IBM Tivoli Monitoring, Version 6.3

Formula function types

With over a dozen cell and group functions available, you can build sophisticated filters for reporting only what matters to you, thus saving time and network resources. Likewise, you can build thresholds in table views and conditions in situations that trigger alerts to keep you informed of important changes in your managed network.

The functions that are available depend on the type of attribute (numeric, text, or time) and in which editor you are working: Query, Situation, Properties (Filters and Thresholds tabs), or History Collection Configuration (Filter tab).

Cell functions

This table maps the Numeric attribute

numeric,

text, and

timestamp attribute types to the cell and group formula functions and to the editors where they are available.

Table 1. Formula functions and the editors they are available in
Cell function	View properties: Filters; Thresholds	Situation: Formula
BETWEEN	(Thresholds only)	Replicate the See if a value is within a range functionality by repeating the attribute in the same row and using the > or >= and < or <= operators.
CHANGE (Formula editor row 1 only)
DATE
ISNULL
MISSING (Formula editor row 1 only)
PCTCHANGE (Formula editor row 1 only)
REGEX
SCAN
STR
TIME
TIMESPAN
VALUE
VALUE IN (IN is a relational operator for the Value function)

Where you see the notation, "Formula editor row 1 only", the function must be used in the first-row cell of the formula editor; subsequent rows will be disabled. Additionally, a formula with this function cannot include any other functions that have this restriction or be combined with any group functions.

Group functions

Use the group functions in the Query editor or Situation editor for attribute groups that return multiple rows of data or a single-row attribute group that has been configured for historical data collection.

With the exception of COUNT, which can be used by all attribute types, group functions are available only for numeric attributes.

Table and chart views require that a time range be set to show a span of data samplings.

Group function	Query Specification	Situation Formula
AVG
COUNT
MAX
MIN
SUM

Note:

Time Span selection is not available for a table or chart view if it uses a query that includes a group function.
When entering a hexadecimal value in a cell, prefix the number with zero and the letter “x”, as in 0x456c for hex value 456c.
If the expression that is responsible for a situation event uses a group function, the situation event results workspace shows neither the attribute value threshold color nor the expression that should display when you hover over an initial situation value.

Examples

After you open a workspace that has query-based views with filters applied or after you start a situation, the sampled value of each referenced attribute is compared with the expression. A true comparison causes the value to be filtered into the view or to open an event.

For example, the following expression uses the VALUE formula function and can be read as, “When the VALUE of Day of Week is greater than or equal to 2 (Monday) and the VALUE of Day of Week is less than or equal to 6 (Friday), the comparison is true.”

	Day of Week	Day of Week
1	`>= 2`	`<= 6`

Here is another example using the MIN formula function, which is a group function. This formula finds the process with the lowest priority base. If this process also uses 20% or more privileged time, the comparison is true.

	Priority Base	% Privileged Time
1	`== *TRUE`	`>= 20`

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