Monitoring Dashboards

Administration > Operations Console > Monitoring Dashboards

Alternatively, click Monitoring Dashboards.

Monitoring Dashboards rely on events. The status of a widget reflects the severity of the most critical event that matches the filter associated with the widget. The status of a widget changes as the events change. For example, when an event is closed, it no longer matches the filter and its severity no longer affects the status of the widget.

Service Health relies on data collected by OMi monitoring components (for example, SiteScope). The collected and aggregated data is used by the health indicators (HIs) and key performance indicators (KPIs) to indicate the status of the CIs that represent the monitored environment.

OMi provides KPIs that calculate status based on unresolved and unassigned events. However, to achieve KPI-based status calculation, HIs must be mapped to the unresolved and unassigned events. Monitoring Dashboards calculate status based on the events themselves, there is no need to map events to HIs.

My Workspace pages are collections of several components displayed together, and interacting with one another. Within a page, components can pass information to one another, so that one component can react to a change in another.

For example, you can combine the Monitoring Dashboard component with the Event Browser component or the Top View component. By clicking a widget, the context is passed to the Event Browser and Top View. The Event Browser reacts by displaying only events that match the event filter or view. Top View reacts by displaying the view associated with the widget.

• Example: Monitoring Dashboard and Event Browser

  Clicking the Unassigned Events widget causes the Event Browser to display only those events that match the Unassigned Events event filter.

  

• Example: Monitoring Dashboard and Top View

  Clicking the Data Center 1 Overall widget causes Top View to display the Datacenter Topology view associated with the widget, and causes the Event Browser to display only those events that match the Data Center 1 Overall event filter.

  

• Example: Parent and Drill-Down Dashboard on the Same Page

  Clicking the Overview widget causes its drill-down dashboard Example:Operations Manager Overview to be displayed within the second dashboard on the same page. For this to happen, the wiring between these two dashboards has to be configured as described in the Set up wiring between components.

  To display the drill-down dashboard of the dashboard within the same component, use the drill-down icon that is available in the lower right corner of the component. To disable this feature, deselect the Open Drill-Down Dashboards within component option in the Preferences dialog of the parent component.

  

• Context Wiring in My Workspace

  The Monitoring Dashboard component sends the following wiring contexts to target components:

  • EventDashboardClickEvent. The Event Browser reacts to the EventDashboardClickEvent context by displaying only those events that match the filter or view associated with the dashboard widget.

    In case there are more than one monitoring dashboard open, and one of them has drill-down dashboard configured, the other one reacts to the EventDashboardClickEvent context by displaying the drill-down dashboard of the first dashboard widget.

  • ViewChange. The ViewChange context can be consumed by many components, for example the Top View.

  For more information about wiring, see Set up wiring between components.

Monitoring Dashboards can include many different widget types. Some types, such as the Overview, the Simple Status and the Group, enable you to quickly determine the status of the monitored area by displaying a color that reflects the severity of the most critical event (for example, red for the severity critical). The number of events per severity is also shown.

The following types of widgets can be incorporated into a Monitoring Dashboard:

• Overview Widget The number in the upper right-hand corner indicates the number of all events that match the filter and view.

  Overview widgets can be displayed in normal and compact mode. In compact mode, the severity icons and the corresponding numbers are hidden.

  

• Simple Status Widget

  

• Stack Widget

  

• Pie Widget

  

• History Widget. History widgets display the number of events per severity (y axis) against time (x axis).

  

• Group Widget. Group widgets group multiple widgets under a common heading (OMi Server, in the example below).

  The color of the "lamp" in the title bar indicates the severity of the most critical event in the group. If the widgets in the group do not display status information (for example, if no events match the filter), the group widget also does not show any status information.

  

The OOTB Contents for OMi content pack provides several Monitoring Dashboard configurations that demonstrate how Monitoring Dashboards can help users to better monitor the environment.

Most Monitoring Dashboard examples reference shared event filters. The event filters select events based on event categories that Operations Smart Plug-ins add to events. For example, the event category WebLogic is added to events generated by the WebSphere Application Server SPI.

If you do not want the Monitoring Dashboard examples to be available as My Workspace components, you can delete them in the Monitoring Dashboards in Administration.

The following Monitoring Dashboard examples are available:

• Example: Data Center Status. The Data Center Status example gives an overview of events affecting three data and test centers. In the following figure, the dashboard example is combined with a Top View and an Event Browser.

  

  For the Data Center example to display Top View correctly, you must associate it with the appropriate view that you have created in the Modeling Studio:

  Administration > RTSM Administration > Modeling > Modeling Studio

  Alternatively, click Modeling Studio.

• Example: Dispatcher Overview. The Dispatcher Overview example contains widgets that select unassigned and unresolved events. In the following figure, the dashboard example is combined with Event Browser and Event Details.

  

• Example: Lean Status. The Lean Status example shows a horizontal strip of five compact overview widgets. This leaves room for additional My Workspace components such as the Event Browser and Event Details, as shown in the following figure. Users can quickly switch the filter on the Event Browser by clicking a widget.

  

• Example: Operations Manager Overview. The Operations Manager example shows unassigned and unresolved events as well as events that affect various aspects of the environment.

  

• Example: Side Bar. The Side Bar example contains a vertical strip of widgets that you can complement by adding an Event Browser and/or Event Details, as shown in the following figure.

  

Administrators create Monitoring Dashboards by using Monitoring Dashboards in Administration. Each configured Monitoring Dashboard becomes available as a Monitoring Dashboard configuration in My Workspace. If the user has been granted the appropriate permissions, they can load the Monitoring Dashboard configurations into My Workspace pages, as shown in the following figure.

Example Monitoring Dashboards are also provided to help administrators get started.

Use the Content Packs Manager to import and export Monitoring Dashboards.

Go to Administration > Setup and Maintenance > Content Packs. Click  New to create a new content pack. Enter a name and click Next. In the Available Content section, expand the Dashboard Configurations folder. Move the dashboards you would like to export into the Included Content section. Finish creating the content pack, and then import it or export it by following the directions included in Import Content Packs and Export Content Packs.

For information on content packs, see Content Packs.

In this task, you learn how to create a Monitoring Dashboard.

To create a Monitoring Dashboard:

1. Design the dashboard layout.

   Decide which types of widgets you want to display and where they are positioned in the dashboard.

   Tip Sketch the design for later reference.

2. Open Monitoring Dashboards from Administration. Go to Administration > Operations Console > Monitoring Dashboards.

3. In the Dashboards pane, click the  New Item button to open the Create New Dashboard Configuration dialog box.

4. Enter a dashboard name.

5. Optional. Use the column and row buttons to add and remove columns and rows to the dashboard layout.

6. Configure the dashboard widgets:

   1. In the dashboard table, move the cursor to a cell and click the Add button. The Add Widget To Dashboard wizard opens.

   2. Select the type of widget to be added to the table cell, and then click Next.

      For details on widget types, see Add Widget to Dashboard and Edit Widget dialog boxes.

   3. Enter a label for the widget.

   4. Optional. Select a shared event filter from the list of available filters. The contents displayed in the widget are limited to the events selected by the filter.

      Click Manage Event Filters to open the Select an Event Filter dialog box, which enables you to select an event filter for the widget. From the Select an Event Filter dialog box, you can also open the Create New Event Filter dialog box to create an event filter, test, edit or delete an existing event filter.

      Note Monitoring Dashboards only recognize shared event filters. If you reference a filter that is not shared, a warning icon and the following message display: Selected Event Filter is not a Shared Filter. Only Shared Filters can be used for Monitoring Dashboards.

      For details on event filters, see How to Define Event Filters and Sharing Filters.

   5. Optional. Select a view from the list of available views. The contents displayed in the widget are limited to the CIs selected by the view.

      Click Browse Views to open the Select a View dialog box, which enables you to select a view. From the Select a View dialog box, you can also open the Modeling Studio, from which you can manage views.

      Note When selecting views for a Monitoring Dashboard widget, make sure that the dashboard user has permission to open the referenced view.

   6. Click Next.

   7. Optional. Configure Advanced Properties for the widget. The properties vary depending on the type of widget. For details, see Add Widget to Dashboard and Edit Widget dialog boxes.

   8. Click Finish.

   Tip You can use the mouse to resize and move widgets.

7. Configure Advanced Options:

   1. Select the purpose of the dashboard. For example, select Tablet for dashboards that will be viewed on tablet PCs. The default is Desktop.

   2. Optional. Type the URL of the icon to be displayed next to the dashboard name. You can use absolute or relative paths. The icon must be located on the OMi gateway server or on any other web server that is located in the same domain as the OMi gateway server.

8. Click OK to save the Monitoring Dashboard.

9. Grant permissions to the dashboard users to view the configured Monitoring Dashboard in My Workspace. For details, see How to configure access to Monitoring Dashboards.

10. Create a Monitoring Dashboard page in My Workspace. For details, see How to Create a Monitoring Dashboard Page in My Workspace.

Only users with the following permissions can access Monitoring Dashboard configurations in My Workspace and can load these configurations into My Workspace pages:

• Permissions to add or view user-defined My Workspace pages.

• Permissions to clear a view filter. For details, see User Views.

• Full Control permission on Monitoring Dashboards as described in this task.

To configure access for Monitoring Dashboard configurations:

1. Open Users, Groups, and Roles in Administration:

   Administration > Users > Users, Groups, and Roles

   Alternatively, click Users, Groups, and Roles.

2. Depending on whether you want to edit an existing, or create a new role, select either Create New Role or Manage Roles from the Roles frame.

3. In the permissions section, select Operations Console.

4. If you want to grant access to all Monitoring Dashboard configurations, select Monitoring Dashboards (Administration) > Full Control and Monitoring Dashboards > All.

   To grant access to individual Monitoring Dashboard configurations, expand the Monitoring Dashboards resource and select the Full Control check box for the monitoring dashboards that you want to grant permission to work with.

5. Select Save Role to save your changes.

You can alleviate work with monitoring dashboards by enabling quick access to the dashboards that contain the additional information to the one that the operator is seeing in the current dashboard. You can do that by adding a drill-down dashboard that can be easily displayed when working with the dashboard for which it is configured.

To configure a drill-down dashboard for a dashboard:

1. Open Monitoring Dashboards from Administration. Go to Administration > Operations Console > Monitoring Dashboards.

2. In the Dashboards pane, select the dashboard on which you want to create a drill-down dashboard and click the  Edit Item. The Edit Dashboard Configuration dialog box opens.

3. Click the  Edit Item button on the chosen widget to open the Edit Widget dialog box.

4. Open the Advanced Properties tab and select the desired dashboard configuration from the Drill-Down Dashboard drop-down list. Click OK.

5. In the Edit Dashboard Configuration dialog box, click OK to save the dashboard configuration.

You can manage monitoring dashboards from Administration > Operations Console > Monitoring Dashboards by using the buttons, menus and dialog boxes available from the Dashboards and the Details pane. The following lists describe some of the tasks that you can perform in these panes.

Dashboards pane

• Restore To Default: Reverts a customer-modified factory-predefined Monitoring Dashboard to the factory default version. This option is not available for Monitoring Dashboards purely defined by the customer.

• Manage Event Filters: Opens the Manage Event Filters dialog box, enabling you to create an event filter, edit, or delete an existing event filter. For information about defining filters, see Event Filters.

• Launch Dashboard: Opens the selected Monitoring Dashboard in a new browser.

Details pane

• View Mode. Changes the displayed size of the selected Monitoring Dashboard in the Details pane. To change the font size of a Monitoring Dashboard in a browser, use the URL parameter viewMode=<value>, where <value> stands for any of the possible options (compact, medium, and large).

• Layout. Displays a preview of the Monitoring Dashboard selected in the Dashboards pane.

• Properties. Displays the properties of the Monitoring Dashboard selected in the Dashboards pane:

  • Dashboard Purpose. Possible options are Desktop, Tablet, and Phone. The purpose determines where a Monitoring Dashboard can be viewed. Desktop dashboards become available in My Workspace only; tablet and phone dashboards can only be viewed through a mobile device.

  • ID. Internal unique identifier of the Monitoring Dashboard.

    Tip Double-click the ID to copy it to the clipboard.

  • Icon URL. Adds an icon next to the dashboard name. You can use absolute or relative paths. The icon must be located on the OMi Gateway Server or on any other Web server that is located in the same domain as the OMi Gateway Server.

    The icon is only visible when a Monitoring Dashboard is launched outside of My Workspace. The icon does not display in My Workspace pages.

  • Artifact Origin. Predefined, Predefined (Customized), or Custom

    For details on content types, see Content Packs.

Create new dashboard configuration and edit dashboard configuration dialog boxes

The Create New Dashboard Configuration and Edit Dashboard Configuration Dialog Boxes enable you to create new dashboards or modify existing ones.

Display Name. Name of the Monitoring Dashboard. My Workspace users select Monitoring Dashboard configurations by their names. The name is also visible in the My Workspace pages that are based on this dashboard configuration.

	Add a column: Adds a column to the right of the table.
	Remove a column: Removes the right-most table column.
	Add a row: Adds a row at the bottom of the table.
	Remove a row: Removes the last row at the bottom of the table.

<widgets>. Monitoring Dashboard in the table layout. Each widget occupies one or more table cells. Saved Monitoring Dashboard configurations contain only those cells to which a widget has been added. To add a widget to a table cell, move the cursor to the table cell and click the button.

	New Item: Opens the Add Widget To Dashboard wizard, which enables you to define and add widgets to a Monitoring Dashboard.
	Edit Item: Opens the Edit Widget dialog box, which enables you to modify the selected widget.
	Copy Item: Copies the selected widget to the clipboard.
	Paste Item: Pastes a previously copied widget to the selected cell.
	Delete Item: Deletes the selected widget from the dashboard layout.

Add Widget to Dashboard and Edit Widget dialog boxes

The Add Widget to Dashboard wizard enables you to create new widgets. The Edit Widget dialog box enables you to modify the selected widget. Both dialog boxes are similar.

• Select Type. The following widget types are available:

  • Group

  • History

  • Overview

  • Pie

  • Simple Status

  • Stack

  For details on widget types, see Types of Widgets.

  Note The Select Type tab is not available in Edit Widget dialog boxes.

• Properties. The following properties are available:

  • Label: The name of a widget in a Monitoring Dashboard.

  • Icon URL: Adds an icon next to the widget label. You can use absolute or relative paths. The icon must be located on the OMi Gateway Server or on any other Web server that is located in the same domain as the OMi Gateway Server.

    Save custom icons in the directory that maps to the URL /topaz.

    The /topaz URL is mapped to the following directory on the server:
    Windows: HPBSM\AppServer\webapps\site.war\
    Linux: /opt/HP/BSM/AppServer/webapps/site.war/
    

    Access the images > icons folder and place your icons there to add them in OMi with the URL /topaz/images/icons/<custom_icon>.

  • Event Filter: Name of a shared event filter. Monitoring Dashboards only recognize shared event filters. The selected filter can be deselected by selecting <No Filter>.

    Note Monitoring Dashboards only recognize shared event filters. If you reference a filter that is not shared, a warning icon and the following message display: Select a Shared Filter. Otherwise the Dashboard will display unexpected results. You can also manage event filters by clicking the ... (Manage Event Filters) button.

    • <No Filter> Use the drop-down list to open the Event Filter selector from which you can select one of the available event filters.

    • ... (Manage Event Filters) Opens the Select an Event Filter dialog box, enabling you to select the event filter that you want to associate with the widget.

      From the Select an Event Filter dialog box, you can also open the Create New Event Filter dialog box to create an event filter, test, edit or delete an existing event filter.

  • View Filter: Name of an RTSM view.

    • <No Filter> Use the drop-down list to open the View Filter S/selector from which you can select one of the available views.

    • ... (Browse Views) Opens the Select a View dialog box, enabling you to select the view that you want to associate with the widget. The contents displayed in the widget are limited to the CIs selected by the view.

      From the Select a View dialog box, you can also open the Modeling Studio from which you can manage views.

• Advanced Properties. Each widget type supports different advanced properties:

  • Show Animation: Enables animated status transitions. Applies to History, Pie, and Stack widgets only. Default: selected.

  • Compact Mode: Hides detailed severity numbers and icons so that only the overall severity and number of events display. Applies to Overview widgets only. Default: not selected.

  • Show Event Count: Shows the number of events matching the filter or view. Applies to Simple Status widgets only. Default: selected.

  • Time Span (in minutes): Defines the number of minutes displayed on the x axis of History widgets. For example, 10 shows the events of the last 10 minutes, 120 shows the events of the last 2 hours. Applies to History widgets only. Default: 10 minutes. Minimum: 10 minutes.

  • Drill-Down Dashboard: Enables you to create a drill-down dashboard for a widget by selecting the chosen dashboard configuration from the available drop-down list. Applies to all widgets except groups. Default: <None>.

If a widget in a Monitoring Dashboard contains just the exclamation mark icon () and the No matching event filter found for Dashboard Widget tooltip is displayed when hovering on the widget, either change the event filter or create the required one.

If a widget in a Monitoring Dashboard is empty, check whether the Hide filter errors option in the Preferences dialog is selected.

If a widget in a Monitoring Dashboard contains just the exclamation mark icon () and the No matching view filter found for Dashboard Widget tooltip is displayed when hovering on the widget, the referenced RTSM view does not exist.

If a widget in a Monitoring Dashboard contains just the exclamation mark icon () and the More than one matching event filter found for Dashboard Widget tooltip is displayed when hovering on the widget, multiple filters have the same name, and the Monitoring Dashboard is unable to identify the filter to use with the widget.

If a widget in a Monitoring Dashboard contains just the exclamation mark icon () and the No permission to clear view filter for Dashboard Widget tooltip is displayed when hovering on the widget, you probably do not have permission to remove the view-based filtering in order to see all events.

If a widget in a Monitoring Dashboard contains just the exclamation mark icon () and the No permission to set view filter for Dashboard Widget tooltip is displayed when hovering on the widget, the user does not have the permissions required for the referenced view.

If the drill-down icon is not displayed in a widget with the configured drill-down dashboard, check whether the Open Drill-Down Dashboards within component option in the Preferences dialog is deselected.

The layout of Monitoring Dashboards that were created manually in OMi 9.20 may not display correctly in the Dashboard Designer, for example if the layout contains group widgets. Typical problems include:

• Dashboard Details Pane. The dashboard layout overlaps the dashboard properties.

• Edit Dashboard Dialog Box. Some widgets appear to be missing. History widgets may not display a graph.

To solve these problems, recreate the original layout by moving and resizing the widgets as required.