Creating and Editing Dashboards

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This section describes how to create and edit dashboards. You can create and edit dashboards on the Dashboards page, which you can access by clicking the Dashboards icon ().

You can also access additional dashboards created in the "classic" user interface on the Classic Dashboards page (Dashboards > Classic Dashboards).

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 ().

Creating a Dashboard

SL1 includes several system default dashboards, but you can also create your own dashboards that are completely customized to your specific data visualization needs.

When you create a dashboard, you are defining a container that will display widgets. Each widget in a dashboard displays a report about data in SL1.

You must define a name for the dashboard, specify the space for one or more widgets, and determine the settings for those widgets.

To create a new dashboard in SL1:

  1. On the Dashboards page (), click the Create Dashboard button. An empty dashboard page appears.
  2. Click the Name field at the top left corner of the page and type a name for the new dashboard. By default, the Name field displays your username and "Dashboard," such as "Jane Smith's Dashboard". Click the pencil icon () to save the name.
  3. Create one or more widgets for your dashboard. For more information, see the next section, Creating Dashboard Widgets.
  4. Determine the dashboard's visibility settings. For more information, see the section Sharing a Dashboard.
  5. Click Save in the top right corner of the page.

Creating Dashboard Widgets

A dashboard is a container for one or more widgets that display reports about data in SL1. You can create widgets that are customized to display the exact data that you want to appear in your dashboard.

To create a dashboard widget:

  1. On the Dashboards page, click the Create Dashboard button to create a new dashboard or click the name of an existing dashboard that you want to edit.
  2. If you are creating a new dashboard, click the Create Widget button. If you are editing an existing dashboard, click the Edit button and then click the Create Widget button. The Create Widget page appears:

  1. Select a widget type by clicking the relevant box. Your options include:

    The widget types that are available are based on your system configuration.

  • Devices. Displays data based on devices and Dynamic Applications.

  • Device Components. Displays data about entities that run under the control of another device (in a parent-child relationship).

    Because of the way data and relationships are used and presented in Device Component widgets, ScienceLogic recommends the following best practices when creating a Device Component widget:

  • File Systems. Displays data about disk-space used, in percent, for devices.

  • Interfaces. Displays data about network interfaces.

  • AIML Predictions. Displays suggestions about potential system issues; you can click a suggestion to connect to the Skylar Automated RCA user interface for details.

  • Services. Displays data about business services and the Health, Availability, and Risk data for those services.

  • Dashboards. Displays a list of all available dashboards. This widget displays the same information as the Dashboards page.

  • Events. Displays data about the events that exist for devices.

  • Maps. Displays a map.

  • Organizations. Displays data about organizations used to manage elements and user accounts in SL1.

    Organization widgets must use a Table visualization and are used to drive context to Device, Service, Event, File System, and Interface widgets.

  • Custom. Displays a user-interface-only visualization and renders any rich content or HTML that you input. The HTML Widget visualization option for this widget allows HTML content to be edited directly from a text editor.

    Custom widgets that are using the HTML Widget visualization, can render any rich content or HTML that you input. To do so, click the Advanced tab, which subsequently opens the code view by default.

  • Agent Polled Data. Displays polled data about an agent. Requires the SL1 Agent.

  • Agent Processes. Displays data about agent processes. Requires the SL1 Agent.

  • Agent Logs. Displays agent log data. Requires the SL1 Agent.

    • Agent widget type options appear only if you are using the SL1 Agent.

After you select the widget type, a new Create Widget page appears:

  1. Complete the fields on the page to customize the widget. For more information about each of the ways you can customize a widget, see the following sections:

As you make updates to the widget, your selections will be reflected in the Preview pane on the right side of the page.

  1. When you are finished customizing the widget, click the Create Widget button to save the new widget. If this button is grayed out, review the settings on the page for errors or missing information in required fields.
  2. On the dashboard page, click Save.
  3. To add additional widgets to the dashboard, click the Edit button under the main tab bar and repeat this procedure for each new widget.

NOTE: You can change a widget's title by clicking it while in edit mode. Alternatively, you can click the Actions button () on that widget to open the Edit Widget page, where you can configure which metrics and properties to display and how the data is displayed.

Selecting How the Widget Displays Data

On the Create Widget page, click the Select Visualization drop-down list to select how you want the widget to display data.

The visualization options that you can select vary by widget type; not all options appear for all widget types. If only one visualization option is available for the selected widget type, then that visualization option will be selected automatically.

Some widgets (such as leaderboard widgets) drive the data or "context" for other widgets in the dashboard, while other widgets receive the data or "context" from that driving widget. When a widget drives context for other widgets, that means you can select one or more items in the driving widget and it will determine the data that appears in the receiving widgets by displaying data only for the items selected. For more information, see the section on Specifying Which Items Appear in a Widget.

The available visualization options are discussed in the following sections:

Bar Chart Visualizations

Bar Chart visualizations display one or more metrics as a colored vertical or horizontal bar or bars. The displayed values are the metric's latest collected value. Selecting a single item can drive data or "context" to other widgets:

If you select Bar Chart, complete the following fields:

  • Title. Enter a title for the widget.
  • Title links to another page. Use this toggle to transform the widget title to a link that redirects you to another page. Select either Dashboard or Advanced URL from the Link Type drop-down option that appears.

    • If you select Dashboard, use the Choose Dashboard link to open the Choose a Dashboard modal, select from the list of dashboards that appear in the modal, and then click Select.

    • If you select Advanced URL, enter the URL you want to link in the Link URL field that appears.

  • Display Horizontal Bars. Select this toggle to display bars horizontally.
  • Automatically manage chart features based on widget size. Select this toggle if you want the widget to dynamically hide the chart's features (labels and legends) when the size of the widget is adjusted. For more information, see the Resizing and Moving Widgets on a Dashboard section.
  • Stack Options. Specify how you want to display data in a bar chart. Your options include no-stack (show each value as its own bar), normal (show all values in one bar), and percent.

Configuration Table Visualizations

Configuration Table visualizations display configuration Dynamic Application data for a single device in a boxed set of rows and columns. A configuration table widget receives data or "context" from other widgets:

If you select Configuration Table, complete the following fields:

  • Title. Enter a title for the widget.
  • Title links to another page. Use this toggle to transform the widget title to a link that redirects you to another page. Select either Dashboard or Advanced URL from the Link Type drop-down option that appears.

    • If you select Dashboard, use the Choose Dashboard link to open the Choose a Dashboard modal, select from the list of dashboards that appear in the modal, and then click Select.

    • If you select Advanced URL, enter the URL you want to link in the Link URL field that appears.

  • Automatically adjust row height based on widget height. Select this toggle if you want the widget to dynamically adjust the height of the rows in the table when the size of the widget is adjusted.
  • Select Row Height. Select the relative height of the rows in the table. Choices are Small, Medium, or Large. This field appears only if the toggle is not selected in the Automatically adjust row height based on widget height field.

Forecast Visualizations

Forecast visualizations display projected forecast data for a specific object and collection metric using historical data and selected regression methods:

If you select Forecast, complete the following fields:

  • Title. Enter a title for the widget.
  • Title links to another page. Use this toggle to transform the widget title to a link that redirects you to another page. Select either Dashboard or Advanced URL from the Link Type drop-down option that appears.

    • If you select Dashboard, use the Choose Dashboard link to open the Choose a Dashboard modal, select from the list of dashboards that appear in the modal, and then click Select.

    • If you select Advanced URL, enter the URL you want to link in the Link URL field that appears.

  • Automatically manage chart features based on widget size. Select this toggle if you want the widget to dynamically hide the chart's features (labels and legends) when the size of the widget is adjusted. For more information, see the Resizing and Moving Widgets on a Dashboard section.
  • Automatically scale y-axis. Select this toggle to have the y-axis of a line chart automatically scale to fit the data. Toggling this off allows you to set a Maximum and Minimum value for the y-axis.
  • Step line. Select this toggle to display the line chart in which the points are connected by horizontal and vertical line segments.
  • Threshold Line. Specify a number that represents the threshold for a line chart.
  • Regression List. Select the regression method or methods you want SL1 to try when calculating the forecast data in a forecast widget. You can select multiple types of regression, and SL1 will run all the regressions you selected and display the best two types of regression. ScienceLogic recommends that you select at least three regression methods to produce the most likely forecast. SL1 will then determine which regression method(s) of those you have chosen will best model the forecast data. Options include:
  • Average Regression. The forecast for future values is equal to the average of the historical data.
  • Drift Regression. The forecast for future values increases or decreases based on the average change observed in historical data over time.
  • Exponential Least Squares Regression. The forecast for future values is an exponential curve determined by the best fit between a set of data points.
  • Least Squares Regression. The forecast for future values is a straight line determined by finding the best fit between a set of data points.
  • Logarithmic Least Squares Regression. The forecast for future values is a logarithmic curve determined by the best fit between a set of data points.
  • Naive Regression. The forecast for future values is the same as the last collected value.
  • Null Regression. The forecast for future values is generated using random samples of collected data where some elements are constant.
  • Seasonal Drift Regression. The forecast for future values increases or decreases based on the average change in historical data from the same season of the year (for example, same month of the previous year).
  • Seasonal Weighted Regression. The forecast for future values is determined by finding the best fit between a set of data points, which have all been weighted to increase or decrease their influence, and adjusting based on historical data collected from the same season of the year (for example, same month of the previous year).
  • Seasonal Naive Regression. The forecast for future values is the same as the last collected value from the same season of the year (for example, same month of the previous year).
  • Minimize Skew Kurtosis. Select this toggle button to enable transformation of the source data into a normal distribution by compensating for skewness (lack of symmetry in the data set distribution) and kurtosis (heaviness or lightness of data outliers relative to a normal distribution) in the data, which makes the data easier to read. For example, you might select this toggle if you want to normalize the distribution of a data set that is asymmetrical or has a very high or low number of outliers.
  • Source Window. Specify the number of days from which the widget will gather data for the forecast. The default is 60 days.
  • Forecast Window. Specify the number of days of forecast data that you want the widget to display. The default is 180 days.

Gauge Visualizations

Gauge visualizations display a value for a single performance metric, using a gauge that looks like a speedometer. You can also select a "solid" gauge, which displays the metric value as a colored section of a half circle:

If you change the order of the Warning and Critical Thresholds, you can invert the gauge colors so that as numbers increase on the gauge, the numbers correspond with red/yellow/green instead of green/yellow/red.

NOTE: If you create a gauge widget and you select more than one item on the widget driving data or "context" to that widget, the gauge widget displays data for only the first item you selected in the driving widget.

If you select Gauge, complete the following fields:

  • Title. Enter a title for the widget.
  • Title links to another page. Use this toggle to transform the widget title to a link that redirects you to another page. Select either Dashboard or Advanced URL from the Link Type drop-down option that appears.

    • If you select Dashboard, use the Choose Dashboard link to open the Choose a Dashboard modal, select from the list of dashboards that appear in the modal, and then click Select.

    • If you select Advanced URL, enter the URL you want to link in the Link URL field that appears.

  • Minimum Range. Specify the upper limit of a gauge. The default is 0.
  • Maximum Range. Specify the upper limit of a gauge. The default is 100.
  • Automatically manage chart features based on widget size. Select this toggle if you want the widget to dynamically hide the chart's features (labels and legends) when the size of the widget is adjusted. For more information, see the Resizing and Moving Widgets on a Dashboard section.
  • Show as solid gauge. Select this toggle to display the gauge as a solid bar.
  • Show plot bands. Select this toggle to show the plot bands on a gauge.
  • Show unit. Select this toggle to display the current value on a gauge).
  • Warning Threshold. Specify where you want the yellow warning portion of a gauge to start. The default is 60.
  • Critical Threshold. Specify where you want the red critical portion of a gauge to start. The default is 80.

HTML Widget Visualizations

HTML Widget visualizations display a user-interface-only visualization and can render any rich content or HTML that you input. The HTML Widget visualization option for this widget allows HTML content to be edited directly from a text editor. To do so, click the Advanced tab, which subsequently opens the code view by default.

If you select HTML Widget, complete the following fields:

  • Title. Enter a title for the widget.

  • Title links to another page. Use this toggle to transform the widget title to a link that redirects you to another page. Select either Dashboard or Advanced URL from the Link Type drop-down option that appears.

    • If you select Dashboard, use the Choose Dashboard link to open the Choose a Dashboard modal, select from the list of dashboards that appear in the modal, and then click Select.

    • If you select Advanced URL, enter the URL you want to link in the Link URL field that appears.

Leaderboard Visualizations

Leaderboard visualizations display the objects with the highest or lowest values for a performance metric. The displayed values are the metric's average over the selected timespan. The leaderboard visualization option always drives data or "context" to other widgets, instead of receiving data or context:

You can use the Display zeroes toggle when editing a Top-N or Bottom-N widget to enable the widget to show or hide zero results.

If you select Leaderboard, complete the following fields:

  • Title. Enter a title for the widget.

  • Title links to another page. Use this toggle to transform the widget title to a link that redirects you to another page. Select either Dashboard or Advanced URL from the Link Type drop-down option that appears.

    • If you select Dashboard, use the Choose Dashboard link to open the Choose a Dashboard modal, select from the list of dashboards that appear in the modal, and then click Select.

    • If you select Advanced URL, enter the URL you want to link in the Link URL field that appears.

    The Title links to another page field does not support any variable substitutions.

  • Display Unit Labels. Select this toggle to display relevant unit labels, such as "KB" or "%" along with the values in the widget.

  • Display Icon. Select this toggle to display the icon associated with each item in a table.

  • Items link to another page. Select this toggle to integrate third party tools with external linking. When you select this toggle, two additional fields will appear:

    • Link base URL. Specify the base URL to use.

      ForDevice widgets using the Leaderboard or Table visualizations, you can link to any external or internal URL. You can also include variables to redirect your link to a specific path. All links will open in a new tab. The supported variables for Device widgets using the Leaderboard or Table visualizations are:

      • $id, which is the device ID.

      • $name, which is name of the device in camel case.

      • $ip, which is the device IP address.

      ForInterfaces widgets using the Leaderboard or Table visualizations, you can link to any external or internal URL. You can also include variables to redirect your link to a specific path. All links will open in a new tab. The supported variables for Interface widgets using the Leaderboard or Table visualizations are:

      • $id, which is the device ID.

      • $name, which is name of the device in camel case.

      • $ip, which is the device IP address.

      • $deviceIP, which is the IP address of the parent device.

      • $deviceName, which is the name of the parent device in camel case.

      • $index, which is the index of the interface.

      • $port, which is the interface port.

    • Link ToolTip. Enter an optional tooltip to display over the external link when moving your cursor over the text.

    This toggle is only available when creating Device or Interfaces widgets using either Leaderboard or Table visualizations, or Service widgets.

  • Automatically adjust row height based on widget height. Select this toggle if you want the widget to dynamically adjust the height of the rows in the leaderboard when the size of the widget is adjusted.

In device, interface, and file system dashboards, you can create a Leaderboard widget that contains table columns for additional metrics. This enables you to view the top-N or bottom-N of a particular metric without calculating the top-N or bottom-N of the remaining metrics. To do so, when adding metrics to the widget, select Full timespan or Last poll in the Leaderboard From field for the top-N or bottom-N metric and select Off in the Leaderboard From field for the remaining metrics.

Leaderboard Bar Chart Visualizations

Leaderboard Bar Chart visualizations display a vertical or horizontal bar chart for the objects with the highest or lowest values for a performance metric. The displayed values are the metric's average over the selected timespan. Selecting a single bar can drive data or "context" to other widgets:

You can use the Display zeroes toggle when editing a Top-N or Bottom-N widget to enable the widget to show or hide zero results.

If you select Leaderboard Bar Chart, complete the following fields:

  • Title. Enter a title for the widget.
  • Title links to another page. Use this toggle to transform the widget title to a link that redirects you to another page. Select either Dashboard or Advanced URL from the Link Type drop-down option that appears.

    • If you select Dashboard, use the Choose Dashboard link to open the Choose a Dashboard modal, select from the list of dashboards that appear in the modal, and then click Select.

    • If you select Advanced URL, enter the URL you want to link in the Link URL field that appears.

  • Display Horizontal Bars. Select this toggle to display the chart bars horizontally instead of vertically.
  • Automatically manage chart features based on widget size. Select this toggle if you want the widget to dynamically hide the chart's features (labels and legends) when the size of the widget is adjusted. For more information, see the Resizing and Moving Widgets on a Dashboard section.
  • Stack Options. Specify how you want to display data in a bar chart. Your options include no-stack (show each value as its own bar), normal (show all values in one bar), and percent .
  • Customize Labels. For Device, File System, and Interface widgets only. Specify if you want to display only Device labels; only Device Index, File System, or Interface labels, depending on the widget type; or all labels in your bar chart.

Leaderboard Tile Visualizations

Leaderboard Tile visualizations display tiles for the objects with the highest or lowest values for a status metric. You can use this widget to drive context to another widget, and you can select a service from this widget to go to its Service Investigator page (Service widget types only):

If you select Leaderboard Tile, complete the following fields:

  • Title. Enter a title for the widget.

  • Title links to another page. Use this toggle to transform the widget title to a link that redirects you to another page. Select either Dashboard or Advanced URL from the Link Type drop-down option that appears.

    • If you select Dashboard, use the Choose Dashboard link to open the Choose a Dashboard modal, select from the list of dashboards that appear in the modal, and then click Select.

    • If you select Advanced URL, enter the URL you want to link in the Link URL field that appears.

  • Color background for health. Select this toggle to make the entire tile color the current health of the service.

  • Show icon. Select this toggle to display an icon associated with the service.

  • Center icon. This option appears when Show icon is selected. Select this toggle to center the icon in the tile.

  • Automatically adjust tile size based on widget height. Select this toggle if you want the widget to dynamically adjust the height of the tiles in the widget when the size of the widget is adjusted.

  • Select tile size. This option appears when Automatically adjust tile size based on widget height is not selected. Select Compact for smaller tiles, or Full for larger tiles.

You can set the number of decimal places to display when creating a widget with Leaderboard Tile visualizations. Alternatively, you can configure an existing one in the Limit Decimal Precision field.

Line Chart Visualizations

Line Chart visualizations display data as a series of data points over time connected by straight line segments. This enables you to view changes over time for the specific item and metric. You can click on a point in time on the line chart to display the exact metric value collected for that time. You can also zoom in on a specific time period for a better view by clicking and dragging your mouse over that time period.

If you select Line Chart, complete the following fields:

  • Title. Enter a title for the widget.
  • Title links to another page. Use this toggle to transform the widget title to a link that redirects you to another page. Select either Dashboard or Advanced URL from the Link Type drop-down option that appears.

    • If you select Dashboard, use the Choose Dashboard link to open the Choose a Dashboard modal, select from the list of dashboards that appear in the modal, and then click Select.

    • If you select Advanced URL, enter the URL you want to link in the Link URL field that appears.

  • Automatically manage chart features based on widget size. Select this toggle if you want the widget to dynamically hide the chart's features (labels and legends) when the size of the widget is adjusted. For more information, see the Resizing and Moving Widgets on a Dashboard section.
  • Automatically scale y-axis. Select this toggle to have the y-axis of a Line Chart automatically scale to fit the data. Toggling this off allows you to set a Maximum and Minimum value for the y-axis.
  • Step line. Select this toggle to display the line chart in which the points are connected by horizontal and vertical line segments.
  • Area chart. Select this toggle to display the line chart as an area chart with the region beneath the line colored in.
  • Stack Options.If Area Chart is enabled, you can specify how you want to display data in a line chart. Your options include no-stack (show each value as its own bar), normal (show all values in one bar), and percent .
  • Threshold Line. Specify a number that represents the threshold for a line chart.

Map Visualizations

Map visualizations display a selected map: 

If you select Map, complete the following field:

  • Title. Enter a title for the map widget.
  • Title links to another page. Use this toggle to transform the widget title to a link that redirects you to another page. Select either Dashboard or Advanced URL from the Link Type drop-down option that appears.

    • If you select Dashboard, use the Choose Dashboard link to open the Choose a Dashboard modal, select from the list of dashboards that appear in the modal, and then click Select.

    • If you select Advanced URL, enter the URL you want to link in the Link URL field that appears.

Number Visualizations

Number visualizations display data as a single number to highlight an important metric for a device or event. The size of the number and the related text that displays is based on the size of the widget, so increasing the widget size or screen size results in a larger font size. If multiple devices or events are selected, the number displays the average value for all selected items:

NOTE: If you create a number widget and you select more than one item on the widget driving data or "context" to that widget, the number widget displays data for only the first item you selected in the driving widget.

If you select Number, complete the following field:

  • Title. Enter a title for the widget.
  • Title links to another page. Use this toggle to transform the widget title to a link that redirects you to another page. Select either Dashboard or Advanced URL from the Link Type drop-down option that appears.

    • If you select Dashboard, use the Choose Dashboard link to open the Choose a Dashboard modal, select from the list of dashboards that appear in the modal, and then click Select.

    • If you select Advanced URL, enter the URL you want to link in the Link URL field that appears.

  • Show the Unit. Select this toggle to display the relevant unit label, such as "KB" or "%" along with the value in the widget.
  • Show the Label. Select this toggle to display the label with additional information below they number. If you select this toggle, the following additional fields also display:
  • Show the Name. Select this toggle to display the selected entity name in the widget label.
  • Show the Index. Select this toggle to display the index value for the selected metric in the widget label.
  • Show the Metric. Select this toggle to display the name of the selected metric in the widget label.
  • Show the Collection Time. Select this toggle to display the date and time at which the metric value was collected.

You can set the number of decimal places to display when creating a widget with Number visualizations. Alternatively, you can configure an existing one in the Limit Decimal Precision field.

Pie Chart Visualizations

Pie Chart visualizations display data metrics as a percentage of a whole:

This visualization option is available only for Interface widgets.

If you select Pie Chart, complete the following fields:

  • Title. Enter a title for the widget.
  • Title links to another page. Use this toggle to transform the widget title to a link that redirects you to another page. Select either Dashboard or Advanced URL from the Link Type drop-down option that appears.

    • If you select Dashboard, use the Choose Dashboard link to open the Choose a Dashboard modal, select from the list of dashboards that appear in the modal, and then click Select.

    • If you select Advanced URL, enter the URL you want to link in the Link URL field that appears.

  • Automatically manage chart features based on widget size. Select this toggle if you want the widget to dynamically hide the chart's features (labels and legends) when the size of the widget is adjusted. For more information, see the Resizing and Moving Widgets on a Dashboard section.

Root Cause Timeline Visualizations

For Skylar Automated RCA users, a Root Cause Timeline visualization is available on the Dashboards page in SL1. This widget visualization lets you see when the Skylar AI detects a possible or confirmed issue. When you hover over an icon for a suggestion or an alert in the widget, a pop-up displays a title and a word cloud that contains additional information about the likely root cause based on the relevant logs associated with the issue.

You can click the icon for a suggestion or an alert on the Root Cause Timeline visualization to go to the Skylar Automated RCA user interface, where you can access further details and perform optional customizations on the Root Cause Report page.

The Root Cause Timeline widget is specific to "AIML Predictions" widget types only.

If you selected Root Cause Timeline as the visualization, complete the following fields:

  • Title. Enter a title for the widget.

  • Skylar Automated RCA Connection ID. Enter the unique connection ID from Skylar Automated RCA, which you can find by creating a service connection between SL1 and Skylar Automated RCA. The value appears on the Service Connections page (Manage > Service Connections) in the SL1 user interface. For more information, see Configuring a Skylar Connection for the Root Cause widget.

  • Skylar Automated RCA Service Groups. Enter the name or names of the service groups in Skylar Automated RCA that you want to monitor with this widget. If you have more than one service group, separate the names with commas. If you want to view sample alerts for troubleshooting purposes, include the "integration_test" service group here. If you leave this field blank, the widget will include all of the service groups. Optional.

    If you try the sample alert feature, make sure to add the special integration_test service group to this field.

For more information about using the Root Cause Timeline visualization with "AIML Predictions" widget types, see Using the Root Cause Timeline Widget.

Service View Visualizations

Service View visualizations display a quick overview of Health, Availability, or Risk:

If you select Service View, complete the following fields:

  • Title. Enter a title for the widget.
  • Title links to another page. Use this toggle to transform the widget title to a link that redirects you to another page. Select either Dashboard or Advanced URL from the Link Type drop-down option that appears.

    • If you select Dashboard, use the Choose Dashboard link to open the Choose a Dashboard modal, select from the list of dashboards that appear in the modal, and then click Select.

    • If you select Advanced URL, enter the URL you want to link in the Link URL field that appears.

  • Icon Size. Increase or decrease this value to adjust the size of the icons.
  • Font Size. Increase or decrease this value to adjust the size of the text.

Services Overview Visualizations

Services Overview visualizations display tiles for each of your Business Services, color-coded to reflect the services' current health and availability status:

If you select Services Overview, complete the following fields:

  • Title. Enter a title for the widget.
  • Title links to another page. Use this toggle to transform the widget title to a link that redirects you to another page. Select either Dashboard or Advanced URL from the Link Type drop-down option that appears.

    • If you select Dashboard, use the Choose Dashboard link to open the Choose a Dashboard modal, select from the list of dashboards that appear in the modal, and then click Select.

    • If you select Advanced URL, enter the URL you want to link in the Link URL field that appears.

  • Show icon. Select this toggle if you want the business service icon to appear on the tile.
  • Display white background behind icon. Select this toggle if you want the business service icon to have a white background.
  • Enable animated ping. Select this toggle if you want the ping line that represents the service's health to be animated.

Services Overview widgets display services based on their health and availability status, ranging from "critical" displaying with a red background at the top of the widget to "healthy" displaying with a green background at the bottom. Services that become unavailable also display with a red background, similar to those with a "critical" health status. This color-coordinated hierarchy enables you to quickly see which services most require your attention.

Severity Counts Visualizations

Severity Counts visualizations display the number of severities in events. This visualization option is only available if you are creating a widget and select Events. This visualization option does not require you to select anything from the Metrics & Properties column.

If you select Severity Counts, complete the following fields:

  • Title. Enter a title for the widget.
  • Title links to another page. Use this toggle to transform the widget title to a link that redirects you to another page. Select either Dashboard or Advanced URL from the Link Type drop-down option that appears.

    • If you select Dashboard, use the Choose Dashboard link to open the Choose a Dashboard modal, select from the list of dashboards that appear in the modal, and then click Select.

    • If you select Advanced URL, enter the URL you want to link in the Link URL field that appears.

  • Show Total Events Count. Select this toggle if you want the widget to display the total number of events across all of your devices.
  • Filter Severities. Filter which level of severity you want the widget to display.

Sunburst Visualizations

Sunburst visualizations display Business Services in a Sunburst chart, so that you can see the status of Business Services, IT Services, Device Services, and (where relevant) devices in the different rings:

If you select Sunburst, complete the following fields:

  • Title. Enter a title for the widget.
  • Title links to another page. Use this toggle to transform the widget title to a link that redirects you to another page. Select either Dashboard or Advanced URL from the Link Type drop-down option that appears.

    • If you select Dashboard, use the Choose Dashboard link to open the Choose a Dashboard modal, select from the list of dashboards that appear in the modal, and then click Select.

    • If you select Advanced URL, enter the URL you want to link in the Link URL field that appears.

  • Metric for slice color. Select the metric that you want the sunburst chart to represent. Choices are Availability, Health, Risk, or No Metric.

Table Visualizations

Table visualizations display data in a boxed set of rows and columns. A table widget can be used to drive data or "context" to other widgets. If you have an Event, Device, or Service table, selecting its name or ID takes you to its detail page:

If you select Table, complete the following fields:

  • Title. Enter a title for the widget.

  • Title links to another page. Use this toggle to transform the widget title to a link that redirects you to another page. Select either Dashboard or Advanced URL from the Link Type drop-down option that appears.

    • If you select Dashboard, use the Choose Dashboard link to open the Choose a Dashboard modal, select from the list of dashboards that appear in the modal, and then click Select.

    • If you select Advanced URL, enter the URL you want to link in the Link URL field that appears.

    The Title links to another page field does not support any variable substitutions.

  • Display Unit Labels. Select this toggle to display relevant unit labels, such as "KB" or "%" along with the values in the widget.

  • Display Icon. Select this toggle to display the icon associated with each item in a table.

  • Items link to another page. Select this toggle to integrate third party tools with external linking. When you select this toggle, two additional fields will appear:

    • Link base URL. Specify the base URL to use.

      For Device widgets using the Leaderboard or Table visualizations, you can link to any external or internal URL. You can also include variables to redirect your link to a specific path. All links will open in a new tab. The supported variables for Device widgets using the Leaderboard or Table visualizations are:

      $id, which is the device ID.
      $name, which is name of the device in camel case.
      $ip, which is the device IP address.

      For Interfaces widgets using the Leaderboard or Table visualizations, you can link to any external or internal URL. You can also include variables to redirect your link to a specific path. All links will open in a new tab. The supported variables for Interface widgets using the Leaderboard or Table visualizations are:

      $id, which is the IP address of the interface.
      $name, which is name of the device in camel case.
      $ip, which is the IP address of the interface that is not index 0.
      $deviceIP, which is the IP address of the parent device.
      $deviceName, which is the name of the parent device in camel case.
      $index, which is the index of the interface.
      $port, which is the interface port.

    • Link ToolTip. Enter an option tooltip to display over the external link when moving your cursor over the text.

    This toggle is only available when creating Device or Interface widgets using either Leaderboard or Table visualizations, or Service widgets.

  • Automatically adjust row height based on widget height. Select this toggle if you want the widget to dynamically adjust the height of the rows in the table when the size of the widget is adjusted.

  • Select Row Height. Select the relative height of the rows in the table. Choices are Small, Medium, or Large. This field appears only if the toggle is not selected in the Automatically adjust row height based on widget height field.

Interface widgets using the Table visualization option will display information in the footer, such as the total number of items in the table, as well as the total number of items selected or filtered from your search.

The time span filter does not impact the list of events that appears in Events table widgets.

You can have a fixed selection state on Interfaces widgets with Table visualizations if your account has a membership to an organization for which a Network Interface's emissary is set.

You can set the number of decimal places to display when creating a widget with Table visualizations. Alternatively, you can configure an existing one in the Limit Decimal Precision field.

Tile Visualizations

Tile visualizations display Health, Availability, or Risk as a colored badge or a solid background depending on the metric:

If you select Tile, complete the following fields:

  • Title. Enter a title for the widget.

  • Title links to another page. Use this toggle to transform the widget title to a link that redirects you to another page. Select either Dashboard or Advanced URL from the Link Type drop-down option that appears.

    • If you select Dashboard, use the Choose Dashboard link to open the Choose a Dashboard modal, select from the list of dashboards that appear in the modal, and then click Select.

    • If you select Advanced URL, enter the URL you want to link in the Link URL field that appears.

  • Color Background for Health. Select this toggle to make the entire tile color the current health of the service.

  • Show icon. Select this toggle to display an icon associated with the service.

  • Center icon. This option appears when Show icon is selected. Select this toggle to center the icon in the tile.

  • Automatically adjust tile size based on widget height. Select this toggle if you want the widget to dynamically adjust the height of the tiles in the widget when the size of the widget is adjusted.

  • Select tile size. This option appears when Automatically adjust tile size based on widget height is not selected. Select Compact for smaller tiles, or Full for larger tiles.

Adding Metrics and Properties to a Widget

On the Create Widget page, you can specify the metrics and properties that you want to appear in your widget.

To add a metric type or property to a widget:

  1. On the Create Widget page, 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:

    The metric types and properties that you can select are specific to the widget type you selected; not all options appear for all widget types.

  2. Select a metric type. Your possible options include:

  • Properties. These metrics contain basic device information, including ID, State, Name, Host Name, Interface ID, IP, Index, Index Label, Collector Group, Device Class, and Unavailable. Name, Host Name, and State are commonly used for leaderboard widgets.
  • Service Properties. These metrics contain basic service information, including Name, Description, and Type. (This option appears only for Service widget types.)
  • Organization Properties. These metrics contain basic organization information, such as Company Name and contact information. (This option appears only for Service widget types.)
  • Custom Attributes. These metrics contain any custom attributes you created in SL1. Custom attributes are name-value pairs that you can use to add custom descriptive fields to assets, devices, interfaces, themes, and vendors. For more information, see the see the section on Custom Attributes.
  • Vitals. These metrics contain the key metrics about a device, including CPU, Memory Utilization, Availability, Latency, and Swap.
  • Collection Label. These metrics contain the available collection labels that you can use as metrics in the widget. Collection labels allow you to group and view data from multiple performance Dynamic Applications in a single widget.
  • Dynamic Application metrics. These metrics contain the available Dynamic Applications that you can use as metrics in the widget, such as "AWS Custom Metrics" or "Cisco: BGP Peer Stats". This menu continually loads more Dynamic Applications as you scroll to the end of the list.
  • Interface: These metrics contain information about discovered network interfaces on the device, including Utilization In or Out, Errors In or Out, and Packet Discards In or Out. (This option appears only for Interface widget types.)
  • File System. These metrics contain information about the amount of disk space used, in percent. (This option appears only for File System widget types.)
  • Service Metrics. These metrics contain metrics for the service's Health, Availability, and Risk. (This option appears only for Service widget types.)
  • Polled Data. These metrics contain information about agent polled data and return with a timestamp.

To locate a specific metric, type a search term in the Search Metrics & Properties field to filter the list of categories. Once you navigate to a selected category, you can search the list of metrics within that category.

  1. When you select a metric type, a new menu appears with a list of metrics and properties that you can add to your widget. Select one or more metrics or properties from the menu and then click the back-arrow icon () to return to the main Metrics & Properties drop-down list. 

To remove a metric from a widget, click the X next to the metric name under the Metrics & Properties drop-down list.

  1. When you are done selecting metrics, click the Metrics & Properties drop-down list to minimize it. The list of selected metrics appears under the Metrics & Properties field:

  1. To edit the settings for a specific metric, click the metric name or the forward-arrow icon () to access a menu for that metric. The forward-arrow icon will turn to a downward-arrow icon () and a list of settings will appear for that metric:

Image of the Metrics and Properties drop-down list

Not all metrics have these additional settings.

The possible metric settings include:

  • Leaderboard From. Specify what timespan the dashboard should consider to determine the order in which metrics display on a leaderboard. (This option applies only to leaderboard and leaderboard bar chart widgets.) Select one of the following options: 
  • Full timespan. Calculates the top-N value over the entire selected timespan.
  • Last poll. Calculates the current top-N values based off the last polling cycle.
  • Off. Remove the metric from top-N requests but includes the last data point for the metric along with other metrics defined as top-N.

In device, interface, and file system dashboards, you can create a Leaderboard widget that contains table columns for additional metrics. This enables you to view the top-N or bottom-N of a particular metric without calculating the top-N or bottom-N of the remaining metrics. To do so, select Full timespan or Last poll in the Leaderboard From field for the top-N or bottom-N metric and select Off in the Leaderboard From field for the remaining metrics.

  • Aggregation. Specify the method of aggregation (average, maximum, minimum) to display on the collected values for this metric.
  • Analysis Time Range. Optionally, update the time frame displayed in this widget. (This option applies only to forecast widgets).
  • Count Type. You can choose from Top N to display the highest values for the selected metric, or Bottom N to display the lowest values for the selected metric. (This option applies only to leaderboard and table widgets.)
  • Display Name. Type a name for this metric as you want it to display in the widget.
  • Display Zeroes. Use this toggle when editing a Top-N or Bottom-N widget to enable the widget to show or hide zero results.
  • Fetch Count. Type the number of devices that you want to view on the widget. (This option applies only to line chart, leaderboard, leaderboard bar chart, table, and tile widgets.).
  • Indexes. Specify the index values that you want to be returned per device for this metric. Select one of the following options:
  • First Index. Returns only the first index value for this metric.
  • Last Index. Returns only the last index value for this metric.
  • Multiple. Specify the number of index values that you want to be returned per device for this metric. You can also select the Advanced Filters option, which enables you to search for specific indexes by index value, name, or metric presentation.

NOTE: This option applies only to device widgets.

  • Maximum Value. Specify the highest possible value to be displayed in the widget.
  • Minimum Value. Specify the lowest possible value to be displayed in the widget.
  • Rollup Frequency. Specify the frequency with which performance data is normalized (or "rolled up") for this metric. This is done so that dashboards with a longer timespan do not become difficult to view and to save storage space on the database. When SL1 rolls up data, it groups it into larger sets and calculates the average value for the larger set. Select one of the following options:
  • Auto. Calculates and displays the best data for the time span being viewed. When you select this option, time spans of 2 days or less will calculate and display raw data for the metric; time spans of more than 2 days to 45 days will calculate and display an average hourly value for the metric; and time spans of more than 45 days will calculate and display an average daily value for the metric.
  • Raw. Calculates and displays raw data for the metric.
  • Hourly. Calculates and displays an average hourly value for the metric.
  • Daily. Calculates and displays an average daily value for the metric.

NOTE: Because normalization is required for leaderboards, Raw is not a selectable option for metrics that appear in Leaderboard or Leaderboard Bar Chart widgets.

  • Scale prefix. Select the metric prefix for metrics that are not percentage-based. Select one of the following options:
  • milli (m). Thousandth
  • micro (μ). Millionth
  • Kilo (k). Thousand
  • Mega (M). Million
  • Giga (G). Billion
  • Tera (T). Trillion
  • Peta (P). Quadrillion

    • NOTE: This field is only available to widgets that are use one of the following widget visualization options: Bar Chart, Table, Line Chart, Number, Leaderboard, Leaderboard Bar Chart, and Forecast.

  • Service Type. Select which kind of services you want to display in the widget. For most visualization types, you can select more than one service type. (This option applies only to service widgets.)
  • Show Devices. For sunburst widgets, specify whether you want devices to display on the outer ring of the sunburst chart. (This option applies only to service widgets.)
  • Type. Select a display type for this metric, such as heat for a heat map that displays the percentage of change over time, or label for a simple table. If you select heat map, you can also specify the minimum and maximum values for the table. Another example would be for an availability metric, where you can choose between label to show availability as a text label or state to show availability as a colored icon.
  • Unit. Optionally, specify the unit for this widget, such as a percentage or a unit of time.

Specifying Which Items Will Appear in a Widget

On the Create Widget page, there are several ways in which you can specify how SL1 should determine the items that will appear in your widget.

In the Which <Items> section (where <Items> corresponds with the widget type you created), you can:

  • Determine if the widget will drive data (or "context") to another widget or receive data (or "context") from another widget
  • Filter a specific set of data in the widget
  • Select specific devices or services that you want to appear in the widget
  • Select the custom data source you want to use

To specify which items will appear in a widget, you can select one of the following options, more than one of the options, or none of the options in the Which <Items> section of the Create Widget page:

  • <Items> can be selected from other widgets. Select this option if you want this widget to receive and display data (or "context") based on what a user selects in another widget. This option is selected by default for these visualization types: line chart, number, gauge, and forecast. If you select this option, complete the following fields to define the widgets from which you want to receive data:
  • Type. Select a widget type that will drive data or "context" to this widget. The default type is based on the current widget type. For example, if you want a Device widget to drive data to this widget, select Device.

  • Which Set of Selections. From the drop-down list, select the item type that the user will select to drive the data ("context") to this widget. The default selection type is based on the widget type you selected in the Type field. For example, if you want the user to select one or more devices in another Device widget to drive the data that appears in this widget, select device.
  • How Many Selections? Select the maximum number of items the user can select in the driving widget. For example, if you want the user to be able to select only one device at a time, select 1.

To add another widget from which this widget can receive data (or "context"), click the Add New button and complete the Type, Which Set of Selections, and How Many Selections fields for that additional widget.  

  • This widget can drive other widgets. Select this option if you want this widget to drive data (or "context") to other widgets. This option is selected by default for these visualization types: leaderboard and table. If you select this option, complete the following fields to define the type of devices to which you want to drive data:
  • Type. Select the widget type that will receive data or "context" from this widget. The default type is based on the current widget type. For example, if you want a Device widget to drive data to this widget, select Device.

  • Which Set of Selections. Select an existing context label or click the plus icon () to type a context label for this widget if you want this widget to drive context to other widgets. The default context type is based on the widget type. Leaderboard Bar Chart widgets for events can have multiple contexts. Also, a File System or Interface widget can publish its file system or interface context as well as a secondary context of device.
  • How Many Selections? Select the maximum number of items the user can select in the driving widget. For example, if you want the user to be able to select only one device at a time, select 1.
  • Auto Selection. Select the number items that are automatically selected in the widget that drives context to other widgets.

You can see where a receiving widget gets its data by clicking the Helper icon (Image of the Helper icon) for that widget after you create the receiving widget.

  • Filter data specifically in this widget. Select this option if you want to view a specific set of data in this widget. For example, you can create multiple leaderboard widgets in a dashboard that contain just the devices you want to view. If you select this option, complete one or both of the following fields to define the type of data you want to display in this widget:
  • Filter By. Select the type of widget you want to use as a filter for this widget.
  • Filter Criteria. Type a search term to filter this widget.

    • NOTE: Alternatively, you can access these display options by clicking the filter funnel icon the widgets on the Dashboards page. This icon allows you to view and select filters you can apply to the data that appears in the widget, similar to what you can do using the existing Advanced Editor filter options on the Edit Widget page. You can also see the number of filters applied to a widget in its header text.

  • Select Specific <Items>. If you are creating a widget for devices or services, select the specific devices or services that you want to include in the widget. These devices or services will appear in addition to any devices or services that would appear based on context receiving/driving or filtering.

  • Advanced.
  • Choose custom data source. Toggling this on will display the Data Source drop-down. Select the custom data source you wish to use, if applicable. This option is for advanced users only. Options include Auto Mode or various metric types.

Configuring a Skylar Automated RCA Connection for the Root Cause Timeline Widget

For Skylar Automated RCA users, a Root Cause Timeline visualization is available on the Dashboards page in SL1. This widget visualization lets you see when the Skylar AI detects a possible or confirmed issue. When you hover over an icon for a suggestion or an alert in the widget, a pop-up displays a title and a word cloud that contains additional information about the likely root cause based on the relevant logs associated with the issue.

You can click the icon for a suggestion or an alert on the Root Cause Timeline visualization to go to the Skylar Automated RCA user interface, where you can access further details and perform optional customizations on the Root Cause Report page.

The Root Cause Timeline widget is specific to "AIML Predictions" widget types only.

Connecting Your Skylar Automated RCA Instance to the Root Cause Timeline Widget

To establish communication between Skylar Automated RCA and the Root Cause Timeline widget in SL1, you will need to create a service connection, which enables communication between SL1 and Skylar Automated RCA.

This is a two-part process:

  1. Create an "SL1 Enhanced (12.x)" integration in the Skylar Automated RCA user interface.
  2. Use the data from that integration to create the service connection in SL1.

Creating a Dashboard Widget Integration in Skylar Automated RCA

You will need credentials for logging in to Skylar Automated RCA to create the following integration.

To create an "SL1 Enhanced (12.x)" integration in Skylar Automated RCA:

  1. Log in to your Skylar Automated RCA instance.
  2. Go to the Integrations & Collectors page (Settings () > Integrations & Collectors) and click the SL1 Enhanced (12.x) button in the ScienceLogic section. The Integrations dialog appears.
  3. Click Create a New Integration. The Create Integration dialog appears.
  4. On the General tab, complete the following fields:
  • Integration Name. Type a name for the widget.
  • Deployment. Select the Skylar Automated RCA deployment that you want to monitor.
  1. Click Save. The Your Integration Info dialog appears, with a summary of the key values for the widget integration.
  2. Make a note of each value, as you will use all three values when creating the service connection in SL1. You can click each value to automatically copy that value.
  3. Click OK. The new integration is added to the ScienceLogic Integrations dialog.

Creating a Service Connection in SL1

After you create the ScienceLogic integration in Skylar Automated RCA, you will have the data you need to create the service connection in SL1.

To refer to this data in the Skylar Automated RCA user interface, go to the Integrations & Collectors page (Settings () > Integrations & Collectors) and click the SL1 Ehanced (12.x) button in the ScienceLogic section, and then click the edit icon () for that integration. The Edit dialog displays all the relevant data you need for this procedure.

To create a Skylar Automated RCA service connection in SL1:

  1. In SL1, go to the Service Connections page (Manage > Service Connections).

  2. Click Add Service Connection, then select Zebrium. The Create Connection window appears.

  3. Complete the following fields:

    • Name. Type a name for this new service connection.
    • Access Token. Add the Access Token value from the Your Integration Info dialog or the Edit Integration dialog. You can also access this information on the Access Tokens page (Settings () > Access Tokens) in the Skylar Automated RCA user interface.
    • Skylar Automated RCA Endpoint URL. Add the Endpoint URL value from the Your Integration Info dialog or the Edit Integration dialog. Skylar Automated RCA Cloud users can use the default value in this field, while Skylar Automated RCA On Prem users will need to add the URL of their on-premises Skylar Automated RCA instance.
    • Skylar Automated RCA Deployment ID. Add the Deployment ID value from the Your Integration Info dialog or the Edit Integration dialog.
    • Share data with. Select the All Organizations toggle (turn it blue) to share with all existing and new organizations when you create them. Alternately, you deselect the All Organizations toggle (turn it gray) and select one or more organizations from the Selected Organizations drop-down to limit access to this connection to only the selected organizations.
  4. Click Save.
  5. On the Service Connections page, copy the Service Connection ID value from the ID column for the service connection you just created. You will use this value when you create the Root Cause Timeline widget for the "AIML Predictions" widget type.

Using the Root Cause Timeline Widget

The main section of the Timeline widget contains a time-based chart with different icons that represent the following Skylar Automated RCA elements:

  • Suggestion (). A yellow diamond represents a suggestion, or a potential problem found by the Skylar AI. When you click a yellow diamond, the RCA Report page for that suggestion opens in the Skylar Automated RCA user interface. On that page, you can choose to accept or reject that suggestion. 
    • If you accept the suggestion, Skylar Automated RCA will create a rule for the settings for that suggestion in the future.
    • If you reject the suggestion, Skylar Automated RCA will no longer show a suggestion with the same settings as that suggestion in the widget.
  • Accepted Alert (). A green circle represents an accepted alert, a suggestion that you or another Skylar Automated RCA user has accepted.
  • Custom Alert (). A blue triangle represents a custom alert, which you or another user defined by writing a regular expression in Skylar Automated RCA that searches for a specific pattern.

When you hover over an icon in the chart, a pop-up window appears with date and time information about that specific suggestion or alert, along with a title and word cloud that contains suggestions and information about the likely root cause.

The Timeline widget also includes the following graphical elements:

  • Spike. A gray vertical line appears on the widget if there are too many suggestions or alerts to show for a specific time. You can click and drag on the spike to zoom in so you can see all of the suggestions for that specific time. Click Reset zoom to go back to the default view settings.

  • Log Lines timeline. Hover over this gray line to view a pop-up window that displays the number of log lines that have been ingested within this time interval.

  • Rare Events timeline. Hover over this red line to view a pop-up window that displays the number of events marked as rare, such as possible issues or problems, that have been ingested within this time interval. Rare events are often the most diagnostic anomalies in the logs.

Working with Suggestions in the Skylar Automated RCA User Interface

You can click the icon for a suggestion or an alert on the Timeline widget to go to the Skylar Automated RCA user interface, where you can access further details and perform optional customizations on the Root Cause Report page.

For more information about what you can do on the Root Cause Report page, see Root Cause Reports in the Skylar Automated RCA Product Documentation.

Sharing a 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:

  1. Go to the Dashboards page and open the dashboard. Click the Edit button on the main navigation bar.
  2. Next to the title of the dashboard, click the Visibility drop-down list and select one of the following:
  • Private. The dashboard is visible to only the creator of the dashboard.
  • Public. The dashboard is visible to all users.
  • Specific Organizations. The dashboard will be shared only with organizations that you select. When you select Specific Organizations, a list of organizations appears. You can search for an organization, click Select All, or click None to deselect all organizations.
  • If you are an Administrator user and want to share a dashboard with only the System organization, select System from the organization list.

  • If you have dashboards that you want to share with users in other organizations, but not with System, select the organization(s) from the list and deselect System.

  1. After you set the visibility of your dashboard, click the Save button on the main navigation bar.

Editing a Dashboard

If you have the proper permissions, you can edit an existing dashboard by performing the following steps:

  1. Go to the Dashboards page and click the name of the dashboard you want to edit. The dashboard page appears.
  2. Click the Edit button on the main navigation bar.
  3. Do one of the following:
  • If you want to add a widget to the dashboard, click the Create Widget button. For more information about creating widgets, see the section Creating Dashboard Widgets.
  • If you want to edit an existing widget, click the Actions button () on that widget and select Edit. The Edit page appears.
  • If you want to make a copy of an existing widget and then customize the new widget, click the Actions button () and select Duplicate. The new widget appears at the bottom of the dashboard. You can then click the Actions button () on that widget and select Edit to make changes to the widget.
  1. Make your changes to the widget, and then click the Save Widget button when you are done.
  2. As needed, edit any other widgets on the dashboard.
  3. When you are done editing the dashboard, click the Save button on the main navigation bar.

Resizing and Moving Widgets on a Dashboard

To resize and move widgets on a dashboard:

  1. Go to the Dashboards page and click the name of the dashboard you want to edit. The dashboard page appears.
  2. Click the Edit button on the main navigation bar.
  3. To resize a widget, click the resizing icon () at the bottom right-hand corner of the widget and drag the widget until it is the size you want. Widgets are based on a fractional grid of the dashboard screen size. You can snap the widget to 12 columns and 8 rows, which are proportional to the total size of the browser, and scale up or down as the browser does.

Image of a widget in Edit mode

  1. To move a widget, click the header for that widget and drag the widget to its new location on the dashboard.
  2. Click the Save button when you are done resizing or moving widgets on the dashboard.

If you selected the Automatically manage chart features based on widget size toggle when creating the widget, the widget will dynamically show or hide features of the chart, such as axis labels or the legend, depending on the effective size of the widget on the screen.

For example, if the widget is 1/2 of the height and 1/4 of the width of the dashboard, the widget might display at 500 by 400 pixels when viewed in a large browser on a 1080-pixel screen. This feature will display all the surrounding information in the widget to the user when they have this much resolution to devote to the chart. However, if the same dashboard is viewed in a smaller resolution or screen, or the widget itself is resized to be a smaller fraction of the dashboard, features of the chart may automatically be hidden to maximize the amount of data that is displayed within the smaller panel.

Certain features are associated with widget height, such as table row height or horizontal axis labels, while other features are associated with widget width, such as vertical axis labels.

If you disable the Automatically manage chart features based on widget size toggle, you are presented with options to manually enable or disable each feature of each chart and table, and the size of the user's browser or widget display will not cause those features to appear or disappear.

Configuring a Dashboard URL

Configuring a Dashboard URL adds a link icon () next to the service name in a Service Table that will take you to another dashboard or item related to that service. This feature lets you integrate third-party tools with SL1.

You can use a Dashboard URL with the following widget and visualization types:

  • Service, device, or interface tables
  • Device or interface leaderboards

To create an Advanced URL:

  1. In the dashboard that contains the table where you want to create the Advanced URL, click the Edit button.

  2. In the table widget, click the Actions icon () and select Edit.

  3. In the Edit page in the center Table column, click the toggle for Link to another page.

  4. In the Link base URL field, construct the link you want to create with the desired attributes. Type a base URL for the related widget, using the following format: /dashboards/<service type>-service-details?harProviderId=$id where <service type> is business, IT, or device. For example, if you want to link to the Business Service Details dashboard, you would type the following:

    /dashboards/business-service-details?harProviderId=$id

    These settings add a link icon next to each Service in the Service Table. When a user clicks the link icon, the Business Service Details dashboard for that particular service appears:

    NOTE: Relative URLs, such as item/services, will have the relative path for /dashboards prepended automatically: /dashboards/item/services

Supported attributes and rules include:

  • $id. Returns the item.id

  • $type. Returns the item.type, such as business-service or device-service

  • $name. Returns the item.name, such as my-device-name

  • $description. Returns the item.description

    Attributes can be combined at will. If one of the attributes is undefined in the current item, no link will be created.

  1. Click Save Widget when you are finished configuring your URL, then click the Save button in the dashboard page.

Deleting a Dashboard

You can delete any dashboard that you have created, as well as any other dashboard in SL1.

WARNING: If you delete a dashboard, that dashboard is deleted for all users.

To delete a dashboard:

  1. On the Dashboards page, click the Actions button () for the dashboard you want to delete and select Delete.
  2. On the Delete Dashboard dialog, click the Delete button to permanently remove the dashboard.

Creating and Configuring a Classic Dashboard

When you create a dashboard, you are defining a container that will display widgets. A dashboard defines a name, a space for a collection of one or more widgets, and the general settings for those widgets. Each widget displays a report about data in SL1.

To create a dashboard and define the general settings, perform the following steps:

  1. Go to the Classic Dashboards page (Dashboards > Classic Dashboards).
  2. Click the New button in the upper left of the page.
  3. The Select Dashboard field will display the dashboard title "User's New Dashboard". For example, if your user account has the First Name field set to "Roberto" and the Last Name field set to "Martinez", the Select Dashboard field will display the dashboard title "Roberto Martinez's New Dashboard". If the first and last name fields are not set for your user account, your username is used, e.g. "rmartinez's New Dashboard".
  4. In the Actions menu in the upper right of the page, select Configure Dashboard.... The Dashboard Settings page is displayed, where you can define values in the following fields:
  • Dashboard Title. Enter a name for the dashboard. This name is displayed in the Select Dashboard field in the top-left of the Dashboards page.
  • Screen Width. Enter the minimum screen width required to view the whole dashboard at once. If a user views the dashboard at a resolution that has a smaller screen width than the value in this field, a horizontal scroll bar will be displayed. For convenience, the current size of the dashboard as viewed in your monitor is displayed in parentheses above the Screen Width and Screen Height fields.
  • Screen Height. Enter the minimum screen height required to view the whole dashboard at once. If a user views the dashboard at a resolution that has a smaller screen height than the value in this field, a vertical scroll bar will be displayed. For convenience, the current size of the dashboard as viewed in your monitor is displayed in parentheses above the Screen Width and Screen Height fields.
  • Lock Dashboard Layout. Select this checkbox to prevent the dashboard from being edited. When this checkbox is selected, a user viewing the dashboard cannot add, move, or modify widgets while viewing the dashboard.
  • Merge Adjacent Borders. If the Lock Dashboard Layout checkbox is selected, this option is available. If you select this checkbox, widgets that appear next to each other will share a border.
  • If this checkbox is not selected, a gap appears between each widget.
  • If this checkbox is selected, the widget borders are merged:
  • Show in Dashboards drop-down. Some dashboards are designed to be nested within other dashboards and don't provide much useful information on their own. In these cases, you might want to prevent users from viewing the dashboard on its own. If you select this checkbox, the dashboard will not appear in the Select Dashboard field in the Dashboards page.
  • Show widget debug messages. When this checkbox is selected, widgets will display developer-level debug messages.
  • Access Control. Specifies whether the dashboard is viewable only by the creator or if the dashboard is viewable by other users. Choices are:
  • Share with organizations. Allows other members of the creator's organizations to view the dashboard.
  • Private dashboard. Only the dashboard's creator and administrators can view the dashboard.
  • Access Keys. This field is applicable only if the dashboard is Shared and specifies the Access Keys required to view the dashboard. If you don't select any Access Keys, no specific keys are required to view the dashboard.

If you select an Access Key in the Required Keys field, each user must meet the following criteria to use the dashboard:

  • The user must have at least one of the Access Keys selected in the Required Keys field for the dashboard.

  • The user must be granted an Access Key that includes the "Dash:View" and "Dash:View Shared" Access Hooks.

  • The user and the creator of the dashboard must be members of the same organization.

If you do not select any Access Keys in the Required Keys field, any user meeting the following two requirements may access the dashboard:

  • The user must be granted an Access Key that includes the "Dash:View" and "Dash:View Shared" Access Hooks.

  • The user and the creator of the dashboard must be members of the same organization.

    If a user meets the above requirements and also has been granted an Access Key that includes the "Dash:Edit Shared" Access Hook, that user will be able to edit the shared dashboard. If a user has been granted an Access Key that includes the "Dash:Add/Rem Shared" Access Hook, that user may delete shared dashboards.

  • Category. Select one or more categories to associate with the dashboard. To select multiple categories, hold down the Ctrl key (or Command on Apple computers) when you select the categories. Categories are used to arrange the dashboard selection drop-down list in the Dashboards page. If you do not select a category in this field, the dashboard will appear under the "Other" category in the drop-down list. For more information about categories, see the section on Dashboard and Widget Categories.
  • Keywords (comma separated). Enter a comma-delimited list of keywords to associate with the dashboard.
  1. Click the Save button to save the dashboard settings and close the Dashboard Settings modal page.

Adding Widgets to a Classic Dashboard

There are two ways to add a widget to a classic dashboard:

  1. On the Classic Dashboards page (Dashboards > Classic Dashboards), in the selection field in the upper left of the page, select the dashboard to which you want to add a widget.
  2. Click the Actions button, and then select Add Widget.

Or:

  1. On the Classic Dashboards page (Dashboards > Classic Dashboards), in the selection field in the upper left of the page, select the dashboard to which you want to add a widget.
  2. In the Dashboards tab page, left-click and drag with your mouse to draw a rectangle. This shape will determine the initial size and position of the widget in your dashboard.
  3. The New Widget Configuration modal page displays. To configure a new widget, use the left NavBar to navigate to the widget you want to include in the dashboard.

    If you are editing an existing widget, the Widget Configuration page displays the configuration panel for the widget with the left NavBar and data type selection buttons automatically hidden. If you want to select a new widget, you can show the left NavBar and data type selection buttons by clicking the window icon to the left of the Widget Name field.

  • The left NavBar includes an icon for each type of data that can be displayed in a widget:
  • Time Series. Expands a list that includes widgets that display one or more metrics over time.
  • Single-Point. Expands a list that includes widgets that display a single metric.
  • Snapshot/Single Series. Expands a list that includes widgets that display single instances of a metric for multiple entities.
  • Grouped Data Series. Expands a list that includes widgets that display a single metric for multiple entities, with each metric sub-divided between multiple entities of another types. For example, a grouped data series could display a bar graph of the number of tickets in each state, with each bar in the graph divided by organization.
  • Custom. Expands a list that includes widgets that display custom HTML content.
  • Custom Table. Expands a list that includes widgets that display tabular data.
  • When you expand the list of widgets that display a type of data, the NavBar displays a list of categories that are associated with the widget definitions in your system. You can expand a category to view the list of all widgets associated with that category. If a widget is associated with multiple categories, the widget will appear under each category it is associated with.
  • You can search the list of widgets by entering a search term in the field that appears in the bottom-left of the page. When you click the Find button, the widgets that have a name or associated keywords that match your search term are highlighted in the left NavBar. The categories in the left NavBar will be automatically expanded and collapsed so that only categories that include a matching widget are expanded.

  1. When you select a widget in the left NavBar, the right pane of the Widget Configuration page displays the configuration fields for the selected widget. Each widget definition has a different list of configuration fields.

    After you select a widget, you can hide the left NavBar and data type selection buttons by selecting the window icon to the left of the Widget Name field.

  • The following fields appear in all widget configuration panes:
  • Widget Name. Enter a title for the widget. This title is displayed in the header that appears at the top of the widget. If you leave the default value of "{auto}" in this field, SL1 will automatically generate a title for the widget based on what is currently being displayed in the widget.
  • Widget Refresh Rate. Specify how frequently the widget will be automatically updated with new data. The choices are:
  • Widget Default. The widget will refresh at its default refresh rate, as defined by the widget developer. You can view and edit the default refresh rate in the Dashboard Widgets page (System > Customize > Dashboard Widgets) by clicking the wrench icon () for a widget.
  • Auto-refresh disabled. The widget will not automatically refresh.
  • 1 minute. The widget will automatically refresh every minute.
  • 5 minutes. The widget will automatically refresh every 5 minutes.
  • 10 minutes. The widget will automatically refresh every 10 minutes.
  • 15 minutes. The widget will automatically refresh every 15 minutes.
  • 30 minutes. The widget will automatically refresh every 30 minutes.
  • 45 minutes. The widget will automatically refresh every 45 minutes.
  • 1 hour. The widget will automatically refresh once an hour.
  • Create Template. When selected, this checkbox allows you to save the current configuration as a Quick-Add option.
  • Each widget contains additional fields.

NOTE: In widgets that allow you to filter the list of devices by the device class or device category, merged devices include special behavior. For merged devices, you can select either the device class or device category of the physical device or the device class or device category of the component device. If both device classes or device categories are selected, a merged device will appear twice in a single widget.

Using Quick Add to Add Widgets to a Classic Dashboard

The Quick Add button provides a set of pre-configured widgets that will work with the devices and policies on your SL1 system. The pre-configured widgets do not require you to use the Widget Configuration modal page to select parameters.

  1. Go to the Classic Dashboards page (Dashboards > Classic Dashboards).
  2. In the drop-down menu in the upper left of the page, select the dashboard to which you want to add a widget.
  3. Click the Quick Add button, and then select one of the following pre-configured widgets:
  • Context Quick Selector. This widget does not display data. This widget allows you to control what is displayed in one or more other widgets in the current dashboard. The Context Quick Selector allows you to define the timespan for other widgets in the current dashboard and also select the list of organizations, devices, device groups, and IT services that appear in other widgets in the current dashboard.
  • Gauge: IT Service Availability. This widget is pre-configured to display the availability of a selected IT Service policy for the last 12 hours. If no context (IT Service) is selected in another widget, SL1 displays a randomly chosen IT Service.
  • Series: Auto (contextual). This widget is pre-configured to display devices and performance data that are selected in another widget on the dashboard.
  • Series: Device Vitals. This widget is pre-configured to display availability, latency, CPU Utilization, Memory Utilization, and Swap Utilization for a device that is selected in another widget in the dashboard. If no context (device) is selected in another widget, SL1 displays a randomly chosen device.
  • Series: Latency (contextual). This widget is pre-configured to display latency for up to eight devices that are selected in another widget in the dashboard. If no context (device) is selected in another widget, SL1 displays a random list of eight devices.
  • Status: IT Services. This widget is pre-configured to display the status (using status colors) of all IT Services.
  • Status: Network Devices. This widget is pre-configured to display the status (using status colors) of all devices with a device category of Network.Access.
  • Top 10 + Series: CPU. This widget is pre-configured to display the list of ten devices that consumed the most CPU over the last twelve hours. When you click on the bar for one of these devices, the accompanying widget displays a graph of CPU usage, for the selected device, for the last twelve hours.
  • Top 10 + Series: Latency + Vitals. This widget is pre-configured to display the list of ten devices that had the highest latency for the last twelve hours. When you click on the bar for one of these devices, the accompanying widget displays a graph of latency, availability, and CPU usage, for the selected device, for the last twelve hours.
  • Top 10: CPU. This widget is pre-configured to display the list of ten devices that consumed the most CPU over the last twelve hours.
  • Top 10: Latency. This widget is pre-configured to display the list of ten devices that had the highest latency over the last twelve hours.
  • Top 10: Network Util (In + Out). This widget is pre-configured to display the list of ten devices with the highest combined (in and out) interface usage.

The Base Widgets

The Classic Dashboards page (Dashboards > Classic Dashboards) for SL1 includes several built-in widgets that are designed to cover most use-cases. For details on each of these widgets, see the section on base widgets.

The base widgets include:

Additional Widgets

The Classic Dashboards page (Dashboards > Classic Dashboards) for SL1 includes additional widgets (in addition to the base widgets). These additional widgets perform a single task or collect data from a specific application.

For descriptions of the most commonly-used additional widgets that are available from ScienceLogic, see the section on additional widgets.

Creating a Classic Dashboard with Context Selectors

You can configure dashboard widgets on the Classic Dashboards page (Dashboards > Classic Dashboards) that allow users to make one or more selections that control the information that is displayed in other widgets.

A set of selections is called a context. To allow a user to define a context, you must configure:

  • One or more widgets in which a user can select values. These widgets set the context (called Drive the Context).
  • One or more widgets that are controlled by the selected values. These widgets read the context (called Context Driven).

For example, you might configure one widget that sets a time span in the context. You could then configure other widgets in the same dashboard to read the time span value from the context. When the user selects a time span, the widgets that read the time span from the context will dynamically update to show only information from the selected time span.

Types of Context

Widgets can be configured to set or read different types of context values. The following types of context values are used by the default widgets in SL1:

  • Time Span. The widgets that read the context display information from the selected time span.
  • Organization. The widgets that read the context display information about the selected organization(s).
  • Device Group. The widgets that read the context display information about the selected device group(s).
  • IT Service. The widgets that read the context display information about the selected IT Service(s).
  • Device. The widgets that read the context display information about the selected device(s).
  • Device Metric. The widgets that read the context display information about the selected performance metric(s) collected from specific device(s).

Additionally, some widgets that read context can be configured to read the device-related context value (similar to filtering the list of devices). The device-related context value is set to the same value as either the organization, device group, IT Service, or device context values.

SL1 uses the following rules to determine the device-related context:

  • Organization Selector. If you select a single organization in a Selector, the list of devices will be filtered to include only all the devices in the organization. If you select multiple organizations in a Selector, the list of devices will be filtered to include all the devices in each selected organization.
  • IT Services Selector. If you select a single IT Service policy in a Selector, the list of devices will be filtered to include only all the devices in the Service Policy. If you select multiple IT Service policies in a Selector, the list of devices will be filtered to include all the devices in each selected IT Service policy.

  • Device Group Selector. If you select a single Device Group in a Selector, the list of devices will be filtered to include only all the devices in the Device Group. If you select multiple Device Groups in a Selector, the list of devices will be filtered to include all the devices in each selected Device Group.
  • Device Selector. If you select a single Device in a Selector, the list of devices will be filtered to include only the single device. If you select multiple devices, the list of devices will be filtered to include only the selected devices.
  • Multiple Selectors of the Same Type. If you select multiple selectors of the same type, for example, the Organizations "System" and "NOC", SL1 performs an "OR" operation. That is the list of devices will be filtered to include devices in either the System organization or the NOC organization.
  • Multiple Selectors of the Different Types. If you select multiple selectors (Organizations, IT Services, Device Groups), the list of devices will be filtered to include only devices that are members of all the selectors. SL1 performs an "AND" operation. For example, if you select the Organization "System", the IT Service "web servers", and the Device Group "Linux Servers", only devices that are members of the System organization, monitored with the IT Service policy "web servers", and are members of the device group "Linux Servers" will be included in the list of devices.

Widgets That Drive Context

Context Quick Selector Widget

You can add dedicated context selectors to a dashboard by including the Context Quick Selector widget, which can set the time span, organization, IT Service, device group, and/or device contexts:

The configuration pane for the Context Quick Selector widget includes the following options:

  • Time span Presets. Controls the time span buttons that will appear to the left of the widget. Enter a comma-separated list of values. The widget will display one button for each value in the list. For each value, enter a number and one of the following characters:
  • M. The button will set the time span context to the specified number of minutes.
  • H. The button will set the time span context to the specified number of hours.
  • D. The button will set the time span context to the specified number of days.
  • Y. The button will set the time span context to the specified number of years.

  • Display Time Selector. If you uncheck this checkbox, the time span selection options are not displayed in the widget.
  • Display Organizations Selector. If you uncheck this checkbox, the organization selection options are not displayed in the widget.
  • Display Devices Selector. If you uncheck this checkbox, the device selection options are not displayed in the widget.
  • Display Device Groups Selector. If you uncheck this checkbox, the device group selection options are not displayed in the widget.
  • Display IT Services Selector. If you uncheck this checkbox, the IT Service selection options are not displayed in the widget.

Like the Context Quick Selector widget, the Context Quick Selector VMware widget does not display collected data. Instead, the Context Quick Selector VMware widget is used only to control what is displayed in other widgets (drive context), specifically widgets that display data from VMware.

More Widgets That Drive Context

In addition to the Context Quick Selector and Context Quick Selector (VMware) widgets, the following widgets can be configured to set values in the context:

Widget Sets Selection Method Configuration
Custom Table
  • Organization Context
  • Device Context
  • Device Group Context
  • IT Service Context
 Select checkboxes for one or more elements. Select Organization, Device, Device Group, or IT Service in the Entity Type field. Select the Drive Context checkbox.
Leaderboard/Top-N
  • Device Metric Context
  • (Drives Context only for Multi-series Performance widget and the Gauge/Meter widget)
 Select the graphical element that represents device metric. In the Click/Link Behavior field, select Select Device/Service.
Leaderboard/Top-N (Secondary Data)
  • Device Metric Context
  • (Drives Context only for Multi-series Performance widget and the Gauge/Meter widget)
 Select the graphical element that represents device metric. In the Click/Link Behavior field, select Select Device/Service.
Traffic Light
  • Organization Context
  • Device Context
  • Device Group Context
  • IT Service Context
 Select Devices, Organizations, Device Groups, or IT Services in the Source Selection field. Select the Control Context checkbox.

Widgets that Read Context

The following widgets can be configured to read values from the context:

Widget Reads Description Configuration
Custom Table
  • Organization Context
  • Device Context
  • Device Group Context
  • IT Service Context

The list of organizations, devices, device groups, or IT Services displayed in the table is limited to only the values set in the context. If no values are set in the context, displays a list of all entities to which the user has access.

Select Organization, Device, Device Group, or IT Service in the Entity Type field. Select the Contextually Driven checkbox.
Leaderboard/Top-N
  • Device-related Context
  • Time span context.
  • Device-related context filters the list of devices, based on the Organization, Device Group, and/or IT Service set in the context.
  • The time span context controls the start and end time and the associated data from each device that will be evaluated.
  • To read the device context, select the Use Device-related Context checkbox.
  • To read the time span context, select the Use time span context checkbox.
Leaderboard/Top-N (Secondary Data)
  • Device-related Context
  • Time span context.
  • Device-related context filters the list of devices, based on the Organization, Device Group, and/or IT Service set in the context.
  • The time span context controls the start and end time and the associated data from each device that will be evaluated.
  • To read the device context, select the Use Device-related Context checkbox.
  • To read the time span context, select the Use time span context checkbox.
Gauge/Meter
  • Device Context
  • Device Metric Context
  • IT Service Context
  • Time span Context
  • Device context controls the device for which the selected metric should be displayed.
  • Device metric context controls the device and metric that should be displayed.
  • IT Service context controls the IT Service for which the selected metric should be displayed.
  • Time span context controls the amount of data to be rolled-up into the displayed value.
  • To read the device context, select Device in the Type field, select one of the Contextual Device options in the Element field, and select a specific collection in the Collectionfield.
  • To read the device metric context, select Device in the Type field, select one of the Contextual Device options in the Element field, and select Context Selected in the Collectionfield.
  • To read the IT Service context, select IT Service in the Type field, select one of the Contextual Service options in the Element field, and select a specific collection in the Collectionfield.
  • To read the time span context, select the Use Contextual Time span checkbox and select the Custom Range radio button.
Multi-Series Performance
  • Device Context
  • Device Metric Context
  • IT Service Context
  • Time span Context
  • Device context controls the device for which a selected metric should be displayed.
  • Device metric context controls the device and metric that should be displayed.
  • IT Service context controls the IT Service for which a selected metric should be displayed.
  • Time span context controls the amount of data to be displayed.
  • To read the device context, select Device in the Type field, select one of the Contextual Device options in the Element field, and select a specific collection in the Collectionfield.
  • To read the device metric context, select Device in the Type field, select one of the Contextual Device options in the Element field, and select Context Selected in the Collectionfield.
  • To read the IT Service context, select IT Service in the Type field, select one of the Contextual Service options in the Element field, and select a specific collection in the Collectionfield.
  • To read the time span context, select any option other than never in the Use 'Timespan' context field.
SLA Gauge
  • IT Service Context
  • Time span Context
  • IT Service context controls the IT Service for which SLA compliance will be displayed.
  • Time span context controls the time span over which compliance will be calculated.
  • To read the IT Service context, select one of the Contextual Service options in the Service field.

  • To read the time span context, select Last (ending in context range) in the Compliance Period field.
Entity List
  • Organization Context
  • Device Context
  • Device Group Context
  • IT Service Context
  • Organization Context controls the single organization about which the Entity List will display information.
  • Device Context controls the single device about which the Entity List will display information.
  • Device Group Context controls the single device group about which the Entity List will display information.
  • IT Service Context controls the single IT Service about which the Entity List will display information.
  • To read the Organization context, select Organization in the Entity Type field and then select the Contextually Driven checkbox.
  • To read the
    Device context, select Device in the Entity Type field and then select the Contextually Driven checkbox.
  • To read the Device Group context, select Device Group in the Entity Type field and then select the Contextually Driven checkbox.
  • To read the IT Service context, select IT Service in the Entity Type field and then select the Contextually Driven checkbox.
Traffic Light
  • Organization Context
  • Device Context
  • Device Group Context
  • IT Service Context
  • Organization Context controls the list of organizations about which the Traffic Light will show status/healthy information.
  • Device Context controls the list of devices about which the Traffic Light will show status/healthy information.
  • Device Group Context controls the list of device groups about which the Traffic Light will show status/healthy information.
  • IT Service Context controls the list of IT Services about which the Traffic Light will show status/healthy information.
  • To read the Organization context, select Organizations in the Source Selection field and then select the Use Context checkbox.
  • To read the
    Device context, select Devices in the Source Selection field and then select the Use Context checkbox.
  • To read the Device Group context, select Device Groups in the Source Selection field and then select the Use Context checkbox.
  • To read the IT Service context, select IT Services in the Source Selection field and then select the Use Context checkbox.

Advanced Context

Using standard context-driving and context-receiving rules, one widget can drive context to or receive context from another. But standard context-driving and context-receiving does not enable you to have a series of widgets where one widget drives context to another, and that widget drives context to a third widget, and so forth.

However, if you need to create such a workflow between multiple widgets within a dashboard, you can do so using advanced context.

For example, if you are monitoring Amazon Web Services (AWS), you could create a dashboard with a series of widgets with the following advanced context workflow:

  • Widget #1 drives context to widget #2. It lists the AWS Regions being monitored. You select one of these regions.
  • Widget #2 receives context from widget #1 and drives context to widget #3. It lists the AWS Availability Zones that fall under the region you selected in widget #1. You select one of these zones.
  • Widget #3 receives context from widget #2 and drives context to widget #4. It lists the AWS EC2 Instances that fall under the zone you selected in widget #3. You select one of these EC2 instances.
  • Widget #4 is a CPU graph that receives context from widget #3. It displays the time-series CPU data for the EC2 instance you selected in widget #3.

To use advanced context in a dashboard widget, click the widget's Options menu and select Advanced Context. The Advanced Context modal page appears.

To create an advanced context for the widget, complete the following fields about the widget's inbound context and/or outbound context: 

Inbound Context

  • Inbound Context Property. Select the property or element that is driving context to this widget. For this and the other context property fields, you can select from elements such as devices, device groups, organizations, and services. If you want to add a property that is not currently listed, click the plus-sign icon () and then type a new property into the text field. When you do so, that property will also appear in the other property drop-down lists on this modal page.
  • Transformation. Select the method in which the inbound context property will be transformed in this widget. Options include:
  • DCM: All children from root. The context property will display as a selectable list of all child devices in the DCM tree that fall under the root device.
  • DCM: All descendants of parent. The context property will display as a selectable list of all devices in the DCM tree that fall under a selected parent device.
  • DCM: Direct children of parent. The context property will display as a selectable list of only those devices in the DCM tree that are direct children of a selected parent device.
  • Device Metrics: Extract Device IDs. The context property will display as the relevant device IDs.
  • Pass-Through. Passes data from one widget to another with no transformation.
  • Widget Context Property. Select the property or element that is being displayed in this widget.

Outbound Context 

  • Widget Context Property. Select the property or element that is being displayed in this widget.
  • Transformation. Select the method in which the outbound context will be transformed in the next widget. The options are the same as the inbound context Transformation field.
  • Outbound Context Property. Select the property or element for which this widget is driving context in the next widget.

When you are finished, click Save.

Editing a Classic Dashboard

You can edit the size and position of a widget by manipulating the pane in which that widget appears:

  • To move a widget, click and hold on the header of the widget, then drag the widget to a new position on the dashboard.
  • To resize a widget, click and hold on the border of the widget, then drag the border to adjust the size.

Each widget has an options menu that appears in the top-right corner of the widget. The widget Options menu includes the following options for manipulating a widget:

  • Configure. Leads to the Widget Configuration modal page, where you can edit the parameters of the widget. The Widget Configuration page displays the configuration panel for the widget with the left NavBar and data type selection buttons automatically hidden. For information about the fields in the Widget Configuration page, see the section on Adding Widgets to a Dashboard.

TIP: If you want to select a new widget, you can show the left NavBar and data type selection buttons by selecting the window icon to the left of the Widget Name field.

  • Copy To.... Leads to the Copy Widget modal page, where you can copy the widget to another dashboard. To copy the widget to another dashboard:
    • Select the dashboard you want to copy the widget to in the Copy Widget To drop-down list. The layout of the selected dashboard with the widget included is displayed in the lower pane.
    • Move the widget to the desired location on the selected dashboard.
    • Click the Copy button.
  • Lower. If widgets are stacked on top of each other in the dashboard, this option sends the widget to the bottom of the stack.
  • Duplicate. Creates a copy of the widget in the current dashboard, using the same widget definition and same parameters as the original widget.
  • Remove. Deletes the widget from the dashboard.

NOTE: This section includes only the options in the drop-down list that modify a widget. The other options in this drop-down list are described in the section on Viewing Dashboards.

The Actions menu in the top-right of the Dashboards tab page includes the following options for editing the dashboard:

  • Shrink Widgets. Automatically resizes each widget to its smallest size, as defined by the developer of the widget.
  • Tile horizontally. Displays all widgets in a single, horizontal row. Each widget will have a height that spans the entire height of the Dashboards tab page.
  • Tile vertically. Displays all widgets in a single, vertical column. Each widget will have a width that spans the entire width of the Dashboards tab page.
  • Tile.... Displays a prompt that asks you to specify the number of rows to use in the display, and then tiles the widgets in to the number of rows you specify.
  • Copy (Save As). Saves a complete copy of the dashboard, including all widgets and dashboard settings. The Dashboard Title for the new dashboard is the Dashboard Titleof the copied dashboard prepended with "Copy of". The new dashboard is opened when you selected this option.
  • Delete Dashboard. Deletes the entire dashboard.

NOTE: This section includes only the options in the drop-down list that modify the dashboard. The other options in this drop-down list are described in the section on Viewing Dashboards.