System mapping
An adapter definition that binds vendor-specific metric names to the operational primitive vocabulary. When a new infrastructure environment is onboarded, only the mapping changes; the pattern library and detection logic remain unchanged.
The system mapping is a DSL (domain-specific language) definition that bridges the gap between vendor-specific telemetry and the vendor-agnostic operational primitive vocabulary. It answers the question: in this specific environment, which metric names and threshold conditions correspond to which operational primitives? A mapping for a Prometheus-instrumented Kubernetes cluster might declare that kafka_consumer_lag_sum > 1000 maps to BACKPRESSURE_ACCUMULATION, and container_memory_usage_bytes / container_spec_memory_limit_bytes > 0.85 maps to MEMORY_PRESSURE. The same patterns in a Datadog-monitored environment would use completely different metric names, but the same system mapping DSL would express the equivalence. When a new environment is onboarded, an operator writes one system mapping; the pattern detection worker immediately begins translating incoming metrics through that mapping and matching against the existing pattern library without any changes to the detection logic or the pattern definitions. The transfer layer - the combination of the system mapping DSL and the pattern library - is what makes learned operational intelligence portable across infrastructure environments.