Analytics Aliases¶
Analytics relies on aliases for datapoints. Alias must conform to the following rules:
- Aliases must be a single word
- Aliases must be less than 30 characters
- Aliases should be as descriptive as possible
- Aliases should end with double-underscore and unit (see below)
These aliases can be added easily in ZPL:
sysUpTime:
aliases:
sys_uptime__secs: "100,/"
cpuUtilization:
aliases:
cpu__pct: null
datapoints:
numOfCpus:
aliases:
cpu_socket__count: ""
numOfCores:
aliases:
cpu_core__count: ""
Non-ZPL aliases are added by modifying the objects/objects.xml files.
Note
Aliases can have an optional RPN operation to normalize data. You can see this in the first example for sysUpTime.
Alias Units¶
Make sure to use the following unit postfix conventions for aliases:
| Unit | Description |
|---|---|
| pct | percent (0-100) |
| bytes | bytes (base 1024) |
| secs | seconds |
| persec | (something) per second |
| bytessec | bytes per second |
| (none) | where the unit is inherent (eg: load) |
| count | discrete object count (eg: packets) |
| hz | hertz |
| severity | Zenoss severity number (0-5) |
| watts | power |
| amps | electrical current |
| volts | electrical voltage |
| celsius | Temperature in celsius |
| fahrenheit | Temperature in fahrenheit |
| pktssec | packets per second |
Instance Modifiers¶
Instance modifiers are used to modify the context or meaning of an alias name. See examples below as well.
| Instance Modifier Name | Description |
| admin | Administrative |
| avg | Average value |
| current | Current value |
| min | Minimum value |
| max | Maximum value |
| oper | Operational state |
| in | Input traffic |
| out | Output traffic |
Reserved Aliases¶
It is important to make aliases as uniform across as possible, so that report builders can compare similar quantities across multiple ZenPacks.
Here is an incomplete set of reserved aliases for common items. Use these aliases when possible:
| Alias Name | Description |
|---|---|
| cpu__pct | CPU percentage use |
| cpu_idle__pct | CPU idle percent |
| cpu_nice__pct | CPU nice use |
| cpu_system__pct | CPU system use |
| cpu_user__pct | CPU user use |
| cpu_wait__pct | CPU wait time percent |
| disk_read__bytessec | Disk read rate |
| disk_write__bytessec | Disk write rate |
| fan_oper_severity | Fan operational state |
| fanmodule_oper_severity | Fan module operational state |
| fs__pct | filesystem used percent |
| fs_used__pct | filesystem used percent (repeat) |
| mem__pct | Memory percentage use |
| mem_used__pct | Memory percentage use (repeat) |
| mem_buffers__pct | Memory percentage use |
| mem_cached__pct | Memory cache use |
| mem_free__pct | Memory free percent |
| mem_swap_free__pct | Memory swap free |
| mem_swap_used__pct | Memory swap used percent |
| if_in__pct | Interface input traffic percent |
| if_out__pct | Interface output traffic percent |
| in__pct | input RX % for interfaces |
| out__pct | output TX % for interfaces |
| inputOctets__bytes | interface RX traffic in bytes |
| outputOcteds__bytes | interface TX traffic in bytes |
| power_oper_severity | Power operational state |
| bytes_free | disk_free__bytes |
| bytes_used | disk_used__bytes |
| cache_hit_ratio | cache_hit_ratio__pct |
| physicalreads | physicalreads__bytes |
| physicalwrites | physicalwrites__bytes |
| reads | reads__count |
| total_size | total_size__bytes |
| writes | writes__count |
| writetime | writetime__sec |