Setting up a detector - Amazon Lookout for Metrics
Creating a detectorCreating a dataset

Setting up a detector

An anomaly detector is an Amazon Lookout for Metrics resource that monitors a dataset to find anomalies.

By default, detectors use a key managed by Lookout for Metrics. To use a key that you manage in your own account, create a symmetric key in AWS KMS and grant Lookout for Metrics permission to use it.

Creating a detector

To create a detector, you provide a name, description, and interval. To start the detector and begin finding anomalies, add a dataset and notifications and activate the detector.

To create a detector

  1. Open the Lookout for Metrics console Detectors page.

  2. Choose Create detector.

  3. Provide the following information:.

    • Name – A name for the detector.

    • Description – A description of the detector.

    • Interval – The amount of time between attempts to detect anomalies.

  4. (Optional) Lookout for Metrics encrypts all imported data with an AWS Key Management Service (AWS KMS) key. To choose an encryption key, select Customize encryption settings. You can't change the encryption key later.

  5. Choose Create.

Detector Statuses

After creating a detector, Lookout for Metrics initializes the detector, uses data for training, and activates the detector so that it can begin identifying anomalies. When you create a detector, Lookout for Metrics displays the following statuses:

  1. Initializing - Lookout for Metrics begins initializing your anomaly detector based on your datasource, measure, and dimension configurations. It also ingests all historical data that you provided.

  2. Learning - After initialization, the detector begins learning by ingesting continuous data. Learning time varies depending on the detector's interval setting and whether you provided historical data.

  3. Active - After the detector has ingested a sufficient amount of data, the status changes to Active”and the detector begins identifying anomalies.

Lookout for Metrics usually requires at least 300 cumulative data points before a detector's status changes to Active. For example, if you provide 200 data points of historical data, the detector need to ingest 100 data points of continuous data before it is active. For the daily time interval, the detector's status changes to Active after 14 days of learning.

If no historical data is available, the learning stage takes the following amount of time:

  • 5-minute interval: 25 hours

  • 10-minute interval: 50 hours

  • 1-hour interval: 12.5 days

  • Daily interval: 14 days

If you are backtesting, also refer to the backtesting data requirements.

Creating a dataset

A detector imports data from a datasource, transforms it, and stores it in a dataset. The datasource can be an Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) bucket that you store data in, a database, or another AWS service that Lookout for Metrics supports.

Note

To communicate with other services, Lookout for Metrics needs permissions from an AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) service role. When you use the console to configure a dataset, you can create a new service role or choose an existing one. For more information, see Service roles for Amazon Lookout for Metrics.

To create a dataset

  1. Open the Lookout for Metrics console Detectors page.

  2. Choose a detector.

  3. Choose Create dataset.

  4. Provide the following information:

    • Name – A name for the dataset.

    • Description – A description of the dataset.

    • Timezone – The timezone where the data is generated. When a detector analyzes data, it verifies that each data point falls within the current interval.

  5. Choose a datasource. The datasource can be an Amazon S3 bucket, an AWS service that Lookout for Metrics supports, or a database.

  6. Configure the datasource and then choose Next. Options vary depending on the datasource that you choose. Common settings include the following:

    • Interval – The amount of time between analysis attempts. Use the same setting as the detector's interval.

    • Offset – The minimum number of seconds that the detector waits at the end of each interval before accessing data. Using an offset is supported only for Amazon S3, Amazon Redshift, and Athena datasources.

    • Permissions – A service role that gives Lookout for Metrics permission to access either the datasource or a secret that contains credentials for the datasource.

  7. Provide the metrics that the detector analyzes:

    • Measures – The primary metrics that the detector analyzes to find anomalies.

    • Dimensions – The secondary metrics, which segment the data by, for example, location or demographic.

    • Timestamp – The metric that specifies when the data point was created.

  8. Choose Next.

  9. Choose Save and activate.

To get started with Amazon S3 as a datasource, see Managing a dataset in Amazon S3. For other datasources, see Using Amazon Lookout for Metrics with other services.