Data elements are classified by the following types:
A counter counts the number of times an activity occurs. Counter values increase during monitoring. Most are resettable.
A gauge indicates the current value for an item. This value can go up and down depending on database activity (for example, the number of locks held).
A water mark indicates the highest (maximum) or lowest (minimum) value an element reached since monitoring was started. These are not resettable.
An information element provides reference-type details of your monitoring activities. This can include items such as node names, aliases, and path details.
A timestamp indicates the date and time that an activity took place, by providing the number of seconds and microseconds that have elapsed since January 1, 1970. In the C language, for example, this can be converted to calendar date and time using the ctime() function.
Time returns the number of seconds and microseconds spent on an activity.
For detailed information on data elements, see the System Monitor Guide and Reference.