Upgrade from Classic service metrics to Grail

• Dynatrace Classic
• Upgrade guide
• 5-min read
• Updated on Sep 15, 2026

Use this guide to convert Classic service metric selectors to Dynatrace Query Language (DQL) and understand how each service metric maps to its Grail equivalent, so you can smoothly transition to Latest Dynatrace.

Why upgrade?

What will you do?

Before you begin

Prerequisites

Prior knowledge

How to upgrade

To upgrade your Classic service metric selectors to DQL:

Automatically convert

Use Data Explorer and Dashboards to convert your existing Classic metric selector queries into DQL.

Here is a before-and-after of the Classic metric selector and the DQL query:

Manually convert

If your Classic metric selector is not automatically convertible, you can manually convert your Classic metric selector to a DQL query.

Verify your converted queries

Whether you've automatically or manually converted your Classic metrics, run your DQL queries in Notebooks or Dashboards and verify that the results align with your expected Classic metric data.

Metric key reference

The following tables list Classic service metric keys and their Grail equivalents, when available.

For information about metric mapping, see New concepts.

Convergent metrics

The sections below group together different convergent metrics, with a DQL example showing how to filter by the relevant dimension and a mapping table listing the Classic keys.

If you don't find the required Classic metric key in the tables below, refer to Built-in Metrics on Grail.

HTTP status codes

To convert Classic service metrics for HTTP 4xx and HTTP 5xx error responses, use the dt.service.request.count Grail-based metric filtered by http.response.status_code.

// calculate HTTP 4xx response status code request rate
timeseries {total = sum(dt.service.request.count), interval:1m}
| join [
  timeseries {fourXX = sum(dt.service.request.count, default: 0.0), interval:1m},
  filter: http.response.status_code >= 400 and http.response.status_code<=499
  ], kind:leftOuter, prefix: "httpState.", on:{ timeframe }
| fieldsAdd {rate4xx = httpState.fourXX[] / total[] * 100}
| fields rate4xx, timeframe, interval

// calculate HTTP 5xx response status code request rate
timeseries {total = sum(dt.service.request.count), interval:1m}
| join [
  timeseries {fiveXX = sum(dt.service.request.count, default: 0.0), interval:1m},
  filter:http.response.status_code >= 500 and http.response.status_code <= 599
  ], kind:leftOuter, prefix: "httpState.", on:{ timeframe }
  | fieldsAdd {rate5xx = httpState.fiveXX[] / total[] * 100}
  | fields rate5xx, timeframe, interval

Failure and success

To convert the Classic service metrics that track the count and rate of successful versus failed requests, use the dt.service.request.count Grail-based metric filtered by failed == false or failed == true.

timeseries sum(dt.service.request.count), interval:1m,
    by:{dt.entity.service, failed},
    filter:{
      dt.entity.service == "<MY_SERVICE-00000>"
      and failed == false
    }

Failure and success of HTTP error responses

To convert Classic service metrics that track the count of HTTP error responses and their complements (non-error requests), use the dt.service.request.count Grail-based metric filtered by both failed and http.response.status_code.

timeseries sum(dt.service.request.count), interval:1m,
    by:{dt.entity.service, failed, http.response.status_code},
    filter:{
      dt.entity.service == "<MY_SERVICE-00000>"
      and failed == true
      and http.response.status_code >= 400
      and http.response.status_code <= 499
    }

Key requests

To convert Classic service metrics related to key requests, use the dt.service.request.failure_count, dt.service.request.response_time, and dt.service.request.count Grail-based metrics filtered by different parameters.

timeseries sum(dt.service.request.count), interval:1m,
    by:{endpoint.name, http.response.status_code},
    filter:{
      endpoint.name == "/orange.jsf"
      and http.response.status_code >= 500
      and http.response.status_code <= 599
    }

Database child call count

To convert the builtin:service.dbChildCallCount metric, use the dt.service.database.query.count Grail metric.

timeseries calls = sum(dt.service.database.query.count), interval:1m,
    by: { dt.smartscape.service, db.system, db.namespace },
    filter: { dt.smartscape.service == "<MY_SERVICE-00000>" }

Unsupported metrics

The Classic service metrics in this section have no direct equivalent in Grail.

Database

CPU

Service method groups

Other

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