Sources | Wavefront

Learn about sources and how to manage them.

A source is a unique application, host, container, or instance that emits metrics. The source is explicitly set in the source field of a Wavefront data format metric. For AWS integrations, the source is extracted from AWS Cloud Watch service properties or dimensions.

To view and manage sources, select Browse > Sources.
To filter and group in charts, use the Wavefront query language. You can filter by source and filter and group by source tags.

While every Wavefront user can view sources, you must have Source Tag Management permission to manage sources. If you don’t have the permission, the UI menu selections, buttons, and links you use to perform management tasks are not visible.

Examine Sources in the Source Browser

If you don’t see metrics in charts that filter by source, you can examine sources in the Source browser.

Note: In the Sources browser Wavefront doesn’t filter out sources that are older than 4 weeks.

Step 1: Find a Source

When you select Browse > Sources the Sources browser offers many options to zoom in on the sources you’re interested in.

Filter sources by status. In contrast to metrics, sources are not excluded after 4 weeks of not reporting metrics, but you can filter sources by status. Obsolete—Sources that didn't emit metrics for more than 4 weeks. Recent Metrics—Sources with metrics received in the last 2 days. Metrics Stopped—Sources with no metrics received in the last 2 days.
Filter sources by tag. In most environments, administrators add source tags. You can add source tags from the UI or programmatically.

The following ~status metrics map to what you see in the UI:

~status.error maps to Obsolete
~status.new and ~status.ok map to Recent Metrics
~status.stopped maps to Metrics Stopped

Step 2: Examine the Source

When you select a source in the Sources browser, you can examinine it in more detail on a second page.

Sources exploration page with 2 sources selected in left panel and charts created. Also highlighting point rate chart and Alerts Fired chart

Hide and Unhide Sources

With more and more companies using dynamic services such as AWS, it’s typical to have sources constantly being spun up and shut down.

In the Sources browser, all sources are included unless you explicitly exclude Obsolete sources.
In the Metrics browser or Query Editor, sources that haven’t sent points for 4 weeks are no longer shown in the autocomplete dropdown. You can also manually hide sources by using the UI or API.

Note: While hidden sources are removed from the autocomplete dropdown, those sources can still be used in a ts() query when data values are present.

To hide one or more sources:

Select Browse > Sources.
Select one or more sources and click Hide.

To view hidden sources

Select Browse > Sources.
Use the toggle in the top right of the Sources browser.

Add and Edit Source Descriptions

Source descriptions are a great way to add details, such as the role, availability zone, or running applications, to a source.

To add or edit a source description:

Select Browse > Sources.
Select a source.
Click Add a Description.

All users can now view the description.