[Request]: Clarify APM server status

[WilliamDEdwards]

What documentation page is affected

On https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/apm/server/index.html, APM Server is described as 'legacy'. This documentation seems to have been deprecated from 8.x.

On https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/observability/current/apm-getting-started-apm-server.html, the 'standalone' APM server binary, and fleet-managed APM server (running within an Elastic Agent) are positioned as equals.

However, after setting up a 'standalone' APM server, Kibana says:

You are currently using APM Server binary. This legacy option is deprecated since version 7.16 and is being replaced by a managed APM Server in Elastic Agent from version 8.0.

I assume "managed APM Server in Elastic Agent" refers to a "fleet-managed APM server".

What change would you like to see?

The situation described above is incredibly confusing: the two options are positioned as equals, but after setting up the standalone option, Kibana marks it as deprecated, which is mentioned in now deprecated documentation, but it's impossible to tell whether 'standalone' APM server binary is something different than 'legacy' APM server...

The status of APM server install options should be clarified.

Additional info

No response

[kruskall]

Hey 👋

On https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/observability/current/apm-getting-started-apm-server.html, the 'standalone' APM server binary, and fleet-managed APM server (running within an Elastic Agent) are positioned as equals.

That's the new/current documentation and it appears to be correct. "standalone" or "elastic-agent managed" (with or without fleet) are both perfectly fine.

However, after setting up a 'standalone' APM server, Kibana says:

You are currently using APM Server binary. This legacy option is deprecated since version 7.16 and is being replaced by a managed APM Server in Elastic Agent from version 8.0.

That's an issue. APM Server standalone was intended to be deprecated and then "undeprecated" so the message is just a bit outdated. Please see elastic/kibana#177580

[WilliamDEdwards]

Hey 👋

Hi,

On https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/observability/current/apm-getting-started-apm-server.html, the 'standalone' APM server binary, and fleet-managed APM server (running within an Elastic Agent) are positioned as equals.

That's the new/current documentation and it appears to be correct. "standalone" or "elastic-agent managed" (with or without fleet) are both perfectly fine.

I set up a 'standalone' APM server according to the 'new' documentation, and Kibana says it was 'deprecated' nonetheless:

That is the message elastic/kibana#177580 aims to remove.

[kruskall]

Yep, that's an issue. As mentioned above:

That's an issue. APM Server standalone was deprecated and then "undeprecated" so the message is just a bit outdated. Please see elastic/kibana#177580

It was initially intended to be deprecated but then it was added back and it's currently fully supported and perfectly fine.