Attribute types

String attributes

When you select String, you specify the maximum length of the string in bytes as shown in Figure 1. The default size is 64 bytes.

Figure 1. String attribute type

A string value can contain any UTF-8 character. The maximum size is the total length of the buffer that is allocated to contain the string in bytes. Some non-ASCII UTF-8 characters take more than 1 byte, so you must account for this space when you select a maximum size. Data aggregation in the warehouse displays the latest value that is collected during the period.

Numeric

When you specify Numeric, you have several variations to choose from as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Numeric attribute type

See Table 1 for information about the options for each numeric type of attribute.

Time stamp

A Time stamp attribute is a string attribute with a format that conforms to the CYYMMDDHHMMSSmmm format (where C=1 for the 21st century). All 16 characters must be used for scripts or socket clients. When displayed in the Tivoli® Enterprise Portal, a time stamp attribute type is displayed in the correct format for the locale.

When you use the browse feature for WMI, the Agent Builder automatically marks attributes whose CIM type is CIM_DATETIME as time stamps. The data provider automatically converts WMI attributes to this format.