Configuring and managing synthetic metric rules

Predefined metrics and metric rules

The following metrics are automatically defined and you can use them for all transactions:

• Performance
• Availability
• Accuracy
• Execution

One global metric rule for each of the predefined metrics is provided out of the box. The global rules apply to all applications, execution plans, transactions, and locations, but you can modify some of the rule definitions to help control the frequency and severity of events. Conditions that you can modify for global metric rules are described later in this topic.

You cannot delete the global metric rules.

For more information about metrics and metric rules, see Synthetic-metrics-rules-and-events.

To create or edit a synthetic metric rule

When you edit a metric rule, any open events for the rule are closed if your changes make the events no longer relevant.

1. From the TrueSight console navigation pane, select Configuration > Synthetic Metric Rules.
2. Do one of the following:
   
   • From the Synthetic Metric Rules action menu, select Create Rule.
     
   • From the action menu for the rule you want to edit, select Edit.
      
3. On the Create or Edit Synthetic Rule page, enter or modify the details of the rule. Details are in the following section.
   Each section is collapsible to more easily navigate between the options.
4. Click one of the following:
   • Save—Save the rule and leave the page.
   • Save and New—Save the rule and reopen the page with default values so that you can create another rule.
   • Save and Clone—Save the rule and reopen the page with all of the fields populated with the same values as the rule you just created except for the Name, which has Clone of prepended to it.
     You must modify at least one of the rule details: application, Execution Plan, transaction, metric, or location. You cannot save the rule with the same details.

Options for defining synthetic metric rules

A synthetic metric rule is a set of definitions for generating events based on the results of monitored transactions. Based on the events generated by the metric rules, notifications are issued, the status of the application is updated accordingly, and the events can be viewed on the Synthetic Health tab. Adjust the metric rule options so that you can generate the events that you need, when you need them, for the critical transactions in your applications.

The following sections describe the options to configure your synthetic metric rules:

• General settings
• Violation frequency
  
• Application, Execution Plans, and transactions
• Metrics and thresholds
• Locations
  
• Notifications

General settings

In the General Settings section, enter a name and set the status of the rule.

Violation frequency

The violation frequency is the number of execution cycles that violate the thresholds out of a total number of execution cycles. For more information, see Synthetic-metrics-rules-and-events.

Application, Execution Plans, and transactions

Define the scope of a synthetic metric rule by defining the application, Execution Plans, and transactions.

Metrics and thresholds

From the Metrics list, select one or more metrics.

The global metrics (availability, accuracy, execution, and performance) are always displayed in the list. An Execution Plan must have run at least once for its timers to be available on the list.

To select metrics and set thresholds

1. Select metrics are from the Metrics list. 
2. You can set event conditions for minor thresholds, critical thresholds, or both. The severity applies to all the selected metrics, according to the following requirements:
   • Enter a threshold value for each metric; threshold values cannot be blank.
   • Enter the number of errors for availability, accuracy, and execution metrics.
   • Enter the number of seconds for performance, custom timer, and page timer metrics.
     • You can enter fractions of a second with up to three places after the decimal point.
     • Use a period (.) as a decimal point; do not use a comma.
       

3. If you did not select the Any option for Execution Plans or transactions, click Show Statistics to show data from historical runs of the Execution Plan
   The statistics from previous runs can help guide your choices for metric thresholds :

   • Min—lowest measured result for this metric, for the Execution Plan
   • Max—highest measured result for this metric, for the Execution Plan
   • Avg—average measured result for this metric, for all historical runs of the Execution Plan
   • Count—number of historic runs of the Execution Plan

   Statistical values are displayed as a hyphen ( - ) if you select the Any option for Execution Plans or transactions.

4. From the Logical Operator list, select an operator for more than one metric:
   • AND—event conditions require that all metrics exceed at least one threshold
   • OR—event conditions require that any one metric exceed at least one threshold

The following image demonstrates how you select metrics, define thresholds, and select a logical operator.

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Locations

Select the locations or percentage of locations.

From the Impacted Locations list, select one of the following:

• Percentage—Location percentages indicate the percentage of locations that must be impacted for an event to be opened for this rule. For example, if you select At least 25% of locations, an event is opened if 25% or more of locations are impacted. If you select All locations, an event is opened only if all locations are impacted.

  The following percentages are available:

  • All locations
  • At least 75% of locations
  • At least 50% of locations
  • At least 25% of locations
  • Custom percentage - Enter a Custom Percentage in the field.
    

• Locations—The following options indicate that an event is opened if a single location is impacted or specific locations are impacted.

  • Any location—If any location (or more than one) is impacted, an event is opened.
  • Specific locations—You can configure this option to open an event if any of the selected locations is impacted, or if all of the selected locations are impacted:

  1. 
     
     1. Select the specific locations for which you want to open an event.
     2. Select the Logical Operator as follows:
        • Select AND to open an event only if all selected locations are impacted.
        • Select OR to open an event if any of the selected locations are impacted.

Notifications

Determine who receives notification, when, and if they need any extra information. For more information about setting notification channels, see Managing-App-Visibility-notification-channels.

To set one or more synthetic metric rules as active or inactive

If you set a synthetic metric rule to be inactive, the rule does not open events or send notifications. Setting a rule as inactive closes all open events for the rule.

1. From the TrueSight console navigation pane, select Configuration > Synthetic Metric Rules.
2. Perform one of the following actions:
   

   • To set one rule as active or inactive, select the option from the action menu of the rule.

     

   • To set more than one rule as active or inactive, select the check boxes next to the rules, and then select the option from the action menu in the table title bar.

     

To clone a synthetic metric rule

You can clone any synthetic metric rule except for the global rules.

1. From the TrueSight console navigation pane, select Configuration > Synthetic Metric Rules.
2. From the action menu for the rule you want to clone, select Clone.
   
   The Create Synthetic Metric Rule page opens with all of the fields populated with the same values as the rule you cloned except for the Name , which has  Clone of  prepended to it. You must modify at least one of the rule details: application, Execution Plan, transaction, metric, or location. You cannot save the rule with the same details.

To delete one or more synthetic metric rules

When you delete a rule, all open events are closed for the rule. You cannot delete a global synthetic metric rule.

1. From the TrueSight console navigation pane, select Configuration > Synthetic Metric Rules.
2. Perform one of the following actions:
   
   • To delete one rule, select the option from the action menu of the rule.
     

   • To delete more than one rule, select the check boxes next to the rules, and then select the option from the action menu in the table title bar.

     

Sorting and filtering the Synthetic Metric Rules list

The Synthetic Metric Rules list includes details about all of your defined metric rules, including the global rules.

Click any column heading to sort the table by that column. Enter text in any of the filter boxes to show rules that include only that text.

The Synthetic Metric Rules list includes the following information:

Enabling and disabling synthetic SLA events

If you do not want SLA-based events to be generated, you can disable them. To do this, from the TrueSight Operations Management menu, select  Configuration > Synthetic Metric Rules and scroll down to the bottom of the page to the Synthetic SLA section, and click the SLA Events switch to turn it off. The switch effects all applications.

If you have synthetic SLA events disabled, and you want to turn them on, you can use the same SLA Events switch.