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. 16. The computer of claim 10 wherein said one or more computer programs are structured to implement syntax building blocks which allow a user to define a configuration change search query which looks for any change in a specified configuration attribute over said relevant interval, and wherein said one or more computer programs are structured to control said computer to implement said configuration change search by retrieving from said non relational database file system relevant configuration data collected during said relevant interval from said configuration attribute specified in said configuration change search for all instances of said resource type specified in said configuration change search and returning all instance of said resource type specified in said configuration change search wherein said configuration attribute data changed over said relevant interval.