Custom Metrics

SPM gives ability for users to extend standard reports using custom metrics.

Terminology

• A "metric" is a distinct triple of (metric name, filter1 name, filter2 name).  Some examples:
  • ("cpuIdle", server="server1", null) vs. ("cpuIdle", null, server="server1") – these are 2 distinct metrics
  • ("cpuSteal", server="server1", null) vs. ("cpuIdle", server="server1", null) – these are 2 distinct metrics
  • ("diskRead", server="server1", device="/dev/xxx") vs. ("diskRead", server="server1", device="/dev/yyy") – this is the same 1 metric with two different values for filter2 named "device"
  • ("diskWrite", server="server1", device="/dev/xxx") vs. ("diskWrite", server="server1", device="/dev/yyy") – this is the same 1 metric with two different values for filter2 named "device"
  • ("diskRead", server="server1", device="/dev/xxx") vs. ("diskWrite", server="server1", device="/dev/xxx") – these are 2 distinct metrics

• A "data point" is the value associated with some (metric, filter1, filter2) combination.  Some examples:
  • ("cpuIdle", server="server1", null) = 90
  • ("cpuIdle", server="server1", null) = 90 – this is a distinct data point for the same metric as in the previous line

Introduction

Data point is represented using parameters: 

• timestamp - Time since "Epoch" in milliseconds
• name - Name of metric
• value - Double value
• aggregation type -min, max, avg, sum
• filter1 value - String value for filter1
• filter2 value - String value for filter2

Custom metrics report displays values, that aggregated using 'aggregation type' for selected granularity. For example, sent values 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 during one minute with average ('avg') aggregation type will be represented by one point with value 3.0 on plot for this minute.

Filter1 and filter2 values can be used to organize complex metrics, for example to measure registered users count by gender and account type. In registered users example data points can be specified as: 

{
   "name" : "registered-users-count", 
   "value" : 42, 
   "aggregation" : "sum",
   "filter1" : "user.gender=male",
   "filter2" : "account.type=free"
}
 
{
   "name" : "registered-users-count", 
   "value" : 24, 
   "aggregation" : "sum",
   "filter1" : "user.gender=female",
   "filter2" : "account.type=free"
}
 
{
   "name" : "registered-users-count", 
   "value" : 10, 
   "aggregation" : "sum",
   "filter1" : "user.gender=female",
   "filter2" : "account.type=paid"
}

In report page selected values in one filter are threated as 'OR' and selected values in both as 'AND'. For example to display count of female users in filter1 value 'female' should be selected, to display female paid users in filter1 should be selected 'female' and in filter2 'paid'.

We recomend to use 'parameter.name=value' format to define filter values.

Custom Metrics API

SPM provides REST API for sending data points for custom metrics:

http://spm-receiver.sematext.com/receiver/custom/receive.[format]?token=[spm app token]

List of tokens per application available at settings page: https://apps.sematext.com/users-web/home.do?homeTab=spm

Supported two formats: 'json' and 'raw'.

Json format

Url: http://spm-receiver.sematext.com/receiver/custom/receive.json?token=[spm app token]

Content-type: application/json

Method: POST

Json body:

Data point:

Example:

{
   "datapoints" : [
      {
         "timestamp" : 1369669889927,
         "name" : "registered-users-count",
         "value" : 1,
         "aggregation" : "sum",
         "filter1" : "user.gender=male",
         "filter2" : "account.type=free"
      },
      {
         "name" : "registered-users-count",
         "value" : 1,
         "aggregation" : "sum",
         "filter1" : "user.gender=female",
         "filter2" : "account.type=paid"
      }
 ]
}

To send metrics using curl, save example above to file named "datapoints.json",

curl -v -H 'Content-type: application/json' -d @datapoints.json http://spm-receiver.sematext.com/receiver/custom/receive.json?token=[spm app token]

Raw format

Url: http://spm-receiver.sematext.com/receiver/custom/receive.raw?token=[spm app token]

Content-type: text/plan

Method: POST

Each line is tab delimited sequence of fields:

(timestamp)\t(name)\t(value)\t(aggregation type)\t(filter1)\t(filter2)

Lines are separated by new line character ('\n'). Limit is 100 lines per request.

Example:

1369671381221	registered-users-count	1	sum	user.gender=male	account.type=free
1369671381221	registered-users-count	1	sum	user.gender=female	account.type=paid

To post metrics using curl save example above (take care about tabs) to datapoints.raw.

curl -v -H 'Content-type: text/plain' -d @datapoints.raw http://spm-receiver.sematext.com/receiver/custom/receive.raw?token=[spm app token]

Java API

Sematext-metrics is open source library for sending custom metrics from java application. Please refer to README for quick start.

Limitations

There are limitations by datapoints count per month and metrics count mer month. Please refer to our page with plans description.