Create a dashboard

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.

2. Select the variable key and values from the predefined list.

3. Optionally, rename the variable or use the default name, then click Create.

4. Once created, select the values to apply to this variable.

Using a Variable

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

1. Create a variable (for example, select Clusters from the predefined list, and name 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:*)