Managing entity filters

Entity filters are used to restrict an analysis or model to a subset of all available entities, which can be manually selected or automatically evaluated at runtime based on the provided search string.

Entity filters can be useful when you wish to analyze data coming from different domains, as they allow you to select systems and business drivers located in any domain. For ease of use, when creating a new entity filter you can always choose to restrict the search to the current domain.

The following video (3:55) illustrates how to create a static entity filter (based on tree) and dynamic entity filter (based on search criteria) in the workspace. You can use the entity filters in the analyses and models that you create.

  https://youtu.be/USuNmbMncr0

To create an entity filter

To add a global entity filter:

1. Navigate to Workspace > Domains, Services & Applications > Filters and click Add > Add entity filter.

2. In the Add a new entity filter page, enter the following information:

   Property	Description
   Name	Name of the filter
   Description	Brief description of the filter
   Type	Select one of the following options: Based on tree: Manually select domains and entities to which the analysis or model will be restricted to. Scope: Limit the filter to the selected domains or extend it to the contained subdomains. Entities: Drag and drop the desired domains and entities to the Selected entities box. You can specify to limit the browser to the current domain or display the entire domain tree. Based on search: Specify a search query that will be automatically evaluated at execution time for dynamic selection of target entities. Search string: Type the search string to be used to select target entities at runtime.  Scope: Choose if you wish to limit the filter to: Only current domain: The search will only return entities contained in the domain where the entity filter is located. Current domain and its subdomains Only container domain: The search will only return entities contained in the domain where the analysis or model using the entity filter is located. Container domain and its subdomains. All domains
   Optimizer rule filter	Specify whether you want to filter entities based on their severity status values. You can select entities as per any one of the following criteria: All entities with specific status values that are generated based on the metric thresholds. To do so, select Include only entities in severity status and select at least one of the severity status options, such as OK, Warning, Critical.  For example: You can use this criteria in an entity filter that is used to create analyses and reports for ALL systems that match the selected severity status values. Entities with specific status values that are generated by a specific Optimizer rule. Select Include only entities in severity status and select at least one of the severity status options, such as OK, Warning, Critical.  Select Only alerts generated by Optimizer rule and select the <Optimizer rule> from the list. For example, alerts generated by VMware Clusters, Datastores, or Hosts.   For example: You can use this criteria in an entity filter that is used to create analyses and reports for Hyper-V virtual machines for which alerts are generated by the Hyper-V Virtualization – Virtual Machines rule. Entities with specific status values that are generated by a specific Recommendation type. Select Include only entities in severity status and select at least one of the severity status options, such as OK, Warning, Critical.  Select Only alerts generated by Optimizer rule type and select the <Optimizer rule> from the list. For example, alerts generated by VMware Clusters, Datastores, or Hosts.   For example: You can use this criteria in an entity filter that is used to create analyses and reports for AWS virtual machines for which recommendations are generated by the AWS Virtual Machines recommendation type.

3. Click Save.

Creating an entity filter from a search

You can create an entity filter starting from a search performed using the Search box, as described in Searching for entities.

To create an entity filter based on this search, click Save as new entity filter in the search results page. Enter the following details:

• Name: Name of the new entity filter.
• Description: Brief description of the filter.
• Domain: Choose the domain to which the search should be restricted (by default, All Domains).
• Save as: Choose how to save the entity filter (static or dynamic).
  • All systems and business drivers contained in the current search results: The entity filter will be static, that is the search results will not be automatically re-evaluated and the current search results will be used.
  • Search string: The entity filter will be dynamic, that is the search results will be automatically re-evaluated at every execution of the analysis.
• Access rights: Set the access rights for the search (only if you are saving the entity filter as Search string).
  • Use current user (admin) access rights
  • Use authorization profiles: Select the authorization profiles that can use this search.

To edit an entity filter

To edit a filter, click Edit  at the end of the row corresponding to the entity filter you wish to modify in the Filters page, or click Edit found in the filter's detail page.

The edit form is identical to the add form. Make the required changes and then click Save to confirm.

To delete an entity filter

You can delete a filter in two ways:

• Access the Filters page and then click at the end of the row of the entity filter you wish to remove.
• Access the filter's detail page and then click Delete.

To copy or move an entity filter

You can copy or move an entity filter to another domain clicking the Copy or Move on the filter's detail page; you will be prompted to specify the destination domain, as shown in the figure below: