Managing Metadata

This guide shows you how to manage your metadata. You can specify what custom metadata fields you wish to have by adding and removing fields. Your metadata fields allow you to split, filter, and aggregate your custom metadata when viewing analytics, or make agents easier to reference in the management suite such as customer number.

Common examples of such metadata include topology data depending on the type of network e.g. hub site or exchange, DSLAM/CMTS, or agent data e.g. customer number, router firmware, and device type. You can also use metadata to easily assign agents to different test schedules in bulk: see the Test Schedule Move API in Connected Devices > Your APIs for more info.

Managing Your Agent Metadata

1. Navigate to Connected Devices > Management Suite.

2. Select Metadata fields.

   
3. To add a new field, click the + Add Custom Field button.

   

   • The Display name determines how the new field will be displayed in the Filter and Split controls within Analytics and Mapping, whether or not you choose to add it for that usage. Display name also generates the Field ID and cannot be edited by you.

   • Note: the field ID may only contain letters and underscores (i.e., no numbers, no spaces), so display names containing these characters will have those characters omitted from the field ID.

   • The possible metadata Formats are:

     • “string”, which means text.

     • “int”, which means integer, or whole number.

     • “float”, which is a decimal number.

4. Click Save.

   • You will see your new metadata field on the Metadata fields home screen.

5. To edit a metadata field, click Edit to the right of your field.

   

   • Note: if you change the display name, the field ID remains the same as the original name, so they will now differ. For example, if you create a new field called “test” and later rename it to “Hub”, you will see “Hub” as the display name, but “test” as the field ID, as in the image above.

6. To delete a metadata field, click Delete to the right of your field.

7. Confirm the deletion by clicking Delete again.

   • Note: deleting the field will not delete the metadata currently attached to agents from our data store but deleting will remove the field as an available option from Analytics and Mapping.

   

To understand how to import metadata, see Importing Metadata.