StackState Query Language (STQL)

Build advanced topology queries with STQL

This page describes StackState version 4.2.

The StackState 4.2 version range is End of Life (EOL) and no longer supported. We encourage customers still running the 4.2 version range to upgrade to a more recent release.

Go to the documentation for the latest StackState release.

Overview

This page describes how to use the built-in StackState Query Language (STQL) to write advanced topology component filters. STQL queries are used in StackState to write advanced topology filters and can be combined with scripts in the Analytics environment.

An STQL query consists of component filters and functions. The query output is a component, or set of components, filtered from the complete topology.

Component filters

Component filters are used in two ways in STQL:

• Define the set of components to be included in the query output.

• Specify the set of components to be handled by an in-built STQL function.

The filters described below can be combined using boolean operators to achieve complex selections of components. Note that boolean operators will be executed in the standard order: NOT, OR, AND. You can change the order of operations by grouping sections of a query with parentheses (...).

Filters

Filter	Default	Description
domain	"all"	Components in the specified domain(s).
environment	"all"	Components in the named environment.
healthstate	"all"	Components with the named health state.
label	"all"	Components with the named labels.
layer	"all"	Components in the named layer.
name	"all"	Components with the specified name.
type	"all"	Components of the specified type.

Wildcard

You can use * as a full wildcard in a component filter. It is not possible to filter for partial matches using a wildcard character.

Examples

# Select all components
name = "*"

# Select all components with name "serviceB"
name = "serviceB"

# Select all components in the "application" layer:
layer = "application"

# Select all components named either "appA" or "appB" that do not have a label "bck"
name IN ("appA","appB") NOT label = "bck"

# Select all components named "appA" that do not have a label "bck" or "test"
name = "appA" NOT label in ("bck", "test")

Functions

withNeighborsOf

The function withNeighborsOf extends STQL query output, adding connected components in the specified direction(s). The number of topology levels included can be adjusted up to a maximum of 15.

withNeighborsOf(components=(), levels=, direction=)

Parameters / fields

Parameter	Default	Allowed values	Description
components	"all"	A component filter	The component(s) for which the neighbors will be returned, see component filters.
levels	1	"all", [1:14]	The number of levels to include in the output. Use "all" to display all available levels (maximum 15)
direction	"both"	"up", "down", "both"	up: only components that depend on the named component(s) will be added down: only dependencies of the named component(s) will be added both: components that depend on and dependencies of the named component(s) will be added.

Example

The example below will return all components in the application layer that have a healthstate of either "CRITICAL" or "DEVIATING". Components with names "appA" or "appB" and their neighbors will also be included.

layer = "application"
  AND (healthstate = "CRITICAL" OR healthstate = "DEVIATING")
  OR withNeighborsOf(components = (name in ("appA","appB")))

withCauseOf - DEPRECATED

The withCauseOf function has been deprecated. This functionality has been replaced by the Root Cause Analysis section in the visualizer. The construct will be parsed, but will not produce any additional components.

See also

• Topology filter limits

• How to filter topology in the StackState UI

• How to use STQL queries in analytics

• StackState scripting language (STSL)