Skylar Analytics: Data Visualization and Data Exploration

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The Data Visualization component of Skylar Analytics contains dashboards and charts based on data gathered by Skylar AI. Data Visualization is achieved using a ScienceLogic-hosted instance of Apache Superset or with your own third party tool.

Currently, this data includes metrics for file systems, network interfaces, and all Dynamic Applications, with more metrics planned for future Skylar updates.

The dashboards, charts, and reports in the Data Visualization component of Skylar Analytics are not compatible with SL1 dashboards, widgets, or reports.

The optional Data Exploration component enables third-party tools that use the Microsoft Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) interface to access the metric data from Skylar AI. This component lets you use ODBC to connect Skylar AI data with Tableau, Microsoft BI, and other business intelligence tools.

This chapter will provide a general overview of how to view the charts, graphs, and other reports in the Skylar Analytics user interface, along with tips and best practices for users of SL1 and Skylar AI.

What is Data Visualization?

Before the initial release of Skylar Analytics, SL1 stored data in a proprietary format that was not easily exported to other third-party applications for further research and insight. Skylar Analytics takes the data gathered by SL1 and Skylar AI, normalizes it, and makes it available in standard ODBC database format.

The data originates from SL1 data collectors, undergoes processing, and is then simultaneously transmitted to Skylar via API.

ScienceLogic hosts an instance of Apache Superset as an option for Data Visualization that lets you explore and view your data using business intelligence (BI) dashboards. You can also leverage the Data Visualization component with your existing BI tools for your company that support ODBC.

Image of the Skylar Analytics Visualization Variety Testing dashboard.

Because ScienceLogic does not own the underlying framework for the Data Visualization and Data Exploration components, ScienceLogic is not responsible for maintaining or updating documentation for third-party open-source software, including Apache Superset. For the most current and accurate information, see Additional Resources for Skylar Analytics.

Viewing Dashboards and Charts in Data Visualization

The Data Visualization component of Skylar Analytics contains dashboards and charts based on data gathered by Skylar AI and SL1.

The dashboards in the Data Visualization component of Skylar Analytics are not compatible with SL1 dashboards, widgets, or reports.

To log in to the Data Visualization component of Skylar Analytics:

  1. From SL1, go to the Skylar AI page () and click the Visit button for Skylar Data Visualization. The Skylar AI login page appears.

  2. Click Analytics and type in your user name and password. The Home page for Data Visualization component of Skylar Analytics appears:

    Image of an Skylar Analytics home page.

To return to the Skylar AI login page, click the Skylar Analytics icon at top left.

The Home page contains links to the dashboards and charts that you have used the most, including those that you have marked as favorites (). You can also create a dashboard or a chart from this page, and you can view all dashboards and charts by clicking the View All link.

For Skylar Analytics, you will mainly use the following tabs to view SL1 and Skylar AI data visualizations:

Viewing and Customizing Skylar Analytics Dashboards

A dashboard in Skylar Analytics is similar to a dashboard in SL1, in that they both contain a number of graphical "widgets" that display data in a variety of ways, such as pie charts, line graphs, maps, bar charts, and other visualizations. In Skylar Analytics, a widget is called a "chart".

Unlike dashboards in SL1, a dashboard in Skylar Analytics is used only for laying out the various charts that make up that dashboard. You can use charts to customize the data. One significant difference is that a chart, when modified, impacts all dashboards using that chart definition. Charts can be duplicated to be modified for different analyses on different dashboards.

Image of an Skylar Analytics Filesystem Overview page.

Default Skylar Analytics Dashboards

The Dashboards tab for Skylar Analytics contains the following default dashboards:

  • Filesystem Overview + Exploration (Sample).
    • Displays 95th percentile data, file system utilization distribution (as a percentage and Gigibit or GiB), and "Space Hogs" (the devices using the most file system space). 
    • You can click a device name on the "Space Hogs" pie chart to display chart details specifically for that device.
    • Also includes the Ad-Hoc Comparative Analysis tab, which displays additional file system charts for all devices or selected devices from the Overview tab.
  • Filesystem Statistics (Sample). Displays a pie chart of "Space Hogs" (the devices using the most file system space), file system utilization as a percentage, file system inventory by host, and file system usage distribution.
  • Filesystem Usage (Sample).
    • Displays a set of file system usage, utilization, 95th percentile and Top-N inventory charts for all devices, including a pie chart of "Space Hogs" (the devices using the most file system space).
    • You can click a device name on the "Space Hogs" pie chart to display chart details specifically for that device.
  • Interface Statistics (Sample). Displays interface traffic in a variety of charts, including active hosts, active interfaces, dropped packets, and 95th percentile for the last 30 days (as a percentage and MIBPs).
  • Most Significant Resource Changes (Sample).
    • Displays devices with the highest delta of file system usage, along with average file system usage, Top-N interface usage delta, and interface traffic in the past seven days.
    • You can click a device name on the "Top-N Filesystem Usage" or the "Top-N Interface Usage" tables to display chart details specifically for that device.  
  • Visualization Variety Testing (Sample).
    • Displays a variety of chart visualizations related to file system utilization, including a table, a "big number" with a line graph, a gauge, a set of tree maps, and a sunburst map.
    • This table is not meant to be informational so much as an example of the types of visualizations you can use with Skylar Analytics.

Each default dashboard has the word "(Sample)" or "(Skylar)" at the end of its name to show that it is a ScienceLogic dashboard, and also to remind you to duplicate any of these dashboards or charts if you wish to make modifications. They are also owned by the System Administrator ("SA") user. These SA-owned dashboards and charts might be updated by ScienceLogic periodically.

Working with Skylar Analytics Dashboards

You can use the following tips to get more data from your Skylar Analytics dashboards:

  • For most dashboards, you can click a single device or item in the first chart at the top left of the Dashboard page to view data specific to just that device. Click the device a second time to clear the filter.
  • Hover over a graphical element in a chart, such as a piece of a pie chart or a colored metric in a tree map to view a pop-up with more information about that element.
  • Click Edit Dashboard to make changes to the dashboard and the charts that comprise the dashboard. For more information, see https://docs.preset.io/docs/creating-a-dashboard.

The following image displays a dashboard with a device selected in the "Space Hogs" graph that forces the other graphs to only display data for that device:

Image of an Skylar Analytics Filesystem Statistic page with a device filter.

When viewing a dashboard, you can click the horizontal ellipsis button () at the top right of the Dashboard page to open a menu with the following dashboard options:

  • Refresh dashboard. Updates all of the charts in the dashboard to account for any changes you might have made.
  • Enter fullscreen. Displays the browser window containing the dashboard display as full screen. Select Exit fullscreen from the menu to return to the previous setting.
  • Save as. Lets you save a copy of the dashboard, with the option of overwriting the existing dashboard or changing the name to make a new dashboard (if you have appropriate permissions).
  • Download. Lets you export the dashboard as a PDF or download the dashboard as an image.
  • Share. Lets you copy a permalink to the chart to the clipboard of your computer, and also lets you share a chart using email.
  • Set auto-refresh interval. Lets you choose how often you want Skylar Analytics to update the data for the dashboard. The default is Don't refresh.

On a Dashboard page, you can also click the vertical ellipsis button () at the top right of a chart on the dashboard to open a menu with the following chart options:

  • Enter fullscreen. Displays the browser window containing just this chart display as full screen. Click the Exit fullscreen icon () or select Exit fullscreen from the menu to return to the previous setting.
  • Edit chart. Opens the Edit Chart page so you can add metrics, edit queries, and make other updates to this chart. Click Save to keep your changes (if you have appropriate permissions).
  • Cross-filtering scoping. Lets you add cross-filtering, which lets you apply a data element from a chart (like a table row or a slice from a pie chart) and then apply it as a filter across all eligible charts in the dashboard. For more information, see https://docs.preset.io/docs/cross-filtering#scoping-cross-filters.
  • View query. Displays the SQL query for that chart.
  • View as table. Displays the chart in table format.
  • Drill to detail. Displays all the data that makes up a chart. For more information, see https://docs.preset.io/docs/drilling-to-chart-details.
  • Share. Lets you copy a shareable chart link to your system's clipboard, or launches your system's default email client and composes a new message featuring the chart URL.
  • Download. Lets you export the chart to .CSV or Excel, or you can download the chart as an image.

To customize a dashboard:

  1. Select the dashboard from the Dashboards page. You can also hover over the dashboard and click the Edit icon.

  2. On the Dashboard page, click Edit Dashboard. The Edit Dashboard page appears:

    Image of an Edit Dashboard page.

  3. For more information, see https://docs.preset.io/docs/creating-a-dashboard.

    To watch a related video, see https://superset.apache.org/docs/using-superset/creating-your-first-dashboard/.

Viewing and Customizing Skylar Analytics Charts

A chart in Skylar Analytics works much like a "widget" in SL1, in that a chart in Skylar Analytics is a building block that makes up a dashboard, and a dashboard can contain many charts. 

On the Dashboards tab in Skylar Analytics, the "Visualization Variety Testing (Sample)" dashboard contains a variety of chart visualizations related to file system utilization, including a table, a "big number" with a line graph, a gauge, a set of tree maps, and a sunburst map. You can use this dashboard to see how these different types of charts might work for your data.

For more information about the types of charts you can use in a Skylar Analytics dashboard, see https://docs.preset.io/docs/chart-walkthroughs.

Working with Skylar Analytics Charts

To create or customize a chart:

  1. Select the chart from the Charts page, or edit the chart from an existing dashboard. If you are creating a new chart, click the +Chart button on the Charts page.

  2. On the Chart page, click Edit Chart. The Edit Chart page appears:

    Image of an Skylar Analytics Edit Chart page.

  3. You can drag and drop Metrics and Columns into the Query panel to configure your visualization. For more information, see https://docs.preset.io/docs/creating-a-chart.

Additional Tips for Creating and Customizing Charts

Each data type includes a small icon that conveys its type:

  • ƒ: Function used for metrics
  • Clock: The time column for the data source
  • ABC: Text data
  • #: Numeric value data

Viewing Skylar Analytics Datasets

Datasets are curated representations of the data in your database that let you quickly create dashboards and charts in Skylar Analytics. These dashboards and charts are based on the metrics stored in the datasets. In Skylar Analytics, each dataset contains a set of related metrics, such as server reports, which you can use to build a custom dashboard or chart or to enhance an existing dashboard or chart.

You will not need to create new datasets for Skylar Advisor.

Data Exploration: Exporting Data from Skylar AI

You can use the optional Data Exploration component of Skylar Analytics to enable Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) to connect Skylar AI data with third-party tools like Grafana, Power BI, Tableau, Cognos, Crystal Reports, SAP, Excel, and other business intelligence applications.

Data Exploration lets you view Skylar AI data alongside other business sources, offering a holistic perspective on your operations.

Configuring Skylar Analytics Data Exploration with Power BI

This section covers how to set up an ODBC connection for Skylar Analytics so you can use it with Power BI for data visualization. Other business intelligence applications will use a similar process to integrate with Skylar Analytics.

To install and configure the ODBC connection:

  1. Go to the ClickHouse ODBC driver releases page at https://github.com/ClickHouse/clickhouse-odbc/releases.

  2. Download the relevant version for your operating system.

  3. Open the ODBC Data Source Administrator application.

  4. On the User DSN tab, click Add. The Create New Data Source dialog appears:

    Image of the ODBC Create New Data Source dialog.

  5. Select ClickHouse ODBC (Unicode) and click Finish. The Create data source for Clickhouse dialog appears:

    Image of the ODBC Create data source for ClickHouse dialog.

  6. Complete the following fields with ODBC connection details from ScienceLogic SRE:

  • Name: Add a name to identify this connection. This will be used later in the BI tools.
  • Host: Specify the host URL, provided by SRE.
  • Port: 443.
  • Database: Leave blank.
  • SSLMode: Type the word "require".
  • User: dataviz
  • Password: Specify the password, provided by SRE.

To connect your BI tool, such as the Power BI Desktop:

  1. Launch the Power BI Desktop and click Blank Report.

  2. Click Get data from another source, select Other, and then select ODBC.

  3. Click Connect.

  4. In the pop-up window, click the drop-down menu and select the ODBC connection you just created in the previous procedure.

  5. Click OK.

  6. If prompted, re-enter your username and password, and then click Connect.

  7. After you are connected, a menu will appear displaying available datasets, which you can use to create dashboards in your BI tool:

    Image of the Power BI Navigator dialog.

To import data and create a dashboard with Skylar AI data in Power BI:

When selecting datasets to import, choose only the necessary tables to optimize performance. The following procedure creates a sample dashboard in Power BI.

  1. On the Home screen of the Power BI Desktop, click New Visual.

  2. Select a Line Chart as an example.

  3. To configure the X-Axis, expand the fsstattab dataset from the right-hand Data Column.

  4. Drag fsstat_ts (Timestamp) to the X-Axis in the Visualizations panel.

  5. Remove the options for Year, Quarter, and Month, keeping only Day:

    Image of the x-axis dialog.

  6. To configure the Y-Axis, drag fsstat_used_pct_psec (Used Percentage Per Second) to the Y-Axis.

  7. To customize the data fields, click the drop-down arrow next to the selected data field. You can rename the field or modify how the value is calculated:

    Image of the customize dialog.

  8. Continue adding additional charts and visuals as needed to finish up your dashboard.

Additional Resources for Skylar Analytics (Apache Superset Training)

This section has been provided as an independent study guide to help you identify and develop basic knowledge and skills to build data visualizations within Skylar Analytics user interface.

Because ScienceLogic does not own the underlying framework for the Data Visualization and Data Exploration components, ScienceLogic is not responsible for maintaining or updating documentation for third-party open-source software, including Apache Superset.

Apache Superset-related documentation: https://superset.apache.org/docs/intro

ScienceLogic recommends the following resources for a deeper understanding of Apache Superset: