Import and export custom definitions and entities

With DPA 2022.4 and later, you can export custom definitions and entities to a file. You can then import all data in the file, or select a subset of the data to import. Use this capability to:

• Create a backup of your customizations. If customizations are subsequently lost or changed, use the backup to restore the customizations that existed at the time of the export.

• In an environment with multiple DPA servers, replicate the custom definitions and entities configured on one server to other DPA servers.

You can import and export the following custom definitions and entities:

• Alert definitions, which raise an alert whenever certain contacts exist.

  When you import an alert definition, some information (such as the contact for each alert level) is not included and must be specified after the import.

• Alert assignment rules, whose logic is used to determine which database instances are assigned to any alert that uses the rule.

• Custom property definitions, which are used to associate business or organizational attributes to monitored instances. Custom properties can be used in alert assignment rules and in alert notification email templates.

Exporting custom definitions and entities

The export includes all the alert definitions, alert assignment rules, and custom property defitions that are currently configured on the DPA server.

1. Log in to DPA as a user with administrative privileges.

2. From the DPA menu in the upper-right corner, click Options.

3. Under Support > Utilities, click Export Custom Entities.

   The Export Custom Entities wizard opens.

4. Click Next.

   The Summary page lists the custom properties, rules, and alerts that will be exported.

   

5. Click Finish & Export.

   The custom entity definitions are saved in a file for each entity type. These files are compressed to a .zip file named CustomEnties_YYYY-MM-DD-timestamp.zip. The .zip file is placed in the default download directory on your client computer.

   Do not edit these files with a text editor. The files cannot be imported if they have been edited.

Import custom definitions and entities

During the import, you can select which exported definitions and entities you want to import and whether DPA should overwrite existing entities with the same name.

1. Log in as an administrator to the DPA instance where you want to import content from a DPA export file.

2. From the DPA menu in the upper-right corner, click Options.

3. Under Support > Utilities, click Import Custom Entities.

   The Import Custom Entities wizard opens.

   

4. Browse to select the exported .zip file, or drag and drop the file on the wizard. Click Next.

   The wizard lists the entities included in the file. By default, all entities are selected.

   

5. Clear the checkbox next to any entity that you do not want to import. Click Next.

6. Review the entities to be imported.

   The Existing Entities tab lists any existing entities that have the same type and name as entities selected for import. By default, existing entities are not overwritten during an import. If you want to update existing entities, select Overwrite existing entities.

   If you choose to overwrite an existing entity, that entity is deleted and replaced by the entity defined in the export file.

7. Click Import to import the entities.

   The Import Status page shows the result of the import.

   

8. To close the dialog, click Finish and go to Options page.

9. If you imported alert definitions, edit each definition to specify the following information:

   • If the associated database instances were manually selected (instead of being automatically determined by an alert assignment rule), or if the associated rule was not imported and did not already exist, specify the database instances that the alert applies to. (You can specify instances by manually selecting them or by applying a rule.)

   • Specify the group or individual to notify for each alert level.

   • To use a notification policy other than the default, select the notification policy.