Key Concepts

Before diving into MetricsHub, familiarize yourself with the core concepts that shape how monitoring is configured and organized.

Resources

A resource is any entity you want to monitor: a server, a network switch, a storage array, a database, or an application. Each resource is identified by:

• A unique resource ID (e.g., my-server-01)
• A hostname or IP address (host.name)
• A type indicating what kind of system it is (host.type)

resources:
  my-server-01: # Resource ID
    attributes:
      host.name: 192.168.1.100 # Hostname or IP
      host.type: linux # Type of system

Resource Types

Type	Description	Common Protocols
linux	Linux servers	SSH, SNMP
win	Windows servers	WMI, WinRM
network	Switches, routers, firewalls	SNMP
storage	SAN, NAS, storage arrays	HTTP, WBEM, SNMP
oob	Out-of-band management (BMC, iLO, iDRAC)	IPMI, HTTP
aix	IBM AIX systems	SSH
hpux	HP-UX systems	SSH
solaris	Oracle Solaris systems	SSH

Resource Groups

Resource groups are containers that group related resources together. They're useful for:

• Managing large, distributed infrastructures
• Applying shared settings to multiple resources
• Organizing multi-site deployments

For example, resource groups may have a site attribute indicating the physical or logical location (data center, cloud region, etc.):

resourceGroups:
  paris:
    attributes:
      site: paris-dc
    resources:
      server-1: ...
      server-2: ...

  london:
    attributes:
      site: london-dc
    resources:
      server-3: ...

The site attribute is required for sustainability and hardware monitoring dashboards.

Tip: For small, centralized environments, you don't need resource groups; just use resources: directly with a top-level site attribute if needed.

Protocols

Protocols define how MetricsHub communicates with your resources to collect metrics. Each protocol has its own authentication and connection parameters.

Protocol	Use Case
SSH	Linux/Unix command execution
WMI	Windows local/domain queries
WinRM	Windows remote management
SNMP v1/v2c	Network devices (community string)
SNMP v3	Network devices (encrypted)
HTTP/HTTPS	REST APIs, web services
WBEM	VMware, CIM-based systems
IPMI	Hardware management (BMC)
JDBC	Database queries
JMX	Java application monitoring

A resource can use multiple protocols simultaneously:

resources:
  my-server:
    attributes:
      host.name: server-01
      host.type: linux
    protocols:
      ssh:
        username: admin
        password: changeme
      snmp:
        version: v2c
        community: public

Connectors

Connectors are YAML-based definitions that describe what to collect and how to interpret the data. They contain:

• Detection rules (how to identify compatible systems)
• Data sources (SNMP OIDs, WMI queries, CLI commands, etc.)
• Metric mappings (how to transform raw data into OpenTelemetry metrics)

MetricsHub includes hundreds of built-in connectors for:

• Operating systems (Linux, Windows, AIX, etc.)
• Hardware vendors (Dell, HPE, Cisco, Lenovo, etc.)
• Storage systems (NetApp, Pure Storage, EMC, etc.)
• Network devices (Cisco, Juniper, Arista, etc.)

See the Connectors Directory for the full list.

Automatic Detection

When MetricsHub connects to a resource, it automatically:

1. Tests which connectors are compatible
2. Selects the best matching connectors
3. Begins collecting metrics

You can override this behavior to force or exclude specific connectors. See Customizing What Gets Monitored.

Monitors

Monitors are the individual components discovered within a resource—such as:

• CPUs, memory, disks
• Network interfaces
• Power supplies, fans, temperatures
• Processes, services
• Storage volumes, LUNs

Each monitor produces metrics that are exported to your observability platform.

Metrics and OpenTelemetry

MetricsHub exports all collected data using the OpenTelemetry standard:

• Metrics follow OpenTelemetry semantic conventions
• Data is exported via OTLP (gRPC or HTTP)
• Compatible with Prometheus, Datadog, Splunk, New Relic, and 30+ platforms

This means your metrics are portable and standardized, regardless of which backend you use.

Get Started

1. Choose your edition — Community orEnterprise
2. Follow a quick start guide:
   • Quick Start — Community Edition
   • Quick Start — Enterprise Edition
3. Configure monitoring for your resources