What ownership tagging best practice

[Viachaslau]

I read documentation: https://www.dynatrace.com/support/help/manage/ownership/assign-ownership

And found 2 statement which are not clear (support chat is also helpless to clarify)

Why, what is exact reason of these advices? 

1 "We do not recommend using tags to apply ownership to processes or process groups."
2 "We recommend using the Custom tags API over automatic tagging rules to apply ownership to entities. "

It is quite important to explain because IMHO auto-tagging looks very flexible and easy for management. 

[Gerhard-K]

Hey @Viachaslau,
Thanks for reaching out and highlighting this topic.

We recommend using metadata and properties to associate ownership information with entities. This way, the information is reliably available straight from the beginning. 

Auto-tagging is, as you said, a handy way to put information on entities. However, rule-based auto-tagging has a drawback because putting the tags onto the entities can take relatively long, especially for large environments. In particular, if ownership information needs to be on short-lived or dynamic entities, such as Kubernetes Pods, etc., there's a chance that auto-tagging misses the proper association of the information. However, the ownership feature supports auto-tagging as well. But, for best performance and reliability, we recommend using metadata/properties.

I hope this helps.

Thanks

Gerhard

[ChadTurner]

1 "We do not recommend using tags to apply ownership to processes or process groups."

- This really depends on your organization structure and your tag design. I feel the statement was formulated in the view point that Owners will own hosts and the processes on that said host. So if you have a tag on a Process Group, that could span across multiple hosts, which in turn would Add "Team A" on a collection of hosts that might reside in other team classifications assuming you are adding in the tag functionality to the supporting hosts. 

keep in mind though this method could benefit your organization. 

2 "We recommend using the Custom tags API over automatic tagging rules to apply ownership to entities. "

- I wasn't able to find this but I think the full context is missing. Custom Tag API is great for immediate posting of values. So if you need the tag present right away and wont be changing, this is the method for you. The trade off is that this isnt reoccurring like an auto tag rule, so if you don't need it right away and can wait 5-45mins (Depending on your instance size), auto tags are a good route for you. 

[Gerhard-K]

thanks for adding the information.

What I'd like to highlight is that we recommend using metadata for associating ownership information, instead of tags. Certainly, this is valid only, where applicable. For example, using environment variables for hosts, custom_properties for process groups and processes and labels for Kubernetes objects.

The second recommendation regarding the custom tags API, refers to the section of frontend applications mainly. Here, depending on your requirements and environment auto-tagging can make sense of course.

I recognize, that we need to update the documentation, to make it more clear, what we recommend, what is possible and what considerations should be kept in mind. 
Thanks a lot!

Gerhard

[Viachaslau · Accepted solution]

Thanks, 
Let summarize.

Auto tagging - good for
- Small environments

- Classic Hosts aka AWS E2C

- When you want flexible control over team changes in UI

Custom tags API 

- For Big environments

- For short lived containers
- You like do all via API

Tag on a Process Group
IF you have same Team responsible across multiple hosts
IF different Teams support same host(E.g. APP1 and APP2 on the same host)
ELSE tag HOST separately to avoid clashes between teams

[Gerhard-K]

Hi @Viachaslau 

I want to highlight, that we basically recommend using metadata/properties instead of tags to associate ownership information. Certainly, it depends on the monitored entity, if applicable; such as using environment variables for hosts, custom_properties for process groups, and processes and labels for Kubernetes objects.

However, custom API tagging and auto-tagging rules can be helpful and a reasonable way to go, as well, depending on the requirements and environment.

I recognize that we need to update the documentation, to make it more clear, what we recommend, what is possible, and what considerations should be kept in mind. 

Thanks a lot!

Gerhard