---
title: Universal Service Monitoring
description: >-
  Monitor service health metrics across your entire stack without code
  instrumentation using Universal Service Monitoring and the Datadog Agent.
breadcrumbs: Docs > Universal Service Monitoring
---

# Universal Service Monitoring

{% callout %}
# Important note for users on the following Datadog sites: app.ddog-gov.com, us2.ddog-gov.com

{% alert level="danger" %}
This product is not supported for your selected [Datadog site](https://docs.datadoghq.com/getting_started/site.md). ({% placeholder "user-datadog-site-name" /%}).
{% /alert %}

{% /callout %}

## Overview{% #overview %}

Universal Service Monitoring (USM) provides visibility into your service health metrics universally across your entire stack *without having to instrument your code*. It relies solely on the presence of a configured Datadog Agent and [Unified Service Tagging](https://docs.datadoghq.com/getting_started/tagging/unified_service_tagging.md), and brings performance data about your uninstrumented services into views such as the Catalog and Service Map. USM also works with [Deployment Tracking](https://docs.datadoghq.com/tracing/services/deployment_tracking.md), Monitors, Dashboards, and SLOs.

{% video
   url="https://docs.dd-static.net/images/universal_service_monitoring/usm-demo.mp4" /%}

## Setup{% #setup %}

For information about supported platforms and protocols, and for instructions on getting started, read [Setting Up Universal Service Monitoring](https://docs.datadoghq.com/universal_service_monitoring/setup.md).

{% alert level="info" %}
**Preview: Additional protocols and encryption methods**
USM are in Preview for discovering cloud services and for decoding additional protocols and traffic encryption methods. For more information and to request access, read [Cloud Service Discovery and Additional Protocols](https://docs.datadoghq.com/universal_service_monitoring/additional_protocols.md).
{% /alert %}

## Automatic service tagging{% #automatic-service-tagging %}

Universal Service Monitoring automatically detects services running in your infrastructure. If it does not find [unified service tags](https://docs.datadoghq.com/getting_started/tagging/unified_service_tagging.md), it assigns them a name based on one of the tags: `app`, `short_image`, `kube_container_name`, `container_name`, `kube_deployment`, `kube_service`.

To update the service's name, set up [Unified Service Tagging](https://docs.datadoghq.com/getting_started/tagging/unified_service_tagging.md).

{% image
   source="https://docs.dd-static.net/images/universal_service_monitoring/automatic-service-tagging.abb499edcbadd65afb7d22c7f173697d.png?auto=format&fit=max&w=850 1x, https://docs.dd-static.net/images/universal_service_monitoring/automatic-service-tagging.abb499edcbadd65afb7d22c7f173697d.png?auto=format&fit=max&w=850&dpr=2 2x"
   alt="When Datadog automatically detects your services, the tag used for this is shown on the top of the service page" /%}

## Exploring your services{% #exploring-your-services %}

After you configure the Agent, wait about five minutes for your service to appear in the Catalog. Click the service to see the service details page. An operation name of `universal.http.server` or `universal.http.client` in the upper left indicates that the service telemetry comes from Universal Service Monitoring.

The `universal.http.server` operation name captures health metrics for inbound traffic to your service. The corresponding `universal.http.client` operation name represents outbound traffic to other destinations.

{% image
   source="https://docs.dd-static.net/images/universal_service_monitoring/select_service_operation_cropped.9244a3c187db2d29e4ae87c8294ff84c.png?auto=format&fit=max&w=850 1x, https://docs.dd-static.net/images/universal_service_monitoring/select_service_operation_cropped.9244a3c187db2d29e4ae87c8294ff84c.png?auto=format&fit=max&w=850&dpr=2 2x"
   alt="The operation dropdown menu on the Services tab shows the available operation names" /%}

After enabling Universal Service Monitoring, you can:

- Navigate to **APM** > **Catalog** or **APM** > **Service Map** to [visualize your services and their dependencies](https://docs.datadoghq.com/internal_developer_portal/catalog.md).

- Click into specific Service pages to see golden signal metrics (requests, errors, and duration), and correlate these against recent code changes with [Deployment Tracking](https://docs.datadoghq.com/tracing/services/deployment_tracking.md).

- Create [monitors](https://docs.datadoghq.com/monitors/types/apm.md?tab=apmmetrics), [dashboards](https://docs.datadoghq.com/dashboards.md), and [SLOs](https://docs.datadoghq.com/service_level_objectives/metric.md) using the `universal.http.*` metrics.

## Further Reading{% #further-reading %}

- [Setting Up Universal Service Monitoring](https://docs.datadoghq.com/universal_service_monitoring/setup.md)
- [Golden signals in seconds with Universal Service Monitoring](https://www.datadoghq.com/blog/universal-service-monitoring-datadog/)
- [Unified Service Tagging](https://docs.datadoghq.com/getting_started/tagging/unified_service_tagging.md)
- [Discover and catalog the services reporting to Datadog](https://docs.datadoghq.com/internal_developer_portal/catalog.md)
- [Learn more about services in Datadog](https://docs.datadoghq.com/tracing/services/service_page.md)
- [Read about the Service Map](https://docs.datadoghq.com/tracing/services/services_map.md)
- [Best practices for monitoring and remediating connection churn](https://www.datadoghq.com/blog/monitor-connection-churn-datadog/)
- [Improve developer experience and collaboration with Catalog](https://www.datadoghq.com/blog/software-catalog/)
- [Getting Started with Universal Service Monitoring (USM)](https://learn.datadoghq.com/courses/getting-started-usm)