The Chart Console provides functionality not available on the Charts tab. The Chart Console allows you to perform the following functions:
Create chart groups from which you can quickly assess overall performance.
For more information about creating groups, see Section 11.4.4, Organizing Charts into Groups.
Customize the chart appearance through options that allow you to:
Orient your view of the data using real-time rotation, zoom, and pan.
Re-order data streams within a chart to improve readability.
Customize the chart color scheme.
Mix and match chart styles across different data streams in a chart. Proportional graphing between streams correctly displays different monitoring intervals.
For more information about the customization options, see Section 11.4.5, Customizing Charts.
Identify when a data stream breaches a high or low threshold by creating static threshold indicators.
For more information about creating threshold indicators, see Section 11.4.6, Setting Thresholds.
Use AppManager Security Manager to grant users permission to use the Chart Console. For more information about using Security Manager, see the Administrator Guide for AppManager, available on the AppManager Documentation page.
You can start the Chart Console from the Control Center console, the Windows desktop, or the Operator Console.
|
To start the Chart Console from the... |
Do this... |
|---|---|
|
Control Center console |
|
|
Windows desktop |
|
|
Operator Console |
|
The Chart Console consists of a tree pane and a chart pane. The tree pane lists available charts and chart groups and allows you to create new charts and chart groups. For more information about creating charts, see Section 11.4.3, Creating Charts. For more information about organizing charts into groups, see Section 11.4.4, Organizing Charts into Groups.
When you select a chart group in the tree pane, a chart snapshot of each chart in the group displays in the chart pane. Chart snapshots provide a quick view of the most recent data points for the associated data streams. When you select a chart snapshot, a complete view of the data displays in the chart pane.
When you select an individual chart in the tree pane, a complete view of the data displays in the chart pane.
Use the Add Data wizard to create new charts and add data streams to existing charts.
To create a chart:
In the tree pane, select the group in which you want to create the chart.
To share the chart with other console users, select the Public group. If the Public group is not available, check with your AppManager administrator to ensure you have permission to view and edit charts in the Public group. For more information about chart groups, see Section 11.4.4, Organizing Charts into Groups. For more information about setting permissions for the Chart Console, see the Administrator Guide for AppManager, available on the AppManager Documentation page.
To create a chart without adding it to a group, select the Charts folder.
On the Chart menu, select Create Chart.
Select the QDB, view, and filter for which you want to view available data streams, and then click Next.
Select the data streams you want to chart and click Next.
Specify a chart title and select a color scheme.
(Optional) If you want to display dates and times, select the option Display dates and times based on the local time of the managed computer.
Click Finish.
A snapshot of the new chart appears in the chart pane.
To add a data stream to a chart:
Select the chart to which you want to add data.
On the Chart menu, select Add to Chart.
Select Existing Chart and click OK.
Select the QDB, view, and filter that contains the data stream you want to add and click Next.
Select the data streams you want to add and click Next.
Specify a chart title, select a color scheme, and click Finish.
The updated chart appears in the chart pane.
To delete a data stream from a chart:
Select the chart from which you want to remove data.
In the Legend pane, right-click the data stream and select Delete.
You can use the Chart Console to organize charts into logical groups. For example, you might want to create a group for all charts related to West Coast computers or create separate groups for charts related to the Engineering and Finance departments in your organization. You can also create groups within groups.
To improve startup performance of the Chart Console, organize charts into groups so that the top‑most level of the tree pane does not include any charts.
To create a group:
In the tree pane, select the Charts folder.
On the Chart menu, select Add Group.
Specify the group name and click OK.
To create a group within a group, select the group and repeat Step 2 and Step 3.
To delete a group:
In the tree pane, select the group.
On the Chart menu, select Delete Group.
Select the charts or chart group you want to delete and click OK.
A standard toolbar provides quick access to frequently-used Chart Console commands. To show or hide the toolbar, select View > Toolbar. To view a description of a toolbar button, hover the mouse over the button.
Several toolbars for customizing charts are available in the chart pane. The following table describes the chart pane toolbars.
|
This toolbar... |
Does this... |
|---|---|
|
Time frame |
Allows you to select the range of data to chart. By default, AppManager stores the data points that Knowledge Script jobs collect for a given day in a data table for immediate display in charts and graphs for 30 days, and each day removes any data tables that are more than 30 days old. To set QDB preferences, use the AppManager Operator Console. For more information about using the Operator Console to set preferences, see the Operator Console User Guide for AppManager, available on the AppManager Documentation page.For information about changing the default, see Section 3.2.8, Global Preferences Options. |
|
Legend |
Lists the data streams in the active chart and allows you to perform the following functions:
|
To show or hide the toolbars, right-click the chart and select Show time frame or Show legend.
The Chart Console provides some customization options that are not available from the chart pane toolbars. The following table describes additional customization options.
|
To... |
Do this... |
|---|---|
|
Display charts horizontally |
In the chart pane, right-click the chart and select Horizontal chart. |
|
Make all data streams in a chart transparent |
In the chart pane, right-click the chart and select Transparent. |
|
Display only a specific portion of a chart |
|
You can set thresholds to identify when a data stream crosses a critical value. For example, if you are using the NT_MemUtil Knowledge Script to monitor physical and virtual memory use, you can set thresholds to identify a warning level and a critical level.
You can apply thresholds to individual data streams or entire charts.
To set thresholds:
In the chart pane, right-click the chart and select Properties.
Click the Data Streams tab.
(Optional) If you want to set a threshold for a specific data stream, select the data stream from the Stream drop-down menu.
Click Add.
Complete the following actions and click OK:
Select whether to apply the threshold to the specific data stream or the entire chart.
Specify the threshold value.
Select a color for the threshold indicator.
Select whether to activate the threshold indicator.
On the Chart Properties window, click OK to add the threshold indicators to the chart.
You can view a list of the data points for each data stream included in a chart, or you can view detailed information about a specific data point.
To view a list of the data points for each data stream included in a chart, right-click the chart and select Data viewer. For each data stream, the Data Viewer displays each time and value pair collected.
To view detailed information about a specific data point, double-click the data point in the chart. The Graph Data Details window provides the following information about the data point:
Computer name
Type of data
Value of the data point
Time at which the data point was collected
Additional details that vary with the type of data
Use the Chart Properties window to configure properties such as frame rate, graphical style and color scheme, threshold values, and dates and times for which data is displayed. To change the properties of a chart, right-click the chart and select Properties.
The following sections describe the properties you can set on each tab.
The following table describes the properties you can set on the General tab.
|
Property |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Title |
Specifies the chart title. |
|
Y-Axis Label |
Specifies a label for the Y-axis. |
|
View |
Provides the following chart rendering options:
|
|
WARNING:Frame Rate: (CPU Usage) |
Determines the amount of CPU devoted to interactive rendering (rotating, zooming, panning, and scrolling). A low frame rate is less fluid, but uses less CPU. A high frame rate offers the best visual performance, but uses 100 percent of the CPU. |
|
Vertical Maximum |
Provides the following options for adjusting the Y-axis:
|
|
Wireframe when rotating, zooming, and panning |
Renders the chart in wireframe when rotating, zooming, or panning. This option conserves CPU resources. |
|
Screentips for data points |
Displays a screen tip when you hover the mouse over a data point. |
|
Data stream settings |
Provides the following options for adjusting data appearance:
|
The following table describes the properties you can set on the Colors tab.
|
Property |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Scheme |
Defines the chart color scheme. To save the currently-defined color scheme under a unique name, click Save As. |
|
Colors |
Defines colors for the following chart items:
|
|
Solid Grid |
Renders the grid as a solid object. |
|
Show Left Values |
Displays values along the Y-axis on the left side of the grid. |
|
Show Right Values |
Displays values along the Y-axis on the right side of the grid. |
The following table describes the properties you can set on the Data Streams tab.
|
Property |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Stream |
Data stream for which you want to set properties. |
|
Style |
Visual style of the data stream. The following styles are available:
|
|
Scale |
Scale for the data stream. The Y-axis is scaled relative to its original scale of 1.0. The grid is not affected. |
|
High Thresholds |
Thresholds to display in the chart. For more information about setting thresholds, see Section 11.4.6, Setting Thresholds. |
|
Other information |
SQL query used to retrieve the data stream. You cannot modify this property. |
The following table describes the properties you can set on the Range tab.
|
Property |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Specify start date |
Enables fields that allow you to specify the date and time for which you want to start displaying data in the chart. |
|
Start Date |
Date for which you want to start displaying data. |
|
Start Time |
Time for which you want to start displaying data. |
|
Specify end date |
Enables fields that allow you to specify the date and time for which you want to stop displaying data in the chart. |
|
End Date |
Date for which you want to stop displaying data. |
|
End Time |
Time for which you want to stop displaying data. |
If the Range tab is not available, click Cancel and set Time frame to All in the chart pane.
You can export charts and chart data to a variety of formats. When exporting data, you can export all data or only a range of data. For more information about selecting a range of data, see Selecting a Range of Data Points for Export.
The following table describes the options for exporting chart information.
|
To export... |
Do this... |
|---|---|
|
Chart to an XML-formatted report |
|
|
Chart to an HTML-formatted report |
|
|
Data to the Windows clipboard |
|
|
Data to a text file |
|
|
Chart to the Windows clipboard as a .png image |
|
|
Chart to a .png file |
|
When exporting chart data, you can export all data or only the range of data you select.
To select a range of data points:
In the chart pane, right-click the chart and select Select Data.
A vertical bar appears in the chart pane.
Position the vertical bar at the point where you want to begin your selection.
Click and drag to highlight the desired data points.
Export the data.
For more information about exporting data, see Section 11.4.9, Exporting Chart Information.
Preferences control how the Chart Console operates.
Changes to the Chart Console preferences apply only to the current user and QDB.
|
Preference |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Refresh Interval |
Frequency with which the Chart Console updates data points for each chart in the currently selected group. The default interval is once per minute. At each interval, the Chart Console updates the data streams in the chart snapshots and the current chart (if you are viewing one) to include data points collected since the previous interval. To improve overall performance of the Chart Console, reduce the number of data points that must be updated during a refresh interval by organizing charts into several groups. For more information about creating groups, see Section 11.4.4, Organizing Charts into Groups. |
|
Chart Snapshots: Fetch no more than n points |
Maximum number of data points returned for chart snapshots. The default is 50 data points. If you specify 0, all points are returned. As a rule, you can improve overall performance of the Chart Console by reducing the number of data points returned for chart snapshots. |
|
Image Width |
Width, in pixels, of chart snapshots. The default is 280 pixels. |
|
Image Height |
Height, in pixels, of chart snapshots. The default is 190 pixels. |
|
Charts: Fetch no more than n points |
Maximum number of data points returned for charts. The default is 2,000 data points. If you specify 0, all points are returned. |