Entuity StormWorks Data Dictionary

What is the StormWorks Data Dictionary?

What does the Data Dictionary allow me to do?

To access the Data Dictionary

To navigate the Data Dictionary

To find the data object you are looking for

The Entuity data model is implemented through StormWorks in two ways:

• StormWorks Data Dictionary, which allows you to interrogate the StormWorks data model.
• StormWorks Data Structures, which provides an overview of the concepts behind StormWorks.

What is the StormWorks Data Dictionary?

The Data Dictionary tool provides an interface to the Entuity data structure. Knowledge of this structure is required, for example, when completing tasks such as the following:

• correctly configuring data export jobs.
• writing configuration management scripts.
• creating variables for reports.
• configuring User Defined Polling.

What does the Data Dictionary allow me to do?

• view data types, streams and attributes through an index.
• display of all data entities on one page, enabling search of the HTML.
• discovery of object associations.

To access the Data Dictionary:

1. From the Main Menu, click System Information.
2. On the System Information page, click Show Data Dictionary in the top right of the browser or via the Overflow Menu.
   
   
   
   
3. This will open the Data Dictionary page.
   
   

To navigate the Data Dictionary:

Changing data access level:

• By default, the Data Dictionary page will be set to Normal display (which can be seen in the top left of the window). This means that only the most useful set of data structures will be displayed.
  
  
  
  
• To change the data access level, click Advanced in the top left of the window, and the full list of data structures will be displayed. When you view details of an object, the metadata includes its reportable level - either Normal or Restricted (Advanced).
  
  

Changing navigation level:

• By default, this page will also be set to Contents display (which can be seen in the top left of the window). This displays the Contents page, where data is grouped by streams, types and associations.
  
  
  
  
• You can change this display to the Index display (also in the top left of the window). This groups data alphabetically, with a submenu providing alphabet-oriented links. Click All on this submenu to display all data groups, so that you can conduct a whole page search.
  
  

To find the data object you are looking for:

There are three categories of data object in the Data Dictionary, and you can navigate to these via their respective links in the top left of the browser:

• Types.
  A data type is the starting point from which you can identify information to export. After finding a data type, you can find that type's attributes, its streams, and its associated types.
• Streams.
  A stream is the mechanism through which StormWorks maintains historic data (the time series attributes belonging to a stream).
• Associations.
  An association defines the relationships between object types, e.g. there is an association between a device and its ports. Associations are also used when identifying the topology of your network.

To view a data type:

1. On the Data Dictionary page, click Types in the top left of the window. This will take you to the list of data types in alphabetical order, together with their respective descriptions.
   
   
   
   
2. Locate and click the data type that you want to look at. This will open that data type's metadata page. You can navigate through the details on this page, and use the hyperlinks therein to further drill down and view attribute and association details.

To view a data stream:

1. On the Data Dictionary page, click Streams in the top left of the window. This will take you to the list of data types in alphabetical order, together with their respective descriptions.
   
   
   
   
2. Locate and click the data type that you want to look at. This will open that stream's metadata page. You can navigate through the details on this page, and use the hyperlinks therein to further drill down and view attribute details.

To view a data assocation:

1. On the Data Dictionary page, click Associations in the top left of the window. This will take you to the list of data types in alphabetical order, together with their respective descriptions.
   
   
   
   
2. Locate and click the data type that you want to look at. This will open that association's metadata page. You can navigate through the details on this page, and use the hyperlinks therein to further drill down and view attribute details.