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Sumo Logic

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Sumo Logic is an observability platform that provides visibility into AWS, Azure, and GCP cloud applications and infrastructure.

Sumo Logic parameters and supported features in Nobl9
General support:
Release channel: Stable, Beta
Connection method: Agent, Direct
Replay and SLI Analyzer: Historical data limit 30 days
Event logs: Supported
Query checker: Not supported
Query parameters retrieval: Supported
Timestamp cache persistence: Supported
Query parameters:
Query interval: 2 min
Query delay: 4 min
Jitter: 30 sec
Timeout: 30 sec
Agent details and minimum required versions for supported features:
Plugin name: n9sumologic
Query delay environment variable: SUMOLOGIC_QUERY_DELAY
Replay and SLI Analyzer: 0.102.0-beta
Query parameters retrieval: 0.73.2
Timestamp cache persistence: 0.65.0
Additional notes:
Supported authentication using <accessId>:<accessKey>

Creating SLOs with Sumo Logic​

You can create Sumo Logic SLOs using the Metrics or Logs types.

Nobl9 Web​

  1. Navigate to Service Level Objectives.
  2. Click .
  3. Select a Service.
    It will be the location for your SLO in Nobl9.
  4. Select your Sumo Logic data source.
  5. Modify Period for Historical Data Retrieval, if necessary.
    • This value defines how far back in the past your data will be retrieved when replaying your SLO based on Sumo Logic.
    • A longer period can extend the data loading time for your SLO.
    • Must be a positive whole number up to the maximum period value you've set when adding the Sumo Logic data source.

    Non-editable Replay period
    Non-editable Replay period indicates that the maximum period for historical data retrieval set for your Sumo Logic data source is set to zero.
    Adjust the data source settings to create the SLO with Replay.
  6. Metric refers to the way of calculating and interpreting calculate and interpret data from your data source.
    • Threshold metric is defined by a single numerical value (the threshold) that separates satisfactory performance from unsatisfactory performance. It's represented by a single time series evaluated against the threshold.
    • Ratio metric expresses the performance as a fraction or proportion, typically by dividing the number of successful events by the total number of potential events (successes + failures). It's represented by two-time series for comparison for good events and total events.
      For ratio metrics, select the Data count method.

      SLI values for good and total
      When choosing the query for the ratio SLI (countMetrics), keep in mind that the values ​​resulting from that query for both good and total:
      • Must be positive.
      • While we recommend using integers, fractions are also acceptable.
        • If using fractions, we recommend them to be larger than 1e-4 = 0.0001.
      • Shouldn't be larger than 1e+20.
  1. Choose the query type: Metrics or Logs.
  1. Quantization refers to aggregating metric data points for time series over an interval of time.
    Must be 15s or greater.
  2. Rollup is the aggregation function applied to the metric (none by default).
  3. Enter the query.
Click to open query samples
Threshold metric
metric=CPU_usage
Ratio metric, numerator
metric=Mem_Used
Ratio metric, denominator
metric=Mem_Total
  1. Define the Time window for your SLO:
  2. Configure the Error budget calculation method and Objectives:
    • Occurrences method counts good attempts against the count of total attempts.
    • Time Slices method measures how many good minutes were achieved (when a system operates within defined boundaries) during a time window.
    • You can define up to 12 objectives for an SLO.

      • Similar threshold values for objectives
      To use similar threshold values for different objectives in your SLO, we recommend differentiating them by setting varying decimal points for each objective.
      For example, if you want to use threshold value 1 for two objectives, set it to 1.0000001 for the first objective and to 1.0000002 for the second one.
  3. Add the Display name, Name, and other settings for your SLO:
    • Name identifies your SLO in Nobl9. After you save the SLO, its name becomes read-only.
      Use only lowercase letters, numbers, and dashes.
    • Select No data anomaly alert to receive notifications when your SLO stops reporting data for a specified period:
      • Choose up to five supported Alert methods.
      • Specify the delay period before Nobl9 sends an alert about the missing data.
        From 5 minutes to 31 days. Default: 15 minutes
    • Add alert policies, labels, and links, if required.
      Limits per SLO: 20 alert policies or links, 30 labels.
  4. Click CREATE SLO.

    5. SLO configuration use case
    Check the SLO configuration use case for a real-life SLO example.

YAML​

Metrics query​

Sample Sumo Logic threshold metrics SLO
apiVersion: n9/v1alpha
kind: SLO
metadata:
  name: api-server-slo
  displayName: API Server SLO
  project: default
  labels:
    area:
      - latency
      - slow-check
    env:
      - prod
      - dev
    region:
      - us
      - eu
    team:
      - green
      - sales
  annotations:
    area: latency
    env: prod
    region: us
    team: sales
spec:
  description: Example Sumo Logic SLO
  indicator:
    metricSource:
      name: sumo-logic
      project: default
      kind: Agent
  budgetingMethod: Occurrences
  objectives:
    - displayName: Good response (200)
      value: 200.0
      name: ok
      target: 0.95
      rawMetric:
        query:
          sumoLogic:
            type: metrics
            query: metric=CPU_Usage
            quantization: 15s
            rollup: Avg
      op: lte
      primary: true
  service: api-server
  timeWindows:
    - unit: Month
      count: 1
      isRolling: false
      calendar:
        startTime: "2022-12-01 00:00:00"
        timeZone: UTC
  alertPolicies:
    - fast-burn-5x-for-last-10m
  attachments:
    - url: https://docs.nobl9.com
      displayName: Nobl9 Documentation
  anomalyConfig:
    noData:
      alertMethods:
        - name: slack-notification
          project: default
      alertAfter: 1h
Click to open field reference
FieldTypeDescription
apiVersion
mandatory
stringAPI version. Use n9/v1alpha
kind
mandatory
stringThe resource type. Use SLO
Metadata
metadata.name
mandatory
stringName identifier for the SLO. Use only lowercase alphanumeric characters
metadata.displayNamestringUser-friendly SLO name
metadata.project
mandatory
stringThe name identifier of the project where you need to host your SLO
metadata.labelsobject (map: string[])Grouping labels for filtering or viewing
metadata.annotationsobject (map: string)Flat string annotations
Spec
spec.descriptionstringSLO description
spec.indicator.metricSource.name
mandatory
stringData source name
spec.indicator.metricSource.project
mandatory
stringProject containing the data source
spec.indicator.metricSource.kind
mandatory
stringData source connection method. Can be Agent or Direct
spec.budgetingMethod
mandatory
enumError budget calculation method. Can be Occurrences or Time slices
spec.objectives
mandatory
arrayYour SLO objective definition, up to 12 objectives per SLO.
spec.objectives[].displayNamestringUser-friendly objective name
spec.objectives[].value
mandatory
numberData point values that is considered "good" (e.g., 200.0).
In SLOs with two or more objectives, keep each objective's value unique.
In ratio (count) metrics, value is retained for legacy purposes.
spec.objectives[].name
mandatory
stringName identifier for this objective
spec.objectives[].op
mandatory
string (enum)Operator for objective. One of:
lte (less than or equal to)
lt (less than)
gte (greater than or equal to)
gt (greater than)
spec.objectives[].target
mandatory
floatThe percentage of the good minutes or occurrences that must meet the desired performance (e.g., is the target is 0.95, the good performance is expected to be observed in at least 95% of the time window)
spec.objectives[].rawMetric/.countMetric
mandatory
objectThe metric type indicator. Set:
rawMetric for a threshold metric
countMetric for a ratio metric.
A ratio metric requires the additional fields:
countMetric.incremental (boolean) the data count method
countMetric.good/.bad and countMetric.total a numerator and denominator queries
spec.objectives[].countMetric.incremental
mandatory
booleanThe data count method for a ratio (countMetric) metric type
spec.objectives[].primarybooleanThe indicator of a primary SLO objective
spec.service
mandatory
stringThe name identifier of a service to host this SLO. The service must exist in the project specified in metadata.project
spec.timeWindows
mandatory
arrayDefines SLO time window for error budget calculation. Set:
isRolling: true for the rolling time window type
isRolling: false for the calendar-aligned type
spec.timeWindows.unit
mandatory
integerThe time window units. One of:
Day | Hour | Minute for the rolling time window
Year | Quarter | Month | Week | Day for the calendar-aligned time window
spec.timeWindows.count
mandatory
integerThe number of units in a time window
spec.timeWindows.startTimestringMandatory for calendar-aligned time windows. Date and time in the format YYYY-MM-DDTHH:mm:ss
spec.timeWindows.timeZonestringMandatory for calendar-aligned time-windows. A valid IANA Time Zone Database name
spec.timeWindows.isRolling
mandatory
boolean
true for the rolling time window type
false for the calendar-aligned type
spec.alertPoliciesarrayThe name identifiers of alert policies to be linked to this SLO (must be from the same project as the SLO). Up to 20 alert policies per SLO.
spec.attachmentsarrayLinks to any additional attributes of this SLO
spec.anomalyConfigobjectSettings for a manual no data anomaly detection rule
spec.noData.alertMethodsarrayList of alert methods for no-data anomaly. Up to five alert methods per SLO. Every alert method must have the name and project fields
spec.noData.alertAfterstringWaiting time before sending a no-data notification. Must be 5m to 31d.
Default: 15m
Source-specific fields
sumoLogic.type
mandatory
stringThe query type. One of: metrics | logs. Specify metrics for your metrics SLO
sumoLogic.quantization
mandatory
stringMetric data point aggregation for time series over an interval of time (e.g., s, h). Must be 15s or greater
sumoLogic.rollup
mandatory
stringThe metric aggregation function. One of: avg | sum | min | max | count | none
sumoLogic.query
mandatory
stringYour metrics query

Logs query​

Sample Sumo Logic threshold logs SLO
apiVersion: n9/v1alpha
kind: SLO
metadata:
  name: api-server-slo
  displayName: API Server SLO
  project: default
  labels:
    area:
      - latency
      - slow-check
    env:
      - prod
      - dev
    region:
      - us
      - eu
    team:
      - green
      - sales
  annotations:
    area: latency
    env: prod
    region: us
    team: sales
spec:
  description: Example Sumo Logic SLO
  indicator:
    metricSource:
      name: sumo-logic
      project: default
      kind: Agent
  budgetingMethod: Occurrences
  objectives:
    - displayName: Good response (200)
      value: 200
      name: ok
      target: 0.95
      rawMetric:
        query:
          sumoLogic:
            type: logs
            query: >-
              _sourceCategory=uploads/nginx

              | timeslice 1m as n9_time

              | parse "HTTP/1.1" * * " as (status_code, size, tail)

              | if (status_code matches "20" or status_code matches "30*",1,0)
              as resp_ok

              | sum(resp_ok) as n9_value by n9_time

              | sort by n9_time asc
      op: lte
      primary: true
  service: api-server
  timeWindows:
    - unit: Month
      count: 1
      isRolling: false
      calendar:
        startTime: '2022-12-01 00:00:00'
        timeZone: UTC
  alertPolicies:
    - fast-burn-5x-for-last-10m
  attachments:
    - url: https://docs.nobl9.com
      displayName: Nobl9 Documentation
  anomalyConfig:
    noData:
      alertMethods:
        - name: slack-notification
          project: default
      alertAfter: 1h
Click to open field reference
FieldTypeDescription
apiVersion
mandatory
stringAPI version. Use n9/v1alpha
kind
mandatory
stringThe resource type. Use SLO
Metadata
metadata.name
mandatory
stringName identifier for the SLO. Use only lowercase alphanumeric characters
metadata.displayNamestringUser-friendly SLO name
metadata.project
mandatory
stringThe name identifier of the project where you need to host your SLO
metadata.labelsobject (map: string[])Grouping labels for filtering or viewing
metadata.annotationsobject (map: string)Flat string annotations
Spec
spec.descriptionstringSLO description
spec.indicator.metricSource.name
mandatory
stringData source name
spec.indicator.metricSource.project
mandatory
stringProject containing the data source
spec.indicator.metricSource.kind
mandatory
stringData source connection method. Can be Agent or Direct
spec.budgetingMethod
mandatory
enumError budget calculation method. Can be Occurrences or Time slices
spec.objectives
mandatory
arrayYour SLO objective definition, up to 12 objectives per SLO.
spec.objectives[].displayNamestringUser-friendly objective name
spec.objectives[].value
mandatory
numberData point values that is considered "good" (e.g., 200.0).
In SLOs with two or more objectives, keep each objective's value unique.
In ratio (count) metrics, value is retained for legacy purposes.
spec.objectives[].name
mandatory
stringName identifier for this objective
spec.objectives[].op
mandatory
string (enum)Operator for objective. One of:
lte (less than or equal to)
lt (less than)
gte (greater than or equal to)
gt (greater than)
spec.objectives[].target
mandatory
floatThe percentage of the good minutes or occurrences that must meet the desired performance (e.g., is the target is 0.95, the good performance is expected to be observed in at least 95% of the time window)
spec.objectives[].rawMetric/.countMetric
mandatory
objectThe metric type indicator. Set:
rawMetric for a threshold metric
countMetric for a ratio metric.
A ratio metric requires the additional fields:
countMetric.incremental (boolean) the data count method
countMetric.good/.bad and countMetric.total a numerator and denominator queries
spec.objectives[].countMetric.incremental
mandatory
booleanThe data count method for a ratio (countMetric) metric type
spec.objectives[].primarybooleanThe indicator of a primary SLO objective
spec.service
mandatory
stringThe name identifier of a service to host this SLO. The service must exist in the project specified in metadata.project
spec.timeWindows
mandatory
arrayDefines SLO time window for error budget calculation. Set:
isRolling: true for the rolling time window type
isRolling: false for the calendar-aligned type
spec.timeWindows.unit
mandatory
integerThe time window units. One of:
Day | Hour | Minute for the rolling time window
Year | Quarter | Month | Week | Day for the calendar-aligned time window
spec.timeWindows.count
mandatory
integerThe number of units in a time window
spec.timeWindows.startTimestringMandatory for calendar-aligned time windows. Date and time in the format YYYY-MM-DDTHH:mm:ss
spec.timeWindows.timeZonestringMandatory for calendar-aligned time-windows. A valid IANA Time Zone Database name
spec.timeWindows.isRolling
mandatory
boolean
true for the rolling time window type
false for the calendar-aligned type
spec.alertPoliciesarrayThe name identifiers of alert policies to be linked to this SLO (must be from the same project as the SLO). Up to 20 alert policies per SLO.
spec.attachmentsarrayLinks to any additional attributes of this SLO
spec.anomalyConfigobjectSettings for a manual no data anomaly detection rule
spec.noData.alertMethodsarrayList of alert methods for no-data anomaly. Up to five alert methods per SLO. Every alert method must have the name and project fields
spec.noData.alertAfterstringWaiting time before sending a no-data notification. Must be 5m to 31d.
Default: 15m
Logs query keywords
timeslice
mandatory
stringGroups log messages into fixed time intervals. Used to aggregate data points into consistent time buckets for time-series analysis. The result timestamp marks the beginning of each interval. Time unit value: [number][unit], where unit is one of: s (seconds) | m (minutes) | h (hours) | d (days). Must be 15s or greater
n9time
mandatory
stringThe timestamp field used for time-based analytics. Represents the moment of logging a data point or the interval the data point belongs to. Must be a Unix timestamp in seconds or milliseconds
n9value
mandatory
floatThe numerical value of the metric being measured
count(*)
mandatory
stringAn aggregation function applied to the grouped data. One of: avg | sum | min | max | count | none
as
mandatory
stringA search operator that creates an alias for a field or expression. Used to name the output fields for further processing. Field alias name that follows the Sumo Logic naming convention. Required fields: n9time and n9value

Querying for logs​

Sumo Logic queries use pipe operators (|) to chain operations together. Each operator processes the results from the previous operation, progressively filtering and transforming the data to achieve the desired output.

All queries must start with either a keyword or string search.

Special characters are available for pattern matching:

  • * - Wildcard character that matches zero or more characters
  • ? - Matches exactly one character

Here's a detailed example of a Sumo Logic query that calculates successful HTTP responses:

_sourceCategory=uploads/nginx
| timeslice 1m as n9_time
| parse "HTTP/1.1\" * * *" as (status_code, size, tail)
| if (status_code matches "20*" or status_code matches "30*",1,0) as resp_ok
| sum(resp_ok) as n9_value by n9_time
| sort by n9_time asc

This query:

  1. Filters logs from the nginx uploads category.
  2. Groups data into 1-minute intervals.
  3. Extracts HTTP status code, size, and remaining content.
  4. Marks responses with 2xx or 3xx status codes as successful (1) and others as failed (0).
  5. Sums successful responses for each time interval.
  6. Sorts results chronologically.

The query produces time-series data in the following format:

"n9_time","n9_value"
"1645371960000","2.0"
"1645372020000","58.0"
"1645372080000","46.0"
"1645372140000","12.0"
"1645372200000","12.0"
"1645372260000","12.0"
"1645372320000","14.0"
"1645372380000","22.0"

For comparison, here's a query that counts total requests in the same time ranges:

  _sourceCategory=uploads/nginx
| timeslice 1m as n9_time
| parse "HTTP/1.1\" * * *" as (status_code, size, tail)
| count(*) as n9_value by n9_time
| sort by n9_time asc

API rate limits​

Sumo Logic enforces rate limits on Search Job API requests.

The Nobl9 agent makes several API calls following the documented Process Flow to collect data points. To manage these requests efficiently, the agent distributes them across the 2-minute interval.

To ensure timely SLI data collection, observe these API limits:

  • API requests—4 requests/second (240/minute) per user
  • Concurrent requests—10 per access key

Best practices to avoid rate limits​

  1. Use metrics over logs
  2. Optimize log queries
  3. Keep one agent connection for your Sumo Logic data sources
    • For agent-based connections, use only one agent for all Sumo Logic data sources
    • This restriction doesn't apply to direct connections
  4. Monitor usage
    • Keep the number of log-based objectives within your API limits
Check out these related guides and references:
Add Sumo Logic as a data sourceAdding data sources'as' operatorSumo Logic documentationMetric quantizationSumo Logic documentationRate limit throttlingSumo Logic documentationProcess FlowSumo Logic documentationCreating SLOs using the Nobl9 Terraform providerTerraform
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