricType: "application"
            application:
              metricId: "latency"
              aggregation: "p95"
              groupBy:
                tag: "endpoint.name"
                tagEntity: "DESTINATION"
                tagSecondLevelKey: ""
              includeInternal: false
              includeSynthetic: false
              apiQuery: "{}"
      target: 0.95
    - displayName: Critical
      value: 100
      op: lte
      rawMetric:
        query:
          instana:
            metricType: "application"
            application:
              metricId: "latency"
              aggregation: "p95"
              groupBy:
                tag: "endpoint.name"
                tagEntity: "DESTINATION"
                tagSecondLevelKey: ""
              includeInternal: false
              includeSynthetic: false
              apiQuery: "{}"
      target: 0.95

Here’s an example of Instana using rawMetric (Threshold metric) with metricType=”infrastructure”, and the Query retrieval method:

apiVersion: n9/v1alpha
kind: SLO
metadata:
  name: zookeeper-outstanding-requests-replica-1-infrastructure-query
  project: instana
spec:
  description: The number of queued requests in the server. This goes up when the server receives more requests than it can process.
  service: instana-service
  indicator:
    metricSource:
      name: instana
      project: instana
  timeWindows:
    - unit: Week
      count: 1
      calendar:
        startTime: 2020-01-21 12:30:00 # date with time in 24h format
        timeZone: America/New_York # name as in IANA Time Zone Database
  budgetingMethod: Occurrences
  objectives:
    - displayName: Acceptable
      value: 10
      op: lte
      rawMetric:
        query:
          instana:
            metricType: "infrastructure"
            infrastructure:
              metricRetrievalMethod: "query"
              metricId: "metricId"
              pluginId: "pluginId"
              query: "entity.service.name:zookeeper entity.label:replica.1"
      target: 0.9

Here’s an example of Instana using rawMetric (Threshold metric) with metricType=”infrastructure”, and the Snapshot ID retrieval method:

apiVersion: n9/v1alpha
kind: SLO
metadata:
  name: nodes-availability-infrastructure-snapshot
  project: instana
spec:
  service: instana-service
  indicator:
    metricSource:
      name: instana
      project: instana
  timeWindows:
    - unit: Week
      count: 1
      calendar:
        startTime: 2020-01-21 12:30:00 # date with time in 24h format
        timeZone: America/New_York # name as in IANA Time Zone Database
  budgetingMethod: Occurrences
  objectives:
    - displayName: Healthy
      value: 1
      op: lt
      rawMetric:
        query:
          instana:
            metricType: "infrastructure"
            infrastructure:
              metricRetrievalMethod: "snapshot"
              metricId: "metricId"
              pluginId: "pluginId"
              snapshotId: "snapshotId"
      target: 0.99

countMetric

Infrastructure
Infrastructure query
Infrastructure snapshot

Here’s an example of Instana using countMetric (Ratio metric) with metricType=”infrastructure”:

apiVersion: n9/v1alpha
kind: SLO
metadata:
  name: slo-with-instana-agent-count-metrics-with-infrastructure
  displayName: Slo with Instana agent count metrics with infrastructure
spec:
  description: Description
  service: webapp-service
  indicator:
    metricSource:
      name: instana
  timeWindows:
    - unit: Week
      count: 1
      calendar:
        startTime: 2020-01-21 12:30:00 # date with time in 24h format
        timeZone: America/New_York # name as in IANA Time Zone Database
  budgetingMethod: Occurrences
  objectives:
    - displayName: Good
      value: 7.5
      target: 0.9
      countMetrics:
        incremental: false
        good:
          instana:
            metricType: "infrastructure"
            infrastructure:
              metricRetrievalMethod: "query"
              query: "queryGood"
              metricId: "metricId"
              pluginId: "pluginId"
        total:
          instana:
            metricType: "infrastructure"
            infrastructure:
              metricRetrievalMethod: "snapshot"
              snapshotId: "snapshotId"
              metricId: "metricId"
              pluginId: "pluginId"

Here’s an example of Instana using countMetric (Ratio metric) with metricType=”infrastructure”, and the Query retrieval method:

apiVersion: n9/v1alpha
kind: SLO
metadata:
  name: opentsdb-replicas-availability-infrastructure-query
  project: instana
spec:
  service: instana-service
  indicator:
    metricSource:
      name: instana
      project: instana
  timeWindows:
    - unit: Week
      count: 1
      calendar:
        startTime: 2020-01-21 12:30:00 # date with time in 24h format
        timeZone: America/New_York # name as in IANA Time Zone Database
  budgetingMethod: Occurrences
  objectives:
    - displayName: Acceptable
      value: 0.95
      target: 0.9
      countMetrics:
        incremental: false
        good:
          instana:
            metricType: "infrastructure"
            infrastructure:
              metricRetrievalMethod: "query"
              metricId: "metricId"
              pluginId: "pluginId"
              query: "queryGood"
        total:
          instana:
            metricType: "infrastructure"
            infrastructure:
              metricRetrievalMethod: "query"
              metricId: "metricId"
              pluginId: "pluginId"
              query: "queryGood"

Here’s an example of Instana using countMetric (Ratio metric) with metricType=”infrastructure”, and the Snapshot ID retrieval method:

apiVersion: n9/v1alpha
kind: SLO
metadata:
  name: dev-tooling-all-replicas-availability-infrastructure-snapshot
  project: instana
spec:
  service: instana-service
  indicator:
    metricSource:
      name: instana
      project: instana
  timeWindows:
    - unit: Week
      count: 1
      calendar:
        startTime: 2020-01-21 12:30:00 # date with time in 24h format
        timeZone: America/New_York # name as in IANA Time Zone Database
  budgetingMethod: Occurrences
  objectives:
    - displayName: Acceptable
      value: 0.95
      target: 0.9
      countMetrics:
        incremental: false
        good:
          instana:
            metricType: "infrastructure"
            infrastructure:
              metricRetrievalMethod: "snapshot"
              metricId: "metricId"
              pluginId: "pluginId"
              snapshotId: "snapshotId"
        total:
          instana:
            metricType: "infrastructure"
            infrastructure:
              metricRetrievalMethod: "snapshot"
              metricId: "metricId"
              pluginId: "pluginId"
              snapshotId: "snapshotId"

Instana metrics

`pluginId`

Plugins are entities for which metrics are collected. You cannot get the pluginId from the Instana UI. To fetch the list of available plugins, use the following API request:

curl --request GET \
       --url https://${BASE_URL}/api/infrastructure-monitoring/catalog/plugins \
       --header "authorization: apiToken ${API_TOKEN}"

This request returns a list of plugins. The plugin value is the pluginId while label is used in the Instana UI as a display name:

[
    {
      "plugin": "zooKeeper",
      "label": "ZooKeeper"
    }
]

`metricId`

The metricId is the ID of the metric you want to retrieve. You can get the metricId by using the following API request:

curl --request GET \
       --url https://${BASE_URL}/api/infrastructure-monitoring/catalog/metrics/${PLUGIN_ID} \
       --header "authorization: apiToken ${API_TOKEN}"

note

PLUGIN_ID is the ID of the plugin you want to retrieve the metricId for. It's the plugin from the /api/infrastructure-monitoring/catalog/plugins response.

This request returns a list of all available metrics for this specific plugin, what you are looking for in the response is metricId. Here's an example:

[
    {
      "formatter": "UNDEFINED",
      "label": "ZooKeepers Max request latency",
      "description": "Max request latency",
      "metricId": "max_request_latency",
      "pluginId": "zooKeeper",
      "custom": false
    }
]

note

Currently, Nobl9 only allows you to retrieve one metric at a time.

`query`

The Query is built using Instana's Dynamic Focus search and filter function.

Dynamic Focus queries use Lucene query syntax. The query must be constructed in the Instana UI and copied unchanged. For more information, refer to the Dynamic Focus Query | Instana documentation.

To provide the query, go to Infrastructure > Map in the Instana UI and build the query in the input field, for example, entity.selfType:zookeeper AND entity.label:replica.1.

note

Instana does not allow aggregation of infrastructure metrics. Since Nobl9 can only process a single dataset and there is no aggregation on the N9 side, you have to make sure your query is specific and includes, for example, the name of the target cluster, zone, or node.

`snapshotId`

A snapshot represents static information about an entity as it was at a specific point in time. For more information, refer to the Search Snapshots | Instana API Docs.

You can get the snapshotId from the URL in Instana's UI by looking for the snapshotId=${SNAPSHOT_ID} parameter. For example,

for this URL: https://${BASE_URL}/#/physical/dashboard?timeline.ws=1728000000&timeline.to=1642719600000&timeline.fm=1642719600000&timeline.ar=false&snapshotId=GbMUvQHy12TTRsIm3Lko4LDAklw

the snapshotId is GbMUvQHy12TTRsIm3Lko4LDAklw.

note

Currently, Nobl9 only allows you to retrieve one snapshotId at a time.

warning

Changing the metadata may result in changing the snapshot. When a new snapshotId is generated for the entity you monitor, you must update your SLO. Otherwise, Nobl9 cannot collect any more measurements.

API query example

Here's an example API query for a Threshold > Application metric:

{
  "type":"EXPRESSION",
  "logicalOperator":"AND",
  "elements": [
    {
        "type":"TAG_FILTER",
        "name":"call.inbound_of_application",
        "operator":"EQUALS",
        "entity":"NOT_APPLICABLE",
        "value":"All Services"
    },
    {
        "type":"TAG_FILTER",
        "name":"service.name",
        "operator":"EQUALS",
        "entity":"DESTINATION",
        "value":"datanode"
    },
    {
        "type":"TAG_FILTER",
        "name":"endpoint.name",
        "operator":"EQUALS",
        "entity":"DESTINATION",
        "value":"GET /"
    }
  ]
}