topic Re: Upgrading to the new IBM i extension in Extensions

Upgrading to the new IBM i extension

DamianG — Thu, 21 Dec 2023 09:39:36 GMT

Hello,

I'm running the ActiveGate extension for IBM i (AS400) on my Dynatrace Managed since more than one year ago. It is the version 1.015.1. This was installed using the python extension in the ActiveGate downloaded from the Dynatrace Hub.

I'm planning to upgrade to the newest version of the extension, which is added directly to the environment from the Dynatrace Hub.

I have to questions:

Do I have to remove the previous python extension from the ActiveGate?
Will be the current IBM i metrics added/correlated with the new metrics extracted with the new extension?

Thank you.

Regards,

Damian

Re: Upgrading to the new IBM i extension

Mike_L — Wed, 20 Dec 2023 09:37:49 GMT

Hi Damian,

You don't have to remove the previous one. They can even both run at the same time for a while to ensure continuity.

The new metrics will not be correlated to the old metrics. This comes because the new framework uses a completely new metric store which is much more scalable, and ready for Grail.

Mike

Re: Upgrading to the new IBM i extension

DamianG — Wed, 20 Dec 2023 09:43:40 GMT

Thank you Mike.

Therefore, I have additional questions:

Will I have "running" two Custom devices in Dynatrace showing both of them their own metrics?
Will I have two groups in the Technology overview page related with de IBM i device?
Also the same for metrics, problem detection, etc...?

Thank you.

Re: Upgrading to the new IBM i extension

Mike_L — Wed, 20 Dec 2023 09:53:50 GMT

The new extension doesn't create custom devices, but instead if utilizes the generic devices functionality. This allows the extension to create many more entities with custom relationships.

Generic entities do not show up on the technology overview page, they are browsed to from the IBM i dashboard, which is included in the extension.

I'd recommend to disable the old extension once the new one is up and running and you've set up alerting based on the new metrics. If you don't then they'll both be consuming DDUs and you'll get duplicated alerts.

Re: Upgrading to the new IBM i extension

ChadTurner — Wed, 20 Dec 2023 12:43:39 GMT

@DamianG - keep an eye out for the relationship limits as covered here: https://community.dynatrace.com/t5/Open-Q-A/Relationship-Limit-Reached/td-p/232278

Re: Upgrading to the new IBM i extension

DamianG — Wed, 20 Dec 2023 12:59:00 GMT

Thank you Chad.

My main concern here is: if I delete the legacy extension to install the new one, is it still possible to visualize the "old" metrics in Dynatrace? Are they available to compare with the new ones?

Re: Upgrading to the new IBM i extension

Mike_L — Wed, 20 Dec 2023 13:01:25 GMT

@ChadTurner , if you run into that limit (or the entity definition one), feel free to create a support case as it can be increased.
Damian, you can still visualize the old metrics as long as you just disable the endpoints and/or delete the extension files from the AG. Just don't delete the extension from the UI.