[APM] Design - Central config management for agents

[formgeist]

Summary

Related implementation issue: #34990

As we introduce the option to configure services (agents) from Kibana UI through the apm-server in order to allow for central configuration, we're introducing a Settings page in the APM UI that will contain the 1. configuration creation and 2. list of active configurations.

Design

➡️Marvel prototype

Settings page

The Settings page will consist of a simplified APM header controls. No date picker, search bar or environment selector.

Beta flag

For the release we will show a callout explaining that this is a beta feature along with a link to the documentation with supported agents.

Create configuration flow

The flow is meant to allow for a quick and seamless flow in order to setup a configuration for a single service by either all or specific service environments (present at the time of creation).

No configurations

As an initial empty state, we will show a large empty state prompt that leads the user to create a configuration first.

Create configuration flyout

The flyout contains all the options needed to create a configuration that enables sample rate configuration, which will be first and only variable available at the first release. We will add more options later on as we add support.

The configuration cannot be created without all inputs being filled and validated.

Show toast to confirm successful creation of configuration

Manage created configurations

Once configurations are created, the user needs an overview of active configurations for each service (agent) and environments.

List of configurations

We will display the configurations in a table with the service name, environment, sample rate and last updated timestamp. There's also an option to edit the configuration which invokes the edit configuration flyout.

Edit (and delete) configuration flyout

Beyond displaying all the configuration parameters in the same flyout as the create configuration flyout, there will be an additional section that allows the user to delete the configuration.

[elasticmachine]

Pinging @elastic/apm-ui

[sorenlouv]

Open questions:

• since we will be storing data in ES do we need a migration strategy for 8.0?
• What are the access control requirements?

[roncohen]

there's a "settings" tab proposal for Logs UI: #39071
seems like a good opportunity to increase the similarity between solutions cc @hbharding

[formgeist]

Thanks for the heads up @roncohen - @hbharding we can discuss a consistent pattern for these two if it makes sense.

[formgeist]

Feedback/tasks:

• Validation states, especially copy if values don't validate.
• Toasts for errors states
  • No permissions to write to index (security/privileges)

[formgeist]

Closing in favor of the on-going implementation / PR #39555. We'll create separate issues for other design related tasks to this feature.