Sum Functions

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The sum functions detect anomalies when the sum of a field in a bucket is anomalous.

If you want to monitor unusually high totals, use high-sided functions.

If want to look at drops in totals, use low-sided functions.

If your data is sparse, use non_null_sum functions. Buckets without values are ignored; buckets with a zero value are analyzed.

The X-Pack machine learning features include the following sum functions:

Sum, High_sum, Low_sum

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The sum function detects anomalies where the sum of a field in a bucket is anomalous.

If you want to monitor unusually high sum values, use the high_sum function.

If you want to monitor unusually low sum values, use the low_sum function.

These functions support the following properties:

  • field_name (required)
  • by_field_name (optional)
  • over_field_name (optional)
  • partition_field_name (optional)

For more information about those properties, see Detector Configuration Objects.

Example 1: Analyzing total expenses with the sum function.

{
  "function" : "sum",
  "field_name" : "expenses",
  "by_field_name" : "costcenter",
  "over_field_name" : "employee"
}

If you use this sum function in a detector in your job, it models total expenses per employees for each cost center. For each time bucket, it detects when an employee’s expenses are unusual for a cost center compared to other employees.

Example 2: Analyzing total bytes with the high_sum function.

{
  "function" : "high_sum",
  "field_name" : "cs_bytes",
  "over_field_name" : "cs_host"
}

If you use this high_sum function in a detector in your job, it models total cs_bytes. It detects cs_hosts that transfer unusually high volumes compared to other cs_hosts. This example looks for volumes of data transferred from a client to a server on the internet that are unusual compared to other clients. This scenario could be useful to detect data exfiltration or to find users that are abusing internet privileges.

Non_null_sum, High_non_null_sum, Low_non_null_sum

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The non_null_sum function is useful if your data is sparse. Buckets without values are ignored and buckets with a zero value are analyzed.

If you want to monitor unusually high totals, use the high_non_null_sum function.

If you want to look at drops in totals, use the low_non_null_sum function.

These functions support the following properties:

  • field_name (required)
  • by_field_name (optional)
  • partition_field_name (optional)

For more information about those properties, see Detector Configuration Objects.

Population analysis (that is to say, use of the over_field_name property) is not applicable for this function.

Example 3: Analyzing employee approvals with the high_non_null_sum function.

{
  "function" : "high_non_null_sum",
  "fieldName" : "amount_approved",
  "byFieldName" : "employee"
}

If you use this high_non_null_sum function in a detector in your job, it models the total amount_approved for each employee. It ignores any buckets where the amount is null. It detects employees who approve unusually high amounts compared to their past behavior.