Portal is accessed using a web browser. Simply enter the URL into the web browser address field and, if necessary, log in. For the exact URL and credentials, contact your Portal Administrator.

The Home screen provides access to dashboards and options based on the permissions assigned to your account. Portal supports both light and dark themes.

Portal allows you to create, manage, and view dashboards. A dashboard is a visual display of key performance indicators allowing you to monitor application performance. Typically, the displayed information is consolidated and arranged on a single screen to allow for at-a-glance monitoring.

Dashboards provide these features and functions:

This table lists the types of dashboards that are available in Portal.

The dashboard types are described in the following sections.

Application dashboards are based on defined application models. (Application models consist of the servers and relationships used by applications.) From each defined application map, Portal generates these dashboards based on the available metrics from data sources:

While you can make configuration edits, you cannot change the metric data shown in application dashboards. However, depending on the change, modifying application models can alter the information shown in the dashboards.

Application dashboards can be shared with other users. If an application model is altered after being shared, the shared users will see the changes after the changes are published.

If assigned the Drill-down Access permission, you can drill down for detailed information.

The dashboard’s content creator creates custom dashboards to satisfy monitoring requirements not met by application dashboards. Custom dashboards are crafted to display the necessary metrics and drill-downs to identify and troubleshoot application performance issues.

A custom dashboard can be created using one or more of these methods:

After being created, a custom dashboard can be shared with other users. If the dashboard is edited after being shared, the shared users will see the changes after the changes are published.

If assigned the Drill-down Access permission, you can drill down for detailed information.

Default dashboards are automatically created based on metric data from the available data sources. When the available data sources and metric data change, the information shown in the default dashboards also change.

A default dashboard cannot be edited. However, a default dashboard can be saved as a custom dashboard, and edited as necessary. Additionally, panels can be copied from a default dashboard to a custom dashboard, and edited as necessary.

If assigned the Drill-down Access permission, you can drill down for detailed information.

A drill-down dashboard can be saved as a custom dashboard and edited as necessary.

Use the search option to search across all connected data sources for an object, such as a business group, web application, host, device, or IP address. The type-ahead feature displays matching results as you type. Click the object and choose one of the available templates to view data for that object. Alternatively, click the “Show all results for...” link to see the “Search Results for...” page. You can also use the search option to search for your custom dashboards (by name) and open them from the list of matching results. For more information, see Creating dashboards using search.

The data source status appears in the upper-left corner of the Home screen.

 

This table lists the possible statuses.

If the status indicates that data sources are disconnected, then a user with the ability to manage data sources can start the troubleshooting process by attempting to reconnect data sources. Double-click the data source status icon, select the disconnected data source, and then click Reconnect. For more information see Content Creators: About Data Sources, Objects, Metrics.

Portal implements a uniform user interface, making it easy to learn and use. For more information, see:

Perform these actions to navigate within the dashboards:

Use dashboard groups to organize dashboards on the Home screen (requires Dashboard Configuration read-write permission).

Dashboard groups are global for the Portal instance; all users share the same set of groups. However, not all groups have to be visible on all users’ Home screens.

These dashboard groups are created and populated automatically:

Built-in dashboard groups will not appear on the Home screen if they are empty or you removed them.

Use the Dashboard Group Navigator to quickly access other dashboards without returning to the Home screen. Click the dark bar on the left side of a dashboard to access the Dashboard Group Navigator, which shows an outline view of groups and dashboards with the open dashboard highlighted.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) on Home screen cards give you a quick view of the status of the items you are monitoring.

KPIs are provided for many default dashboards and for other curated content (for example, instances of dashboard templates such as Host Details and Application Details).

Custom dashboard templates (see Content Creators: Custom Dashboard Templates) support KPIs. If a KPI is set on a custom dashboard and you templatize it, Portal will try to templatize the KPI.

You can disable all the KPIs on your Home screen. To do this, choose Administration > Dashboards: User Dashboard Settings, and then clear the Enable KPI on Home Screen check box.

You can also disable KPIs for all users (requires Dashboard Configuration read-write permission). To do this, choose Administration > Dashboards: Global Dashboard Settings, and then clear the Enable KPI on Home Screen check box.

Dashboard content creators can add KPIs to dashboards (one KPI per dashboard). You can add KPIs to a dashboard from the Home screen or from the dashboard (in edit mode). To create or edit a KPI, you must have the read-write Resource Configuration permission and access to the dashboard. If a dashboard has multiple content options, the KPI is tied to just one of them.

When adding a KPI, the Object Selection Wizard opens in single-select mode.

To customize a KPI for a dashboard, select Modify KPI for Dashboard... from the gear icon on the dashboard’s Home screen card or from the gear icon in the toolbar from the dashboard’s edit screen.

Regardless of the type (application, custom, default), dashboards are comprised of panels, and panels are comprised of elements.

In the following figure, the sample dashboard has six panels. Also note the About the dashboard toolbar in the upper-right corner. The available toolbar options are dependent upon your assigned permissions and the dashboard type.

The following figure shows a single panel. In this case, each line is an element. Depending on your assigned permissions and the dashboard type, you can right-click an element for additional options. Also note the Panel toolbar that appears when you mouse over the upper-right corner of the panel. The available toolbar options are dependent upon your assigned permissions and the dashboard type.

When a dashboard is created, the dashboard’s content creator selects the appropriate element type for the metric. The available element types are area graph, bar chart, compact row, donut chart, gauge, historic comparison row, geographic map, LED, LED Column, LED series, line graph, pie chart, sparkline, table, text, and value row.

When on the Home screen or viewing a dashboard, you can change the time range for a broader or narrower perspective.

When specifying the time range, you can choose between the Live (Most recent) option and Static (Custom) option.

Use the Live (Most recent) option to determine the current state of an application. The Most recent option is a live search from the current time to a specified amount of time in the past (for example, 1 hour, 4 hours, 1 day, and so on). The Home screen or dashboard is updated at regular intervals, since the current time is always moving forward.

Use the Static (Custom) option to identify performance trends over a specified time period in the past (for example, CPU usage for last month).

Under certain conditions, even if you have the assigned permission, you may not be able to change the time range for a custom dashboard. If the dashboard’s content creator locks the time range for a custom dashboard, then other users are prohibited from changing the time range. Additionally, if the dashboard’s content creator specifies a time range for a specific panel in a custom dashboard, then changing the time range for the dashboard will not change the time range for the panel.

All of the KPIs on the Home screen respect the specified time range.

Wide time ranges can impact performance. For best performance, keep time ranges as narrow as possible. If you do need to specify a wide time range, be sure to reset the time range to a narrower time range when your analysis is complete.

To access a specific dashboard, click the card on the Home screen. See About the Home screen.

Here are some typical cards.

The dashboard toolbar is located in the upper-right corner of all dashboards.

The dashboard toolbar provides quick access to common operations. The availability of certain options is dependent on the type of dashboard (application, custom, default), the current dashboard mode (monitor, edit), and the permissions assigned to your account.

This table lists the dashboard toolbar options.

Each panel has a toolbar for performing options on the panel. To display the toolbar, mouse over the upper-right corner of the panel.

This table lists the panel toolbar options.

You can customize the look and behavior of dashboards to suit your personal preference, including:

These and other customizations are defined with the User Settings option.