1. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer-executable instructions that when executed by a computing machine cause the computing machine to perform corresponding functions, the functions comprising: storing a domain knowledge catalog that defines, for each source metric of a plurality of source metrics: a plurality of target type relationships, where a target type relationship comprises a collection of one or more target types that cooperate to instantiate a target in a system; and for each target type relationship, a plurality of metrics that are related to the source metric, where the source metric comprises a measure of an attribute of a target; determining, for a particular system, a deployment topology that defines targets that are included in the system, where the deployment topology comprises a subset of the target type relationships; and receiving a request associated with an event related to a selected source metric; and selecting metrics for monitoring by: accessing the domain knowledge catalog; and selecting metrics that are related to the subset of target type relationships for the source metric.