Prometheus and WMI CounterTypes

Prometheus and WMI CounterTypes

WMI performance counters have many types, and those need to be mapped to Prometheus' types. Below is a listing of WMI types, the Prometheus type that should be used, and any processing that needs to be done.

This applies to WMI classes inheriting Win32_PerfRawData.

WMI type	Prometheus type	Notes
PERF_COUNTER_RAWCOUNT_HEX	gauge
PERF_COUNTER_LARGE_RAWCOUNT_HEX	gauge
PERF_COUNTER_TEXT	??	A string
PERF_COUNTER_RAWCOUNT	gauge
PERF_COUNTER_LARGE_RAWCOUNT	gauge
PERF_DOUBLE_RAW	??	No docs
PERF_COUNTER_DELTA	gauge
PERF_COUNTER_LARGE_DELTA	gauge
PERF_SAMPLE_COUNTER	counter
PERF_COUNTER_QUEUELEN_TYPE	gauge
PERF_COUNTER_LARGE_QUEUELEN_TYPE	gauge
PERF_COUNTER_100NS_QUEUELEN_TYPE	gauge
PERF_COUNTER_OBJ_TIME_QUEUELEN_TYPE	gauge
PERF_COUNTER_COUNTER	counter
PERF_COUNTER_BULK_COUNT	counter
PERF_RAW_FRACTION	gauge	Verify units. Numerator. Goes with PERF_RAW_BASE
PERF_COUNTER_TIMER	counter	PerfTime, normalise to seconds.
PERF_PRECISION_SYSTEM_TIMER	counter	PerfTime, normalise to seconds.
PERF_100NSEC_TIMER	counter	Normalize to seconds (value / 1e7)
PERF_PRECISION_100NS_TIMER	counter	Normalize to seconds (value / 1e7)
PERF_OBJ_TIME_TIMER	counter	Object-specific units
PERF_PRECISION_OBJECT_TIMER	counter	Object-specific units
PERF_SAMPLE_FRACTION	gauge	Verify units. Numerator. Goes with PERF_SAMPLE_BASE
PERF_COUNTER_TIMER_INV	counter	Inactive time. PerfTime, normalise to seconds
PERF_100NSEC_TIMER_INV	counter	Inactive time. Normalize to seconds (value / 1e7)
PERF_COUNTER_MULTI_TIMER	Many counter	PerfTime, normalise to seconds
PERF_100NSEC_MULTI_TIMER	Many counter	Normalize to seconds (value / 1e7)
PERF_COUNTER_MULTI_TIMER_INV	Many counter	Inactive time. PerfTime, normalise to seconds
PERF_100NSEC_MULTI_TIMER_INV	Many counter	Inactive time. Normalize to seconds (value / 1e7)
PERF_AVERAGE_TIMER	summary	Verify units. The _count is the _Base
PERF_ELAPSED_TIME	gauge	PerfTime, normalise to seconds. Convert to unixtime?
PERF_COUNTER_NODATA	??	Error value?
PERF_AVERAGE_BULK	summary	_sum part. Goes with PERF_AVERAGE_BASE
PERF_SAMPLE_BASE	gauge	Verify units. Denominator. Goes with PERF_SAMPLE_FRACTION
PERF_AVERAGE_BASE	summary	_count part. Goes with PERF_AVERAGE_BULK
PERF_RAW_BASE	gauge	Verify units. Denominator. Goes with PERF_RAW_FRACTION
PERF_PRECISION_TIMESTAMP	counter	PerfTime, normalise to seconds
PERF_LARGE_RAW_FRACTION	counter	Verify units. Numerator. Goes with PERF_LARGE_RAW_FRACTION
PERF_LARGE_RAW_BASE	counter	Verify units. Denominator. Goes with PERF_LARGE_RAW_FRACTION
PERF_COUNTER_MULTI_BASE	counter	Seems to be a time denominator. Drop.
PERF_COUNTER_HISTOGRAM_TYPE	??	No docs.

To convert "PerfTime" units to seconds, divide by the result of QueryPerformanceFrequency().

Finding available counters

This Powershell line will output available WMI classes that are of type Win32_PerfRawData:

Get-WmiObject -query "SELECT * FROM meta_class WHERE __this ISA 'Win32_PerfRawData'" | 
    Select-Object -ExpandProperty Name