Dictionary contents

Metrics

Each metric entry can include an alternative for the metric's name and additional, contextual information. All fields except the name are optional.

Field	Description
Metric name	The metric name (required).
Metric label	A display name for a metric.
Description	A longer, free-form statement about a metric.
Units	The unit of measurement the metric represents. For example, GB, IOPs, or Percent. This value is the label for the vertical axis of a metric's graph.
Conversion	The conversion to use to normalize data points. For example, convert milliseconds to seconds.
Scale factor	A custom conversion, to use when the Conversion field does not include the conversion you need.
Minimum value	A minimum value for data points, to adjust the metric's graph. Data points are never discarded.
Maximum value	A maximum value for data points, to adjust the metric's graph. Data points are never discarded.
Tags	A list of arbitrary terms to associate with a metric or event field. The tags namespace is shared among all dictionary types.

Event fields

Event field entries are simpler than metric entries.

Field	Description
Field name	The event field name (required).
Field label	A display name for an event field.
Description	A longer, free-form statement about an event field.
Tags	A list of arbitrary terms to associate with a metric or event field. The tags namespace is shared among all dictionary types.

Source information

The default dictionary entries supplied by Zenoss include tags that identify the source of an event field or metric.

For example, event fields that originate in the Capacity ZenPack include the CZ and capacity tags. Likewise, metrics that originate in the host-network-interface datasource of Zenoss Data Monitor include the ZDM and host-network-interface tags.