Hello, I'm 
id:heleeen, from the SRE Team at Mackerel.
We're developing the Metric Explorer feature in order to explore metrics, as one of our features for easily enabling the use of labeled metrics which comply with OpenTelemetry specifications.
On August 26th, 2024, we released Metric Explorer—which we have gradually introduced via events and blog posts—as a public beta feature.
- What is Metric Explorer?
- How to use Metric Explorer
- Labeled metrics and custom dashboards are now available within the Free Plan
- Notes regarding the use of labeled metrics
- Metric Explorer is a feature currently under development
What is Metric Explorer?
Metric Explorer is a feature which allows users to understand and comprehend the system conditions by exploring a labeled metric posted to Mackerel. Please refer to past articles and posts for more information about labeled metrics.
How to use Metric Explorer
With Metric Explorer, you can execute an exploration by using the "service.name" label. A "service.name" is an attribute assigned to a service, as defined by OpenTelemetry Semantic Conventions. You can configure an arbitrary value for the environmental variables or do it in Collector. If you do not have a configuration, in most cases, for example, the SDK may automatically assign a value.
Access this feature via "Explorer" in the sidebar, or here. If there is a labeled metric posted, the metric will be displayed with the specified "service.name."
You can filter metrics by specifying multiple labels.
You can also filter metrics by using the search function.
You can specify functions to apply to all metrics, or use the button at the top right of the graph to display a chart of difference values.
You can perform various actions via the three dot menu at the top right of the graph, such as sharing graphs, or adding as a monitoring rule.
Labeled metrics and custom dashboards are now available within the Free Plan
In order to make labeled metrics and Metric Explorer available to as many users as possible, we have expanded a portion of the features in the Free Plan. The specifics are as follows:
- Labeled metrics are now available within the Free Plan.
- Applies to postings of labeled metrics, Query Monitor, and Metric Explorer.
- There are plan-specific limits on the number of labeled metric posts and the number of monitored items. Please check Plan for restrictions
- Custom dashboards are now available within the Free Plan.
- There is a limit to the number of available custom dashboards. For more information about limitations, please refer to Plan.
Notes regarding the use of labeled metrics
Currently, the following restrictions apply to labeled metrics:
- During the labeled metric public beta period, the metric retention period for a labeled metric is one day.
- This retention period is kept short due to stability considerations during the public beta period. The retention period is subject to change without notice.
- No additional fees will be charged with regard to postings of labeled metrics and query monitoring until the official release.
- In the event of excessive server loads, users may be contacted on an individual basis.
Metric Explorer is a feature currently under development
As mentioned earlier, we have been gradually releasing information about Metric Explorer. Please take this opportunity to view previously released information as well (written in Japanese).
Afterwards, we released Metric Explorer internally to the company, and after receiving various opinions from their engineers, we implemented several changes. We plan on adding other features as well.
In order for us to be able to continue to make feature improvements available, we hope you will take this opportunity and send us feedback via support.
