WMI data source reference

This is a general description of WMI data source-based extension YAML file and ways to declare metrics and dimensions you would like to collect using your extension.

You can also try our WMI data source tutorial for a step-by-step guide on creating a WMI extension. For more information, see WMI data source tutorial.

Data scope

Create the inventory of the devices you'd like to reference in your extension, as well WMI properties you'll use as the source for your metric and dimension values.

In our example, we create a simple extension collecting disk and network details data from your WMI monitored devices.

name: custom:wmi-extension
version: 0.0.1
minDynatraceVersion: '1.236'
author:
  name: Dynatrace
vars:
  - id: deviceFilter
    displayName: Filter
    type: variable

wmi:
  - group: WMIClasses
    interval:
      minutes: 1
    featureSet: basic
    dimensions:
      - key: counter.name
        value: Name
    subgroups:
      - subgroup: LogicalDisk
        wmiNamespace: root\cimv2
        query: SELECT DeviceID, FreeSpace, Name, Size, DriveType FROM Win32_LogicalDisk WHERE var:deviceFilter
        dimensions:
          - key: disk.id
            value: column:DeviceID
          - key: disk.type
            value: column:DriveType
        metrics:
          - key: size
            value: column:Size
            type: gauge
            featureSet: basic
          - key: freeSpace
            value: column:FreeSpace
            type: gauge
            featureSet: basic
      - subgroup: Network
        interval:
          minutes: 1
        wmiNamespace: root\cimv2
        query: SELECT Name, MACAddress, Speed, ServiceName FROM Win32_NetworkAdapter
        dimensions:
          - key: mac
            value: column:MACAddress
          - key: service.name
            value: column:ServiceName
        metrics:
          - key: speed
            value: column:Speed
            type: gauge
            featureSet: basic

Your WMI monitoring scope definition starts with the wmi YAML node. All the settings under the node pertain to the declared data source type (in this case, WMI).

WQL queries

WMI extensions rely on WMI namespaces and their classes. Your WMI extension extracts the dimension and metric values from WMI class properties using the WQL queries.

Most extension-related classes and properties reside in the root\civm2 namespace. To learn more about WMI namespaces and classes, see Windows Management Instrumentation in the Microsoft documentation.

In this example, we query the disk-related properties from the Win32_LogicalDisk class (DeviceID, FreeSpace, and Size) in the root\cimv2 namespace (wmiNamespace defined at the group level) and we filter the results to drive C with some FreeSpace left. Filtering is achieved with a variable; see monitoring configuration below. The values queried from WMI are then assigned to dimension and metric values and ingested into Dynatrace.

name: custom:wmi.wql.example
version: 0.0.1
minDynatraceVersion: "1.236"
author:
  name: Dynatrace
vars:
  - id: deviceFilter
    displayName: Filter
    type: variable

wmi:
  - group: WMIClasses
    featureSet: basic
    interval:
      minutes: 1
    wmiNamespace: root\cimv2
    query: SELECT DeviceID, FreeSpace, Size FROM Win32_LogicalDisk WHERE var:deviceFilter
    dimensions:
      - key: disk.id
        value: column:DeviceID
    metrics:
      - key: size
        value: column:Size
        type: gauge
      - key: freeSpace
        value: column:FreeSpace
        type: gauge

Example monitoring configuration for your WQL query

This example shows how to pass the deviceFilter variable declared earlier in the extension.yaml.

[
  {
    "scope": "ag_group-my-activegate-group",
    "value": {
      "version": "1.0.0",
      "description": "WMI Simple",
      "enabled": true,
      "activationContext": "REMOTE",
      "wmiRemote": {
        "devices": [
          {
            "host" : "192.168.0.1",
            "user" : "DOMAIN\\Administrator",
            "password" : "Password1"
          }
        ]
      },
      "featureSets": ["basic"],
      "vars": {
        "deviceFilter": "DeviceID = 'C:' and FreeSpace > 0"
      }
    }
  }
]

Dimensions

For each level (extension, group, subgroup), you can define up to 25 dimensions.

Dimension key

The dimension key string must conform to the metrics ingestion protocol.

Dimension value

Apart from simply instructing the extension to extract a dimension value from a property, you can also use the following methods:

Use variables with dimensions

If you want to make your extension dimension customizable with the data from the monitoring configuration, you can use variables that will be replaced by values passed from the monitoring configuration. To use variables, you must first declare them in your extension YAML file:

vars:
   - id: oneagent_version
     displayName: OneAgent version
     type: variable

Then you can reference them in the dimension definition. Prefix the variable name with var.

dimensions:
   - key: oneagent_version
     value: var:agent_version

Filter extracted dimensions

When extracting the dimension value, you can add filtering logic using WQL queries that will result in reporting only the dimensions that match the filtering criteria.

query: SELECT DeviceID, FreeSpace, Size FROM Win32_LogicalDisk WHERE var:deviceFilter

Define the filter as a query in the monitoring configuration and pass it to the extension as a variable:

"vars": {
  "deviceFilter": "DeviceID = 'C:' and FreeSpace > 0"
}

Metrics

For each level (extension, group, subgroup), you can define up to 100 metrics.

For example:

wmi:
  - group: WMIClasses
    interval:
      minutes: 1
    wmiNamespace: root\cimv2
    query: SELECT DeviceID, FreeSpace, Size FROM Win32_LogicalDisk
    dimensions:
      - key: disk.id
        value: column:DeviceID
    metrics:
      - key: size
        value: column:Size
        type: gauge
      - key: freeSpace
        value: column:FreeSpace
        type: gauge

Metric key

The metric key string must conform to the metrics ingestion protocol.

Best practices for metric keys

The metrics you ingest into Dynatrace using your extension are just some of the thousands of metrics, built-in and custom, processed by Dynatrace. To make your metrics keys unique and easy to identify in Dynatrace, the best practice is to prefix the metric name with the extension name. This guarantees that the metric key is unique and you can easily appoint a metric to a particular extension in your environment.

Metric value

The WMI property from which you want to extract the metric value.

Type

The Dynatrace Extensions 2.0 framework supports metric payloads in the gauge (gauge) or count value (count) formats. For details, see Metric payload. To indicate the metric type, use the type attribute.

Metric metadata

An Extension can define metadata for each metric available in Dynatrace. For example, you might want to add the metric display name and the unit, both of which can be used for filtering in the Metrics browser.

name: custom:example-extension-name
version: 1.0.0
minDynatraceVersion: "1.236"
author:
  name: Dynatrace

metrics:
  - key: your.metric.name
    metadata:
        displayName: Display name of the metric visible in Metrics browser
        unit: Count

Feature set

Feature sets are categories into which you organize the data collected by the extension. In this example, we create a WMI extension monitoring your devices and collecting metrics related to the transport protocol statistics and device disks. This is reflected by metrics organization into related feature sets tcp and physicalDisks.

wmi:
  group: Network_TCP
  interval:
    minutes: 1
  featureSet: tcp
  subgroups:
    - subgroup: TCPv4
      query: SELECT  ConnectionsActive, ConnectionsEstablished FROM Win32_PerfFormattedData_Tcpip_TCPv4
      metrics:
      - key: com.dynatrace.extension.host-observability.network.tcp.connections.active
        value: column:ConnectionsActive
      - key: com.dynatrace.extension.host-observability.network.tcp.connections.established
        value: column:ConnectionsEstablished
      dimensions:
      - key: network.tcp.version
        value: const:ipv4
      - key: this.device
        value: this:device.host
    - subgroup: disk
      query: SELECT Name, DiskBytesPersec, DiskReadBytesPersec FROM Win32_PerfFormattedData_PerfDisk_PhysicalDisk
      featureSet: physicalDisks
      metrics:
      - key: com.dynatrace.extension.host-observability.disk.bytes.persec
        value: column:DiskBytesPersec
      - key: com.dynatrace.extension.host-observability.disk.read.persec.bytes
        value: column:DiskReadBytesPersec
      dimensions:
      - key: disk.type
        value: const:Physical
      - key: disk.name
        value: column:Name
      - key: this.device
        value: this:device.host

When activating your extension using monitoring configuration, you can limit monitoring to one of the feature sets. To work properly the extension has to collect at least one metric after the activation.

In highly segmented networks, feature sets can reflect the segments of your environment. Then, when you create a monitoring configuration, you can select a feature set and a corresponding ActiveGate group that can connect to this particular segment.

All metrics that aren't categorized into any feature set are considered to be the default and are always reported.

Interval

The interval at which the data measurement will be taken. You can define intervals at the group, subgroup, or individual metric level. You can define intervals with the granularity of one minute. The maximum interval is 2880 minutes (2 days, 48 hours).

For example:

interval:
     minutes: 5

interval: 5m

wmi:
  - group: Host
    interval:
      minutes: 1
    query: SELECT Name, PercentProcessorTime FROM Win32_PerfFormattedData_PerfOS_Processor
    metrics:
    - key: com.dynatrace.extension.host-observability.host.cpu.time.processor
      value: column:PercentProcessorTime
    dimensions:
    - key: host.cpu.id
      value: column:Name

WMI monitoring configuration

After you define the scope of your configuration, you need to identify the network devices you'd like to collect data from and identify the ActiveGates that will execute the extension and connect to your devices.

Make sure that all the ActiveGates from the ActiveGate group you'll define as the scope can connect to a respective data source. You can assign an ActiveGate to a group during or after installation. For more information, see ActiveGate group.

The monitoring configuration is a JSON payload defining the connection details, credentials, and feature sets that you want to monitor. For details, see Start monitoring.

Example payload to activate a WMI extension:

[
  {
    "scope": "ag_group-ActiveGate-group-name",
    "value": {
      "version": "1.0.0",
      "description": "WMI Simple",
      "enabled": true,
      "activationContext": "REMOTE",
      "wmiRemote": {
        "devices": [
          {
            "host" : "192.168.0.1",
            "user" : "DOMAIN\\Administrator",
            "password" : "Password1"
          }
        ]
      },
      "featureSets": ["basic"],
      "vars": {
        "deviceFilter": "DeviceID = 'C:' and FreeSpace > 0"
      }
    }
  }
]

When you have your initial extension YAML ready, package it, sign it, and upload it to your Dynatrace environment. For details, see Manage extension lifecyle.

The Dynatrace Hub-based extension activation wizard contains a dynamically updated JSON payload with your monitoring configuration

Then you can use the Dynatrace API to download the schema for your extension that will help you create the JSON payload for your monitoring configuration.

Use the GET an extension schema endpoint.

Issue the following request:

curl -X GET "{env-id}.live.dynatrace.com/api/v2/extensions/{extension-name}/{extension-version}/schema" \
   -H "accept: application/json; charset=utf-8" \
   -H "Authorization: Api-Token {api-token}"

Make sure to replace {extension-name} and {extension-version} with values from your extension YAML file. A successful call returns the JSON schema.

Scope

Note that each OneAgent or ActiveGate host running your extension needs the root certificate to verify the authenticity of your extension. For more information, see Sign extension.

Remote extension

For a remote extension, the scope is an ActiveGate group that will execute the extension. Only one ActiveGate from the group will run this monitoring configuration. If you plan to use a single ActiveGate, assign it to a dedicated group. You can assign an ActiveGate to a group during or after installation. For more information, see ActiveGate group.

Use the following format when defining the ActiveGate group:

"scope": "ag_group-<ActiveGate-group-name>",

Replace <ActiveGate-group-name> with the actual name.

Local extension

For a local extension, the scope is a host, host group, management zone, or environment for which you will execute the extension.

Version

Version of this monitoring configuration. Note that a single extension can run multiple monitoring configurations.

Description

Human-readable description of the specifics of this monitoring configuration.

Enabled

If set to true, the configuration is active and Dynatrace starts monitoring immediately.

Activation context

Set activationContext to REMOTE for remote extensions and to LOCAL for local extensions.

Devices

Remote extensions only.

You can define up to 100 devices in a single monitoring configuration in the wmiRemote section. To define a device, add the following details:

Authentication

Remote extensions only.

Authentication details passed to Dynatrace API when activating monitoring configuration are obfuscated and it's impossible to retrieve them.

When authenticating your extension into a Windows host, the general Windows user management concepts apply. If an ActiveGate running the extension is in the same domain, you only need to provide a user name and password. You can also provide a domain, but remember to escape the backward slash (\).

For example:

"devices": [
  {
    "host" : "172.18.147.100",
    "user" : ".\\WMIUser",
    "password" : "SomePassword"
  },
  {
    "host" : "exchange.lab.dynatrace.org",
    "user" : "Exchange-Domain\\WMIUser",
    "password" : "SomePassword2"
  }
]

We recommend that you create a dedicated local user group or a user account on the target computer specifically for remote connections.

Feature sets

Add a list of feature sets you want to monitor. To report all feature sets, add all.

"featureSets": [
  "basic",
  "advanced"
  ]

Variables

If your extension declares variables, you can define values that will be passed as filters or plain strings to your extension. For more information, see Use variables with dimensions.

"vars": {
   "mailboxName": "win-4u1vg1uqvla",
   "deviceFilter": "DeviceID = 'C:'",
   "ipFilter" : "DNSDomain='home'"
   }