Configure a Data Collector Manually

Data collectors can be manually configured in at least two ways.

From the left pane:

  1. Click Configuration in the left pane.
  2. Click Instrumentation.
  3. Click the Data Collectors tab, and click Add below the data collector box for the type of data collector you want to add. The data collector configuration panel displays.

From a call graph:

  1. Double-click a call graph.
  2. Click Data Collectors in the menu bar.
  3. Click Actions.
  4. Click Configure Data Collectors.
  5. Click Add at the bottom of the data collector box for the type of data collector you want to add. The data collector configuration panel displays.

Note the following platform-specific considerations applicable to data collectors:

  • C/C++ SDK - Create a method data collector using the appd_bt_add_user_data function(), not the Controller UI as described here. See C/C++ SDK Reference.
  • Node.js Agent - Create a method data collector only using the addSnapshotData() Node.js API, not the Controller UI as described here. See Node.js Agent API Reference.
  • Python Agent - Create a method data collector using the add_snapshot_data() Python Agent API, not the Controller UI. See Python Agent API Reference.

  • PHP method data collectors - Only the "with a Class Name that" option is valid. Also, you cannot add a method data collector to a standalone PHP function.

The general steps for configuring a data collector are:

  1. Identify the method on which to capture data. To do this, define the method signature and (optionally) filters based on the value of a code point in the method (such as return value or argument).
  2. Specify the actual code point that serves as the source of the data.
  3. If the data collector applies to business transactions, choose the applicable business transactions.

Typically, creating a data collector requires knowledge of the code on which you are setting up the collector, whether based on access to the source code for the application or its documentation. For some application environments, including JVM 1.5 and .NET, you will need to restart the JVM or application server if your method invocation data collector results in modifications to instrumentation configuration (class name, method name, method parameters, and so on).