HELP: How Can I Automatically Organize Applications into Segments Using Host Groups?

[NicoleMT]

Good afternoon everyone,

I’m looking for some help with a Dynatrace configuration related to environment organization and application-based Segments.

Our goal is to organize our environment by application. We currently have around 4 applications, with multiple servers belonging to each application.

We were advised to follow this approach:

Step 1 – Set the Host Group on existing servers
The servers already have the appropriate Host Groups configured.

Step 2 – Configure Ingest Enrichment
The suggested approach is to create a rule under:

Settings → Collect and capture → Ingest enrichment configuration

For example:

• Match: Host Group = APP-ACH-PROD

• Map to: primary_tags.application

The idea is that this central mapping would allow current and future servers belonging to that Host Group to inherit the corresponding application tag automatically.

Step 3 – Build Segments using primary_tags.application
The Segments would then be based on the primary_tags values instead of configuring each server individually.

However, I’m having difficulty understanding exactly how Step 2 should be configured, especially the Ingest Enrichment rule and the correct mapping to primary_tags.application.

We have already been working with Support for several days, but we still haven't been able to get a clear example that works for our use case.

Our main objective is to segment the environment by application without having to manually configure every server or run commands individually. With Management Zones, this was much easier for us, so we are trying to achieve a similar centralized organization using the current Grail/Segments approach.

If anyone has already implemented Host Group → Ingest Enrichment → primary_tags.application → Segments, could you please share an example of how you configured the rule?

Even a screenshot or a simple example of the configuration would be extremely helpful.

Thank you very much in advance for any help! 🙏

[sujit_k_singh · Accepted solution]

Hi @NicoleMT 

I have completed the entire setup in my lab environment. Please see the details below:

As you have already created the Host Group, the first step is complete. In my test environment, I created a Host Group named Dev-Linux, and the host is successfully associated with it.

The next step is Ingest Enrichment. Here, you can map the Host Group to a Primary Tag. In my configuration:

• Source attribute: dt.host_group.id
• Target: Primary Tag
• Primary tag key: application
• Condition: matchesValue(dt.host_group.id, "Dev-Linux")

This configuration automatically populates the Primary Tag with the Host Group value. The dt.host_group.id attribute resolves to the Host Group name and is mapped to primary_tags.application.

Finally, I configured the Segment using the Primary Tag created by the Ingest Enrichment rule. After the configuration was completed, I was able to see the Dev Linux segment under the Infrastructure & Operations application, and the host associated with the Dev-Linux Host Group was displayed within that segment even other components too like process, containers, logs etc

Now i can see segment under Infrastructure app

Thanks,

Sujit

[NicoleMT]

Hi @sujit_k_singh,

Thank you very much. I also wanted to ask whether this configuration can be used to filter Services, Traces, Logs, and Dashboards, or if its scope is limited to a specific component.

Aagain.... Thank you very much for your help. It is really useful for us and we truly appreciate your support.

[sujit_k_singh]

Hi @NicoleMT 

Yes, with this segment configuration, you should be able to see all relevant data.

As shown in the screenshots, the segment can be used to filter and view data across:

• Services
• Distributed Tracing
• Logs
• Dashboard

You can also validate the data directly from the Segment settings page. Open the segment, click Preview, and verify whether the expected data is visible. If data appears in the preview, it confirms that data is being ingested and matched by the segment configuration.

Services

Tracing 

Logs

Segment Setting page

Thanks,

Sujit

[NicoleMT]

Hi @sujit_k_singh 

again, thank you very much for the information. It works correctly with everything except the Services app. Did you make any additional configuration for it to work in that case? I followed all the steps exactl

[sujit_k_singh]

Hi Nic,

I suspect you're using Services -> Explorer. The issue is related to a known limitation in the default Explorer view, which does not fully support Segment-based filtering. As a result, no data is displayed when filtering by Segments.

The Explorer (Early Access) version has native Segment support, which is why it works correctly. In screenshot I have selected Early Access version.

To avoid switching back and forth, you can make Early Access your default:

• Go to Services
• Enable the "Use latest features" toggle in the top-right of the app header

Let me know if you're still not seeing the data after enabling it.

Thanks,

Sujit

[suraj_gupta3]

Hello,

Do you know how do we map an "web-application - XYZ" with this hostgroup? Usually, it works well in Managed using auto-tag using hostgroup but not sure how to achieve this in Dynatrace SAAS?

Regards,

Suraj Gupta

[sujit_k_singh]

Hi @suraj_gupta3 

Frontend/RUM entities didn't automatically appear in my segment when using Host Group based primary tags. To include Frontend data in the same segment, add an OpenPipeline processor that assigns the same primary_tags.application value to User Session data based on frontend.name. This allows both infrastructure and frontend telemetry to be accessed through a single segment (Dev-Linux).

Steps below---

Settings → Process and contextualize → OpenPipeline → User sessions

Create a custom pipeline (e.g. webapp)

Create a routing rule that sends matching sessions to the custom pipeline.

Segment Definition — Use OR Condition
Settings → Environment segmentation → Segments

Thanks,

Sujit