Getting Started with Ascent

The Ascent platform enables you to converge all of your IT data from disparate sources, manage your telemetry data, and monitor and troubleshoot your operational data in real-time. The following guide assumes that you have signed up for Apica Ascent in the cloud. If you are not yet a registered user, please follow this link and the defined steps. Once registered, use this guide to get started.

Ascent Quick Start Process

Quick Start Process for Using Ascent

For all users that want to get started with Ascent should follow these five (5) simple steps:

In this guide, we cover the key goals and related activities of each step to ensure a quick and easy setup of Ascent.

Step 1 - Start Ingesting Data

For a quick video on step one, click here: Step 1 - Start Ingesting Data

The goal is to ingest telemetry data (logs, metrics, traces) from relevant systems.

Key actions include:

  • Identify all sources

  • Choose agents appropriate for each data type

  • Configure data collection frequency and granularity

  • Ensure data normalization

Detailed steps to start ingesting data:

LOG INTO ASCENT

From the menu bar, go to: Explore -> Fleet:

With Fleet you can automate your data ingestion configuration:

You'll be directed to the Fleet landing page:

From here, you'll click "Install Agent Manager." - The Agent Manager will allow you to control and configure the OpenTelemetry Collector.

Inside the "Install Agent Manager" pop-up screen, select:

  • Platform: Linux

  • Agent Type: OpenTelemetry Collector

Then, click 'Proceed'.

You'll be redirected to the 'Fleet README' pop-up page:

  • You'll download and configure this configuration file to start ingesting data.

You'll download 2 files:

  • The README.txt contains instructions for how to install the Agent Manager and OpenTelemetry Collector.

  • The fleet-install.sh is a preconfigured script that you'll run on your Linux host to start ingesting data into Ascent automatically:

On your Linux host, start by creating a file by running this command:

Paste the contents of 'fleet-install.sh' into nano editor:

Run the Fleet-install.sh with the command below:

  • sudo ./fleet-install.sh

Once the script completes, you'll see the agent in the Fleet screen as 'Active':

Confirmation of Active Fleet Agent

You can then confirm that data is flowing into the system (Go to 'Explore -> Logs & Insights):

Log Data Flow

Additional Links to helpful docs include:

Step 2 - Setup and Configure Pipeline

For a quick video on step two, click here: Step 2 - Setup and Configure Pipeline

The goal is to transport and process the collected data.

Key actions include:

  • Select or configure a data pipeline

  • Define data routing rules

  • Apply transformations, filtering, or enrichment if needed

Links to related docs include:

Step 3 - Design Queries

For a quick video on step three, click here: Step 3 - Design Queries

The goal is to enable insights by querying telemetry data.

Key actions include:

  • Understand the query language used

  • Create baseline queries for system health

  • Optimize queries for performance and cost

  • Validate query results

Links to related docs include:

Step 4 - Create Dashboards

For a quick video on step four, click here: Step 4 - Create Dashboards

The goal is to visualize system performance and behavior in real time.

Key actions include:

  • Use visual components

  • Organize dashboards by domain

  • Incorporate filters

  • Enable drill-down for troubleshooting.

Links to related docs include:

Step 5 - Create Alerts and Endpoints

For a quick video on step five, click here: Step 5 - Create Alerts and Endpoints

The goal is to detect anomalies and automate response actions.

Key actions include:

  • Define alerting rules

  • Set up alert destinations

  • Establish escalation policies and on-call schedules

  • Integrate with incident management workflows and postmortem tools

Links to related docs include:

Additional Resources

Here are helpful links to other "Getting Started" technical guides:

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