Creating dashboards

Note: Only users with Write or Admin permissions can create and edit dashboards.

How to create a new Dashboard in groundcover?

1. Navigate to the Dashboard List and click on the Create New Dashboard button.

2. Provide an indicative name for your dashboard and, optionally, a description.

Steps to creating a Dashboard

1. Create a new widget

2. Choose a Widget Type

3. Select a Widget Mode

4. Build your query

5. Choose a Display Type

6. Save the widget

Optional:

1. Add variables

2. Apply variable(s) to the widget

Create a new Widget

Widgets can be added by clicking on the Create New Widget button.

Choose a Widget Type

Widgets are the main building blocks of dashboards. groundcover supports the following widget types:

• Chart Widget: Visualize your data through various display types.

• Textual Widget: Add context to your dashboard, such as headers or instructions for issue investigations.

Since selecting a Textual Widget is the last step for this type of widget, the rest of this guide is relevant only to Chart Widgets.

Select a Widget Mode

• Metrics: Work with all your available metrics for advanced use cases and custom metrics.

• Infra Metrics: Use expert-built, predefined queries for common infrastructure scenarios. Ideal for quick starts.

• Logs: Query and visualize log data.

• Traces: Query and visualize trace data similar to logs.

Build your query

Once the Widget Mode selected, build your query for the visualization.

If you're unfamiliar with query building in groundcover, refer to the Query Builder section for full details on the different components.

Choose a Display Type

Type	Configuration options	Supported modes
Time Series	Choose a Y-axis unit from the predefined list. Select a visualization type: Stacked Bar or Line Chart.	Metrics Infra Metrics Logs Traces
Table	Define columns based on data fields or metrics. Choose a Y-axis unit from the predefined list.	Metrics Infra Metrics Logs Traces
Stat	Select a Y-axis unit from the predefined list.	Metrics Infra Metrics Logs Traces
Top List	Choose a ranking metric and sort order.	Logs Traces
Pie	Select a data source and aggregation method.	Logs Traces

Variables

Variables dynamically filter your entire dashboard or specific widgets with just one click. They consist of a key-value pair that you define once and reuse across multiple widgets.

Our predefined variables cover most use cases, but if you’re missing an important one, let us know. Advanced variables are also on our roadmap.

Adding a Variable

1. Click on Add Variable and configure the variable using the following fields.

2. The data source to be used:

   1. Suggested Variables - A predefined list of popular variables which use 'All Datasources' behind the scenes.

   2. All Datsources - Will show values for the chosen key from logs, traces, all metrics, and events.

   3. Traces, Logs, Events - Only show values for the chosen key for data coming from these sources.

   4. Metrics - Show values for a chosen label key from a chosen metric name.

3. Choose the label key to be used to fetch values from the data source selected.

4. Choose the name of the variable to be used in the widgets with $ as explained below.

Using a Variable

Variables can be referenced in the Filter Bar of the Widget Creation Modal using their name.

1. In this following example we selected Clusters from the predefined list, and named it 'clusters'.

2. While creating or editing a Chart Widget, add a reference to the variable using a dollar sign in the filter bar, (for example, $clusters).

3. The data will automatically filter by the variable's key with the selected values. If all values are selected, the filter will be followed by an asterisk (for example, cluster:.*)

1. After configuring the Variable in the widget queries, you may select the values you which to filter and choose the default to be used when the dashboard loads on first time.

2. After selecting values in at least one Variable, all other relevant Variables will render an 'Associated Values' section in the dropdown list. This list renders the values of the selected variable's key which are associated with the values of the currently selected variables' keys.

   1. For example- selecting the value production in a variable called cluster which uses the key cluster from All Datasources, then when going to workloads variable I can see in the 'Associated Values' section a list of workload values that are in the production cluster.

   2. Below in the 'Additional Values' will be shown all other values.

   3. The association is done by relevant data types only, if you are getting unexpected associated results you may be advised to narrow down the data sources that the variable uses from 'All Datasources' to a specific type or a specific metric.

   4. Limitations and tips-

      1. It's possible that there are associated values which don't appear in the list, this list is not hermetic, but anything associated is necessarily associated.

      2. Start to type the value you are searching to narrow down the list.

      3. It's possible that Additional Values will also relate to the chosen values of other variables.