Creating a Customer Dashboard

This section describes how an administrative user can create a dashboard that can be viewed by customers.

Use the following menu options to navigate the SL1 user interface:

To view a pop-out list of menu options, click the menu icon ().
To view a page containing all of the menu options, click the Advanced menu icon ().

NOTE: To prevent customers from editing shared dashboards, you should grant customers "view" access only to these dashboards.

Creating a User Account for Creating Dashboards

Regardless of whether you are using the current SL1 user interface or the classic SL1 user interface, to create a dashboard that customers can view, a best practice is to create a user account specifically for creating dashboards. Make this user account a member of all organizations so that the dashboard is viewable to customers from all organizations when it is shared. In general, use this separate user account instead of your own user account to ensure that no other entities, such as device groups or IT services, are inadvertently shared.

To create the dashboard user account:

Go to the User Accounts page (Registry > Accounts > User Accounts).
Click the Create button. The Create New Account page appears.
On the Create New Account page, complete the following fields:

First Name. Type a first name for this account, such as "Dashboard".
Last Name. Type a last name for this account, such as "Administrator".
Account Login Name. Type the user name you will type at login, such as "dashboard_admin".
Password. Type a password for the user account.
Confirm Password. Type the password again.
Require Password Reset. Uncheck this checkbox.
Organization. Select System from the drop-down list.
Account Type. In the two drop-down lists, select Individual and User.
Use the default settings in the remaining fields.

Click the Save button to create the new user account. The Account Permissions page for the new user account appears.
Under Additional Organization Memberships, select (All organizations). The (All organizations) option allows organizations that are added at a later date to access the dashboards that this user creates.
Under Privilege Keys, select the checkbox for the default Dashboard - Administration access key.
Click the Save button.

Creating an Access Key to Control Dashboard Access

Regardless of whether you are using the current SL1 user interface or the classic SL1 user interface, to restrict access to the dashboard, you can create an access key that a user must be granted to view the dashboard. This access key will not contain any access hooks.

To create an access key:

Go to the Access Keys page (System > Manage > Access Keys).
Click the Key Manager button. The Key/Hook Alignment Editor page appears.
On the Key/Hook Alignment Editor page, click the New button.
Complete the following fields:

Name. Type a name for this access key, such as "Monitoring Service Dashboards".
Key Category. Select Dashboards from the drop-down list.
Key Description. Type a description of this key, such as "This key is used to grant customers access to shared dashboards."

Click the Save button to save the access key.

NOTE: You can grant the new access key to only the customers that you want to have access to your dashboard.

Creating a Dashboard that Enforces Organization Restrictions

This example describes how to create the following dashboard, which can be shared with multiple users:

The dashboard contains:

Three leaderboard bar chart widgets across the top of the dashboard. These three widgets display the following bar graphs:

The 10 devices with the highest CPU utilization. By default, this widget displays the top 10 devices system-wide.
The 10 devices in the system with the highest memory utilization. By default, this widget displays the top 10 devices system-wide.
The 10 devices in the system with the highest swap utilization. By default, this widget displays the top 10 devices system-wide.

A table widget that displays a list of devices at the bottom-left of the dashboard. Because of the way multi-tenancy works in SL1, the widget displays only devices that belong to those organizations to which the user viewing the dashboard belongs. The user viewing the dashboard can select one or more devices in this widget. When a user selects one or more devices, the three leaderboard bar chart widgets update to display information about them.
A line chart widget at the bottom-right of the dashboard. This widget is configured to read and display up to six device performance metrics that are set in the context. The user viewing the dashboard can select the performance metrics in this widget by selecting one or more devices in the "Devices" table widget.

Creating and Configuring the Dashboard

To create and configure the basic settings for the shared dashboard:

On the Dashboards page (), click the Create Dashboard button. An empty dashboard page appears.
Click the Name field at the top left corner of the page and type a new name for the dashboard. This example uses "Top 10 CPU/Memory/Swap" as the name of the dashboard. Click the pencil icon () to save the name.
For this example, you can leave the remaining fields set to their default values.
Click Save in the top right corner of the page.

Adding and Configuring the Leaderboard Bar Chart Widgets

To add the three leaderboard bar chart widgets to the dashboard:

Click Edit in the top right corner of the page and then click Create Widget. The Create Widget page appears.
Click the box for the Devices widget type. After you select the widget type, a new Create Widget page appears.
In the Select Visualization drop-down, select Leaderboard Bar Chart.
In the Title field, type a title for the widget. If you do not, SL1 automatically generates a title for the widget based on your other selections on this page. This example uses the title "CPU - Top 10."
Click the Metrics & Properties label or click + Add New. A drop-down list displays a list of metric types and properties from which you can choose.
Select a metric type. This example uses Collection Label > CPU.
Under Metrics & Properties, supply values in the following fields:

In the Count Type field, select Top N. This widget will display the highest CPU values.
In the Fetch Count field, type "10". This widget will display data for a maximum of 10 devices.
In the Which Devices field, select Devices can be selected from other widgets. This widget will determine which devices to display based on what a user selects in another widget.
In the Type field, select Device. Another device widget will determine which devices display in this widget. The Which Set of Selections field defaults to device.
In the How Many Selections? field, type the maximum number of selections a user can make in the other widget that determines which devices display in this widget. This example uses "10", which means a user can make up to 10 selections in the other device widget. If the user makes more than 10 selections in that widget, only the devices from the first 10 selections will appear in this widget.

For this example, you can leave the remaining fields set to their default values.
Click Create Widget. The widget is added to the new dashboard.

Instead of creating completely new widgets for the second and third Leaderboard Bar Chart widgets, you can duplicate the first widget and then edit the appropriate settings. To duplicate the widget, click the Actions icon () in the top-right corner of the new widget and select Duplicate.
Repeat this step to create a third instance of the widget. The dashboard now looks like this:

To configure the middle widget, click the Actions icon () in the top-right corner of the widget and select Edit. The Edit CPU - Top 10 page appears.
In the Title field, type "Memory - Top 10".
Click the Metrics & Properties label or click + Add New. A drop-down list displays a list of metric types and properties from which you can choose.
Select Collection Label > Memory.
Under Metrics and Properties, click the X next to CPU to remove the CPU > Collection Label metric
Click Save Widget.
To configure the third widget, click the Actions icon () in the top-right corner of the widget and select Edit.
In the Title field, type "Swap - Top 10".
Click the Metrics & Properties label or click + Add New.
Select Collection Label > Swap.
Under Metrics and Properties, click the X next to CPU to remove the CPU > Collection Label metric.
Click Save Widget.
Click Save to save the dashboard.

Adding and Configuring the Table Widget

To add the table widget to the dashboard:

In the "Top 10 CPU/Memory/Swap" dashboard, click Edit in the top right corner of the page and then click Create Widget. The Create Widget page appears.
Click the box for the Devices widget type. After you select the widget type, a new Create Widget page appears.
In the Select Visualization drop-down, select Table.
In the Title field, type a title for the widget. This example uses the title "Devices."
Click the Metrics & Properties label or click + Add New. A drop-down list displays a list of metric types and properties from which you can choose. You can add one or more metric types and properties.
Select one or more metric types or properties. This example uses Properties > Organization, Properties > ID, Properties > IP, and Properties > State.
Under Metrics & Properties, supply values in the following fields:

In the Fetch Count field, type "20". This widget will display data for a maximum of 20 devices.
In the Which Devices field, select This widget can drive other widgets. This widget will drive data (or "context") to other widgets.
In the Type field, select Device. This widget will drive data (or "context") to other device widgets. The Which Set of Selections field defaults to device.
In the How Many Selections? field, type the maximum number of selections a user can make in this widget. This example uses "10".
In the Auto Selection field, type the number of items that are automatically selected in this widget by default. This example uses "1".

For this example, you can leave the remaining fields set to their default values.
Click Create Widget.
Click Save to save the dashboard. The new "Devices" table widget is added to the dashboard.
You can select up to 10 devices in the "Devices" table widget. When you do so, data for those devices appears in the three leaderboard widgets.
After making selections in the "Devices" table widget, the dashboard now looks like this:

Adding and Configuring the Line Chart Widget

To add the line chart widget to the dashboard:

In the "Top 10 CPU/Memory/Swap" dashboard, click Edit in the top right corner of the page and then click Create Widget. The Create Widget page appears.
Click the box for the Devices widget type. After you select the widget type, a new Create Widget page appears.
In the Select Visualization drop-down, select Line Chart.
In the Title field, type a title for the widget. This example uses the title "Memory (%)."
Click the Metrics & Properties label or click + Add New. A drop-down list displays a list of metric types and properties from which you can choose.
Select a metric type. This example uses Vitals > Memory Utilization.
Under Metrics & Properties, supply values in the following fields:

In the Which Devices field, select Devices can be selected from other widgets. This widget will determine which devices to display based on what a user selects in another widget.
In the Type field, select Device. Another device widget will determine which devices display in this widget. The Which Set of Selections field defaults to device.
In the How Many Selections? field, type the maximum number of selections a user can make in the other widget that determines which devices display in this widget. This example uses "6", which means a user can make up to 6 selections in the other device widget. If the user makes more than 6 selections in that widget, only the devices from the first 6 selections will appear in this widget.

For this example, you can leave the remaining fields set to their default values.
Click Create Widget. The new "Memory Utilization (%)" line chart widget is added to the dashboard.
The "Memory Utilization (%)" line chart widget initially displays the same size as the other widgets in the dashboard. To resize the widget so that it stretches across the remaining portion of the screen, click the resizing icon () at the bottom right-hand corner of the widget and drag it until the widget is the size you want.

Click Save.
You can select up to 10 devices in the "Devices" table widget. When you do so, data for those devices appears in the line chart widget, in addition to the three leaderboard bar chart widgets. However, because the How Many Selections? field in the line chart widget has a value of "6", only data for the first 6 devices you select will be reflected in the line chart widget, even if you select more devices in the table.
After making selections in the "Devices" table widget, the dashboard now looks like this:

Sharing the Dashboard

By default, a dashboard is private when you create it. You can make a dashboard public, which lets you share it with other users. On the Dashboards page, the Visibility column lists whether a dashboard is public, private, or shared with only specific organizations.

The data within each dashboard is limited using multi-tenancy restrictions to allow only users with proper permissions and organization memberships to view data. There are four scenarios for dashboard visibility:

Private. Only the creator of the dashboard can view the dashboard.
Public. All users can view the dashboard.
Shared to the System Organization. Only administrator users can view the dashboard.
Shared to Specified Organizations. Members of the specified organization or organizations can view the dashboard.

To change the visibility of a dashboard:

Go to the Dashboards page and open the dashboard. Click the Edit button on the main navigation bar.
Next to the title of the dashboard, click the Visibility drop-down list and select one of the visibility settings. For this example, we set the visibility to Public. This means the dashboard will be visible to all users.
After you set the visibility of your dashboard, click the Save button on the main navigation bar.

Example Dashboard View

To illustrate how a user views this dashboard, we made the dashboard visible to everyone (Public). We then created a user account that is part of the organization "US_Main". The user, "Elaine Jones", was created with the default End User user policy. We added the Monitoring Service Dashboards access key to this policy to allow Elaine to view the example dashboard.

When Elaine logs in to the system and selects the Top 10 CPU/Memory/Swap dashboard, this is what she sees:

Creating a Dashboard in the Classic SL1 User Interface that Enforces Organization Restrictions

This example describes how to create the following dashboard, which can be shared with multiple users.

The dashboard contains:

Three instances of the Leaderboard/Top-N widget across the top of the dashboard. These three widgets display the following bar graphs:

The 10 devices with the highest CPU utilization. By default, this widget displays the top 10 devices system-wide.
The 10 devices in the system with the highest memory utilization. By default, this widget displays the top 10 devices system-wide.
The 10 devices in the system with the highest latency. By default, this widget displays the top 10 devices system-wide.

An instance of the Custom Table widget at the bottom-left of the dashboard. This widget is configured to display only organizations to which the user viewing the dashboard belongs. The user viewing the dashboard can select one or more organizations in this widget. When a user selects one or more organizations, the three Leaderboard/Top-N widgets update to display the top 10 devices from the selected organizations.
An instance of the Multi-series Performance widget at the bottom-right of the dashboard. This widget is configured to read and display up to eight device performance metrics that are set in the context. The user viewing the dashboard can select the performance metrics in this widget by selecting one or more bars in the Leaderboard/Top-N base widgets.

Creating and Configuring the Dashboard

To create and configure the basic settings for the shared dashboard:

Go to the Classic Dashboards page (Dashboards > Classic Dashboards).
In the top left of the Dashboards page, click the New button. A blank dashboard is created with a default name.
Click the Actions menu, and then click Configure Dashboard. The Dashboard Settings page appears.
Type a name for the dashboard in the Dashboard Title field. This example uses "Top 10 CPU/Memory/Latency" as the name of the dashboard.
For this example, you can leave the remaining fields set to their default value.
Click the Save button to save the new name for the dashboard and close the Dashboard Settings page.

Adding and Configuring the Leaderboard/Top-N Widgets

To add the three Leaderboard/Top-N widgets to the dashboard:

Click and hold in the top-left corner of the dashboard, then drag the widget that appears so that it is half the height and one-third of the width of the dashboard. When you release the mouse button, the New Widget Configuration page appears.
In the left NavBar, click the Snapshot/Single Series button. Expand the Performance category and select (base) Leaderboard / Top-N.

TIP: If your SL1 system contains a large number of widgets and you need to filter the results in the left NavBar, type "Leaderboard" in the field at the bottom of the NavBar and click the Find button.
Supply values in the following fields:

Widget Name. Leave "{auto}" in this field. SL1 automatically generates a title for the widget based on what is currently being displayed in the widget.
In the first field under Collection Configuration, select Vitals.
In the second field under Collection Configuration, select CPU. The dashboard will display the devices with the highest CPU Utilization.
Use Device/Service Context. Select this checkbox. If you select this checkbox and other widgets on the dashboard define which devices should be displayed on the dashboard, this widget will evaluate only those selected devices when determining the devices with the highest CPU utilization. In this example, the Custom Table widget will define which devices should be displayed by allowing the user to select one or more organizations; when one or more organizations are selected, this widget will display only devices in those organizations.
Click/Link Behavior. Select Select Device/Service. When you select a value in this field, you are defining what will happen when a user clicks on the widget. When Select Device/Service is selected and a user clicks on a value in the widget, the widget defines the performance metric that will be displayed in the other widgets in the dashboard. In this example, the Multi-series Performance widget is configured to display the selected performance metric.
Display Type. Select Bar to make the widget display a horizontal bar graph.
For this example, you can leave the remaining fields set to their default value.

Click the Save button and close the New Widget Configuration page. The widget displays a bar graph that includes the 10 devices in the system with the highest CPU utilization.
Instead of creating completely new widgets for the second and third Top 10 widgets, you can duplicate the first widget and then edit the appropriate settings. To duplicate the widget, click the Options menu in the top-right corner of the new widget and select Duplicate. Repeat this step to create a third instance of the widget.
Click and hold the header bar of one of the two duplicate widgets, then drag the widget to the upper-right corner of the dashboard.
Click and hold the header bar of the other duplicated widget, then drag the widget to the top-middle of the dashboard, between the two other widgets.
If necessary, resize the widgets by clicking, holding, and dragging the edges of each widget.
To reconfigure the middle widget, click the Options menu in the top-right corner of the widget and select Configure. The Widget Configuration page appears.
In the first field under Collection Configuration, select Vitals.
In the second field under Collection Configuration, select Memory. The dashboard displays the devices with the highest Memory Utilization.
Click the Save button to save the widget and close the Widget Configuration page. The widget displays a bar graph that includes the 10 devices in the system with the highest memory utilization.
To reconfigure the last widget on the right of the dashboard, click the Options menu in the top-right corner of the widget and select Configure. The Widget Configuration page appears.
In the first field under Collection Configuration, select Availability.
In the second field under Collection Configuration, select Latency. The dashboard displays the devices with the highest Memory Utilization.
Click the Save button to save the widget and close the Widget Configuration page. The widget displays a bar graph that includes the 10 devices in the system with the highest latency.

Adding and Configuring the Custom Table Widget

To add the Custom Table Widget to the dashboard:

Click and hold at the left of the dashboard, under the Top 10: CPU widget, then drag the widget that appears so that it is the same width as the Top 10: CPU widget. When you release the mouse button, the New Widget Configuration page appears.
In the left NavBar, click the Custom Table button. Expand the Summary category and select (base) Custom Table.

TIP: If your SL1 system contains a large number of widgets and you need to filter the results in the left NavBar, type "Custom Table" in the field at the bottom of the NavBar and click the Find button.

Supply values in the following fields:

Entity Type. Select Organization. This widget displays a list of all organizations for which the user is a member.
Drive Context. Select this checkbox. This widget controls what is displayed in other widgets in the dashboard (the Leaderboard/Top-N widgets).
For this example, you can leave the remaining fields set to their default value.

Click the Save button to save the widget and close the New Widget Configuration page. The widget displays a table that contains the organizations for which you are a member.
To make the three Leaderboard/Top-N widgets display the Top 10 devices in a specific organization, select the name of that organization.

Adding and Configuring the Multi-series Performance Widget

To add the Multi-series Performance Widget to the dashboard:

Click and hold at the top-left corner of the empty space in the dashboard, then drag the widget that appears so that it fills the remaining space in the dashboard. When you release the mouse button, the New Widget Configuration page appears.
In the left NavBar, click the Time Series button. Expand the Performance category and select (base) Multi-series Performance. The Widget Configuration pane for the widget appears.

TIP: If your SL1 system contains a large number of widgets and you need to filter the results in the left NavBar, type "Multi-series" in the field at the bottom of the NavBar and click the Find button.

Supply values in the following fields:

Widget Name. Leave "{auto}" in this field. SL1 automatically generates a title for the widget based on what is currently being displayed in the widget.
Type. Select Device.
Series Selections. In the Element field, select Contextual Device 1. Selecting this option tells the widget to display the performance metric that is selected in another widget in the dashboard. This widget can display up to eight performance metrics selected in other widgets at the same time. To configure the widget to display the maximum number of selected performance metrics, click Add another series, then select Contextual Device 2 in the Element column. Repeat this step for Contextual Device 3 through Contextual Device 8.
Display Type. Select Line. The widget displays a line graph.
For this example, you can leave the remaining fields set to their default value.

Click the Save button to save the widget and close the New Widget Configuration page. The widget displays no time-series by default.
To display a time-series in the Multi-series Performance widget, select one of the bars in one of the Leaderboard/Top-N widgets. After you select a bar, the bar turns gray, and the corresponding time series graph for that metric appears.
To display multiple time-series, press the Shift key when you select the bars. To deselect all bars, select one of the currently selected bars again.

Saving Context Selections in the Dashboard

In a dashboard that allows a user to select the elements that will be displayed in one or more widgets, you can save one or more sets of selections (the context). You can then load a set of selections using the Context Selector field to the left of the Context button.

For example, suppose that your system includes two organizations that include devices located at your DC office: "DC - Switches" and "DC - Servers". Suppose that you frequently select those two organizations in this example dashboard. Instead of selecting the two organizations in the custom table each time you open the dashboard, you can save your selections.

To save a set of context selections in the example dashboard:

Click the Context button and then select Create.
In the pop-up window that appears, type a name for the context and then click the Create button. This name immediately appears in the Context Selector field. In this example, the context is called "DC Office".
Select one or more organizations in the custom table widget. The selections you make will be re-loaded when you select this set of context selections. In this example, the "DC - Switches" and "DC - Servers" organizations are selected in the custom table.
To save your set of context selections, click the Context button and then select Save. Your selections are saved in the context that is displayed in the Context Selector field.
When you open this dashboard again, you can re-load the selections by choosing "DC Office" in the Context Selector field.

Sets of context selections are saved on a per-user basis. When you create a set of context selections, that set is viewable only to you. If you share your dashboard, other users can save their own sets of context selections, and you will not be able to view those saved contexts.

Locking the Dashboard

On the Dashboard Settings page, you can lock the layout of your dashboard, which will prevent users from moving or accidentally editing the widgets.

To lock the dashboard:

Select the dashboard you want to lock from the drop-down list in the top left of the Dashboards tab page.
In the Actions menu, select Configure Dashboard.... The Dashboard Settings page appears.
Select the Lock dashboard layout checkbox. Selecting this checkbox makes the Merge adjacent borders checkbox available. As a best practice, leave the Merge adjacent borders checkbox selected to make the dashboard look more unified.
Click the Save button to lock the dashboard.

Sharing the Dashboard

You can also use the Dashboard Settings page to configure your dashboard to be shared between organizations.

To share the dashboard:

Select the dashboard you want to share from the drop-down list in the top left of the Dashboards tab page.
In the Actions menu, select Configure Dashboard. The Dashboard Settings page appears.
In the Access Control field, select Share with organizations.
In the Access Keys field, select the Monitoring Service Dashboards key that you created in the Creating an Access Key to Control Dashboard Access section.
Click the Save button. This dashboard can now be viewed by all organizations to which you have granted your access key.

Example Dashboard View

To illustrate how a user views this dashboard, we created a user account that is part of the organization "DC - Servers". The user, "Samuel Johnson", was created with the default End User user policy. We added the Monitoring Service Dashboards access key to this policy to allow the user to view the example dashboard.

When user Samuel Johnson logs in to the system and selects the Top 10 CPU/Memory/Latency dashboard, this is what he sees: