IBM Instana and IBM Turbonomic

IBM Instana is IBM's real-time observability and APM platform. IBM Turbonomic is its Application Resource Management platform: container and VM rightsizing, scaling and cost optimisation without breaching SLOs. Both integrate natively into the IBM AIOps stack.

Official IBM courses Implementation, licences and support
6 coursesOfficial IBM
Instana and Turbonomic
3 languagesEnglish, Spanish
and French
IBM BPBusiness Partner
licences and support
Works with
Kubernetes Red Hat OpenShift VMware vSphere AWS Microsoft Azure Google Cloud IBM Cloud IBM Power / AIX z/OS Prometheus Datadog Dynatrace Kubernetes Red Hat OpenShift VMware vSphere AWS Microsoft Azure Google Cloud IBM Cloud IBM Power / AIX z/OS Prometheus Datadog Dynatrace
[ 01 ]What each one does

Observability and Application Resource Management

Instana and Turbonomic answer different questions. Instana sees what is happening in the application and the infrastructure. Turbonomic decides what to do with that infrastructure so the application meets its SLO at the lowest cost.

IBM Instana Observability

Application observability

APM · Distributed tracing · Metrics · Logs

Discovers services, dependencies and infrastructure automatically. Captures end-to-end traces without sampling and correlates latency, errors and saturation request by request.

  • Automatic topology discovery (Kubernetes, VMs, cloud, mainframe)
  • Per-second metrics and over 300 supported technologies without plug-ins
  • Root cause analysis down to code, database or external dependency
  • Agents for Java, .NET, Node.js, Python, Go, PHP and more, plus OpenTelemetry

IBM Turbonomic

Resource management and optimisation

Application Resource Management · Automation

Turns telemetry from Instana (or other sources) into executable infrastructure actions: rightsizing of pods and VMs, scaling, node consolidation and cloud cost decisions without breaching SLOs.

  • Pod rightsizing (requests/limits) based on actual usage
  • Workload consolidation and placement in Kubernetes, OpenShift and VMware
  • Cost optimisation in AWS, Azure, GCP and IBM Cloud, with resources parked outside business hours
  • Recommendation mode or automatic execution with safety limits
[ 02 ]Common production scenarios

Three situations where they are deployed together

Everyday situations in Kubernetes clusters, hybrid environments and cloud bills that run over budget.

Case 01

Under-used Kubernetes / OpenShift

Pods request 4 vCPUs and use 0.3. The bill does not add up, and nobody wants to lower the requests for fear of starving the application at peak time. Instana measures real usage over several days, and Turbonomic adjusts based on that evidence.

Instana → real p95 usage per pod, with latency context
Turbonomic → proposes or applies new requests and limits
Case 02

High p95 latency in production

The shopping basket is slow to refresh, and it is not clear whether the cause is a starved pod, a saturated node or an external dependency. The answer usually arrives once the SLO has already been breached.

Instana → root cause at trace and service level
Turbonomic → decides whether to scale, move or resize
Case 03

Cloud bill over budget

FinOps wants a lower bill without hurting the user experience, and cutting blindly breaks SLOs. Turbonomic consolidates infrastructure when Instana's telemetry confirms that the service is still within its objective.

Instana → SLO and real demand per service
Turbonomic → consolidates, powers off or migrates within safety limits
[ 03 ]Official training

Official Instana and Turbonomic courses

Using IBM's syllabus and materials, for closed groups from your organisation from two delegates, in English, Spanish or French, on site or live by video conference. If your team will run both tools on Kubernetes or OpenShift, the usual path is TN202G, TN902G and TN930G.

All Instana courses All Turbonomic courses IBM course catalogue
[ 04 ]Implementation, licences and support

From licence to day-to-day running

We implement Instana and Turbonomic on Kubernetes, Red Hat OpenShift, VMware, AWS, Azure, GCP and IBM Cloud, and also on the IBM infrastructure that many applications still run on: AIX, Db2, IBM MQ or z/OS.

Because we are an IBM Business Partner, licences, implementation, support and official courses can all go into one proposal, with scope, deliverables and timelines. If you already hold other IBM licences, we review them in our licence audit and renewal service.

Request a proposal
  • Instana and Turbonomic implementation SaaS or self-hosted, agent deployment, alerts that flag what affects the service, and Turbonomic policies with the SLO as the limit.
  • Instana and Turbonomic licences We help you choose the edition and size what you need before requesting a quote: Instana is licensed per monitored host.
  • Technical support Agents that stop reporting, self-hosted upgrades, alerts that fire for no reason, or Turbonomic actions that do not execute.
  • IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps deployment Installation on OpenShift, integration with event sources, alert correlation tuning and shorter incident resolution times.
[ 05 ]FAQ

Common technical questions

Do I need both Instana and Turbonomic, or is one enough?

It depends on the problem. If the focus is knowing what is going on (latency, errors, root cause), Instana is enough. If the focus is optimising cost and resources in environments that already have another observability tool, Turbonomic can be deployed on its own (it accepts data from Prometheus, Datadog, Dynatrace and others). Where the native IBM integration adds most is automating actions based on telemetry: Instana produces the signal and Turbonomic acts on it.

Do they work with Kubernetes, OpenShift, VMware and public cloud?

Yes. Both products cover upstream Kubernetes, Red Hat OpenShift, VMware vSphere/vSAN, AWS, Azure, GCP and IBM Cloud. Instana also covers bare metal, IBM Power/AIX and mainframe (z/OS). Turbonomic also covers hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI), SAN and managed container services (EKS, AKS, GKE, ROSA, ARO).

How do they relate to IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps?

IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps is the umbrella that brings Instana, Turbonomic and other capabilities (event management, alert correlation, runbook automation) together in a single deployment on OpenShift. Instana and Turbonomic can be used on their own; Cloud Pak for AIOps provides the full AIOps model, with lower MTTR and automated operations.

How do they compare with Datadog, Dynatrace or New Relic?

Instana competes with Datadog, Dynatrace and New Relic in APM and observability. It stands apart by covering IBM technologies such as AIX, z/OS, Db2 and IBM MQ within the same per-host licence, and by integrating with Turbonomic, which acts on the infrastructure rather than just displaying data. Turbonomic also accepts data from Dynatrace, Datadog or Prometheus, so it does not force you to change your observability tool.

Can I start with one and add the other later?

Yes. To connect them, you add Instana as a data source in Turbonomic, and from then on Turbonomic also bases its decisions on each service's response time and transactions. Starting with one does not mean redoing anything later.

Are you an IBM Business Partner? What does that mean?

Yes, we are an IBM Business Partner. That allows us to manage Instana and Turbonomic licences, deliver the official courses with IBM's syllabus and materials, and take care of implementation and support in a single proposal.

Which official Instana and Turbonomic courses are available?

For Instana, TN201G and TN202G. For Turbonomic, TN901G, TN902G, TN910G and TN930G. For a team that will run both tools on Kubernetes or OpenShift, the usual path is TN202G, TN902G and TN930G.
[ 06 ]Contact

Training, licences, implementation or support

Get in touch however suits you best.

WhatsApp +34 692 484 071 Phone +34 91 198 02 43 Form Write to us