Exploring MetricBase

  • Release version: Washingtondc
  • Updated February 1, 2024
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Exploring MetricBase

    MetricBase allows you to collect, retain, analyze, and act on time-series data efficiently. It integrates with ServiceNow IoT applications to monitor large volumes of machine-generated data and supports triggering workflows based on this data. This functionality helps automate responses to specific metrics, such as sending alerts for CPU usage or data gaps.

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    Key Features

    • Data Collection: MetricBase stores summarized time-series data, sampling every 4 seconds.
    • Workflow Integration: Trigger flows in Workflow Studio based on time-series data, such as sending alerts when thresholds are exceeded.
    • Visualization: Use time-series charts within MetricBase and the Reporting application to visualize stored data.
    • Anomaly Detection: Train machine learning models to detect anomalies and trigger appropriate workflows.
    • User Roles: Administrators manage data collection, configuration of triggers, and visualization of time-series data.

    Key Outcomes

    By utilizing MetricBase, you can effectively monitor and respond to machine-generated data, automate workflows based on real-time metrics, and visualize data trends over time. This enhances operational efficiency and helps preemptively address potential issues, ultimately leading to improved system performance.

    Collect, retain, analyze, and act on time-series data using MetricBase.

    MetricBase overview

    MetricBase helps you work with large amounts of data by using a smaller summary of that data that is stored in the MetricBase database.

    • Integrate MetricBase seamlessly with ServiceNow IoT-based applications that monitor or act on large amounts of machine-generated data.
    • Trigger flows in Workflow Studio based on time-series data in MetricBase.
      • Generate an email if the average CPU usage is more than 85% in the last 5 minutes.
      • Generate an email if MetricBase detects a gap in data submitted for 10 minutes or more.
      • Generate an alert if the average of the collected data is less than 10 or greater than 500 in the last 5 minutes.
      • Generate an alert if memory usage is likely to exceed 90% in the next 10 minutes.
    • Visualize MetricBase data using time-series charts.
    • Use the Reporting application to graph the time-series data that is stored in MetricBase.
    • Detect anomalies by training a machine language model and execute a Workflow Studio trigger when an anomaly is detected.
    MetricBase works with:
    • An instance that stores machine-generated data
    • A server that has the MetricBase application and database

    MetricBase users

    Table 1. Users
    User Description
    Administrator An administrator collects, retains, analyzes, and acts on time-series data using MetricBase.

    MetricBase workflow

    The following figure shows that machine-generated data is sampled every 4 seconds. You send the average of the values in each sampling period to the MetricBase database, which stores the data until its expiration date.

    Figure 1. Storing time series data
    Infographic showing how machine-generated data is sampled at regular intervals and sent to the MetricBase database by the API. For details, refer to the following description.
    1. The administrator specifies a metric to store and how often to collect it by creating a time-series definition in MetricBase.
    2. The administrator sends data from the instance to the MetricBase server using the MetricBase REST or JavaScript APIs.
    3. The administrator configures trigger definitions that execute flows based on time-series data in MetricBase.
    4. The administrator configures and trains predictive models in MetricBase to detect anomalies and execute flows when new data is significantly different than the trained data.
    5. The administrator monitors collected data using time-series charts in MetricBase. Time-series data remains in the MetricBase database for a prescribed amount of time, after which MetricBase deletes the data.

    MetricBase benefits

    Table 2. MetricBase benefits
    Benefit Feature Users
    Store time series summary of a large collection of data Create a time-series definition in MetricBase Administrator
    Insert and retrieve time-series data from the MetricBase database Developer resources Administrator
    Access and visualize time-series data in the MetricBase database Accessing MetricBase data Administrator
    Trigger flows when new data is significantly different than the trained data Detecting anomalies in MetricBase data using predictive models Administrator
    Trigger flows that can log incidents, send emails, and create other alerts Triggering flows using MetricBase data Administrator

    What to explore next

    To learn more about configuring and using MetricBase, see: