Metrics browser filters and fields

Reference
3-min read

The Metrics browser lists the available metrics, their filters and details, and the metadata fields for custom metrics.

Metric filters and sorting

By default, the table shows only metrics reported since the start of the selected timeframe (for example, Last 2 hours). Turn off Only show metrics reported after the start of the selected timeframe to show all metrics.

The Filtered by bar offers these filters:

Filter	Values or search terms	Matching metrics
Text	Search string; select `Enter` to apply	Metric name, Metric key, or Description contains the string
Tag	Matching tag	Tags contains the tag
Unit	Metric unit, such as `Percent`	Unit matches the selected unit
Favorites	`Any`, `Yes`, or `No`	All metrics, only favorites, or only non-favorites
Dimension	Metric dimension, such as `Host`	The metric has the selected dimension

Filters combine. For example, Dimension Host and Text usage show metrics with the Host dimension and usage in their name, key, or description.

Select the star in the Favorite column to add or remove a favorite. Favorites sort to the top by default. Select Favorite, Name, or Key in the column header to sort the table.

Metric details

Select in the Details column of a metric to see its details and a visualization over the selected timeframe.

Field	Description
Metric name	Name of the metric in the UI
Metric key	Fully qualified metric key; transformations are reflected in the key
Entity type	Entity type for the metric
Description	Short description of the metric
Tags	Tags that further group metrics
Created	Timestamp when the metric was created
Last written	Timestamp when the metric was last written
Davis Data Units billing	Whether the metric is subject to Davis data units (DDUs) consumption
Unit	Unit of the metric
Minimum value	Known lower boundary value for the metric
Maximum value	Known upper boundary value for the metric
Default aggregation	Default aggregation for the metric
Aggregations	Allowed aggregations for the metric
Dimensions	Metric dimensions, such as process group and process ID for a process-related metric
Transformations	Available transform operators

Metric value notation

The browser uses order-of-magnitude notation for large values. For example, 7.5M means about 7.5 million, not exactly 7.5 million. The scale depends on the values in the selected timeframe, so the same metric can show k values over a shorter timeframe.

Example order-of-magnitude values in the Metrics browser.

For details, see Order-of-magnitude notation.

Metric charts

Select Create chart in the expanded row of a metric to open the metric in Data Explorer. From there, you can adjust the query and visualization and pin the chart to a dashboard.

Metadata for custom metrics

Custom metric metadata provides context for each metric key, including display names, units, value ranges, and Davis-relevant properties.

The metadata becomes part of the metric descriptor and is available through the API, the Metrics browser, and Data Explorer. You can create it before ingesting the first data point.

Settings 2.0 metadata applies only to custom or schemaless metrics, not built-in or code-registered metrics. It exists alongside the metric time series.

Field	Description
Display name	Human-friendly metric name
Description	How the metric is measured
Unit	Unit of measurement
Minimum value	Lower boundary of the metric
Maximum value	Upper boundary of the metric
Root cause relevant	Whether the metric strongly indicates a faulty component
Impact relevant	Whether the metric depends on other metrics and changes after an underlying root-cause metric changes
Value type	`score` for a metric where high values indicate a good situation, such as success rate; `error` for a metric where high values indicate trouble, such as error count
Latency	Minutes before an ingested metric data point becomes available in Dynatrace
Metric dimensions	Dimension key and display name for each added dimension
Tags	Tags added to the metric
Source entity type	Metric entity type; editable only if the metric is ingested through an API endpoint

To edit these fields in the UI, see Configure custom metric metadata. You can also configure metadata through the API.