A newer version is available. For the latest information, see the
current release documentation.
Why is APM Server a separate component?edit
The APM Server is kept as a separate component for the following reasons:
- It helps keep the agents as light as possible and since the APM Server is a stateless separate component, it can be scaled independently.
- For real-user-monitoring (beta), data is being collected in agents running in browsers. APM Server prevents browsers from interacting directly with Elasticsearch (which poses a security risk), and controls the amount of data flowing into Elasticsearch.
- In cases where Elasticsearch becomes unresponsive, APM Server can buffer data temporarily (configurable) without adding overhead to the agents.
- APM Server serves as a middleware for source mapping for javascript in the browser.
- The APM Server provides a JSON API for agents to use thereby improving compatibility across different versions of agents and the Elastic Stack.