# system collector

The system collector exposes system-wide metrics of the System performance counter object, such as context switches, system calls, processes and threads, and the system boot time.

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Metric name prefix  | `system`
Data source         | Performance Counters
Enabled by default? | Yes

## Flags

None

## Metrics

| Name                                         | Description                                                                                                                                                                                                       | Type    | Labels |
|----------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------|--------|
| `windows_system_boot_time_timestamp`         | Unix timestamp of last system boot, in whole seconds. Follows clock corrections                                                                                                                                   | gauge   | None   |
| `windows_system_context_switches_total`      | Total number of [context switches](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Context_switch)                                                                                                                                  | counter | None   |
| `windows_system_exception_dispatches_total`  | Total exceptions dispatched by the system                                                                                                                                                                         | counter | None   |
| `windows_system_processes`                   | Number of process contexts currently loaded or running on the operating system                                                                                                                                    | gauge   | None   |
| `windows_system_processes_limit`             | Maximum number of processes. Windows has no defined limit, so this is always reported as 4294967295                                                                                                               | gauge   | None   |
| `windows_system_processor_queue_length`      | Number of threads in the processor queue. There is a single queue for processor time even on computers with multiple processors.                                                                                  | gauge   | None   |
| `windows_system_system_calls_total`          | Total combined calls to Windows NT system service routines by all processes running on the computer                                                                                                               | counter | None   |
| `windows_system_threads`                     | Number of Windows system [threads](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thread_(computing))                                                                                                                              | gauge   | None   |



### Example metric
Show current number of system threads
```
windows_system_threads{instance="localhost"}
```

Show current number of processes
```
windows_system_processes{instance="localhost"}
```

## Useful queries
Find hosts that have rebooted in the last 24 hours
```
time() - windows_system_boot_time_timestamp < 86400
```

## Alerting examples
_This collector does not yet have alerting examples, we would appreciate your help adding them!_