Upgrade remaining entities and metrics

Latest Dynatrace
Upgrade guide
Published Jul 24, 2026

After dashboard and alerting upgrades, DQL queries across dashboards, alerts, workflows, and notebooks may still target classic entity types. Update these queries to reference Smartscape 2.0 entity types to complete the entity model migration.

Why upgrade?

Completing the entity model migration ensures that every DQL query across dashboards, alerts, and workflows targets Smartscape 2.0 entities, resolving any silent data gaps left by classic entity type references after the dashboard and alerting upgrades. Classic entities use a fragmented model that limits cross-domain correlation. Smartscape 2.0 unifies the entity model, improving dependency analysis and enabling faster root cause identification.

Unified entity model: improved cross-domain correlation enabling enhanced dependency analysis and faster root cause identification than classic entities

What will you do?

Build a complete inventory before updating any queries. A missed DQL reference creates a silent data gap that only surfaces during an incident.

Inventory DQL queries referencing classic entity types across all surfaces
Update dashboard tile queries to target Smartscape 2.0 entity types
Update alerting and workflow queries to use Latest Dynatrace entities
Validate cross-domain entity relationships and topology views

Before you begin

At a glance

Estimated effort: 3–10 days
Estimated timeline: 1–4 weeks

Prerequisites

Key stakeholders

Role	Involvement	Responsibility
Dynatrace Admin	Required	Coordinates the entity type migration across dashboards, alerts, and workflows
Application Team Leads	Recommended	Validate that dependency mapping, topology views, and root cause analysis reflect accurate entity relationships
SRE / Observability Eng.	Recommended	Update DQL queries across dashboards, alerts, and workflows to reference Smartscape 2.0 entity types

Upgrade your remaining entities and metrics

1. Inventory DQL queries referencing classic entity types

Scan all dashboards, alerts, workflows, and notebooks for queries using classic entity selectors or classic entity type names.

Review all Latest Dynatrace dashboards for DQL tiles that reference classic entity type names or classic entity selectors.
Review all metric events and Davis anomaly detectors for entity type references in their DQL queries.
Review all Workflows for trigger conditions and action queries that reference classic entity types.
Review notebooks for DQL cells using classic entity type names.
Build a complete list of queries to update, grouped by surface (dashboards, alerts, workflows, notebooks).

Verify: Complete inventory of all DQL queries referencing classic entity types, grouped by surface, before starting updates.

Inventory all DQL queries before updating: every DQL query referencing classic entity types across dashboards, alerts, and workflows must be updated. Missing any produces silent data gaps that only appear during incidents. Use the inventory step to build a complete list before starting.

Flag entities without direct equivalents early: some classic entity types do not have a direct 1:1 Smartscape 2.0 equivalent. These require redesigned queries rather than a simple type name replacement. Flag these during the inventory step.

2. Update dashboard tile queries

Rewrite DQL in dashboard tiles to reference Smartscape 2.0 entity types and relationships.

For each flagged dashboard tile, identify the classic entity type used in the DQL query.
Map the classic entity type to its Smartscape 2.0 equivalent.
Rewrite the DQL query using the Smartscape 2.0 entity type and update any relationship traversal expressions.
Verify that the tile returns data after the update and that results match the expected entity scope.

Verify: All dashboard tile DQL queries reference Smartscape 2.0 entity types; tiles display data correctly after update.

3. Update alerting and workflow queries

Modify DQL in metric events, Davis anomaly detectors, and Workflow conditions to target Latest Dynatrace entities.

For each flagged metric event, update the DQL query to reference the Smartscape 2.0 entity type.
For each flagged Davis anomaly detector, update entity scope and dimensions to use Smartscape 2.0 entity types.
For each flagged Workflow, update trigger condition queries and action DQL expressions to reference Smartscape 2.0 entities.
Test updated alerts and workflows with simulated events to confirm entity resolution works correctly.

Verify: All alerting and workflow DQL expressions reference Smartscape 2.0 entity types; alerts fire against the correct entity scope.

4. Validate cross-domain entity relationships

Confirm that dependency mapping, root cause analysis, and topology views reflect accurate relationships under the Smartscape 2.0 entity model.

Open the Smartscape 2.0 topology view and confirm that known service dependencies are correctly represented.
Have application team leads verify that their services, hosts, and dependencies are visible and correctly linked.
Trigger a test problem or fault scenario and confirm that root cause analysis correctly traverses Smartscape 2.0 entity relationships.
Compare dependency views against classic Smartscape to identify any missing entity relationships.

Verify: Percentage of DQL queries targeting Smartscape 2.0 entities at target coverage; topology and root cause analysis validated by application team leads.

Stage complete when:

All DQL queries referencing classic entity types across dashboards, alerts, and workflows are updated to Smartscape 2.0 entity types at target coverage
Topology and root cause analysis are validated by application team leads

With the entity model migration complete, the final stage is Upgrade your API integrations and tokens: auditing all classic API usage, migrating integrations to the platform API, and replacing classic tokens with OAuth clients that use granular, capability-based scopes.

Documentation and best practices

The following resources support your work in this stage. Documentation covers platform concepts, configuration reference, and related guides; best practice cards provide implementation guidance from Dynatrace experts.

Smartscape on Grail

Reference for differences between classic entities and Smartscape 2.0 entity types, including the entity type mapping guide.

Ready for more?

When all DQL queries reference Smartscape 2.0 entity types, you're ready for the final stage in the upgrade journey. Upgrade your API integrations and tokens completes the migration by replacing classic tokens with OAuth clients scoped to minimum required permissions and migrating integrations to the Latest Dynatrace platform API.