Filtering devices and instances

You can filter monitor instances to be auto-discovered at the device or instance level.

Including filter types

The Include Filters tab provides an option to add filter patterns for filtering the monitor instances to be auto-discovered. Filters are provided at the device or instance level.

Include filters

Field name	Description or action
Device filter type
Entity Type	Select the required entity from the list.
Select	Select BMC PATROL Names for instance auto-sync of each configured monitored type. Use the drop-down button to view the details of PATROL agents that are configured in the Integration Service.
Pattern Matching	Enter a pattern name for BMC PATROL Name. Instance auto-sync of each configured monitored type has to be done for the BMC PATROL device names that have to fulfill the entered pattern name. By default, the Pattern Matching field is , that is, all monitor instances are auto-discovered for the selected monitor types. For exclude filter type, the Pattern Matching field is blank, that is, none of the monitor instances are excluded for the selected monitor types. ^a: Matches all the elements starting with a. [0-9]: Matches all the elements having numeric values. 192.168: Matches all the elements whose host name/IP address has "192.168" [a-zA-Z]: Matches all the elements whose name have lowercase and uppercase letters _device 1\|device 2\|device 3: Matches one of the elements mentioned (device 1, device 2, or device 3) : Matches all the elements \s: Matches all the elements whose name has space z$: Matches all the elements whose name ends with z
Instance filter type
Monitor Type	The monitor types selected for auto-discovery are listed here. If a monitor type selected has parent-child hierarchy, only the lower most monitor type selected in the hierarchy is listed. (Instance filters cannot be added for the parent monitor types in the selected hierarchy.) Select a monitor type from the list.
Attribute	All attributes for the selected monitor type are listed here. Select an attribute from the list.
Pattern Matching	Type a string pattern in this field to match. ^a: Matches all the elements starting with a
Add	Click Add to add the filter for a particular monitor type and attribute.
Update	To update the filter patterns, select the corresponding row in theSelected Filters table and click Update.
Delete	To delete the filter patterns, select the corresponding row in theSelected Filters table and click Delete.
OR / AND	The OR and AND options are provided at the right corner. The default option selected is OR. The filter patterns added for different monitor type and attribute combinations are applied with a logical OR during auto-discovery of instances. Select the AND option if filter patterns added are for different attributes of the same monitor type and you need the AND behavior.
Selected Filters	The instance filters that were added are displayed in a table.

OR / AND mode of applying instance filters

OR and AND modes are applicable only when multiple filters are defined. Multiple filters with different combinations of monitor type and attribute are allowed only if the combinations are unique. There is an additional requirement for the AND mode where the monitor type of all filters must be the same.

The filter patterns added for different monitor type and attribute combinations are listed in the Selected Filters row of the the previously listed table. These filter patterns can be applied with either OR mode or AND mode during auto-discovery of monitor instances based on the selection. However, when only a single filter is defined, these modes are not applicable.

OR mode

This mode is applicable only when multiple filters are defined where each filter is a unique combination of monitor type and attribute. In such a case, the filters defined are applied with a logical OR during auto-discovery of instances.

AND mode

This mode is applicable only when multiple filters are defined for the same monitor type but different attributes. When this mode is selected, the filters defined are applied with a logical AND during auto-discovery of instances.

Note

Instance level filter is available only if the source Agent selected is version 7.7 or later.
The Pattern Matching field accepts only string or alphanumeric patterns. If you type a numeric value as a pattern for an attribute, it will be considered a string while being matched with the monitor instances to be auto-discovered.
If you need to apply the AND option for some monitor types and the OR option for others, you must create two adapter instances. In the first adapter instance, select the AND option and add filter patterns for the same monitor type with different attribute combinations. In the second adapter instance, select the OR option and add filter patterns for the other monitor type and attribute combinations.
A similar procedure applies for filtering instances BMC Portal and BMC TM ART adapters.

Special notes

Multiple filters with the same combination of monitor type and attribute are not allowed. For example, the following set of filters are not allowed:

Monitor type	Attribute	Pattern matching
BMC TM ART Transaction	Location Name	Houston
BMC TM ART Transaction	Location Name	Sunnyvale
BMC TM ART Transaction	Location Name	Austin

In case such a scenario needs to be supported, use a single filter with the required monitor type and attribute and define the pattern as follows:

Multiple strings separated by the "|" character if you need OR behavior (for example, "Houston|Sunnyvale|Austin")
Multiple strings separated by the "&" character if you need AND behavior (for example, "^South&Texas$")

For example, the following filter is allowed:

Monitor type	Attribute	Pattern matching
BMC TM ART Transaction	Location Name	Houston\|Sunnyvale\|Austin

Example of instance filters for PATROL Adapter

Use case
All the monitor instances of the selected monitor types must be auto-discovered. But, filters need to be applied for a couple of monitor types to auto-discover a subset of the available instances of those types.
Include filters applied
- Filter 1
  Monitor Type: VSM_VMOTION_VM
  Attribute: Instance Name
  Filter Pattern: "VMotion$"
- Filter 2
  Monitor Type: Logical Disks
  Attribute: Instance Name
  Filter Pattern: "_Total"
- OR Mode
  
  Selected Filters (OR mode)
  Monitor type
  Attribute
  Pattern matching
  VSM_VMOTION_VM
  Instance Name
  VMotion$
  Logical Disks
  Instance Name
  _Total
- Result
  All the monitor instances for all the selected monitor types will be auto-discovered except for monitor types VSM_VMOTION_VM and logical disks, where the filters defined are applied (in OR mode). For these two monitor types, only those monitor instances that have an instance name ending with "VMotion" OR instance name equal to "_Total" (exact match) will be auto-discovered.

Monitor type	Attribute	Pattern matching
VSM_VMOTION_VM	Instance Name	VMotion$
Logical Disks	Instance Name	_Total

Excluding filter types
The Exclude Filters tab enables you to select all the devices (or add filter patterns for all the devices) containing monitor instances that are not required to be auto-discovered and to add the instance filters for the monitored instances that are not required to be auto-discovered.
The procedure for adding exclude filters is the same as the one for adding include filters. For more information, see the Include filters table.