Automated Discovery of Performance Envelopes

In order to decide if systems are running according to their usual trend, it is necessary to compare against a baseline that defines an operating performance envelope. We describe how baselines can be derived automatically from stores of performance data, which are typically flat text files or databases. Baseline envelopes can be built as needed by varying the baseline norm, granularity, update frequency, etc. Baselining outputs are sets of alert thresholds stratified by system, metric, and hour. The role and usage of performance envelopes in automated alerting is discussed, with examples of reports that can be produced.