How to create a custom dashboard with the Datadog API

dashboard_via_api.py

from dogapi import dog_http_api as api

##### Parameters #####

# Credentials
api.api_key = 'my_api_key'
api.application_key = 'my_application_key'

# Dashboard information
title = "Test Quentin via API"
description = "Dashboard created via the API"

# Metrics
METRICS = {
    "SYSTEM_METRICS": """
        system.cpu.system
        system.mem.free
    """

    ,"ES_COUNTERS": """
        elasticsearch.docs.count
        elasticsearch.docs.deleted
        elasticsearch.flush.total
        elasticsearch.flush.total.time
        elasticsearch.indexing.delete.total
        elasticsearch.indexing.index.total
        elasticsearch.merges.total
        elasticsearch.merges.total.docs
        elasticsearch.merges.total.size
        elasticsearch.merges.total.time
        elasticsearch.number_of_data_nodes
        elasticsearch.number_of_nodes
        elasticsearch.process.open_fd
        elasticsearch.refresh.total
        elasticsearch.refresh.total.time
        elasticsearch.search.fetch.total
        elasticsearch.search.query.total
        elasticsearch.store.size
    """

    ,"ES_GAUGES": """
        elasticsearch.active_primary_shards
        elasticsearch.active_shards
        elasticsearch.cluster_status
        elasticsearch.get.missing.total
        elasticsearch.get.time
        elasticsearch.get.total
        elasticsearch.http.current_open
        elasticsearch.http.total_opened
        elasticsearch.indexing.delete.current
        elasticsearch.indexing.delete.time
        elasticsearch.indexing.index.current
        elasticsearch.indexing.index.time
        elasticsearch.initializing_shards
        elasticsearch.merges.current
        elasticsearch.merges.current.docs
        elasticsearch.merges.current.size
        elasticsearch.relocating_shards
        elasticsearch.search.fetch.current
        elasticsearch.search.fetch.time
        elasticsearch.search.query.current
        elasticsearch.search.query.time
        elasticsearch.thread_pool.bulk.active
        elasticsearch.thread_pool.bulk.queue
        elasticsearch.thread_pool.bulk.threads
        elasticsearch.thread_pool.flush.active
        elasticsearch.thread_pool.flush.queue
        elasticsearch.thread_pool.flush.threads
        elasticsearch.thread_pool.generic.active
    """
}

# Hosts to display on each graph
HOSTS = """
    i-18c1087e
    i-8163f6a1
    i-ad6734d0
    i-471cba3f
"""


def define_metric(metric, type="gauge"):
    if type == "counter":
        rate = True
    else:
        rate = False

    return {
        "name": metric,
        "rate": rate
    }

def define_graph(metric):
    query = metric['name']

    if len(HOSTS) == 0:
        HOSTS.append('*')

    requests = []
    hosts = HOSTS.split('\n')
    hosts = filter(None, hosts)
    for h in hosts:
        if h == '*':
            q = query + "{*}"
        else:
            q = query + "{host:" + h.strip() + "}"
        if metric['rate'] is True:
            q = "rate(" + q + ")"
        requests.append({"q": q})

    return {
        "definition": {
            "events": [],
            "requests": requests,
        "viz": "timeseries"
        },
        "title": metric['name']
    }

# Generate graphs
graphs = []
for key in METRICS:
    if key.find("GAUGE") != -1:
        type = "gauge"
    else:
        type = "counter"

    metrics = METRICS[key].strip('\t').split('\n')
    metrics = filter(None, metrics)
    print metrics
    for m in metrics:
        metric = define_metric(m.strip(), type)
        graph = define_graph(metric)
        graphs.append(graph)

# Let's send the API request to create the dashboard
api.create_dashboard(title, description, graphs)