Multimetrics Reports
WOCU-Monitoring facilitates the monitoring and evolution of Hosts and Services through performance values collected and stored in metrics during check-ups. Through multi-metric reports, it is possible toobtain unit values on one or more specific metrics, in a time interval and for all the Hosts of a Realm, through the application of discrete mathematical functions.
In other words, this report answers questions such as: for each Host in my Realm, what is the maximum CPU load and also the 95th percentile of outgoing traffic from its interfaces?
The process of setting up, running and launching reports is detailed below.
Configuration and generation of Multimetrics Reports
In general, when creating reports, the user must access the blue button New Report, located in the Reports.
Before generating the report, it will be necessary to define a series of filters and parameters at the user’s discretion, as described below.
Execution and scheduling of Multimetrics report
WOCU-Monitoring also allows the automation of the reports, thanks to the possibility of scheduling their generation and launch at the user’s discretion by means of the New Scheduling. For more information, see: Scheduling.
Report
Within the following dropdown menu, the user must select the type of report they wish to create; in this case, it will be a Multimetrics report.
Note
Depending on the type of report selected, other configurations will be revealed according to the option chosen.
Template
In this optional field, the user will choose the template they want to apply to the report. Templates are created in advance of the reports.This element is further elaborated in the section Templates.
Name
This field allows you to set an identification term that differentiates the report to be generated from the rest. This field is mandatory.
Description
Optional field where the user may include descriptive text relating to the report.
Visibility
In this field the user shall determine whether the report will be visible to other users, i.e. a public report, or on the contrary will be private and will only be visible to the creator of the report.
Function
The following is a description of all the mathematical functions supported, to be applied on the set of points of the selected metric:
- LAST
Within the selected time interval, the last value collected by the metrics backend.
- FIRST
Within the selected time interval, the first value collected by the metrics backend.
- MIN (Minimum)
Within the selected time interval, the smallest value. Applies to numeric values only.
- MAX (Maximum)
Within the selected time interval, the largest value. Applies to numeric values only.
- MEAN
Within the selected time interval, the arithmetic mean of all points. Only applies to numeric values.
- COUNT
Within the selected time interval, returns the total number of points.
- PERCENTIL
Gets for the selected time interval, the next value to the nth quantile indicated as argument over the set of points sorted in ascending order, with the lowest value at 0% (MIN, PERCENTILE 0) and with the highest value at 100% (MAX, PERCENTILE 100). Only applies to numeric values.
The Percentile function is configurable, so when you select it in the drop-down menu, a new field (Extra argument) will appear to define or modify the value that the Percentile function will take.
- MEDIAN
It consists of obtaining the value in the centre, within the range of points resulting from ordering the set of points.
Attention
It is also sometimes referred to as the 50th percentile, although it should be clarified that this statement is only correct when the joint total (Count) is odd. If it is even, the median will return the average value of the 2 points in the middle.
- STD DEV (Standard Deviation)
Within the selected time interval, it obtains the standard deviation of the points. The standard deviation is directly proportional to the dispersion of the points with reference to the arithmetic mean (MEAN). In other words, it is used to quantify how dispersed the values of a metric are over time with respect to the mean. A low deviation indicates that values tend to be close to the mean (smooth, non-peaked graphs) while a high deviation indicates high variation (peaked graphs).
Option to filter Metrics and Services by regular expressions (Toggle Regex)
By activating this option it is possible to filter Metrics and Services by applying regular expressions. This will be done by using a search pattern, providing greater flexibility and customisation of the filtering. Ultimately, reports will be generated taking into account only the metrics and/or services whose name/description includes the defined text string.
Enabling this configuration method will affect the following contiguous configuration parameters: Service description and Metric.
The following are the two possible configuration options: Toggle Regex enabled and disabled.
Service description
Selector for filtering by service name. There are two configuration options for this field based on the option chosen in the Toggle Regex parameter. Both cases are presented below:
A. Toggle Regex Habilitado
The operation is very simple, you will need to enter a search pattern that will act as a regular expression for filtering services. For example, note that when you enter a certain term, such as “traffic“, the system constructs the regular expression
/.*traffic.*/. These wildcards replace any character before or after the entered term.
Following the example, with the regular expression
/.*traffic.*/the report will capture all services whose name contains the characters “traffic“, i.e. all those services related to traffic in and out of the monitored assets.In a sense, the use of regular expressions makes it possible to perform generic queries on a specific aspect in a quick and easy way.
B. Toggle Regex Deshabilitado
A single selector is displayed for the search and selection of a specific service. To do this, type its name in the search bar and WOCU will display a list of services whose name matches the characters entered. The search works with the first characters of the name, even with several intermediate or final characters. The user must finally select one of the proposed services from the list.
Metric
Selector for filtering by metric name. There are two configuration options for this field based on the option chosen in the Toggle Regex parameter. Both cases are presented below:
A. Toggle Regex Habilitado
The operation is similar to that of the Service description field, you will have to enter a search pattern that will act as a regular expression for filtering metrics. With this option it is possible to perform generic queries on a specific aspect in a quick and easy way. More information can be found in Service description.
B. Toggle Regex Deshabilitado
A single selector is displayed for the search and selection of a specific metric. To do this, type its name in the search bar and WOCU will display a list of metrics whose name matches the characters entered. The search works with the first characters of the name, even with several intermediate or final characters. The user finally has to select one of the proposed items from the list.
Important
As there can be several services associated to a metric and vice versa, the filtering is bidirectional. That is, by capturing one or several services (with or without regular expression), the metrics filter will be updated showing only the specific metrics associated to the service or group of services and vice versa. In this way, the user can use this relationship to narrow down the search for the metric or service on which he/she wants to make the multi-metric report.
Column name
Field to add the alias or display name for the identification of the metric or groups of metrics. It is useful to assign an alternative and friendlier term than the original metric name.
Once the report is created, the data will be displayed in tabular format. This term will be displayed as the header of the metrics columns and of the table itself. In the use of regular expressions, it will also be part of the metric header nomenclature.
Required
In case several functions are configured with different metrics, it is possible that not all Hosts have points for all metrics defined in the configuration.
For example, the HA Host has metrics for CPU and Network Traffic, while the HB Host only has metrics for Disk and Network Traffic. What would happen if you set up a report on Disk and CPU metrics?
This field is used to exclude Hosts that lack metrics marked as mandatory (On) from the final result. If a metric is marked as optional (Off) but other functions on additional metrics yield results for a Host, the report will show an empty field for the optional metric.
Host Group
This configuration parameter allows filtering the data collected and reflected in the report, showing only those related to the Host Groups existing in WOCU.
To select and filter the results of the report by a specific Host Group, simply choose the name of the group from the Host Group drop-down menu. All the groups registered within the realm will be displayed.
To deactivate the filter, the user must choose the No HG filter option, which appears first in the list.
In the case of a Multirealm (Multirealm), the list will show the Host Groups defined in the different realms that make up the set. To indicate to the user that a given Host Group belongs to one of the realms that make up the Multirealm, the name of the realm to which the Host Group belongs is enclosed in square brackets (“[Realm]“).
Date Interval
Before running the report, it is necessary to indicate to WOCU the date range(s) to which the data reflected by the report will refer.
There are a number of time criteria already in place:
Today: filters and displays only the data recorded during the period of time elapsed in today’s day.
Yesterday: registered yesterday.
Last 24 hours: recorded in the last 24 hours.
Last 48 hours: recorded in the last 48 hours.
Last 7 Days: registered in the last seven days.
Last 30 Days: registered in the last 30 days.
This Week: recorded during the period of time elapsed in the current week (from the start day of the week to the current day).
This Month: recorded during the period of time elapsed in the current month (from day 1 to the current day of the month).
Previous Week: registered in the previous full week (Monday to Sunday).
Previous Month: registered in the previous full month (from day 1 to days 28/30/31).
It is possible to set a specific time period using the Custom Range option. To define the time frame it is necessary to set a start date and an end date. By clicking on one of the days, this date will be selected and marked with a blue background. In addition to the day, a specific time can be set for that day. To do this, use the drop-down menus in the hour, minute and second boxes to set the desired time. The selected date and time can be seen both in the upper boxes and in the lower part of the view.
Once the programming is done, press the Apply button to save and apply the programming.
Attention
It is of course not possible to choose start and end dates after the current date, nor to set an end date before the start date.
Aggregation and grouping of metrics
WOCU-Monitoring allows you to extend the configuration by adding several metrics in a single report.
Pressing the button with the plus sign (+) will bring up a new row of parameters to be configured for the new metric in question. If you want to delete any of them, use the button with the cross (x) and the set of fields will disappear.
Other options:
Duplicate row (icon of two overlapping squares): add a new metric by duplicating the configuration of the original one.
Add metrics in a column (↴): disjunctive grouping of metrics.
Example
A realm has Hosts with one, two or more network interfaces. If each interface has its own metric, it is possible to aggregate both metrics in the same column, for example, to know what is the average traffic of the Hosts with interface eth0, and if not, of interface eth1.
Execution and scheduling of Multimetrics report
To save the configuration and generate the report, click on the blue Create.
Once the report has been created and programmed, you will go back to the initial screen of this section, where the reports will be stacked sequentially in the reports in the Reports. Within the panel is the user can access the generated report by clicking on the name of the report.
Next, the user is directed to a new, exclusive window for the report, where the information generated and collected by the system is presented. These panels are described in detail in the following section.
Execution and scheduling of Multimetrics report
WOCU-Monitoring also enables the automation of report operations, thanks to the ability to schedule their generation and launch based on user-defined criteria using the Scheduling option.
Export of Multimetric Reports
WOCU-Monitoring also allows the export of the report in PDF, CSV and JSON formats. These condense all information on the availability of the monitored assets in a document that can be easily dissemination and simple analysis.
Through the Export selector located in the global report panel, the corresponding files shall be downloaded.
Important
WOCU-Monitoring will return the following error message when the scope of the report exceeds a certain number of Hosts. The default that is set by default is 1,000 Hosts, but this number may vary depending on the monitored environment and infrastructure.
Analysis and Options for Multimetrics Reports
The information generated by WOCU for the multi-metric report is presented to the user through two panels: one that collects the set configuration parameters and another that presents the set of selected metrics through a tabular format.
Multimetrics Reporting Configuration Panel
This panel presents the filters and parameters set in the configuration of the generated report.
These are:
ID: Unique code identifying the report.
Name: Identification name assigned to the report.
Description: Descriptive text relating to the report.
Comments: shows the comments added by the user.
Create at: Indicates the exact date and time the report was created.
Create by: Indicates the user who created/owns the report.
Realm: Name of the Realm that is the subject of the report.
Date Interval: Indicates the start and end time and date of the period established for the collection of data for the report.
Series: Summary table of the set configuration, showing the values defined for each parameter of the multi-metric report.
When using regular expressions, each entry in the initial column (Column) can encompass several metrics, so in the next panel there is the possibility to select which metric to display in the table.
Metric value result panels
Broadly speaking, the following tables present the set of recorded values related to the configured metrics (columns), for each Host (rows) of a given Realm.
WOCU collects and manages a multitude of metrics, so the report offers two views available for data visualisation:
Columns view
This view condenses all the metrics collected together with the values achieved into a single table. It allows the user to filter by specific metrics. The tabular format makes it easy to compare metrics in the report.
The different options and functions available are
1. Selection of metrics to be displayed
For this purpose, the selector Select columns to visualise will be used to list all the metrics collected according to the set configuration and that comply with the condition defined in the regular expression (as long as it has been previously applied).
It is possible to select multiple metrics from the drop-down by holding down the Ctrl key and then selecting the metrics to be filtered.
It also allows a manual search by entering the first characters of the metric’s identifying name. This option is very useful when the report has different groups of queries.
Once a metric is selected, the table will be updated with the values recorded and associated to the Host to which it belongs.
2. Reset metrics filtering.
You can remove certain items by clicking on the cross (x) that heads the metric tag. Or reset the query by clearing the metric selector and clearing the table by using the Hide all columns.
The main table has the following columns:
✓ Host Name: Identifying name of the Host that registers this metric.
✓ Column for each selected metric: configured in the report, which complies with the defined regular expression (if applicable).
You can scroll the table view to display columns that are hidden in the interface due to their length.
Important
As the combination of metrics, services and functions is infinite, for the sake of comprehension, all metrics are presented with the following nomenclature:
[Metric group name or Colunm name][Applied function][Name of the metric](Name of the service that generates it)
Compact view
This view condenses each group of metrics (columns in the initial configuration) into a separate table, showing all the metric values that the system has collected for each service and associated Host.
Note
When a group of metrics is missing data, the report will not generate or display a table.
Each table has the following columns
✓ Host Name: Identifying name of the Host that registers this metric.
✓ Service: name of the service that generates this metric.
✓ Metric: metric configured in the report and that complies with the defined regular expression (if applicable).
✓ Finally, a column is presented for each mathematical Function supported, presenting the values resulting from the operation.
Important
The different navigation, search and sorting options available on this screen are explained in detail in the section: Common navigation, filtering and sorting options in WOCU.