Manage IBM Database extensions

Dynatrace provides you with a framework that you can use to extend your application observability into data acquired directly from your IBM Database layer, so that you can monitor how database server tasks impact your app.

Start by checking Dynatrace Hub to see if the Dynatrace-provided IBM Database Server extension satisfies your requirements.

Before you begin

Designate an ActiveGate group or groups that will remotely connect to your IBM Database server to pull data. All ActiveGates in each designated group need to be able to connect to your IBM Database server.

Manage IBM DB2 extensions

Extensions

Extension Manager

Latest Dynatrace

Now you can use the dedicated Extensions app to manage your extensions. It provides a similar activation and configuration workflow as Dynatrace Hub in the previous Dynatrace. Additionally, it gives you direct access to extension health monitoring.

  • To use the app:
    • In Dynatrace Hub Hub, select and install the app.
    • The Hub listing provides information on the permissions required to use the app (the Technical information tab).

Dynatrace Hub provides a unified workflow to enable and manage extensions that will ingest IBM Database data into your Dynatrace environment.

Required permission: Change monitoring settings

  1. In Dynatrace Hub, search for and select an IBM DB2 extension.
  2. Select and install the extension you're interested in. This enables the extension in your monitoring environment.
  3. Add a monitoring configuration so that the extension can begin collecting data.
Step 1

IBM DB2 JDBC driver

Step 2

Define endpoints

Step 3

ActiveGate group

Step 4

Activate extension

Step 1 IBM DB2 JDBC driver

ActiveGate version 1.254 and earlier

An IBM Database extension requires the driver jar file to be manually put to the ActiveGate host location:

Windows: C:\ProgramData\dynatrace\remotepluginmodule\agent\conf\userdata\libs
Linux: /var/lib/dynatrace/remotepluginmodule/agent/conf/userdata/libs/

Step 2 Define endpoints

  1. Select Add IBM endpoint to define the IBM Database servers from which you want to pull data. You can define up to 100 endpoints. Provide the following connection details:
  • Host
  • Port
  • Database name
  • Authentication credentials
    • Only basic authentication is supported.
    • Authentication details passed to Dynatrace when activating monitoring configuration are obfuscated and it's impossible to retrieve them.
    • You can use credential vault to provide a more secure approach of storing and managing user credentials.
  • Select Next step

Step 3 ActiveGate group

  1. Select the ActiveGate group to determine which ActiveGates will run the extension.
  2. Select Next step.

Step 4 Activate extension

  1. Provide final configuration details:
  • Description
    Text explaining details of this particular monitoring configuration. When your teams are troubleshooting monitoring, this can give them important details.
  • Feature sets
    In highly segmented networks, feature sets can reflect the segments of your environment. You can use them to limit your monitoring to particular segments. Feature sets are predefined for each extension.
  • Select Activate.

Monitoring configuration as JSON

The extension activation wizard contains a dynamically updated JSON payload with your monitoring configuration. See Extensions 2.0 lifecycle to learn how to use it to activate an extension using the Dynatrace API.