Custom Fields
Custom fields in Applications Manager allow you to add additional metadata to your monitors and monitor groups beyond the default set of fields. They provide a flexible way to categorize, tag, and organize your monitored resources based on your business requirements - such as associating monitors with specific departments, assigning labels for quick identification, or tracking impact and urgency levels for incident management.
Custom fields support multiple data types including text, lists, and predefined system fields. Values assigned to custom fields can be used across the product for filtering widgets, generating reports, configuring alarms, and more.
Custom field types
Applications Manager supports the following custom field types:
| Field Type | Description | Usage |
|---|---|---|
| Text | A single-line text field for entering short values. | Use for brief metadata such as application name, environment (e.g., Production, Staging), or owner name. |
| Large Text | A multi-line text field for entering longer descriptions or notes. | Use for detailed notes, descriptions, or comments about a monitor. |
| List | A dropdown list field with predefined options. You can add, edit, or remove list options. | Use when the field value must be selected from a fixed set of options, such as priority levels or project names. |
Predefined fields
Applications Manager allows you to create and manage your own custom fields to capture metadata specific to your environment. In addition to these user-defined fields, the following predefined fields are included by default. Predefined fields are system-defined and cannot be deleted, but you can edit their values and assign them to monitors as needed.
| Predefined Field | Description | Usage |
|---|---|---|
| Label | Allows you to assign one or more labels to a monitor. Multiple values can be assigned. | Use to tag monitors with keywords for quick identification and filtering across dashboards and reports. |
| Urgency | Indicates the urgency level of a monitored resource. | Use to prioritize monitoring and incident response based on urgency. |
| Impact | Indicates the business impact of a monitored resource. | Use to classify monitors based on their business criticality. |
| Department | Associates a monitor with a specific department in your organization. | Use to organize monitors by department for reporting and accountability. |
| Configuration Item ID | A text field for associating a configuration item identifier with a monitor. | Use to link monitors with configuration management databases (CMDB) or IT asset records. |
| Description | A text field for adding a description to a monitor. | Use to provide additional context or notes about a monitored resource. |
Note:
- Predefined fields (Label, Urgency, Impact, Department, Configuration Item ID, and Description) are system-defined and cannot be removed from the custom fields configuration.
- The Urgency and Impact fields are disabled by default and will not be displayed in the Custom Fields tab unless they are explicitly enabled from the Add/Remove Custom Fields configuration.
Accessing custom fields
Custom fields can be accessed from both the monitor details page and the monitor group page:
- Navigate to the monitor details page of the desired monitor, or open the desired monitor group page.
- In the Monitor Information section, click the Custom Fields button.
- The Custom Fields section opens below, displaying three tabs: Custom Fields, User/Owner, and Location.
Custom Fields
This tab displays all custom fields including the predefined fields (Label, Urgency, Impact, Department) and any user-defined fields. You can edit field values and add new custom fields from this tab.
Mark as PII: PII stands for Personally Identifiable Information. If a custom field contains PII, you can mark it as PII. Doing so encrypts the field value and stores it securely in the database. The Location field is marked as PII by default.
User/Owner
This tab allows you to associate users to the monitor or monitor group. The users displayed here are based on the User Management monitor group association configured for the respective users. All user roles are supported, including User, Operator, Administrator, and Manager.
Location
This tab allows you to specify information about the physical location of the server. The available fields include Location Name, Floor, Building, City, State, Country, Postal Code, and Zip Code.
Managing custom fields
Creating a custom field
To create a new custom field:
- Navigate to the monitor details page and click Custom Fields in the Monitor Information section.
- In the Custom Fields tab, click the add icon in the top-right corner of the tab.
The Add/Remove Custom Fields popup window opens.
- Click Add and specify the field name and select the field type (Text, Large Text, or List).
- If you selected the List type, add the required list options.
- Click Save to create the custom field.
Assigning values to custom fields
To assign values to a custom field:
- Navigate to the monitor details page and click Custom Fields.
- In the Custom Fields tab, locate the field you want to update.
- Enter or select the desired value for the field.
- Click Save to apply the changes.
Editing a custom field
To edit an existing custom field:
- In the Custom Fields tab, click the add icon in the top-right corner to open the Add/Remove Custom Fields popup.
- Locate the field you want to modify.
- Update the field name, type, or list options as needed.
- Click Save to apply the changes.
Deleting a custom field
To delete a custom field:
- In the Custom Fields tab, click the add icon in the top-right corner to open the Add/Remove Custom Fields popup.
- Locate the field you want to remove.
- Click the delete icon next to the field.
- Confirm the deletion when prompted.
Inheritance from parent monitor group
Custom field values are inherited by monitors from their parent monitor group. When you assign a custom field value to a monitor group, all monitors within that group automatically inherit the same value.
Monitor-level custom field values do not override inherited values from the parent group. Instead, both values coexist, and the monitor can be filtered using either value.
Example: If you set the Department field to "IT Operations" for a monitor group named "Production Servers", all monitors within that group will inherit "IT Operations" as their Department value. If you then set a monitor-level value of "Other Operations" for a specific monitor, both "IT Operations" (inherited) and "Other Operations" (monitor-level) will be associated with that monitor. The monitor can be filtered using either value.
Using custom fields across the product
Custom fields can be used in various areas of Applications Manager for filtering, reporting, and automation:
Note:
- Only the following custom field types are supported for filtering: List type fields, Label, Location, and User/Owner fields.
- Text and Large Text fields (such as Department, Configuration Item ID, Description, and other custom text fields) cannot be used as filter criteria.
Widget filters
Custom fields are available as filter criteria in dashboard widgets. You can filter widget data by custom field values to display monitors that match specific criteria, such as a particular label, department, or impact level.
Bulk configuration action page filters
When performing bulk configuration actions, you can use custom fields to filter and select the target monitors. This allows you to apply configuration changes to monitors that share specific custom field values.
Alarms tab filters
In the Alarms tab, you can filter alarms based on custom field values. This helps you quickly identify alarms associated with specific departments, labels, or priority levels.
Report filters
Custom fields are available as filter criteria when generating reports. You can generate reports for monitors that match specific custom field values to focus on relevant subsets of your monitored infrastructure.
Product search
Custom field values are indexed and searchable through the product search functionality. You can search for monitors by their custom field values using the global search bar, allowing you to quickly locate monitors associated with specific labels, departments, or other custom metadata.
Replaceable tags
Custom field values can be used as replaceable tags in notification templates and actions. This allows you to include monitor-specific custom field data in alarm notifications, emails, and other automated actions.
Custom fields in Enterprise edition
The custom fields feature is available in both Professional and Enterprise editions of Applications Manager. However, there are differences in how custom fields are managed in the Enterprise edition:
- From the central server, you can perform custom field metadata operations such as adding new fields, modifying existing fields, enabling or disabling fields, and removing fields. However, custom field values cannot be configured directly for monitors from the central server.
- On a probe server, you cannot create or edit custom field definitions. You can only assign values to existing fields that are configured on the central server.
Note:
- Custom fields cannot be configured for external device monitors (such as monitors from ManageEngine OpManager, including routers and switches). However, these monitors can still be assigned to a monitor group that has custom field values.
- You can assign multiple values for certain fields such as Label and User.
