Documentation

Owned by Roman Leskovsky (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Jan 12, 2024 by Ladislav Petruš
5 min read

The Dynatrace for Jira Cloud Connect Add-On enables several Use-Cases for Jira Cloud

  • Live Dynatrace Problem Status and Problem Events in Jira ticket

  • Automatically link Jira tickets with Dynatrace Problems

  • Synchronize Jira ticket comments with Dynatrace Problems

  • Direct links to root cause dashboards from your Jira ticket

  • Enable JQL queries based on Dynatrace Problem data: severity, impact, tags, ...

Originaly started as a Dynatrace plugin, but based on an agreement with them, we started to provide support and enhancements for this plugin.

Interested in Jira Server on premise version? We got it!

 

https://www.alanata.sk/dynatrace-integration-for-jira/

Getting started with this Add-On

In order to use this integration you need

https://dynatrace.ai/tempest

  1. A Dynatrace FullStack instance (Managed or SaaS): Get your own Dynatrace SaaS Trial.

  2. A Dynatrace API Token: In Dynatrace go to Settings -> Integration -> Dynatrace API and create a new token (with proper permissions - read problems and add comments).

  3. A Jira cloud instance: Get your Jira Cloud instance.

    (optionally but recommended). Configure the Dynatrace to Jira Integration.

In your Jira instance

  1. Navigate to Apps -> Find new apps and search for "Dynatrace for Jira Cloud" or install the Add-On directly from it`s marketplace page.

  2. Once the Add-On is installed click on "Configure".

  3. Enter your Dynatrace Tenant URL as well as a Dynatrace API token.

  4. Hit Save.

And thats it!

Key Use Cases explained

Add-On can be used for the following use cases.

Linking a Jira ticket with a Dynatrace Problem

The linkage between a Jira ticket and a Dynatrace Problem is done by storing the Dynatrace Problem ID as an Entity Property on the Jira ticket. The property is named "dynatraceProblemId" and contains a JSON object with details such as "Unique Dynatrace Problem ID", "Severity", "Impact", "Tags", "Status". The property itself is not visible to the end user. End users can however use JQL (Jira Query Language) to search for Jira tickets that are associated with a Dynatrace Problem. The "dynatraceProblemId" entity property is set in different scenarios

  1. Our Dynatrace to Jira Integration will create Jira tickets and automatically set this property.

  2. 3rd party tools such as xMatters set this property when forwarding a Dynatrace Problem to Jira.

  3. Our Jira Add-On scans and parses links to Dynatrace Problem URLs in Jira ticket description. If detected the entity property is stored.

In order to display Add-On panels and tabs, both tenant credentials and issue property have to be set.

Live Problem Status Overview

If the Jira ticket is linked with a Dynatrace Problem the Add-On will query LIVE data through the Dynatrace Problem REST API and display the information in a panel.

Provided information contains

  • ID and a name as an url to the problem

  • Status

  • Root cause flag

  • Number of detected events

  • Number of affected components

  • Severity

  • Impact

  • Affected entity tags - including both key and value if provided

Live Problem Events Feed

The Dynatrace Events tab automatically pulls in all correlated problem events from the linked Dynatrace Problem. The list highlights special events and provides direct links to Dynatrace root cause dashboards. Event URLs point at entity detail page with scope set to the linked problem.

JQL Support

The linked Dynatrace problem data including Tags, Impact, Severity, Status, ... is indexed by Jira. This allows Jira users to query Jira tickets that are linked to Dynatrace Problems. This is especially useful to search for related problems.

 

Synchronize Comments

If you add a comment to a Jira ticket we do not only scan for a link to a Dynatrace Problem to link the ticket with that problem. In case the Jira ticket is already linked we push the comment to the Dynatrace side so that the comment can be seen in both Jira and Dynatrace. Dynatrace comments are displayed in Jira in a dedicated Dynatrace Comments tab. Comments are displayed in chronological order and support full markdown syntax.

Setup Dynatrace Dashboard

The Dynatrace integration for Jira Cloud also provides multiple custom fields that are automatically filled with Dynatrace context of linked problems stored in issues properties. You can use the fields to visualize such context directly on linked issue.

These fields are available for you:

  • Problem Name (DT) - The name of the problem, displayed in the UI.

  • Problem ID (DT) - The ID of the problem.

  • Problem Status (DT) - The status of the problem.

  • Impact Level (DT) - The impact level of the problem. It shows what is affected by the problem: infrastructure, service, or application.

  • Severity Level (DT) - The severity of the problem.

  • Has Root Cause (DT) - Indicates whether Dynatrace has found at least one possible root cause for the problem.

Custom fields, together with our JQL functions, can be used to build custom Dynatrace dashboards with use of gadgets like Filter Results or Filter Counts.

 

Note: Values are created during the event of linking a problem with an issue, whether it is on issue creation or by passing the problem URL into the issue description. These values are not updated over time.

Error

If it is possible, we try to handle errors visually with appropriate message.

What's next?

Give us feedback on further extensions to the Add-On. Which use cases are missing? Would you also like to see tighther integrations with other Atlassian tools?

Closest on our scope are

  • multiple environments support - as we often have more than one environment (prod, dev..)

  • JQL filter by environments