Application metrics missing after upgrade to Introscope Java Agent 26.5 on WebSphere

Products

• CA Application Performance Management (APM / Wily / Introscope)

Issue/Introduction

After migrating the Introscope Java Agent from version 25.5 to 26.5 on a WebSphere 8.5 environment, the agent starts successfully and connects to the Enterprise Manager. However, only basic metrics are reported, application metrics are missing from the Investigator.

Symptoms

• Java Agent 26.5 reports JVM and Platform metrics.
• Application-specific metrics (e.g., Servlet, EJB, or custom tracers) are not visible.
• The agent logs do not show a connection failure but may contain warnings related to class instrumentation.
• Agent logs show the following error:
  [ERROR] [IntroscopeAgent.Agent] Unable to create tracer factories for the following class (library not found): com.wily.introscope.appmap.agent.trace.hc2.AppMapMarkerTracer
• Warnings regarding socket clamping may appear:
  [WARN] [IntroscopeAgent.Agent] Socket clamping applied. Sockets crossed clamp level :####

Environment

• Introscope Java Agent 26.5
• WebSphere Application Server 8.5
• Custom ProbeBuilder Directives (.pbd)

Cause

Custom PBD files contain references to legacy tracers (e.g., AppMapMarkerTracer or AppMapCustomBackendTracer) that were removed or deprecated in the 2x agent versions.

Resolution

Review and update the custom PBD files to ensure all tracer references are valid for version 26.5.

1. Locate the custom PBD files defined in the IntroscopeAgent.profile under the property introscope.autoprobe.directivesFile.
2. Open the custom PBD files (e.g., mycustom.pbd) and search for the tracer AppMapCustomBackendTracer.
3. Comment out the lines referencing this tracer by adding a # at the beginning of the line.
4. Save the changes to the PBD file.
5. If socket clamping is occurring, increase the limit in the profile:
   com.wily.introscope.agent.sockets.clamp.level=200
6. Restart the WebSphere Application Server instance to reload the instrumentation.
7. Verify that the application metrics now appear in the Investigator.

Additional Information

For more information on configuring custom tracers, see the Techdocs - ProbeBuilder Directives documentation.