dashboards

Dashboards management

Dashboards are the core of monitoring, providing a centralized view of your infrastructure metrics. They allow you to organize and visualize data from multiple servers in customizable layouts. Table of Contents - Overview - Creating Dashboards - Managing Dashboards - Working with Visualizations - Grid Layout - Time Range Selection Overview A dashboard is a collection of visualizations (charts and graphs) that display metrics from your monitored servers. Each dashboard is shared in an organization and can contain unlimited visualizations arranged in a flexible grid layout. Key Features - Flexible Grid Layout: Drag, drop, and resize visualizations - Real-time Updates: Metrics refresh automatically - Multi-server Support: Monitor multiple servers in a single dashboard - Customizable Time Ranges: View data from minutes to months - Synchronized Tooltips: Compare metrics across visualizations - Fullscreen Mode: Distraction-free monitoring view - Sharing: Generate public links for read-only access - Cloning: Duplicate dashboards to create similar setups quickly Creating Dashboards Create a New Dashboard 1. Navigate to any existing dashboard 2. Click your organization name in the sidebar 3. Click the "+" button next to "Dashboards" 4. Enter a dashboard name and optional description 5. Click "Create Dashboard" Dashboard Properties - Name (required): A descriptive name for your dashboard - Description (optional): Additional context about the dashboard's purpose Managing Dashboards Rename a Dashboard 1. Click the dashboard name at the top of the page 2. Enter the new name in the edit field 3. Press Enter or click outside to save 4. Press Escape to cancel Dashboard Actions Menu Click the ellipsis menu (⋯) in the top-right corner to access: Share Dashboard Generate a public, read-only link that can be accessed without authentication. Perfect for: - Sharing status with clients - Embedding in external tools - Displaying on public status pages - Team dashboards for read-only access Clone Dashboard Create a complete copy of the dashboard including all visualizations, configurations, and host associations. Useful for: - Creating similar dashboards for different environments - Templating common monitoring setups - Experimenting with layouts without affecting the original - Quick setup of new monitoring dashboards Delete Dashboard Permanently remove the dashboard and all its visualizations. ⚠️ Warning: - This action cannot be undone - All visualizations will be deleted - You cannot delete your organization's last dashboard Working with Visualizations Visualizations are the individual charts and graphs that display your metrics. Add a Visualization 1. Click "Add visualization" button 2. Select the metric to display (CPU, memory, network, etc.) 3. Choose dimensions if applicable (e.g., for bidirectional metrics like network traffic) 4. Select one or more hosts to monitor 5. Configure grouping options (per-device, per-interface, total, etc.) 6. Set chart type (line or area chart) 7. Optionally enable stacking for area charts 8. Add a title and optional description 9. Click "Create Visualization" Available Metrics FiveNines supports a comprehensive set of metrics: System Metrics - CPU Usage: Overall usage, per-core, distribution (user/system/iowait/steal) - Memory Usage: Total, used, cached, buffers, free - Load Average: 1-minute, 5-minute, 15-minute averages - Network: Bytes, packets, errors, drops (per interface) - Disk I/O: Bytes read/write, operations, time, merged operations - Partitions: Usage, distribution (per partition) Virtualization Metrics - KVM/QEMU VMs: CPU, memory, disk I/O, network, IOPS - Proxmox: VM/LXC metrics, node metrics, storage metrics - Docker Containers: CPU, memory, network per container Service Metrics - RAID: Device status, active/failed/spare devices - Processes: CPU and memory usage per process - Ping Latency: Response times to different regions Metric Dimensions Some metrics have multiple related measurements: - Bidirectional: Network (recv/sent), disk (read/write) - Regional: Ping latency (Asia/Europe/USA) - Temporal: Load averages (1m/5m/15m) - Distribution: CPU breakdown (user/system/iowait/steal) Visualization Options Chart Types - Line Chart: Shows trends over time (default) - Area Chart: Filled line chart, useful for stacked metrics Stacking For area charts, you can stack multiple series on top of each other. Useful for: - Memory distribution (used + cached + buffers + free) - CPU distribution (user + system + iowait + steal) - Showing total combined values Grouping Options Depending on the metric, you can group by: - Per-device: Show separate series for each disk, interface, VM, etc. - Per-instance: Show aggregated totals per server - Total: Aggregate all devices into a single value Configure a Visualization 1. Click the gear icon on a visualization card 2. Select "Configure" from the dropdown 3. Modify any settings 4. Click "Update Visualization" Clone a Visualization Quickly create a similar visualization: 1. Click the gear icon on a visualization card 2. Select "Clone" 3. A copy will be created with the same settings 4. Configure the cloned visualization as needed Delete a Visualization 1. Click the gear icon on a visualization card 2. Select "Delete" 3. Confirm the deletion ⚠️ Warning: This action cannot be undone. Grid Layout Dashboards use a flexible grid system that allows you to arrange visualizations exactly as you want. Resize Visualizations 1. Hover over any visualization 2. Drag the resize handle in the bottom-right corner 3. Release to set the new size Tip: Larger visualizations show more detail and are easier to read. Move Visualizations 1. Hover over any visualization 2. Click and drag the header bar (the gray/dark area at the top) 3. Release to place the visualization in a new location The grid automatically adjusts other visualizations to accommodate the move. Layout Tips - Group related metrics: Place related visualizations near each other - Size by importance: Make critical metrics larger and more prominent - Use full width: Network and disk I/O charts benefit from horizontal space - Stack vertically: Comparison metrics work well stacked vertically - Leave whitespace: Don't overcrowd; use space to separate logical groups Time Range Selection Control the time range for all visualizations on a dashboard. Using the Time Picker The time range picker appears in the top navigation bar: 1. Click the time range selector 2. Choose from quick ranges: - Last 5 minutes - Last 15 minutes - Last 30 minutes - Last 1 hour - Last 3 hours - Last 6 hours - Last 12 hours - Last 24 hours - Last 7 days - Last 30 days 3. Or select a custom date/time range All visualizations update automatically when you change the time range. Synchronized Tooltips Enable tooltip synchronization to compare metrics across visualizations: 1. Toggle "Sync tooltips" in the top-right corner (enabled by default) 2. Hover over any visualization 3. All visualizations show data for the same timestamp This makes it easy to correlate events across different metrics (e.g., CPU spike with network increase). Fullscreen Mode View your dashboard without distractions. Enable Fullscreen 1. Click the fullscreen icon in the top-right corner 2. Dashboard expands to fill your entire screen 3. Navigation and sidebar are hidden Exit Fullscreen - Press Escape key - Or click the fullscreen icon again Use Case: Perfect for displaying dashboards on wall monitors or during incident response. Troubleshooting No Data Showing Possible causes: - Hosts are offline or agent not running - Time range is outside of available data - Metric not collected on selected hosts Solutions: 1. Check if hosts are online in the Hosts page 2. Verify the agent is running on the host 3. Try a different time range 4. Check if the metric exists for the selected hosts Visualizations Not Updating Possible causes: - Network connectivity issue - Browser tab is inactive (updates paused) Solutions: 1. Refresh the page 2. Check your internet connection Dashboard Loading Slowly Possible causes: - Too many visualizations - Very long time range (30+ days) - Too many hosts selected Solutions: 1. Reduce the number of visualizations 2. Use a shorter time range 3. Split into multiple dashboards 4. Use "Total" grouping instead of "per-device" 5. Limit host selection to critical servers Solutions: 1. Check you have "create dashboard" permission 2. Contact your organization administrator Share Link Not Working Possible causes: - Dashboard deleted - URL copied incorrectly Solutions: 1. Verify the dashboard still exists 2. Click "Share" again to generate/verify the link 3. Copy the complete URL including the slug parameter FAQ How many dashboards can I create? There's no limit on the number of dashboards per organization. However, we recommend keeping it organized with focused, purpose-specific dashboards rather than creating many unused ones. Can I export dashboard configurations? Currently, dashboard configurations cannot be exported. Use the clone feature to create backups or duplicates within your organization. Can I share dashboards with specific users? Not directly. Share links are public to anyone with the URL. For team collaboration, all organization members can access all dashboards. Use user roles and permissions to control who can create, edit, or delete dashboards. Do cloned dashboards update the original? No. Clones are completely independent. Changes to a clone don't affect the original, and vice versa. Can I undo dashboard deletion? No. Dashboard deletion is permanent and cannot be undone. Make sure you have backups or clones before deleting. How long are share links valid? Share links never expire as long as the dashboard exists. To revoke access, you must delete the dashboard (which will break the share link). Why do some metrics show "Top 10"? High-cardinality metrics (VMs, containers, disks) are automatically limited to the top 10 series to prevent overwhelming the chart and ensure good performance. The top 10 are selected by average value over the time range. Can I set default time ranges per dashboard? No. Time range selection is global and applies to all dashboards. Your browser remembers your last selected time range across sessions. What's the difference between "instance" and "per-device" grouping? - Instance: Shows one line per host (aggregating all devices) - Per-device: Shows separate lines for each device (eth0, eth1, sda, sdb, etc.) Use "instance" for overview dashboards, "per-device" for troubleshooting specific components.