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DDUs for metrics

This page explains how we calculate DDUs for metrics, the concept of custom metrics, and how you can estimate and track DDU consumption for metrics.

Which types of metrics consume DDUs?

  • Custom metrics
  • Certain built-in metrics (see below)

What is a custom metric?

Custom metrics are metrics that you define or install. They extend the value of Dynatrace monitoring capabilities by enabling you to integrate third-party data sources, calculate custom metrics, import metrics via API, leverage extensions, and more.

Following is a non-exhaustive list of custom metric types:

  • All API-ingested metrics
  • Calculated service metrics, custom DEM metrics, and log metrics
    • For example, calculated service metrics created upon request attributes
  • All metrics provided by manually installed Dynatrace Monitoring Extensions

For full details on the setup and ingestion of custom metrics in Dynatrace, see Metric ingestion.

Which built-in metrics consume DDUs?

Metrics that consume DDUs include:

  • Metrics provided by certain built-in extensions that are not enabled by default
    • Dynatrace web UI switches to enable/disable these metrics are labeled to let you know if they affect DDU consumption.
  • All metrics ingested by the Public Cloud Extensions (AWS, Azure and GCP).
    • For example, metrics derived from cloud services.

The built-in metrics page lists all metrics that do not consume DDUs.

How do we calculate DDU consumption for metrics?

A "metric data point" is a single value that is stored with a timestamp in Dynatrace. A timeseries "metric" is a series of such data points, for example CPU utilization for all hosts across an analysis timeframe. A metric can have additional dimensions, for example, the name of a network interface or the name of a disk. Such dimensions effectively result in multiple timeseries, one for each entity (for example, host and application) and dimension (for example, disk and geolocation).

Each data point deducts 0.001 DDU from your available quota.

The following formula is applied to calculate the DDU consumption for a custom metric ingested once per minute:

1 metric data point x 60 min x 24 h x 365 days x 0.001 metric weight = 525.6 DDUs per metric/year

For example, ingesting a throughput metric for a network device once every minute is equivalent to one metric data point. Ingesting a CPU metric from 100 network devices that each have two CPUs once every second is equivalent to 2 CPUs x 100 Devices = 200 metric data points.

Considering the metric weight, this would result in the consumption of 200 metric data points x 0.001 = 0.2 DDUs per minute.

How do dimensions of a metric impact the DDU consumption?

DDUs are calculated per metric data point, as such this is independent of dimensions. However, if you want to calculate the DDUs based on metric keys alone then you need to take dimensions into account.

For example, let's say you ingest a throughput metric once every minute and it has a dimension for a network interface. In this case you will send a data point for every interface, so you clearly need know how many interfaces you have to understand the DDU consumption.

These examples show how DDU consumption for a simple throughput metric can vary based on the number of hosts and dimensions that the metric is collected for:

  • 2 hosts (in other words, 2 dimensions) equates to 2 x 0.001 = 0.002 DDUs
  • 5 network devices (in other words, 5 dimensions) equates to 5 x 0.001 = 0.005 DDUs
  • 5 network devices across 10 hosts equates to 5 x 10 x 0.001 = 0.05 DDUs

Included metrics per host unit

1,000 metrics per host unit are included on each monitored host (in Full-Stack Monitoring mode). These metrics are included with your Full-Stack host units and therefore don't consume DDUs.

  • Every OneAgent-monitored host with Full-Stack Monitoring enabled includes 1000 metrics per Host Unit (see detail in the table below).
  • OneAgent-monitored hosts with Infrastructure Monitoring enabled always include 200 metrics that do not consume DDUs.
  • All metrics that exceed the host's included metrics will consume DDUs.
  • If all DDUs in the Metrics pool are used up, then the included metrics per host unit are not available as well.
  • Calculated service metrics, custom DEM metrics, and log metrics are not eligible for these included metrics per host unit

Note that included metrics are bound to specific hosts that are monitored via OneAgent. This means that only metrics that are booked either on the host or a process on the host are considered here. This also includes metrics that are booked onto AWS EC2, Azure VM, and VMware virtual machine entities (if those VMs are monitored by OneAgent).

The evaluation of whether a host exceeds the host-included metrics limit is based on the total number of metric data points that are reported at a 1-minute frequency (in other words, there's no sliding time window for these metrics). When the limit is exceeded for a certain time period, DDUs are only billed for those data points that exceed the limit during the time period.

If a host is licensed based on host hours rather than host units, the mechanism works the same way; you can consume up to the number of host-included metrics per host-unit hour. Each data point above the limit consumes DDUs.

Host sizeFull-Stack modeFull-Stack modeInfrastructure modeInfrastructure mode
Based on RAM GBHost unitsIncluded metricsHost unitsIncluded metrics
1.6 GB0.12000.03200
4 GB0.252500.075200
8 GB0.55000.15200
16 GB11,0000.3200
32 GB22,0000.6200
48 GB33,0000.9200
64 GB44,0001.0200
N x 16NN 1 * 1,0001.0200
1

The minimum of included metrics is always 200, even when N is less than 0.2

Example of how included metrics affect DDU consumption

Let's take the following example.

  • A host has 16 GB RAM - In other words, 1 host unit
  • The host is monitored via the OneAgent in Full-Stack mode

(1 host unit = 1,000 host-included metrics)

  • 1,500 metrics from various extensions and local API ingest (for example, JMX and RabbitMQ) are booked on this OneAgent-monitored host
  • 300 reported metrics via public API with no relation to a OneAgent-monitored host

In this scenario, 1,000 metrics/min are included via the host unit, and the host reports an excess of 500 metrics which will consume DDUs. The 300 Metrics that are reported via the API, and not related to a OneAgent-monitored host, will also consume DDUs. This makes a total of 800 metrics/min that consume DDUs.

Here are some other simple scenarios (All values below are based on metrics sent at 1 min intervals.)

ModeHost unitsIncluded metrics per host unit 1Metrics reported for hostPaid metricsDeducted DDUs/min
Full-Stack0.550030000
Full-Stack11,0001,5005000.5
Full-Stack11,00050000
Full-Stack44,0005,0001,0001
Infrastructure0.620015000
Infrastructure12001,0008000.8
1

Included metrics are bound to individual hosts.

Reported DDUs vs. consumed DDUs

Reported DDUs are defined as all DDUs before any host-included considerations are performed. Consumed DDUs reflect the total "billable" DDUs that get subtracted from your DDU balance.

You can compare the reported DDUs for a specific host with the number of host-included metrics by creating a chart with the Data explorer using the following metrics. This allows you to gain insights into the number of available vs. consumed DDUs for a specific host.

  • builtin:billing.ddu.includedMetricDduPerHost This metric is split by host ID. It shows you the host-included DDUs. For example, if a host has 1,000 included metrics, this metric will have a value of 1 (in other words, 1,000 x 0.001)
  • builtin:billing.ddu.metrics.byEntityRaw The byEntityRaw metric is split by monitored entity and reflects the total reported DDUs before any host-included considerations are performed.
  • builtin:billing.ddu.metrics.byEntity Similar to the byEntityRaw metric, the byEntity metric is split by monitored entity. It reflects the total consumed DDUs (in other words, all consumption above the number of included metrics per host unit). This is equivalent to the information shown on the DDU consumption overview page (see example below).

Recommendations for working with the chart

Reported vs. consumed DDUs

  • As DDU billing is calculated on a per-minute basis (take a look at the DDU consumption for metrics example for more details) it's recommended that you work with a 1-minute resolution in the chart as well.
  • Using Split by and Filter by allows you to select a specific host that you're interested in.

The example Data explorer query above shows the following information:

  • The purple line reflects the host-included DDUs. In the above example this is 0.25 DDUs (in other words, 250 metrics) on a per-minute basis.
  • The yellow line reflects the byEntityRaw metric. It shows the total reported DDUs for a monitored entity, which is filtered by the host. Any DDU consumption exceeding the host-included budget exceeds the purple line threshold.
  • The turquoise line reflects the information from the byEntity metric. It shows you the total consumed metrics. In the example above the host-included limit is exceeded about every 15 minutes between 09:30 and 10:45, and continuously beginning at 10:45. This results in the consumed DDUs, which are represented by the turquoise line chart.

Please note that data points from the byEntity metric can be delayed up to a few minutes.

How to estimate needed DDUs for metrics

Limited metric ingestion and analysis is provided with out-of-the-box Dynatrace technology support in the form of included metrics per host unit. To arrange for additional metric ingestion and analysis, contact Dynatrace Sales.

How to track DDU consumption for metrics

This section introduces two options for tracking the consumption of DDUs for metrics.

Davis data units overview page

To see how many DDUs your environment has consumed

  1. In the Dynatrace menu, go to Consumption. Note: You need the Change monitoring settings permission or an admin account to access this page.
  2. On the Davis data units (DDU) page:
    • In the Consumption by DDU pool table, check the Metrics row.
    • In the DDU consumption details section, check the Metrics tab.

There you can view your DDU consumption and identify the top contributors to DDU consumption.

Customized dashboards to track consumption

The following use cases explain how to instrument dashboards via Data explorer and provided DDU metrics to track DDU consumption from metrics.

Investigate your total DDU consumption from metrics

DDU chart

Investigate metric consumption per monitored entity

DDU chart

Investigate metric consumption per monitored metric entity

DDU chart

This chart shows you the total of reported DDUs per each metric key.

More information can also be found in the section Reported DDUs vs. consumed DDUs.

Consumption "Not related to a monitored entity"

The source of this consumption is one of the following:

  • Metric ingestion for data without a dt.entity.host dimension
  • Calculated metrics from user sessions
  • Calculated log metrics v2—In the metric-key breakdown, these have a log. prefix

FAQs

Which metrics consume DDUs?

All metrics sent via the default OneAgent (host metrics, etc.) are included free of charge and do not consume DDUs. Metrics that are bound to specific hosts (or processes), regardless of source (extension or API), first consume all available included metrics before consuming any additional DDUs.

The following metric types consume DDUs:

Metric typeConsumes DDUsIncluded per host unit
Built-in extensionsYesYes
Rest APIYesYes1
JMXYesYes
PythonYesNo
Calculated service metricsYesNo
Calculated log metricsYesNo
Calculated DEM metricsYesNo
AWS metricsYesYes2
Azure metricsYesYes2
GCP metricsYesYes2
Cloud FoundryNoNo
Kubernetes Cluster metricsNoNo
VMware metricsNoNo
1

If you use the REST API to send metrics to a OneAgent monitored host, those metrics will count against your allotment of host-unit included metrics. If metrics are sent to other entities, then those metrics will consume DDUs.

2

Cloud metrics that are bound to OneAgent-monitored hosts are deducted from your allotment of host-unit included metrics. For example, an EC2 instance metric counts against the host-unit included metrics of that EC2 instance. All other cloud metrics are subject to DDU consumption.

Which metrics qualify as host-unit included metrics?
  • Any metric that is booked on a monitored host or process group instance as these can be mapped to a specific host.
  • Since Dynatrace version 1.203, metric ingestion can be booked directly on monitored hosts so that you can take better advantage of included host metrics.
  • In a future release, ActiveGate extensions will also be able to book metrics on monitored hosts and thereby take advantage of included host metrics, just as OneAgent extensions do.
Are DDUs only used for extensions?

No, any metric that is booked on a host (or process), regardless of source (extension or API), will first consume included metrics per host unit (in other words, 1,000 included metrics for Full-Stack Monitoring) before any DDUs are consumed. For details, see Included metrics per host unit.

What is the weight (cost) of one data point?

Each data point consumes 0.001 DDU.

How many DDUs does a single metric at 1-minute frequency consume per year?

1 data point x 60 min x 24 hours x 365 days x 0.001 DDU weight = 525.6 DDUs

Why does the consumption breakdown per monitored entity differ from the breakdown per metric?

The DDU consumption breakdown shown on the Monitored entities and Metrics page, as well as the byEntity and byMetric metrics in the API, can slightly differ because:

  • Breakdown by monitored entity takes into account the included DDUs per host unit, which the breakdown by metric does not.
  • Consumption by monitored entities can be delayed up to 10 minutes in comparison to the byEntity and byMetric metrics in the API.

Therefore, for licensing and billing purposes, only the breakdown by monitored entity is considered (breakdown by metric is provided purely for informational purposes).

For metrics not related to a monitored host, consumption per monitored entity and consumption per metric are identical.

We have many OneAgent extensions running. Are those metrics covered with included metrics? Only in Full-Stack Monitoring mode?

Yes, metrics via OneAgent extension are covered by included metrics. For Full-Stack Monitoring mode, this means 1,000 included metrics. For Infrastructure mode, this means 200 included metrics.

Is it true that metrics linked to a host or process count against the included metrics per host unit?

Yes.

We have extensions that use the custom device API to ingest metrics. Does this count against included metrics?

No, custom devices don't have included metrics. Included metrics are only available for hosts and processes that are monitored by OneAgent.
The following extensions utilize custom devices to ingest metrics: F5, Windows Server, Apigee Edge, SAP, Juniper Network, IBM I, IBM DataPower, Citrix Netscaler, and others.

What happens if I monitor remote sources using ActiveGate extensions? Will these metrics count against included host-unit metrics?

ActiveGate extensions don't consume host-unit included metrics. Included metrics are only available for hosts and process metrics that are monitored by OneAgent.

What happens if I change the configuration from Full-Stack to Infrastructure Monitoring mode? Will the included metrics adapt immediately?

The configuration change should only take a few seconds, with no negative impact on your metric consumption.

What happens if I send the custom metrics in a higher frequency, like every 10 seconds?

We recommend that you ingest custom metrics at a 1-minute frequency. When more metric data points per minute are ingested, more DDUs are consumed. For example, a custom metric ingested at a frequency of 10 seconds is equivalent to 6 data points x 60 min x 24 hours x 365 days x 0.001 DDU weight = 3153.6 DDUs

Do cloud services for AWS and Azure consume DDUs or are they part of the included metrics per host?

cloud services for AWS and Azure consume DDUs. All metrics that belong to a OneAgent-monitored host are either part of the basic value package (these are not metrics) or they count against the included metrics that come with each host unit. All other extension or integration metrics consume DDUs.

Can I select which services from AWS or Azure are monitored to control my DDU consumption?

Yes, you can select which individual AWS and Azure services are monitored. All "cloud services" are available for monitoring on an opt-in basis. Also, by leveraging tag filtering, you can opt-out of monitoring individual "Built-in services" (those services that are automatically monitored).

Do Kubernetes metrics (CPU usage/limit/resources) consume DDUs even when OneAgent is not installed?

Kubernetes nodes are automatically monitored when OneAgent is installed; these metrics are part of our core OneAgent offering and are included per host unit.

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