10. A computer having user interface devices including at least a display and a keyboard, and having memory separately storing configuration data and performance metric data of one or more configuration attributes and one or more performance metric data attributes of one or more instances of one or more resource types being monitored, said performance metric data comprising one or more time series of performance metric data numerical values of said one or more performance metric data attributes of said one or more instances of said one or more resource types being monitored, each said numerical value in each said time series of performance metric data numerical values having been converted to a Unicode character, said data organized as a non relational database file system stored in said memory, said computer having a programmable processor coupled to said user interface devices and said memory and under control of one or more computer programs to control said computer, said one or more computer programs structured to control said computer to implement a query definition language having rules of syntax and syntax building blocks, said one or more computer programs structured to control said computer to present a search query user interface where a user can define the start and stop times of a relevant interval and use said syntax building blocks and said rules of syntax to compose a search query defining one or more desired searches of said configuration data and/or said Unicode characters representing said performance metric data numerical values using a regular expression in each search which defines a match or filter condition to be matched or compared with relevant data retrieved from said memory, and wherein said one or more computer programs are structured to control said computer to provide reverse mapping syntax building blocks which a user can use to search said Unicode characters using a number or numerical range in a regular expression matching or filtering criteria, the use of a number or numerical range being made possible in a search because said one or more computer programs are structured to control said computer to convert any such number or numerical range in a regular expression matching or filtering criteria to an equivalent Unicode character or set of Unicode characters which will be used to match or compare to said relevant data comprising Unicode characters when performing said search containing said number or numerical range.
10. A computer having user interface devices including at least a display and a keyboard, and having memory separately storing configuration data and performance metric data of one or more configuration attributes and one or more performance metric data attributes of one or more instances of one or more resource types being monitored, said performance metric data comprising one or more time series of performance metric data numerical values of said one or more performance metric data attributes of said one or more instances of said one or more resource types being monitored, each said numerical value in each said time series of performance metric data numerical values having been converted to a Unicode character, said data organized as a non relational database file system stored in said memory, said computer having a programmable processor coupled to said user interface devices and said memory and under control of one or more computer programs to control said computer, said one or more computer programs structured to control said computer to implement a query definition language having rules of syntax and syntax building blocks, said one or more computer programs structured to control said computer to present a search query user interface where a user can define the start and stop times of a relevant interval and use said syntax building blocks and said rules of syntax to compose a search query defining one or more desired searches of said configuration data and/or said Unicode characters representing said performance metric data numerical values using a regular expression in each search which defines a match or filter condition to be matched or compared with relevant data retrieved from said memory, and wherein said one or more computer programs are structured to control said computer to provide reverse mapping syntax building blocks which a user can use to search said Unicode characters using a number or numerical range in a regular expression matching or filtering criteria, the use of a number or numerical range being made possible in a search because said one or more computer programs are structured to control said computer to convert any such number or numerical range in a regular expression matching or filtering criteria to an equivalent Unicode character or set of Unicode characters which will be used to match or compare to said relevant data comprising Unicode characters when performing said search containing said number or numerical range. 14. The computer of claim 10 wherein said resource types can be related to each other and wherein said one or more computer programs implement said query definition language so as to have syntax building blocks to allow a user to define a traverse search query comprised of two or more searches on two or more levels of nesting, and wherein said one or more computer programs are further structured to control said computer to parse a first search in said traverse search query and retrieve relevant configuration attribute data or performance metric attribute data gathered during said relevant interval from a configuration attribute or a performance metric data attribute specified in said first search of all instances of a resource type specified in said first search and apply a matching or filtering condition specified in a regular expression of said first search to find all instances of said resource type specified in said first search which meet said matching or filtering condition specified in said first search, and then parse a second search on a second nesting level as specified in said traverse search query and retrieve from said memory only Unicode representing performance metric data numerical values of a performance metric data attribute specified in said second search gathered during said relevant interval from instances of a resource type specified in said second search which are related to instances of said resource type specified in said first search which were returned by said first search as having configuration attribute data or performance metric data which met said matching or filter condition specified in said first search.