The Coalesce Data page provides a list of similar search results grouped together based on the data pattern and sorted by count (number of occurrences).
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What are coalesced results?
The Coalesce Data page provides a list of coalesced results. Coalesced results refer to a list of similar search results grouped together based on the data pattern and sorted by count (number of occurrences).
To see the list of coalesced results, after you run a search query, next to All Data, click the three vertical dots (indicating a menu), and select Coalesce Data. On doing this, the product identifies search results containing similar data records and groups them together to display a list of grouped records. These records are sorted by count which means the most frequently occurring records are displayed on the top of the list. You can also sort the list of grouped records by the data pattern associated with the records.
How can coalesced results be useful?
Coalesced results can be provide valuable insights into your data, as follows:
- Identify a pattern of the data produced for a particular search query in the given time range.
- Determine the noisiest and rarest kinds of data records (or events) important while troubleshooting issues.
- Find the most common and least common records that form the grouped results.
Understanding the coalesced results
The coalesced results are a list of grouped records displayed under the Coalesced Records column.
The coalesced records display the common grouped message. In the grouped message, the common text is displayed as it is, while the varying portions of the message are indicated by three dots enclosed in square brackets ([]), as shown in the following example.
Example of a grouped record
WARN: Collector=[...] CollectionPollId=[...] Completed reading source=BaseSource
Next to each grouped record, you can see a horizontal bar, displayed under the Count column. These bars indicate the number of times the same record occurred for the given search query and in the given time range.
You can click the bar to drill down into the top ten records and the bottom ten records forming the grouped record. These records are individual records used to form the grouped record. The top ten records and bottom ten records provide an idea of the most common and least common messages occurring in the grouped record.
Tip
If you observe the list of bars under the Count column (from top to bottom), you can see the most repeating and the least repeating records.
When you click one of the bars under the Count column, by default, the top ten records are displayed. To see the bottom ten records, click the three vertical dots menu next to Top Records, and select Show Bottom 10 (by count). Conversely, to return to the top ten records list, click the three vertical dots menu and select Show Top 10 (by count). To search with the message of the individual record and see the results arising, click 
Launch Search next to the message.
If you want to see all the individuals records forming the grouped record, click Launch Search next to the coalesced record message (next to the Coalesced Records column).
Controlling the coalescence factor
The amount by which the grouped records must vary can be controlled by using the Coalescence Factor slider available at the top-right of the page.
As you move the slider from left to right, the variation used to group records becomes lesser. In other words, the grouped records contain individual records that are more similar. Therefore, when you move the slider towards the right, you can see more results as compared to moving the slider towards the left.
The coalescence factor impacts the coalesced results in the following way:
| Action | Variation | Similarity | Total number of results | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Move the slider from left to right | → | Less | More | More |
| Move the slider from right to left | ← | More | Less | Less |
Summary of the actions available on the Coalesce Data page
The following table summarizes the Coalesce Data page UI controls at a high level.
Recommendation
When you navigate to the Coalesce Data page, the grouped results are displayed progressively.
BMC recommends you to not perform the following actions until the search is completed and all the results are displayed.
UI controls on the Coalesce Data page
| UI control | Description |
|---|---|
| Count column | Displays bars that indicate the number of times the same record occurred for the given time range of the query. By default this column is sorted in a descending order which means the most frequently occurring records are displayed at the top of the list. Click the Count column to sort the grouped records in an ascending way. Click an individual bar to see the top ten and bottom ten records occurring in the grouped record.. |
| Type of Data column | Displays the data pattern corresponding to each of the grouped records. Click the Data Pattern column to sort the grouped records by the data pattern so that all grouped records associated with the same data pattern are displayed at the top of the list in an alphabetical order. This column can be sorted alphabetically in an ascending (A-Z) or descending (Z-A) order. |
| Coalesced Records column | Displays a list of similar search results grouped together based on the data pattern and sorted by count (number of occurrences). |
| Coalescence Factor | Allows you to control the amount of variation used for grouping similar records: Move the slider from left to right to return less varying results. Move the slider from right to left to return more varying results. |
| Launch Search | Runs a search with the grouped record message or the individual record message and displays the results on the All Data page. |
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