Observe
Dashboards

Visualize data using dashboards

Use dashboards to analyze your metrics by creating visualizations of query results that you can customize, filter, and focus. You can use this to identify and act on trends, correlate changes in data to incidents, and monitor real-time statuses.

Chronosphere provides two types of dashboards:

  • Standard dashboards, documented on this page.
  • Older "classic" dashboards based on Grafana, documented in Classic dashboards.

Standard dashboards are purpose-built for observability, are deeply integrated with the entire Chronosphere platform, and are the only dashboards with a commitment to ongoing development.

Standard dashboards aren't available to all Chronosphere users and might not be visible in your app. For information about enabling this feature in your environment, contact Chronosphere Support.

View dashboards

To search for a dashboard from anywhere in Chronosphere:

  1. Click the global search bar to focus on it, or use the keyboard shortcut Control+K (Command+K on macOS).
  2. Click the Dashboards filter.
  3. Begin typing any part of the dashboard's name.
  4. Click a dashboard listed in the search results to view it, or use the arrow keys to select the result and press Enter (Return on macOS).

To view all dashboards, click Dashboards in the navigation menu. This displays a table listing every dashboard in your organization.

In the table's Owner column, the Collection icon () indicates a dashboard is part of a Collection. The Service icon () indicates a dashboard is part of a Service.

The table's Type column indicates whether the dashboard is a classic or standard dashboard.

The table's Source column indicates how your organization manages each dashboard as a Chronosphere resource. Dashboards managed in the Chronosphere app or with Chronoctl list no source, and you can manage and modify them with either the app or Chronoctl. You must manage dashboards created in Terraform with Terraform.

You can toggle the visibility of columns and pin selected columns to the left or right sides of the table by hovering the cursor over the column and clicking the column settings icon ().

You can also filter the table's contents to display only those with certain names or properties.

  • To filter the table's contents by name, enter part or all of a dashboard name into the **Search dashboards field.

  • To filter the table by team or owner, select their name from their respective Select a team and Select an owner dropdowns or enter part or all of their name into the fields to filter the dropdown options.

  • To filter the table by tag, click Select a tag and select its name from the suggestion list, or enter part or all of a tag name into the field to filter the list. Only classic dashboards support tags.

  • To filter the table to display only your favorite dashboards, click the View only my favorites toggle.

    Chronosphere also lists your favorite dashboards and those you have recently opened on your personal home page. Your favorite dashboards also appear first in global search results.

View Chronosphere-managed dashboards

Chronosphere includes several dashboards to visualize information about itself and its usage within your organization. For more information, see Chronosphere-managed dashboards.

Create a dashboard

These steps apply only to standard dashboards. For classic dashboards, see Classic dashboards.

To create a new dashboard:

  1. In the navigation menu select Dashboards.
  2. Click + Add.
  3. In the menu that appears, click New dashboard to open the Add dashboard dialog.
  4. Enter a descriptive name in the Dashboard name field.
  5. Enter an Owner in the corresponding fields to associate the dashboard with a Collection or Service.
  6. Optional: Enter Tags in the corresponding field to associate the dashboard with key/value tag pairs.
  7. Click Save.

After creating a dashboard, you can populate it with panels, add and edit dashboard variables and events, and configure its settings. You can also associate Services to dashboards by using either Chronoctl or Terraform.

You can also import a Grafana dashboard or define them in YAML with Chronoctl.

Designate your favorite dashboards

You can designate certain dashboards as your favorites. Chronosphere lists your favorite dashboards on your personal home page and prioritizes them in global search results.

To designate a dashboard you're viewing as a favorite, click the star icon () next to its title.

To designate a favorite dashboard from the Dashboards table:

  1. Hover the cursor over the dashboard you want to designate.
  2. Click the star icon () that appears next to the dashboard's name.

Customize your dashboards

Users cannot modify Terraform-managed resources in the Chronosphere app, with Chronoctl, or by using the API. Learn more.

These steps apply only to standard dashboards. For classic dashboards, see Classic dashboards.

Rename a dashboard

To rename a dashboard:

  1. Click the dashboard's settings icon ().
  2. Click Settings to open its Dashboard settings.
  3. Enter a new name in the Dashboard name field.
  4. Click Apply to save the change.

Reassign a dashboard's owner

To reassign a dashboard to a different collection or service:

  1. Click the dashboard's settings icon ().
  2. Click Settings to open its Dashboard settings.
  3. Click the Owner dropdown.
  4. Scroll through the list and click the collection or service to which you want to assign the dashboard. To filter the list by owner name, begin typing a name into the dropdown field.
  5. Click Apply to save the change.

Modify a dashboard's layout

Dashboard layouts help you organize related panels into panel groups.

For more information, see Organize dashboard content with layouts.

View and compare specific time ranges

Comparison mode, sometimes called week-over-week (WoW) view, is a Chronosphere feature that helps you overlay historical data on your current data in dashboards. This provides additional context for comparing your current metrics with historical trends and expectations, or identifying recurring trends and outliers.

For details on using comparison mode, see Manage dashboard time ranges.

Create and configure dashboard variables

Dashboard variables let users dynamically redefine parts of panel queries and other features by selecting values from a dropdown or entering them into a field.

For details on creating and configuring dashboard variables, see Customize panel queries with dashboard variables.

Delete a dashboard

Users cannot modify Terraform-managed resources in the Chronosphere app, with Chronoctl, or by using the API. Learn more.

These steps apply only to standard dashboards. For classic dashboards, see Classic dashboards.

To delete a dashboard while viewing it:

  1. Click the dashboard's settings icon ().
  2. Click Settings to open its Dashboard settings.
  3. Click Delete dashboard.
  4. In the Delete dashboard dialog, click Delete to confirm the deletion.

You can also delete a dashboard from the Dashboards table:

  1. Hover the cursor over a dashboard's row.
  2. Click its settings icon ().
  3. Click Delete.
  4. In the Delete dashboard dialog, click Delete to confirm the deletion.

Query Accelerator

To help reduce the impact of slow queries on Dashboard performance, Chronosphere automatically optimizes queries. The optimization process detects slow aggregation queries in dashboard panels, creates pre-aggregated time series to reflect those rollups, and replaces the slow results with the optimized results at query time.

For an overview of the optimization process, see the Query Accelerator section of the licensing information dashboard, as documented in Chronosphere-managed dashboards.

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