What is a Collection Object?

A collection object is an individual data-point that will be collected by a Dynamic Application. Most Dynamic Applications collect multiple data-points. These data-points are referred to as objects.

For Database Dynamic Applications, each collection object is populated with the results of a query.

For example, suppose you want to monitor the write-speed of the database every 15 minutes. You could define your Dynamic Application to execute every 15 minutes. You could define a collection object called "write_speed". You could then define a query that retrieves the value for "write speed" (usually stored in one of the administrative tables). You could align this query with the "write_speed" object and populate the object.

NOTE: This section describes only the fields specific to collection objects for a database Dynamic Application. All the remaining fields, for both performance and configuration archetypes, are described in detail in the general section on Dynamic Application Development.

Use the following menu options to navigate the SL1 user interface:

To view a pop-out list of menu options, click the menu icon ().
To view a page containing all of the menu options, click the Advanced menu icon ().

Creating a Dynamic Application

To create a Dynamic Application, you must:

Define the general properties of the Dynamic Application.
Define the collection objects you want to monitor.
Optionally, define thresholds for the values of collection objects.
Optionally, define graphs of the values of collection objects.
Optionally, define alerts that are triggered by the values of collection objects.

All these steps, except for defining collection objects, are the same for all types of Dynamic Applications. The steps that are the same for all types of Dynamic Applications are described in the general section on Dynamic Application Development.

The step that is specific to database Dynamic Applications, defining collection objects, is described in this section.

Creating Collection Objects for a Database Dynamic Application

This section describes how to define a collection object for a Dynamic Application of type Database Performance or Database Configuration. This section describes only the fields specific to a database Dynamic Application. All the remaining fields, for both performance and configuration archetypes, are described in detail in the section on Collection Objects.

Go to the Dynamic Applications Manager page (System > Manage > Applications).
If the Dynamic Application already exists, in the Dynamic Applications Manager page, find the Dynamic Application for which you want to define a new object. Select its wrench icon ().
To create a new Dynamic Application, follow the steps in the section Creating Dynamic Applications. When defining a database Dynamic Application, most of the steps are the same for all types of Dynamic Applications. Only one step, creating collection objects, is unique to database Dynamic Applications. That unique step is described in this section.
Select the Collections tab.
In the Collection Objects page, enter a value in each field in the top pane. This section describes only the fields specific to a database Dynamic Application. All the remaining fields are described in detail in the section on Collection Objects.

SQL Query. Enter a valid database query in this field. The value retrieved by this query will be stored in the collection object. Be sure the query has been tested on the intended database before you include it in a Dynamic Application. Also, be sure the query can be resolved within the polling frequency of the Dynamic Application.

If a single query will return multiple columns, and you want to view the output from multiple columns and view graphs for multiple columns, you must create a collection object for each returned column. This means that for each collection object, you must enter the same query and define a different Object Name, Class Type, and a different Trended Column for each returned column.

Trended Column. If a query returns multiple columns, enter the name of the column that you want to see graphed in Device Management > Performance. If a query returns multiple columns and this field is left blank for each collection object, by default only the first returned column will be graphed in the Device Management > Performance page.

Select the Save button to save the new collection object.
Repeat these steps for each collection object you want to define for the Dynamic Application.

Examples of Collection Objects

For MySQL, we could enter one of the following queries into the SQL Query field:

To retrieve the version number of a MySQL database:

show global variables like 'version'

To retrieve the number of active events on the SL1 system:

SELECT count( * ) Value FROM master_events.events_active;

For MS SQL, we could enter one of the following queries into the SQL Query field:

To retrieve the name of the MS SQL database:

select name from sys.databases

To retrieve the number of logins to the database:

select cntr_value from sysperfinfo where counter_name='Logins/sec'

For Oracle, we could enter one of the following queries into the SQL Query field:

To retrieve the number of times a process was delayed while waiting to access the rollback segment

SELECT (Sum(waits) / Sum(gets)) * 100 FROM v$rollstat

To retrieve the hit ratio of requests to the block buffer (versus "hits" to the physical disk):

SELECT (1 - (phys.value / (db.value + cons.value))) * 100 FROM v$sysstat phys,v$sysstat db,v$sysstat cons WHERE phys.name = 'physical reads' AND db.name = 'db block gets' AND cons.name = 'consistent gets'