Overview

The APM Server receives data from APM agents and transforms them into Elasticsearch documents. It does this by exposing an HTTP server endpoint to which agents stream the APM data they collect. After the APM Server has validated and processed events from the APM agents, the server transforms the data into Elasticsearch documents and stores them in corresponding Elasticsearch indices.

The APM Server works in conjunction with APM agents, Elasticsearch, and Kibana. Please view the APM Overview for details on how these components work together.

APM Server is built with the Beats framework and leverages its functionality.

Why is APM Server a separate component?

edit

The APM Server is a separate component for the following reasons:

It helps to keep the agents as light as possible.
Since the APM Server is a stateless separate component, it can be scaled independently.
Data is collected in browsers for Real User Monitoring. APM Server prevents these browsers from interacting directly with Elasticsearch (which poses a security risk).
APM Server controls the amount of data flowing into Elasticsearch.
In cases where Elasticsearch becomes unresponsive, APM Server can buffer data temporarily without adding overhead to the agents.
Acts as a middleware for source mapping for JavaScript in the browser.
Provides a JSON API for agents to use and thereby improves compatibility across different versions of agents and the Elastic Stack.

Getting started with APM Server »