Hello everyone. Mackerel Team CRE Igarashi (id: masarasi:detail) here. I would like to inform you about the content of the latest update.
- Enhanced Host bulk operations function
- Show custom_identifier in Host Information
- Plugin Help Documentation is Now Available
- Saving mackerel-agent.conf in UTF-8 (with BOM) No Longer Causes Errors
- Improved Printing of Dashboard Area on Dashboard Screens
- Accessibility improvements
- Please Check the Expiration of Azure Secret Keys
Enhanced Host bulk operations function
Previously, the Host bulk operations function only allowed retirement, but now it has been enhanced to include the following capabilities.
- Batch status changes
- Batch role assignment and removal
In addition, with the expanded functionality of Host bulk operations, we have made design changes to make the word "Retire" more prominent. The button in the batch host retirement modal window has been changed from "OK" to "Retire".
We hope you will take full advantage of the improved Host bulk operations function.
Show custom_identifier in Host Information
Hosts in cloud services such as AWS, Azure, GCP, etc. are now assigned a unique identifier called custom_identifier. Using this identifier, you can post metric plugin results or check monitoring results from different hosts on the host with the specified identifier.
Previously, it was necessary to check the custom_identifier using the Get Host Information API. However, it is now possible to view the custom_identifier on the Host Details page under Host Information.
Please refer to the following help documents for instructions on how to use custom_identifier.
- Posting user-defined custom metrics - Mackerel Docs
- Adding monitors for script checks - Mackerel Docs
Please note that custom_identifier cannot be used for hosts in cloud services other than AWS, Azure, GCP, or on-premises servers.
Plugin Help Documentation is Now Available
We often get questions about plugins, and while there were basic help documents for installation and configuration, there was a lack of detailed documentation specific to certain plugins.
To address this, our CRE team has been working on releasing help documentation for frequently asked about plugins. We are pleased to announce that the planned release of this documentation has been completed. We hope our users will find it useful!
Currently, the plugins for which help documentation has been published can be found on the following plugin listing pages which contain a "Help" link.
For those plugins that do not yet have help documentation available, we will continue to look into them and work towards making them available in the future!
Saving mackerel-agent.conf in UTF-8 (with BOM) No Longer Causes Errors
In older versions of Windows Notepad, you may have encountered an error when saving mackerel-agent.conf with UTF-8 (with BOM) encoding. Saving it in UTF-8 (with BOM) would cause an error and prevent mackerel-agent from starting. However, as of mackerel-agent version 0.77.0, this error no longer occurs.
[Additional information] for mackerel-agent versions below 0.77.0
If mackerel-agent.conf is saved with UTF-8 (with BOM) encoding, the following error is logged to the event log when mackerel-agent is started.
failed to load config: failed to load the config file: toml: line 1: expected '.' or '=', but got '\ufeff' instead
The same error will also be output when running mackerel-agent configtest (syntax check for mackerel-agent.conf).
If you encounter the above error, you can fix it by upgrading mackerel-agent to the latest version. If updating is not possible, you can also work around the error by using a text editor that allows saving in UTF-8 (without BOM) and re-saving mackerel-agent.conf with that encoding.
Improved Printing of Dashboard Area on Dashboard Screens
When printing the dashboard screen in a web browser, the printed area previously included menu bars, headers, and other areas. However, it has been updated to print only the dashboard area. This improves the usability of printed dashboard screens.
Accessibility improvements
In the organization's Settings screen, the email settings, authentication methods, and mandatory 2-step authentication items now support screen readers.
Please Check the Expiration of Azure Secret Keys
Recently, we have received many inquiries about the expiration of secret keys used for Azure integration. When a secret key expires, it causes the metric integration with Azure to stop.
If your secret key has expired, it will appear as "Invalid" in the Azure account section of the Azure Integration settings page. In such cases, please enter a new secret key and update the settings after confirming that it has become "Valid".
The expiration period for secret keys is a maximum of 2 years according to Azure's current specifications. We kindly ask all users using the Azure integration to be aware of the expiration dates.