[alexandra5000]

Summary

Adds a troubleshooting section for the warning users see when the Service inventory stops listing services individually and groups the rest into Remaining Services.

Two different limits produce that grouping, and the issue treats them as one. This PR documents them separately, because the fix is different for each:

• Limit on the services displayed in Kibana — the Service inventory query cap, 1,000 services by default. From 9.6 it's configurable with the observability:apmMaxNumberOfServices advanced setting, up to 5,000, so the section covers the new setting and the search.max_buckets interaction that matters above 2,000.
• Limit on the services APM Server aggregates — the existing 1,000 services per GB aggregation limit. Rather than restating it, this links to Aggregated metrics: limits and overflows, which already explains overflow buckets.

Closes #8352

Generative AI disclosure

1. Did you use a generative AI (GenAI) tool to assist in creating this contribution?

• Yes
• No

2. Tool(s) and model(s) used: Claude Code (Claude Opus 5)

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• troubleshoot/observability/apm/common-problems.md

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[alexandra5000]

HI @jennypavlova! I've split this into two limits based on what I could verify, but just to be on the safe side, I'd like to confirm: does the inventory cap behave the same way when data arrives through the Managed OTLP Endpoint instead of APM Server?

[jennypavlova]

Hi @alexandra5000,

There are 2 limits: the one controlled by the observability:apmMaxNumberOfServices advanced setting and the APM Server limit to 1000. So to answer the question (regarding the first one) - yes in behaves the same - here is some context:

1. Kibana service inventory limit (observability:apmMaxNumberOfServices, default 1000, max 5000). This is purely a UI-side query cap: the value is read from advanced settings and used as the size of the service.name terms aggregation, and the warning is shown when Elasticsearch reports leftover buckets. It is applied regardless of how the data was ingested, so it works identically for APM Server, EDOT, and the Managed OTLP Endpoint.

   • Setting definition: https://github.com/elastic/kibana/blob/df44f66930f34b57478b4dcb34d7e82282d2645a/x-pack/solutions/observability/plugins/observability/server/ui_settings.ts#L161-L179
   • Read in the services route: https://github.com/elastic/kibana/blob/df44f66930f34b57478b4dcb34d7e82282d2645a/x-pack/solutions/observability/plugins/apm/server/routes/services/route.ts#L125-L127
   • Used as the terms aggregation size, and the warning condition: https://github.com/elastic/kibana/blob/df44f66930f34b57478b4dcb34d7e82282d2645a/x-pack/solutions/observability/plugins/apm/server/routes/services/get_services/get_service_transaction_stats.ts#L124-L128 and https://github.com/elastic/kibana/blob/df44f66930f34b57478b4dcb34d7e82282d2645a/x-pack/solutions/observability/plugins/apm/server/routes/services/get_services/get_service_transaction_stats.ts#L168
   • The warning in the UI: https://github.com/elastic/kibana/blob/df44f66930f34b57478b4dcb34d7e82282d2645a/x-pack/solutions/observability/plugins/apm/public/components/app/service_inventory/service_list/apm_services_table.tsx#L606-L619
   • Introduced in [APM] Make Services Inventory max number of services configurable kibana#293939

2. Ingestion-side aggregation limit (1000 services per GB of APM Server, as documented in Aggregated metrics: limits and overflows). Services beyond it are rolled into the _other overflow bucket. Kibana reads that bucket and its overflow count the same way whatever the source (https://github.com/elastic/kibana/blob/df44f66930f34b57478b4dcb34d7e82282d2645a/x-pack/solutions/observability/plugins/apm/server/routes/services/get_services/get_service_transaction_stats.ts#L119-L123), so the "Remaining Services" row shows up identically for the Managed OTLP Endpoint.

[alexandra5000]

Thank you @jennypavlova! After this PR merges, we can merge elastic/kibana#303168 as well, so that Kibana points to the right docs link.

[jennypavlova]

Thank you @alexandra5000, I approved elastic/kibana#303168, thanks for adding it there!

[alexandra5000]

@jennypavlova could you approve this PR too? Thanks!