Annotations

Annotations allow you to overlay event data on your graphs. You can use Dynatrace data to create annotations that mark important events such as problems, deployments, or configuration changes directly on your time-series visualizations.

Supported annotation sources

The Dynatrace plugin supports using any query type as an annotation source. The most common use cases include:

Query type	Use case
Problems	Mark when problems were detected and resolved in your environment.
Problems V2	Same as Problems, using the newer API with additional filtering options.
Direct API Access	Display Dynatrace events such as deployments or configuration changes using the `v2/events` endpoint.
Logs	Highlight specific log events on your graphs.
Audit Logs	Show administrative and configuration change events.

Create an annotation

To create an annotation using Dynatrace data:

Open your dashboard and click Dashboard settings (gear icon).
Select Annotations from the left menu.
Click Add annotation query.
Configure the annotation:
- Name: Enter a descriptive name for the annotation.
- Data source: Select your Dynatrace data source.
- Enabled: Toggle on to display the annotation.
- Color: Choose a color for the annotation markers.
Configure your query using the Dynatrace query editor.
Click Save dashboard.

Example: Problems as annotations

A common use case is displaying Dynatrace problems as annotations on metric graphs. This helps correlate performance issues with detected problems.

To create a problems annotation:

Create a new annotation as described above.
Select Problems or Problems V2 as the query type.
Configure filters as needed:
- Status: Filter by problem status (OPEN, RESOLVED, CLOSED).
- Impact: Filter by impact level (APPLICATION, SERVICE, INFRASTRUCTURE).
- Severity: Filter by severity (AVAILABILITY, ERROR, PERFORMANCE, etc.).
Click Save dashboard.

Problems appear as vertical markers on your graphs. Hover over a marker to see problem details.

Example: Events as annotations

You can display Dynatrace events (such as deployments or configuration changes) as annotations using the Direct API Access query type.

To create an events annotation:

Create a new annotation as described above.
Select Direct API Access as the query type.
Enter the API endpoint: v2/events
Configure field extraction to display event details (for example, eventType, title, startTime).
Click Save dashboard.

Annotation display options

When configuring annotations, you can customize how they appear:

Color: Choose distinct colors for different annotation types to easily differentiate them.
Show in: Select which panels display the annotation (All panels or specific panels).
Hide: Temporarily hide annotations without deleting them.

Using template variables in annotations

You can use template variables in your annotation queries to create dynamic annotations that respond to dashboard variable selections. For example, filter problems by a selected management zone variable.