Manage Edge Delta Dashboards

Manage Dashboards in the Edge Delta web application.

  16 minute read  

Overview

You can create and manage your own dashboards in Edge Delta. There are dashboards already configured for you and you can design your own.

Default Dashboards

Click Dashboards and select the Manage tab to view the default dashboards.

Observability Posture

The Observability Posture dashboard looks back 1 hour by default.

  • Alerts from Log Monitors shows a count of severity_text:ALERT with event.type:log_threshold data items for the look back period. This counts the number of alerts issued by a log monitor.
  • Alerts from Metric Monitors shows a count of severity_text:ALERT with event.type:metric_threshold data items for the look back period. This counts the number of alerts issued by a metric monitor.
  • Alerts From Pattern Anomaly Monitors shows a count of severity_text:ALERT with event.type:pattern_anomaly data items for the look back period. This counts the number of alerts issued by a Pattern monitor.
  • Fleet is a variable that you can select to filter the following widgets by fleet. The Alerts from Monitors widgets are not affected by this selection.
  • Erroneous Logs by Host shows a graph of the count of logs containing the word error, grouped by host for the selected fleet.
  • Negative Patterns by Host shows the pattern graph for the selected fleet, grouped by host.
  • Erroneous Logs shows the table of logs containing the word error for the look back period. You can also adjust the look back period for this widget independently.

Top Talkers

This dashboard provides comprehensive visibility into traffic patterns, identifying main data “talkers” whether by byte volume or lines of communication.

  • Top Talkers by Fleet (Volume) displays a breakdown of total incoming traffic volume (incoming_bytes.sum) by fleet.
  • Top Talkers by Deployment visualizes the sum of incoming traffic (incoming_bytes.sum) grouped by k8s.deployment.name over time.
  • Top Talkers by Namespace showcases the sum of incoming traffic (incoming_bytes.sum) grouped by k8s.namespace.name, providing insights into which namespaces have the most traffic.
  • Top Talkers by Host displays the incoming_bytes.sum metric as a time series grouped by host.name, identifying key hosts with significant traffic.
  • Top Talkers by Fleet (Lines) illustrates the distribution of outgoing communication lines count (the outgoing_lines.count metric) grouped by fleet (ed.tag), offering a volume perspective.

Fleet Resource Usage

The Fleet Resource Usage dashboard provides insights into fleet resource utilization metrics across hosts.

  • Fleet is a variable to filter the visualizations by fleet.
  • Average CPU Usage displays the average CPU system usage (the cpu_system_avg.value metric) grouped by host.name for each host within the selected fleet, giving an overview of processing load over time.
  • Maximum Memory Used shows the peak memory consumption per host (the maximum of memory_used.value over a 5 minute rollup window grouped by host.name), helping identify hosts that might be constrained by memory usage.
  • Average Disk Read Bytes illustrates the rate of disk read operations over time for hosts within the chosen fleet, indicating I/O read intensity. It is configured as the average disk_read_bytes.value metric over a 5 minute rollup window and grouped by host.name.
  • Average Disk Write Bytes presents the rate of disk write operations, highlighting I/O write utilization across the hosts in the selected fleet. It is configured as the average disk_write_bytes.value metric over a 5 minute rollup window and grouped by host.name.

Full Screen Mode

Click Enter Fullscreen to view the live dashboard in full-screen mode.

Create a Dashboard

Click New Dashboard to create a dashboard.

To start, you can specify a name, tags and a description for your dashboard.

Work with Variables and Widgets

You build a dashboard using Widgets and Variables. Widgets are the dashboard elements that show data, while variables are selectable options on the dashboard, which the widgets respond to. For example, this simple dashboard has a widget showing a count of logs grouped by Severity from the fleet selected in the variable. If you select a different fleet, the widget will change to show data for that fleet.

When creating a variable you specify a unique key for it, for example fleet.

Then you reference that variable in widget configurations using the $ character, for example $fleet, either in the filter pane or in the Data Options:

Add a Variable

To add a variable to your toolbox, select the Variables tab and click Add Variable. Then select a variable type.

You can edit it from the toolbox without adding it to the dashboard. Alternatively, drag it onto the dashboard to add it with a default configuration. Once it is on the dashboard, as you hover over it, the options appear:

  • Copy
  • Edit
  • Remove

Click Edit to configure it.

Facet Variable

The Facet Variable enables the dashboard user to specify a facet name. As this option can contain multiple values, it is useful for specifying group by options. You select the Scope of the facet which aligns with a data type (log, metric, event, pattern etc.), and selectable options are the facets associated with that type - including Custom Facets you have specified in the explorers. Give the variable a recognizable Key - the name you will use to refer to it in widget configurations.

Facet Option Variable

The Facet Option Variable enables the dashboard user to specify a facet value. As with the Facet Variable, you select a Scope - a data type, then you can select a single facet. The user can then select one or more values of that facet. Give the variable a recognizable Key - the name you will use to refer to it in widget configurations.

In addition, you can specify filters for the list of facet values available to the dashboard user. For example excluding namespaces from a particular fleet.

Query Variable

The Query Variable enables the dashboard user to enter a custom query on the dashboard. You specify a Scope for it (log, metric, event, pattern etc.) and a recognizable Key - the name you will use to refer to it in widget configurations.

String Variable

The String Variable enables the dashboard user to enter any string on the dashboard. You specify a recognizable Key - the name you will use to refer to it in widget configurations. This is useful for including search terms or value names in a widget configuration. You can specify a closed list of options that the user must select by specifying them in the Options field with comma separators.

Metric Name Variable

The Metric Name Variable enables the dashboard user to select an available metric on the dashboard. You specify a recognizable Key - the name you will use to refer to it in metric widget configurations.

Add a Widget

To add a widget to the dashboard, drag it from the toolbox onto the dashboard layout. You can position it anywhere on the grid, and you can drag the corner to resize it.

It is added with a default configuration. As you hover over it, the edit options appear, depending on the type of widget:

  • Copy
  • Edit
  • Remove
  • View in Explorer

Click Edit to configure the widget.

Metric Widget

You can filter the contents of a Metric Widget using the Filters pane, similarly to filtering on the Metric Explorer. This includes filtering by Custom Facets you have configured already, and by variables present on your dashboard or in the toolbox.

In the Data Options tab, you can specify the incoming Data type: a Timeseries or Aggregate. As you select each option the appropriate visualization type is selected and the preview is updated.

In the Edit sub-tab, you can configure metric options similarly to the Metric Explorer:

  • Aggregation: specify how data is calculated and summarized for each rollup period. See the aggregation options.
  • Metric: Select a particular metric to view.
  • Query: Use autocomplete to select a resource filter for the metric. For the value you can specify a variable name. This makes the widget responsive to the options selected by a user viewing the dashboard, for example if they filter all widgets by a particular namespace.
  • Group By: You can group the metric by available facets including Custom Facets, and you can select a facet variable to group by dynamically depending on the dashboard user’s selection.
  • Rollup Window: This interval determines how regularly to apply the aggregation method.
  • Visualization Type: you can choose to render the data as a table, time-series graph or a single big number.

In the Source section, you can quickly specify the widget configuration in the Source field using the same metric query language as the Metric Explorer. If you configured the widget using the individual options on the Edit tab or in the Filters pane, the Source field is populated with those options.

Click Visualization Options to configure how data is presented. For example you can specify whether to show the Legend, the data format of the x-axis, and custom colors per data series. See the following section on formatting data series colors for more information.

Click Display Options to configure the widget labels. You can set the Time Filter to either inherit from the parent dashboard, or you can set a custom look back period. You can also hide the explorer link.

Log Widget

You can filter the contents of a Log Widget using the Filters pane, similarly to filtering on Logs Search. This includes filtering by Custom Facets you have configured already, and by variables present on your dashboard.

In the Data Options tab, you can choose the incoming data type: time-series graph, aggregation or a table. As you select each option the appropriate visualization type is selected and the preview is updated.

On the Edit sub-tab, you can configure log options:

  • Aggregation: specify how numeric data is calculated and summarized.
  • Query: specify a log search query or reference a string variable.
  • Group By: You can group the logs by available facets including Custom Facets, and you can select a facet variable to group by dynamically depending on the dashboard user’s selection.
  • Visualization Type: you can choose to render the data as a line chart, bar chart, area chart, scatter plot, or table.

In the Source sub-tab, you can quickly specify the widget configuration in the Source field using the log query language - the same queries you use on Log Search. If you configured the widget using the individual options on the Edit tab or in the Filters pane, the Source field is populated with those options.

Click Visualization Options to configure how data is presented. For example you can specify whether to show the Legend, the data format of the x-axis, and custom colors per data series. See the following section on formatting data series colors for more information.

Click Display Options to configure the widget labels, a tooltip and footer text. You can set the Time Filter to either inherit from the parent dashboard, or you can set a custom look back period.

Event Widget

You can filter the contents of an Event Widget using the filters pane, similarly to filtering on the Events page. This includes filtering by the Event Type, Monitor, Custom Facets you have configured already, and by variables present on your dashboard.

In the Data Options tab, you can choose the incoming data type: time-series graph or aggregation. As you select each option the appropriate visualization type is selected and the preview is updated. You can also choose whether display Monitor events or Kubernetes events in the Event domain list.

On the Edit sub-tab, you can configure event options:

  • Aggregation: specify how numeric data is calculated and summarized.
  • Query: specify an event search query or reference a query or string variable.
  • Group By: You can group the events by available facets including Custom Facets, and you can select a facet variable to group by dynamically depending on the dashboard user’s selection.
  • Visualization Type: you can choose to render the data as a line chart, bar chart, area chart, scatter plot, or table.

In the Source sub-tab, you can quickly specify the widget configuration in the Source field using the log query language - the same queries you use on the Events Explorer. If you configured the widget using the individual options on the Edit tab or in the Filters pane, the Source field is populated with those options.

Click Visualization Options to configure how data is presented. For example you can specify whether to show the Legend, the data format of the x-axis, and custom colors per data series. See the following section on formatting data series colors for more information.

Click Display Options to configure the widget labels. You can set the Time Filter to either inherit from the parent dashboard, or you can set a custom look back period. You can also hide the Explorer link.

Pattern Widget

You can filter the contents of a Pattern Widget using the filters pane, similarly to filtering on the Patterns tab. This includes filtering by Custom Facets you have configured already, and by variables present on your dashboard.

In the Data Options tab, you can choose the incoming data type: time-series graph or aggregation. As you select each option the appropriate visualization type is selected and the preview is updated.

On the Edit sub-tab, you can configure pattern options:

  • Query: specify a pattern search query or reference a query or string variable.
  • Group By: You can group the patterns by available facets including Custom Facets, and you can select a facet variable to group by dynamically depending on the dashboard user’s selection.
  • Select the types of patterns to view, such as only negative sentiment patterns.
  • Select the pattern lifecycle such as only newly detected patterns.
  • Select how many patterns to include in the widget from the top or bottom of the patterns table.
  • Visualization Type: you can choose to render the data as a line chart, bar chart, area chart, scatter plot, or table.

Click Visualization Options to configure how data is presented. For example you can specify whether to show the Legend, the data format of the x-axis, and custom colors per data series. See the following section on formatting data series colors for more information.

Click Display Options to configure the widget labels. You can set the Time Filter to either inherit from the parent dashboard, or you can set a custom look back period. You can also hide the explorer link.

Trace Widget

You can filter the contents of a Trace Widget using the filters pane, similarly to filtering on the Trace Explorer.

This includes filtering by the trace duration, service and event type, and by variables present on your dashboard. As you select filters the query is built and you can choose to include child spans in the filtering.

Click Display Options to configure the widget labels. You can set the Time Filter to either inherit from the parent dashboard, or you can set a custom look back period. You can also hide the Explorer link.

Markdown Widget

Create content in markdown for notes, descriptions or instructions using the Markdown Widget. You can add images or gifs using hyperlinks and you can hyperlink text. The example uses this markdown to illustrate the markdown options.

# heading 1
## heading 2
### heading 3
#### heading 4

Some text.

**bold**
_italic_
~~strikethrough~~

`code`

> A quote or note.

- list items
- list items

1. numbered list
1. numbered list
1. numbered list

a [hyperlink](https://edgedelta.com/)

an image:
 ![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/668d1daba9714fffd4c2fdee/66bf2d60d4df7dae4a2cd6f0_cta-edge-delta.avif)

Add Series Colors

On the Visualization Options tab in the Widget editor you can specify some design aspects of the widget.

You can select whether to show the legend with series names and you can specify the units of measurement for the x-axis.

You can also choose colors for the graphs using options in the Coloring list:

  • Auto: This option chooses a palette depending on the widget type. For timeseries and some aggregate charts the Default palette is used.
  • Default palette: This option uses the built-in Edge Delta color palette that is designed for readability and to work with the interface colors.
  • Random palette: This option uses randomly selected colors for each series.
  • Custom palette: You can use this option to choose a set of colors which are assigned sequentially to the series, to specify your own colors for particular a series you can use Coloring overrides that follow.
  • Continuous color mapping: This option changes series colors on a gradient depending on a x-axis value. You set the value range and colors. This is useful for visualizing gauges and indicating a threshold.
  • Discrete color mapping: This option is similar to Continuous but you set intervals and colors for each interval. The colors do not change in a gradient but rather switch as the series passes the interval.

Rather than using preset templates you can configure specific colors for specific series in the charts. For example, you can color-code severity levels on a gradient with the highest severity being hot red and the lowest being cool blue.

To do this, open a widget in Edit Mode and click the Visualization Options tab. Expand the Coloring overrides section and create a new item for each series, then specify a Fixed color:

Add a Widget from Explorer

If you have a query in one of the explorers that you want to quickly add to an existing or new dashboard, click Add to Dashboard.

You select an existing dashboard or click New Dashboard to create a new one.

Your query is inserted into an appropriate widget and added to your toolbox, ready to be dragged onto the dashboard work area.

Edit a Dashboard

To edit an existing dashboard, select it and switch the Edit Mode toggle:

Edit Dashboard Definition as JSON

You can view a Dashboard’s JSON definition. With Edit Mode active, click the Edit dashboard definition as JSON button.

You can tweak the JSON, or copy/paste the JSON to share a dashboard definition.

Share Dashboard

Dashboards can be shared with users who don’t have Edge Delta accounts. This enables you to publish a dashboard on a device such as a TV screen, large monitor or NUC display in a common SRE office area without creating an account for that device. You can control the contents of the dashboard by filtering out data, and you can restrict access using a CIDR.

To start sharing a dashboard, click the kebab (⋮) button for the dash and select Sharing Settings.

Prefilter

On the Prefilter tab, you can specify filters to apply to the shared version of a dashboard. For example you may want to limit it to a specific agent or namespace. This may be helpful to reduce test data noise for a team dedicated to a particular system. As you select filters in the Filters pane, the Prefilter query is populated for you.

You must click Next to save your prefilters.

Security Settings

On the Security Settings tab you specify how long to make the dashboard available for. It can be shared indefinitely by specifying Forever (default), or up to a certain date.

You can optionally specify a list of allowed CIDRs. If a CIDR is set, devices whose public IP addresses are not in that IP range can’t access the dashboard.

You must click Next to save your selections.

Note: Each of these examples uses IP addresses set aside specifically for documentation by RFC 5737 to avoid any conflict with real internet resources.

To learn how to further limit dashboards to specific devices, see Deploy Private Dashboards.

Share

On the Share tab you can toggle sharing on or off. If you turn it on, it generates the public URL that you can share. It also provides an iframe HTML snippet you can use to embed the dashboard in a web page.

Note: each time you turn off sharing and turn it back on, a new unique URL is created. If you configured NAT for using CIDRs you will need to re-configure it for the new URL, see Deploy Private Dashboards.

To disable sharing on the dashboard, set the toggle to the off position.