Skip to main content
Version: NG-3.1

Host Landscape & Auto Discovery Instrumentation

Overview​

What is ADI?​

Auto-Discovery & Instrumentation (ADI) is a capability in vuSmartMaps that automatically discovers supported infrastructure and application components, maintains them in a centralized inventory view, and simplifies the process of bringing those components under observability. In the context of ADI, "supported" refers to infrastructure platforms, operating systems, runtimes, and technologies that are compatible with the platform's current discovery and instrumentation capabilities. Depending on the release and deployment configuration, this can include supported Linux or Windows hosts, JVM-based applications, processes with open ports, and other platform-supported runtime components.

ADI is designed to provide a more automated and structured way to identify what is running in an environment and present that information through the Host Landscape, allowing users to quickly understand the current state of discovered assets. Instead of depending entirely on manual onboarding for every host, process, or service, ADI enables the platform to detect supported components, maintain an updated inventory view, and assist with monitoring and instrumentation workflows where applicable.

note

In the NG 3.1.0 release, ADI capabilities are focused on APM Java Traces running on standalone Linux environments. Support for additional technologies such as .NET, Python, and Node.js, broader operating systems including Windows, AIX, and Solaris, additional telemetry types such as Metrics, Logs, and Browser RUM, and containerized environments (Docker and Kubernetes) is planned for future releases.

At a high level, ADI combines four closely related capabilities into a single operational workflow:

  • Auto Discovery – Identifies supported hosts, processes, services, and runtimes in the environment.
  • Inventory / Host Landscape – Maintains a centralized and continuously updated view of discovered assets.
  • Automatic Monitoring – Evaluates discovered entities (for example, JVMs, application services, or discovered runtime components) and automatically enables monitoring based on applicable policies and platform configuration.
  • Supported Instrumentation – Introduces automatic instrumentation for supported runtimes and technologies based on configured rules and platform support.

After discovery, monitoring and instrumentation workflows can be initiated automatically for supported configurations and policies. Depending on the environment setup and operational controls, some onboarding or monitoring actions may still require user review, approval, or manual initiation from the Host Landscape.

For users, this means ADI acts as the foundation for a more streamlined observability experience. It helps ensure that supported systems and components can be discovered and made visible in the platform with less manual effort, while still allowing users to review, validate, and manage the resulting inventory from a single interface.

In the current scope, ADI is focused on providing a clear and controlled user experience where discovery results, monitoring states, and onboarding outcomes can be viewed and managed through the Host Landscape.

note

In the current release, Auto Discovery & Instrumentation (ADI) is supported only on Linux hosts. Only supported Linux hosts are discovered and displayed in the Host Landscape. Hosts running on other operating systems are not currently included in the ADI discovery and inventory workflow.

Why This Feature Is Useful​

ADI is introduced to address the challenges of modern environments where infrastructure and services change frequently. In such environments, manual onboarding can be time-consuming and may lead to delayed observability coverage, inconsistent monitoring, or newly deployed components remaining unmonitored.

By continuously discovering supported nodes and entities and maintaining them in a centralized inventory, ADI helps users quickly understand what is running in the environment and what may require monitoring action.

For example:

  • If a new JVM-based application is deployed on a Linux server, ADI can detect the newly running runtime and display it in the Host Landscape so that users can review its monitoring status and onboarding state.
  • In environments where multiple servers are provisioned dynamically, such as development or scaling environments, ADI helps automatically identify newly added hosts and associated services without requiring users to manually onboard every component individually.

This approach improves visibility across changing environments, reduces manual operational effort, and helps minimize observability gaps caused by missed or delayed onboarding activities.

How does ADI simplify onboarding?​

ADI simplifies onboarding by introducing a discovery-driven workflow. Once a supported host is connected through the platform, the system can detect eligible components, add them to the Host Landscape, and evaluate them for monitoring based on configured policies. This reduces the need to manually identify and onboard each component individually. Users can review discovered assets from a single interface and use monitoring states such as Not Monitored, Onboarding, Monitoring, and Onboarding Failed to understand current onboarding progress and take action where needed.

Relationship with OmniAgent​

ADI builds on the existing OmniAgent framework, which continues to act as the host-side management layer for probes and platform communication. Within ADI, discovery operates through the OmniAgent-managed model, where the discovery capability runs as part of the managed probe workflow. This extends the existing OmniAgent-based experience with discovery, inventory visibility, monitoring, onboarding support, and supported instrumentation capabilities in the Host Landscape.

Example Scenario​

A DevOps team deploys several new Linux application servers for a production environment. Instead of manually identifying and onboarding each server, the administrator installs OmniAgent using the generated One-Click installation command.

After the OmniAgent starts, ADI automatically discovers the hosts, identifies supported JVM-based applications and services, updates the Host Landscape inventory, and applies the configured monitoring policies. The operations team can immediately review the discovered assets, verify monitoring status, and begin troubleshooting from a centralized inventory view.

Auto-Discovery & Instrumentation Overview​

Auto-Discovery & Instrumentation (ADI) in vuSmartMaps provides a discovery-driven workflow that helps users identify supported assets in their environment, maintain those assets in a centralized Host Landscape, and streamline the process of bringing them under observability. Rather than relying entirely on manual identification and onboarding of hosts and application components, ADI helps surface supported assets within the platform and provides visibility into their current monitoring and onboarding state.

note

The Host Landscape provides a centralized operational view of discovered hosts, entities, monitoring states, environments, and onboarding activity. Consider adding a Host Landscape UI screenshot here to help users quickly understand the overall ADI workflow and inventory view.

ADI follows a connected operational flow:

  • Discovery – Supported hosts and runtime-level components (for example, JVMs, processes, or services) are identified through the platform’s discovery mechanism.
  • Inventory – Discovered information is maintained in a centralized inventory model and exposed through the Host Landscape.
  • Monitoring – Discovered nodes and entities are evaluated for onboarding based on applicable policies, and their monitoring status is shown in the Host Landscape.
  • Instrumentation – The platform introduces automatic instrumentation for supported runtimes. In the current V1 scope, the primary focus is on JVM-based trace onboarding and instrumentation on supported Linux environments.

High-Level User Benefit​

ADI helps reduce the manual effort required to bring supported components under observability. By surfacing discovered assets in the Host Landscape and showing their current monitoring state, ADI allows users to quickly understand what is running in the environment, what is already being monitored, and what may still require action. This improves visibility, reduces onboarding delays, and helps minimize monitoring blind spots in dynamic environments.

Key Components of ADI​

Auto-Discovery & Instrumentation (ADI) in vuSmartMaps is built around a set of core components that work together to discover supported assets, present them in a centralized landscape view, and help users understand their current observability status.

The most relevant user-facing components of ADI are:

These components together support the overall ADI workflow of discovery, visibility, monitoring readiness, and supported instrumentation.

OmniAgent​

  • OmniAgent acts as the host-side management and probe control layer that enables the discovery-driven workflow used by ADI.
  • It manages probes on the target host, supports centralized control from the platform, and provides the underlying execution model through which discovery is performed.

Discovery Probe​

  • The Discovery Probe is responsible for identifying supported hosts and runtime-level components and sending discovered information to the platform.
  • In the current documented scope, it is especially relevant for supported host discovery, detection of processes with open ports, and JVM discovery.

Host Landscape​

  • The Host Landscape is the primary user-facing interface for ADI.
  • It provides a centralized view of discovered assets and serves as the main place to review discovery results, monitoring status, and related asset information.

Hosts and Entities​

  • Within the Host Landscape, Hosts represent discovered infrastructure nodes, while Entities represent supported runtime or application components identified within those hosts.
  • This helps users understand both the infrastructure layer and the discovered components running within it.

Monitoring Status​

  • Monitoring Status provides visibility into the onboarding state of discovered hosts and entities.
  • This includes Not Monitored, Onboarding, Monitoring, and Onboarding Failed, helping users quickly identify what is already monitored and what may still require action.

Supported Instrumentation​

  • ADI also introduces support for automatic instrumentation of supported runtimes. In the current release, ADI is supported only on Linux hosts, and only supported Linux hosts are discovered and displayed in the Host Landscape.
  • The primary focus is on JVM-based trace onboarding and instrumentation for supported Linux environments.

Accessing the Host Landscape​

The Host Landscape page in vuSmartMaps is the primary interface for viewing and managing the discovery-driven inventory introduced through Auto-Discovery & Instrumentation (ADI). It provides a centralized view of discovered assets and related observability information, allowing users to review hosts, entities, OmniAgent details, and history from a single interface.

To access the Host Landscape page:

  • Open the main navigation menu.
  • Expand Data Studio.
  • Click Host Landscape.
  • You can also access Host Landscape from the Data Studio landing page by selecting the Host Landscape tile.
  • Navigation path: vuSmartMaps > Data Studio > Host Landscape

Available Tabs​

The Host Landscape page includes the following tabs:

  • Summary – Provides a high-level overview of the Host Landscape, including inventory counts, infrastructure type distribution, discovery source summary, entity monitoring status, and environment-level summary.
  • Hosts – Displays discovered hosts and their infrastructure-level details, along with monitoring status, environment association, source information, and available actions.
  • Entities – Displays discovered entities and component-level details, including monitoring status, source information, host association, and available actions.
  • Tags – Provides an organizational view of the Host Landscape through Environments and Host Groups, allowing users to review and manage classification details for discovered assets.
  • OmniAgent – Displays OmniAgent-managed hosts and related health, reporting, and probe information. This tab also includes a related Probe view for probe-level visibility.
  • History – Displays the discovery and onboarding activity history for the Host Landscape, including events such as discovery, monitoring attempts, status changes, and onboarding outcomes.

Download OmniAgent​

The Download OmniAgent button is available in the top-right corner of the Host Landscape page and provides quick access to the OmniAgent package. For more details, refer to the Download OmniAgent Section Below.

Comprehensive Understanding​

The Host Landscape page is the central inventory and operational view for Auto-Discovery & Instrumentation (ADI) in vuSmartMaps.

  • It provides a unified view of discovered hosts, discovered entities, OmniAgent-managed hosts, related probe health, and discovery/onboarding activity.
  • This page helps users understand what infrastructure has been discovered, what components are associated with those systems, what is being monitored, and whether the supporting agent and probe layers are healthy and reporting.

What This Page Provides​

The Host Landscape page allows users to:

  • Review discovered hosts
  • Inspect discovered entities associated with those hosts
  • Understand the monitoring and onboarding state
  • Organize assets through environments and host groups
  • Verify OmniAgent health for OmniAgent-managed hosts
  • Review probe-related health signals
  • And track discovery/onboarding activity through history

The Host Landscape combines multiple related layers of the ADI workflow:

  • A Host represents the discovered infrastructure system, such as a supported server or virtual machine.
  • An Entity represents a discovered component or monitorable unit associated with a host.
  • OmniAgent is the host-level agent installed on supported systems for OmniAgent-managed discovery, collection, and monitoring workflows.
  • A Probe is a specialized component managed by the OmniAgent to perform discovery or telemetry collection tasks.

In practical terms, an OmniAgent runs on a host and can manage one or more probes on that host. In ADI workflows, a discovery probe collects host and runtime/process metadata and sends that information back to the platform. The platform processes this data and creates or updates inventory objects, which are then shown in the Host Landscape as hosts and entities. This relationship allows the Host Landscape to provide a connected view across infrastructure, discovered components, agent health, and probe-level operational signals.

FAQs​

What is Auto-Discovery & Instrumentation (ADI)?

Auto-Discovery & Instrumentation (ADI) is a discovery-driven capability that automatically identifies supported hosts and runtime components, maintains them in a centralized Host Landscape, and simplifies monitoring and instrumentation.

What is the Host Landscape?

The Host Landscape is the centralized inventory page that displays discovered hosts, entities, monitoring status, OmniAgent health, Discovery Probe status, and onboarding history.

Which operating systems are currently supported by ADI?

In the current release, ADI supports automatic discovery and instrumentation only for supported Linux hosts.