Advanced Agent configuration

This page describes StackState v4.4.x.

The StackState 4.4 version range is End of Life (EOL) and no longer supported. We encourage customers still running the 4.4 version range to upgrade to a more recent release.

Go to the documentation for the latest StackState release.

Overview

A number of advanced configuration options are available for StackState Agent V2. These can be set either in the stackstate.yaml configuration file (Linux and Windows) or using environment variables (Docker, Kubernetes and OpenShift).

Blacklist and inclusions

Processes reported by StackState Agent V2 can optionally be filtered using a blacklist. Using this in conjunction with inclusion rules will allow otherwise excluded processes to be included.

The blacklist is specified as a list of regex patterns. Inclusions override the blacklist patterns, these are used to include processes that consume a lot of resources. Each inclusion type specifies an amount of processes to report as the top resource using processes. For top_cpu and top_mem a threshold must first be met, meaning that a process needs to consume a higher percentage of resources than the specified threshold before it is reported.

Docker, Kubernetes, OpenShift

To specify a blacklist and/or inclusions, set the associated environment variables and restart StackState Agent V2.

Environment variable	Description
STS_PROCESS_BLACKLIST_PATTERNS	A list of regex patterns that will exclude a process if matched. Default patterns (github.com).
STS_PROCESS_BLACKLIST_INCLUSIONS_CPU_THRESHOLD	Threshold that enables the reporting of high CPU usage processes.
STS_PROCESS_BLACKLIST_INCLUSIONS_TOP_CPU	The number of processes to report that have a high CPU usage. Default 0.
STS_PROCESS_BLACKLIST_INCLUSIONS_TOP_IO_READ	The number of processes to report that have a high IO read usage. Default 0.
STS_PROCESS_BLACKLIST_INCLUSIONS_TOP_IO_WRITE	The number of processes to report that have a high IO write usage. Default 0.
STS_PROCESS_BLACKLIST_INCLUSIONS_MEM_THRESHOLD	Threshold that enables the reporting of high memory usage processes.
STS_PROCESS_BLACKLIST_INCLUSIONS_TOP_MEM	The number of processes to report that have a high memory usage. Default 0.

Linux, Windows

To specify a blacklist and/or inclusions, edit the below settings in the Agent configuration file stackstate.yaml and restart StackState Agent V2.

• Linux - /etc/stackstate-agent/stackstate.yaml

• Windows - C:\ProgramData\StackState\stackstate.yaml

Configuration item	Description
process_blacklist.patterns	A list of regex patterns that will exclude a process if matched. Default patterns (github.com).
process_blacklist.inclusions.cpu_pct_usage_threshold	Threshold that enables the reporting of high CPU usage processes.
process_blacklist.inclusions.amount_top_cpu_pct_usage	The number of processes to report that have a high CPU usage. Default 0.
process_blacklist.inclusions.amount_top_io_read_usage	The number of processes to report that have a high IO read usage. Default 0.
process_blacklist.inclusions.amount_top_io_write_usage	The number of processes to report that have a high IO write usage. Default 0.
process_blacklist.inclusions.mem_usage_threshold	Threshold that enables the reporting of high memory usage processes.
process_blacklist.inclusions.amount_top_mem_usage	The number of processes to report that have a high memory usage. Default 0.

Disable Agent features

Certain features of the Agent can optionally be turned off if they are not needed.

Docker, Kubernetes, OpenShift

To disable a feature, set the associated environment variable and restart StackState Agent V2.

Environment variable	Description
STS_PROCESS_AGENT_ENABLED	Default true (collects containers and processes). Set to false to collect only containers, or disabled to disable the process Agent.
STS_APM_ENABLED	Default true. Set to "false" to disable the APM Agent.
STS_NETWORK_TRACING_ENABLED	Default true. Set to false to disable the network tracer.

Linux, Windows

To disable a feature, edit the below settings in the Agent configuration file stackstate.yaml and restart StackState Agent V2.

• Linux - /etc/stackstate-agent/stackstate.yaml

• Windows - C:\ProgramData\StackState\stackstate.yaml

Configuration item	Description
process_config.enabled	Default true (collects containers and processes). Set to false to collect only containers, or disabled to disable the process Agent.
apm_config.enabled	Default true. Set to "false" to disable the APM Agent.
network_tracer_config.network_tracing_enabled	Default true. Set to false to disable the network tracer.