View and manage metric details

Overview

You can view all metrics reporting to a project on the Metric details page in Project settings. The page displays metrics and their metadata, including descriptions, units, and last-edited dates:

Lightstep Observability uses that metadata to provide context in the metric charts. For example, you can see the units for a metric from a chart tooltip and also in the corresponding tables. You can view, add, and change a metric’s details from the Metric details page or directly from a chart.

The Metrics details page shows information in a table and panel. Click the tabs below to learn more.

• Metric details table
• Metric details panel

• To access the Metric details table, click Project settings > Metric details. The table shows the following information:

  • Name - The name of the metric.
  • Kind - The way a value of a metric is interpreted, in relation to other values.
  • Description - An optional description of the metric. You can add/edit the description.
  • Unit - An optional description of the units being measured by the metric, shown in tooltips and in a chart’s table. If your metric uses one of these units, be sure to use the term as shown here for the best UI experience:
    • nanoseconds, nanosecond, nanos, or ns
    • microseconds, microsecond, micros, or µs
    • milliseconds, millisecond, millis, or ms
    • seconds or second
    • percent Displays percentiles in decimal format. For example, 20% is 0.2.
    • percent_hundred Displays percentiles in whole numbers. For example, 20% is 20.
    • ops_s (operations per second)
    • byte or bytes
    • unitless No unit formatting, just numbers (overrides default units)
  • Type - The value type of the metric.
  • Last edited - Timestamp of when the details were last edited.
  • Edited by - User that last edited the details.

• To access the Metric details panel, click Project settings > Metric details, and then click any metric. The panel shows the following information:

  • Attributes - Lists the metric’s attribute key-value pairs. Cardinality reports the number of values associated with the attribute key. You can hover over the Label values column to see every attribute value.
  • Usage - Lists and links to the alerts, dashboards, and notebooks using the metric.
  • Details - Shows other metric information, including who last edited the metric and when.

View and edit metric details

Follow these steps to view and edit details for all the metrics reporting to a project:

1. In Lightstep Observability, click Project settings > Metric details.

   Lightstep Observability displays all metrics currently reporting to this project in a table. By default, they’re listed alphabetically. You can sort by any column.

2. Use the Search field or scroll to find a metric. Click into a row to open the Metric Details panel.

3. In the panel’s Details tab, add/edit the Unit or Description fields and click Save changes.

You can apply your changes to all Lightstep Observability projects in your organization that the metric is reporting to.

View and edit metric details from a chart

You can view and edit metric details directly from a chart in either a dashboard or an alert.

1. Open either a chart (expand or click to edit from a dashboard) or an alert, and expand the Query section.

2. In the Metric Name field, click the info icon. The Metric Details panel opens.

3. In the panel’s Details tab, add/edit the Unit or Description fields and click Save changes.

You can apply your changes to all Lightstep Observability projects in your organization that the metric is reporting to.

Apply detail changes to all projects

When you make any changes to metric details, by default the changes are made only to the current project. If you want the change to affect all Lightstep Observability projects in your organization that the metric is reporting to, before saving, click Apply changes to all projects.