We have released a new version 0.8.6 of our host agent, kprobe. While not particularly noteworthy by itself, this new version adds a couple new features to the Kentik Detect solution:

• UI Set Sampling Rate: Up until now, you had to set the sampling rate with a CLI parameter. Now, if the sampling rate parameter is not set, kprobe will determine the sampling rate by communicating with the Kentik Data Engine to receive the value set in the portal. This allows a more standard deployment of the agent where varying sampling rates may be required across the environment.
  
  
  

• First Payload Exchange Latency (FPEX) metric: This new metric measures application response time. After the TCP session is set up, this measures the time between the first request packet and the first response packet. This is especially useful for applications that Kentik cannot decode (HTTP and DNS are currently decoded). You will find this new metric in the Metrics drop-down menu in the Query pane of the Data Explorer sidebar (Data Explorer » Explorer View).

  
  It can also be used in Multi-Metric mode by click on Customize Metrics in the Query pane. You will find the FPEX metric at the very bottom right-hand corner of the Metrics dialog.

  This metric is also available in the Alert section of Kentik Detect. For more details on using the Alerting system, check out our KB article or Alerting Blog.