Hi!
I had a very similar challenge when using Keptn and wanted a dashboard with validations/deploys. The most practical approach was to push metrics via the API and then visualize them on a dashboard.
Why metrics?
- You can attach many dimensions (for example: app, service, host.name, version, pipeline, stage, result), which makes it easy to tailor charts/tables to your needs (timeseries, top lists, drill-downs).
- It works cleanly in Dynatrace Managed — just ingest and the data is immediately available in Data Explorer/dashboards.
What I do in practice (short):
After every deployment/validation step, I send a single metric sample (e.g., custom.deployments.count 1) with the relevant dimensions.
On the dashboard I create:
- a “Deployments over time” chart (sum/count, split by host.name or version),
- a top list “Latest deployments by service/version”,
- a table “Validation results” using stage and result dimensions.
Something like this:
# line format: metric,dim1=val1,dim2=val2 value [timestamp_ms]
custom.deployments.count,app=my-app,service=orders,host.name=app-01,version=2.3.7,pipeline=jenkins,stage=prod,result=success 1
curl -X POST "https://<ACTIVEGATE>:9999/e/<ENV_ID>/api/v2/metrics/ingest" \
-H "Authorization: Api-Token <DT_API_TOKEN_WITH_metrics.ingest>" \
--data-binary @- <<'EOF'
custom.deployments.count,app=my-app,service=orders,host.name=app-01,version=2.3.7,pipeline=jenkins,stage=prod,result=success 1
EOF
Tips:
- Pick a consistent metric naming scheme (e.g., custom.deployments.count and/or custom.validation.duration.ms).
- Choose dimensions that answer your key questions (Who/What/Where/Which version/What result).
- On the dashboard, use split by and dimension filters to shape exactly the views you need.
