Extension JSON explained
The plugin.json is your extension definition. Starting with the metrics used by the extension to the favicon and extension configuration fields.
Logically, it can be divided into four parts:
Example:
{"name": "custom.remote.python.example","version": "1.17","productiveMinVersion": "1.000","requiredAgentVersion": "1.000","type": "python","entity": "CUSTOM_DEVICE","metricGroup": "tech.Example_Service","technologies": ["EXAMPLE_SERVICE"],"source": {"package": "demo_activegate_plugin_multi","className": "RemoteExamplePlugin","install_requires": ["requests>=2.6.0"],"activation": "Remote"},"ui": {"keymetrics": [{"key": "databases.table_size","aggregation": "max","mergeaggregation": "sum","displayname": "Total table size"}],"keycharts": [{"group": "Service state","title": "State","series": [{"key": "service.state_5","displayname": "Status","seriestype": "bar","statecolors": ["#ff3333", "#ffd633", "#00b33c"],"statechart": true}]},{"group": "Disk usage","title": "Total disk usage","series": [{"key": "databases.table_size","displayname": "Sum of databases size","seriestype": "area","color": "#74cff7"}]}],"charts": [{"group": "Memory","title": "Per table usage","series": [{"key": "databases.table_size","displayname": "Per table size","seriestype": "area","color": "#74cff7","metricexplanation": "How big is each table"}]},{"group": "Entries","title": "Total num entries","series": [{"key": "databases.total_num_entities","displayname": "Total number of entries","seriestype": "line","color": "#74cff7","metricexplanation": "How big is each table"}]},{"group": "Entries","title": "Archives","series": [{"key": "databases.replicated_entries","displayname": "Number of entries archived","seriestype": "bar","color": "#74cff7","metricexplanation": "Number of metrics moved to archive"}]},{"group": "Connections","title": "Archives","series": [{"key": "service.querries_per_second","displayname": "Connections per second","seriestype": "bar","color": "#74cff7","metricexplanation": "Connections per second"}]}]},"metrics": [{"statetimeseries": {"key": "service.state_5","states": ["DOWNTIME", "MAINTENANCE", "WORKING"],"displayname": "Service State","source": { "state_entrypoint": "/api/state" }},"entity": "CUSTOM_DEVICE"},{"timeseries": {"key": "service.querries_per_second","unit": "PerSecond","displayname": "Querries per second","aggregation": "AVG"},"entity": "CUSTOM_DEVICE_GROUP","alert_settings": [{"alert_id": "custom_connections_alert","event_type": "AVAILABILITY_EVENT","event_name": "No connections!","description": "The {metricname} of {severity} is {alert_condition} the threshold of {threshold}","threshold": 0.01,"alert_condition": "ABOVE","samples": 5,"violating_samples": 1,"dealerting_samples": 5}]},{"timeseries": {"key": "databases.table_size","unit": "MegaByte","displayname": "Table size","aggregation": "MAX","dimensions": ["table_name"]},"entity": "CUSTOM_DEVICE"},{"timeseries": {"key": "databases.total_num_entities","unit": "Count","displayname": "Total num ","aggregation": "MAX"},"entity": "CUSTOM_DEVICE"},{"timeseries": {"key": "databases.replicated_entries","unit": "Count","displayname": "Archived Entries","aggregation": "SUM"},"entity": "CUSTOM_DEVICE"}],"properties": [{"key": "url","type": "String"},{"key": "auth_user","type": "String"},{"key": "auth_password","type": "Password"},{"key": "state_interval","type": "Integer","defaultValue": 60},{"key": "alert_interval","type": "Integer","defaultValue": 360},{"key": "event_interval","type": "Integer","defaultValue": 240},{"key": "relative_interval","type": "Integer","defaultValue": 60}],"configUI": {"displayName": "CustomCloudTechnology","properties": [{"key": "url","displayName": "URL","displayOrder": 3,"displayHint": "http://localhost:9200/"},{"key": "auth_user","displayName": "User","displayOrder": 1,"displayHint": "Leave empty if no authentication is set up"},{"key": "auth_password","displayName": "Password","displayOrder": 2,"displayHint": "Leave empty if no authentication is set up","defaultValue": "somepassword"},{"key": "state_interval","displayName": "State change interval","displayOrder": 3,"displayHint": "How often state metrics changes","defaultValue": 60},{"key": "alert_interval","displayName": "Alert interval","displayOrder": 4,"displayHint": "How often an alert is raised","defaultValue": 360},{"key": "event_interval","displayName": "Event interval","displayOrder": 5,"displayHint": "How often an event is raised","defaultValue": 240},{"key": "relative_interval","displayName": "Relative interval","displayOrder": 6,"displayHint": "How often relative metric is submitted","defaultValue": 60}]}}
Metadata
The top-level metadata section contains a list of properties used to identify your extension.
plugin.json top level
Field
Type
Required
Description
Validation
name
string
True
A unique plugin name in Java package format.
minLength: 1, pattern: ^custom.remote.python.([a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z0-9_-]*)+$
version
string
True
The plugin version, must be updated whenever the plugin definition is updated.
pattern: ^\d+.\d+(.\d+)?$
array of strings
True
Type of technology that plugin monitors, as can be viewed on Technologies overview page.
favicon
string
False
link to favicon that should be used on technology tile
entity
string
True
Entity type upon which the plugin is activated
enum: ['CUSTOM_DEVICE', 'CUSTOM_DEVICE_GROUP']
metricGroup
string
True
Metric group is used for grouping custom metrics into a hierarchical namespace where different sources, for example multiple plugins can contribute. Moreover, metric group becomes primary part of metric key. Hence once defined it could not be changed.
minLength: 1, pattern: ^(/?[-a-zA-Z0-9_.]+)+$
object
False
The configUI section defines the configuration fields that are displayed in the UI.
Source
The source section lists the package name and class that is to be imported and executed by ActiveGate. This corresponds to the name of the Python file that contains the code and the name of the class that’s defined in it. This information is required by the ActiveGate Plugin Module Python engine.
{"package": "remote_example","className": "RemoteExamplePlugin","install_requires": ["requests>=2.6.0"]}
Source metadata section
Field
Type
Required
Description
Validation
package
string
True
Python package that has plugin class
className
string
True
Name of plugins main python class. Must inherit from BasePlugin.
array of strings
False
Relates to Python packaging, see: https://setuptools.readthedocs.io/en/latest/setuptools.html#declaring-dependencies
array of strings
False
Relates to Python packaging, see: https://docs.python.org/3.8/distutils/setupscript.html
array of strings
False
Relates to Python packaging, see: https://docs.python.org/3.8/distutils/setupscript.html
array of strings
False
Relates to Python packaging, see: https://docs.python.org/3.8/distutils/setupscript.html
Technologies and favicon
The technologies and favicon properties determine how your technology is presented on the Technology overview page.
To have the data from your extension displayed on an existing technology tile, set a corresponding technology name. You can look up the configured technology names in the ActiveGate extensions JSON reference
or you can get them from the UI as the Main technology process property.
If a value of the technologies property doesn't map to an existing one, the extension will create a new tile on the Technology overview page. The Favicon property determines the technology tile displayed on the page:
Version
You can't deploy the same extension version twice. To upload a modified extension, make sure you increment the extension version with every build or upload.
Name
ActiveGate extension name should follow ^ custom.remote.python (\.[a-zA-Z0-9_]+)+$ regex. For example, custom.remote.python.demo. The name of each extension must be unique.
Metric Group
The preferred way of using Metric Group is adding prefix "tech" before your metric group definition. For example "tech.elasticsearch". Thanks to this, other users will be able to find additional metrics alongside with others in the context of technology like in this example on Custom Charts page:
MetricGroup field can be also used to create a completely new entry. Note that you can use dots to create subgroups, like in this example "My_Metrics.plugins":
However, setting metricGroup field is not necessary for already running extensions that originally didn't have is set. In such a case, metricGroup will be automatically set the extension name not to break the continuity of your data.
UI
This part of the JSON defines how metrics are charted on the Dynatrace page. It contains an optional charts section and an optional keycharts section.
Example UI section:
{"ui": {"keymetrics": [{"key": "databases.table_size","aggregation": "max","mergeaggregation": "sum","displayname": "Total table size"}],"keycharts": [{"group": "Service state","title": "State","series": [{"key": "service.state_5","displayname": "Status","seriestype": "bar","statecolors": ["#ff3333", "#ffd633", "#00b33c"],"statechart": true}]},{"group": "Disk usage","title": "Total disk usage","series": [{"key": "databases.table_size","displayname": "Sum of databases size","seriestype": "area","color": "#74cff7"}]}],"charts": [{"group": "Memory","title": "Per table usage","series": [{"key": "databases.table_size","displayname": "Per table size","seriestype": "area","color": "#74cff7","metricexplanation": "How big is each table"}]},{"group": "Entries","title": "Total num entries","series": [{"key": "databases.total_num_entities","displayname": "Total number of entries","seriestype": "line","color": "#74cff7","metricexplanation": "How big is each table"}]},{"group": "Entries","title": "Archives","series": [{"key": "databases.replicated_entries","displayname": "Number of entries archived","seriestype": "bar","color": "#74cff7","metricexplanation": "Number of metrics moved to archive"}]},{"group": "Connections","title": "Archives","series": [{"key": "service.querries_per_second","displayname": "Connections per second","seriestype": "bar","color": "#74cff7","metricexplanation": "Connections per second"}]}]}}
UI Section
Field
Type
Required
Description
Validation
KeyMetrics
The KeyMetrics section is optional and allows you to define up to two metrics that should be part of the Custom Device infographic.
{"keymetrics": [{"key": "databases.table_size","aggregation": "max","mergeaggregation": "sum","displayname": "Total table size"}]}
Here is an example of a keymetric in web UI:
A keymetric has the following attributes:
keyMetrics
Array item definition:
Field
Type
Required
Description
Validation
key
string
True
minLength: 1
aggregation
string
False
Aggregation type
enum: ['MIN', 'MAX', 'AVG', 'SUM', 'COUNT', 'P50', 'P90', 'min', 'max', 'avg', 'sum', 'count', 'p50', 'p90', 'Min', 'Max', 'Avg', 'Sum', 'Count']
mergeaggregation
string
False
enum: ['MIN', 'MAX', 'AVG', 'SUM', 'min', 'max', 'avg', 'sum', 'Min', 'Max', 'Avg', 'Sum']
displayname
string
False
minLength: 1
unit
string
False
enum: ['NanoSecond', 'MicroSecond', 'MilliSecond', 'Second', 'Byte', 'KiloByte', 'KibiByte', 'MegaByte', 'MebiByte', 'BytePerSecond', 'BytePerMinute', 'KiloBytePerSecond', 'KiloBytePerMinute', 'KibiBytePerSecond', 'KibiBytePerMinute', 'MegaBytePerSecond', 'MegaBytePerMinute', 'MebiBytePerSecond', 'MebiBytePerMinute', 'Ratio', 'Percent', 'Promille', 'Count', 'PerSecond', 'PerMinute', 'Unspecified']
KeyCharts
Both KeyCharts and Charts have the same object structure, for example:
{"keycharts": [{"group": "Service state","title": "State","series": [{"key": "service.state_5","displayname": "Status","seriestype": "bar","statecolors": ["#ff3333", "#ffd633", "#00b33c"],"statechart": true}]},{"group": "Disk usage","title": "Total disk usage","series": [{"key": "databases.table_size","displayname": "Sum of databases size","seriestype": "area","color": "#74cff7"}]}]}
Keycharts are visible on each Process page:
Charts
Other charts are available after drilling down to the Further details section of each Process page.
Both chart and keychart sections are an array of objects:
Chart
Array item definition:
Field
Type
Required
Description
Validation
title
string
True
minLength: 1
description
string
False
minLength: 1
group
string
True
minLength: 1
Where series is an array of objects:
series
Array item definition:
Field
Type
Required
Description
Validation
key
string
True
minLength: 1
color
string
False
aggeragation
string
False
enum: ['MIN', 'MAX', 'AVG', 'SUM', 'COUNT', 'P50', 'P90', 'min', 'max', 'avg', 'sum', 'count', 'p50', 'p90', 'Min', 'Max', 'Avg', 'Sum', 'Count']
mergeaggregation
string
False
enum: ['MIN', 'MAX', 'AVG', 'SUM', 'min', 'max', 'avg', 'sum', 'Min', 'Max', 'Avg', 'Sum']
seriestype
string
False
How will given series render in Dynatrace UI
enum: ['LINE', 'AREA', 'BAR', 'line', 'area', 'bar', 'Line', 'Area', 'Bar']
stacked
boolean
False
rightaxis
boolean
False
displayname
string
False
minLength: 1
unit
string
False
minLength: 1
Metrics
This part of the JSON is an array and defines which metrics are fetched by the extension. Each metric is defined by independently by JSON. There are two types of metrics available: timeseries and statetimeseries
[{"statetimeseries": {"key": "service.state_5","states": ["DOWNTIME", "MAINTENANCE", "WORKING"],"displayname": "Service State","source": { "state_entrypoint": "/api/state" }},"entity": "CUSTOM_DEVICE"},{"timeseries": {"key": "service.querries_per_second","unit": "PerSecond","displayname": "Querries per second","aggregation": "AVG"},"entity": "CUSTOM_DEVICE_GROUP","alert_settings": [{"alert_id": "custom_connections_alert","event_type": "AVAILABILITY_EVENT","event_name": "No connections!","description": "The {metricname} of {severity} is {alert_condition} the threshold of {threshold}","threshold": 0.01,"alert_condition": "ABOVE","samples": 5,"violating_samples": 1,"dealerting_samples": 5}]},{"timeseries": {"key": "databases.table_size","unit": "MegaByte","displayname": "Table size","aggregation": "MAX","dimensions": ["table_name"]},"entity": "CUSTOM_DEVICE"},{"timeseries": {"key": "databases.total_num_entities","unit": "Count","displayname": "Total num ","aggregation": "MAX"},"entity": "CUSTOM_DEVICE"},{"timeseries": {"key": "databases.replicated_entries","unit": "Count","displayname": "Archived Entries","aggregation": "SUM"},"entity": "CUSTOM_DEVICE"}]
Metrics section
Array item have to match one of:
Field
Type
Required
Description
Validation
entity
string
False
enum: ['CUSTOM_DEVICE', 'CUSTOM_DEVICE_GROUP']
Field
Type
Required
Description
Validation
entity
string
False
enum: ['CUSTOM_DEVICE', 'CUSTOM_DEVICE_GROUP']
Where timeseries and statetimeseries are defined as:
Timeseries
Field
Type
Required
Description
Validation
key
string
True
Metric name specification
minLength: 1, pattern: ^([a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z0-9_-]*)(.[a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z0-9_-]*)*$
unit
string
True
Metric unit. See the link for available units.
enum: ['NanoSecond', 'MicroSecond', 'MilliSecond', 'Second', 'Byte', 'KiloByte', 'KibiByte', 'MegaByte', 'MebiByte', 'BytePerSecond', 'BytePerMinute', 'KiloBytePerSecond', 'KiloBytePerMinute', 'KibiBytePerSecond', 'KibiBytePerMinute', 'MegaBytePerSecond', 'MegaBytePerMinute', 'MebiBytePerSecond', 'MebiBytePerMinute', 'Ratio', 'Percent', 'Promille', 'Count', 'PerSecond', 'PerMinute', 'Unspecified']
aggregation
string
False
Time series data point aggregation
enum: ['min', 'max', 'avg', 'sum', 'count', 'MIN', 'MAX', 'AVG', 'SUM', 'COUNT', 'Min', 'Max', 'Avg', 'Sum', 'Count']
array of strings
False
Dimensions are used to provide 1 metric per plugin ObjectName key property value. For example, version, service, or database. Dimension "rx_pid" at index 0 means the system process ID (PID).
displayname
string
True
The name under which the metric will be displayed.
minLength: 1
Statetimeseries
Field
Type
Required
Description
Validation
key
string
True
Metric name specification
minLength: 1, pattern: ^([a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z0-9_-]*)(.[a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z0-9_-]*)*$
displayname
string
True
minLength: 1
Alerts
Both timeseries and statetimeseries can define alerts. To do it, use the alert_settings which is an array of objects, where each object looks like:
{"alert_id": "custom_connections_alert","event_type": "AVAILABILITY_EVENT","event_name": "No connections!","description": "The {metricname} of {severity} is {alert_condition} the threshold of {threshold}","threshold": 0.01,"alert_condition": "ABOVE","samples": 5,"violating_samples": 1,"dealerting_samples": 5}
Alert
Array item definition:
Field
Type
Required
Description
Validation
alert_id
string
True
Metric name specification
minLength: 1, pattern: ^([a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z0-9_-]*)(.[a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z0-9_-]*)*$
event_type
string
True
Event type
enum: ['PERFORMANCE_EVENT', 'AVAILABILITY_EVENT', 'ERROR_EVENT']
description
string
False
Description defines alert message, following code snippets could be used: {threshold} the value of the custom threshold that was violated {severity} the violating value {entityname} the display name of the entity where the metric violated {violating_samples} the number of violating samples that led to that event {dimensions} a string containg the violating dimensions of the metric {alert_condition} a string showing if above or below threshold is alerting
alert_condition
string
True
Alert condition
enum: ['ABOVE', 'BELOW']
event_name
string
True
Event name displayed on UI pages.
minLength: 1
threshold
number
True
The value of the threshold.
samples
integer
True
Size of the "window" in which violating_samples are counted.
violating_samples
integer
True
The number of violating samples that rise an alert. Must be less that samples.
dealerting_samples
integer
True
The number of not violating samples that deactivate and alert. Must be less that samples.
Configuration
The extension configuration section controls the extension data appearance in the web UI at Settings > Monitoring > Monitored technologies and its configuration, for example: user name, password, connection string, etc. The configUI section defines the configuration fields that are displayed in the UI. The properties section defines the configuration properties that are sent to the extension.
ConfigUI
Example ConfigUI section:
{"configUI": {"displayName": "CustomCloudTechnology","properties": [{"key": "url","displayName": "URL","displayOrder": 3,"displayHint": "http://localhost:9200/"},{"key": "auth_user","displayName": "User","displayOrder": 1,"displayHint": "Leave empty if no authentication is set up"},{"key": "auth_password","displayName": "Password","displayOrder": 2,"displayHint": "Leave empty if no authentication is set up","defaultValue": "somepassword"},{"key": "state_interval","displayName": "State change interval","displayOrder": 3,"displayHint": "How often state metrics changes","defaultValue": 60},{"key": "alert_interval","displayName": "Alert interval","displayOrder": 4,"displayHint": "How often an alert is raised","defaultValue": 360},{"key": "event_interval","displayName": "Event interval","displayOrder": 5,"displayHint": "How often an event is raised","defaultValue": 240},{"key": "relative_interval","displayName": "Relative interval","displayOrder": 6,"displayHint": "How often relative metric is submitted","defaultValue": 60}]}}
This is how it looks in Monitored Technologies:
Note the two additional fields:
- Endpoint is a CustomDevice name
- Choose ActiveGate is a dropdown list of all available ActiveGate PluginModules. Select the one you want to use to execute the extension.
ConfigUI is an array of objects:
Config UI section
Field
Type
Required
Description
Validation
displayName
string
False
Human readable plugin name. This name is displayed in web UI at Settings > Monitored technologies > Custom plugins once the plugin is uploaded.
minLength: 1
Properties is an array of objects that are used to define fields for extension configuration page:
ConfigUI properties
Array item definition:
Field
Type
Required
Description
Validation
key
string
True
Config property key, needs to match key from configUI properties section
minLength: 1
displayName
string
True
Human readable property name.
minLength: 1
displayOrder
integer
False
Determines display order on plugin configuration tile.
displayHint
string
False
Hint displayed in the tool-tip.
Properties
Example Properties section:
{"properties": [{"key": "url","type": "String"},{"key": "auth_user","type": "String"},{"key": "auth_password","type": "Password"},{"key": "state_interval","type": "Integer","defaultValue": 60},{"key": "alert_interval","type": "Integer","defaultValue": 360},{"key": "event_interval","type": "Integer","defaultValue": 240},{"key": "relative_interval","type": "Integer","defaultValue": 60}]}
Properties is an array of objects:
Plugin properties
Array item definition:
Field
Type
Required
Description
Validation
key
string
True
Property key. Must be unique within this plugin and must match the key from configUI properties.
minLength: 1
type
string
True
For 'PASSWORD' stars will be displayed while typing.
enum: ['STRING', 'BOOLEAN', 'INTEGER', 'FLOAT', 'PASSWORD', 'JSON', 'TEXTAREA', 'DROPDOWN', 'string', 'boolean', 'integer', 'float', 'password', 'json', 'textarea', 'dropdown', 'String', 'Boolean', 'Integer', 'Float', 'Password', 'Json', 'Textarea', 'Dropdown']
defaultValue
string
False
Default value.