Metric Current Criterion

This page is accessed via Configuration and Administration > Metric Alert Management > Metric Current Criterion.

Note: You must be a DBA to access this page.

A current criterion watches performance in real time and generates notifications in real time. Use a current criterion to capture diagnostic information as it happens. Criteria are rules for thresholds that can be shared across metrics and subcomponents. Only the threshold defines a specific metric test. Current criteria compares real-time performance to either a fixed or historical value.

Reducing Current Criterion Sensitivity

Since current criteria are checked each time the underlying metric is updated, you need to avoid making a criterion overly sensitive to a momentary spike in metrics. The following fields can be used to delay triggering a current threshold until it is exceeded multiple times:

• Required Triggers in Sequence: The threshold only triggers if the metric exceeds the threshold a number of times in a row. For example, assume you are tracking bulk plan performance and set up a threshold to fire when the bulk plan exceeds 10 minutes, three times in a row. The Triggers in Sequence field would be set to 3. Note that the sequence count spans across hours.
• Required Triggers per Hour: The threshold only triggers if the metric exceeds the threshold this number of times in the hour. This count is reset at the beginning of each hour.
• Minimum Duration between Triggers: This limits the frequency of threshold triggers. If the minimum amount of time is 5 minutes, the threshold cannot fire more than 12 times an hour. Triggers for the same criterion are consolidated during the interval time.

Avoiding Frequent Notifications

The triggering of current criteria can overwhelm the notification subsystem. To avoid this, set the Criteria Queue Interval field. When current thresholds are triggered, they are accumulated into consolidated notifications. This accumulation time is determined by the largest of: 

1. The Consolidation Interval value on the Metric Notification Profile. 
2. The Criteria Queue Interval value on the Current Threshold defined in the Metric Current Criterion.
3. The minimum queue interval for the system (5 minutes).

• Criteria Queue Interval: Ensures that all triggers for the criterion are queued up and only run at the interval. For example, if the interval is 5 minutes, trigger notifications are only sent out at 5 minute marks; a maximum of 12 in the hour. Triggers for the same criterion are consolidated during the interval time. For example, you could have 3 problematic bulk plans in 5 minutes. Only one email notification will be generated, and it consolidates the messages into one notification. There is a default and minimum value of 5 minutes. You may specify a less frequent notification for a current threshold, but none more frequent.

 

Missing Historical Data

The system captures metrics as it runs. However, if you are new to the product, you will not have any historical metrics to compare against. Alternatively, there could be gaps in the metrics if no data were captured as metrics are only persisted when non-zero. The following fields affect how your threshold handles missing data.

• Minimum Comparison Value: Allows you to handle missing data by only firing a threshold if the comparison basis exceeds the minimum value defined by this field. Only threshold values that exceed this minimum will fire the threshold, regardless of the relative difference between the recent value and the comparison value. If your historical bulk plan is 1/100th of a second, it is not a meaningful comparison and value to trigger thresholds.
• Missing Comparison as Zeros: Select if you want to treat missing data as if they had been recorded as zeroes when comparing current transactions to ones in the past. E.g., assume you want to calculate the average daily bulk plan count over a week but only three days ran any bulkplans. Treating missing data as zeroes results in an average count of Bulk Plan Weekly Total Count/7. Otherwise, the average is calculated as Bulk Plan Weekly Total Count/3. Generally, treating missing data as zeroes is useful to avoid bias on count metrics; it's not needed for performance metrics. This is used when comparing past transactions to other past transactions.

Additionally, the glog.metric.minHistoryCount property controls minimum data points.

Adding a Current Criterion

1. Enter a Current Criterion ID.
2. Select a Domain Name.
3. Select a Value Type. The options are Current, Average, Max, or Count. "Average," "Max," and "Count" are measured from the beginning of the hour. "Current" represents the latest value of the metric. For example,. the time to process a bulk plan if measuring PROCESS CONTROL - PROCESS TIME for BuildBuySideShipments.
4. Enter the number of Required Triggers in Sequence. The threshold only triggers if the metric exceeds the threshold a number of times in a row. See Reducing Current Criterion Sensitivity.
5. Enter a Criteria Queue Interval. Ensures that all triggers for the criterion are queued up and only run at the interval. See Avoiding Frequent Notifications.
6. Enter a Threshold or Historical Multiplier. If there is no Historical Comparison, this is a scalar threshold. For example, if the threshold triggers when the current time exceeds five minutes, with the time stored in milliseconds, the Threshold would be a fixed value of 300,000. If there is an historical comparison, this is a multiplier against the historical value. For example, when there is an Historical Comparison, 1.5 would trigger the threshold when the current value exceeds 150% of the metric defined for the
   Historical Comparison.
7. Enter the number of Required Triggers per Hour. The threshold only triggers if the metric exceeds the threshold a number of times in the hour. See Reducing Current Criterion Sensitivity.
8. Enter an Historical Comparison. The historical basis to compare against the current value.
9. Enter the Minimum Duration between Triggers. This limits the frequency of threshold triggers. See Reducing Current Criterion Sensitivity.
10. For the Minimum Comparison Value field, see Missing_Historical_Data.
11. For the Missing Comparison as Zeros field, see Missing_Historical_Data.
12. Click Finished.