Combining services or Process groups for Apache Web Server*

[vikascsb]

Hi Team,

We are observing duplicate services in Dynatrace that appear to be the same service but running on different port numbers.

We attempted to combine them using Advanced Process Group Detection Rules, considering that the processes have the same executable, but it didn’t work as expected.

Could anyone please help us understand how we can merge or group these services effectively? An example or guidance would be highly appreciated.

[AntonPineiro]

Hi,

I would use Declarative process grouping.

Best regards

[t_pawlak]

You need to distinguish between Process Groups (PGs) and Services in Dynatrace:

• Process Group (PG) → relates to processes (e.g., Apache httpd). You can merge them with grouping rules.

• Service → relates to entry points (e.g., port 80, 443). Dynatrace will always split these per port; you cannot fully merge them into one.

So: you can’t merge them into a single Service, but you can merge them into one Process Group – using Declarative Process Grouping or Advanced Detection Rules.

How to do it for Apache:

1. Go to Settings → Processes and containers → Declarative process grouping.

2. Click Add monitored technology and select Apache HTTP Server.

3. Add a Process Group with a custom identifier (e.g., Apache-UPI).

4. Add a detection rule, for example:

   • Executable path → $contains(httpd)

   • or Command line args → $contains(/opt/Apache24/bin/httpd)

5. Save changes and restart Apache so OneAgent can reassign the processes.

Result: all Apache processes (regardless of port) will belong to one Process Group, letting you consolidate metrics (CPU, memory, I/O, process count, etc.).

Alternative: Advanced Process Group Detection

• In Settings → Processes and containers → Advanced detection rules, you can create a rule like:
  “Any process with EXE path /opt/Apache24/bin/httpd + Host Group UPI belongs to the same group.”

• This provides more flexibility, for example separating environments (test vs. prod) using tags or environment variables.

Services will still be listed separately for each port (80, 443, etc.) – this cannot be changed.

But with Process Grouping you can:

Have one Apache process group instead of several,

Aggregate metrics globally,

Simplify dashboards and alerts.