Distribution View

Where You Find the Distribution View

From the left menu, click Visualize > Views. From the Views panel, click Create. Click Distribution from the right panel.

Name and Configuration Tab


Option	Description
Name	Name of the view as it appears on the Views page.
Description	Description of the view.
Configuration
Visualization	You can view the data as a pie chart, a bar chart, or a donut chart. When you add a distribution type of View to a dashboard, you can click a section of the pie chart, or on one of the bars in the bar chart, or a section of the donut chart to view the list of objects filtered by the selected segment. You can select the display colors for single or multi-colored charts.
Coloring
Colorize	The colors of the slices in the pie chart are displayed in the order of the colors in the color palette.
Select Color	Select the color that you want the chart to appear in. If there is more than one slice in a pie chart, the colors are chosen sequentially from the color palette. In a bar chart, the bars are all the same color.
Distribution Type > Dynamic Distribution
Buckets Count	The number of buckets to use in the data distribution.
Buckets Size Interval	The bucket size is determined by the defined interval divided by the specified number of buckets.
Buckets > Size > Logarithmic bucketing	The bucket size is calculated to logarithmically increasing sizes. This provides a continuous coverage of the whole range with the specified number of buckets. The base of the logarithmic sizing is determined by the given data.
Buckets > Size > Simple Max/Min bucketing	The bucket size is divided equally between the measured min and max values. This provides a continuous coverage of the whole range with the specified number of buckets.
Distribution Type > Manual Distribution	Specify the number of buckets and the minimum and maximum values of each bucket. You can also select a color for each defined bucket that you specify.
Distribution Type > Discrete Distribution	Specify the number of buckets in which distributes the data. If you increase the number of buckets, you can see more detailed data.
Distribution Type > Summary
Settings
Make the view available for > Dashboards through the View widget	Select if you want to make the view available in a dashboard.
Make the view available for > Report template creation and modification	Select if you want to make the view available in a report template.
Make the view available for > Details tab in the environment	Select if you want to make the view available in the Detail tab of a specific object.
Hide the view for the selected object types	Select an object type for which you do not want to see this view. For example, you have a trend view with the subject <virtual machines>. It is visible when you select any of its parent objects. You add a data center from the list. The view is not visible anymore on the data center level.

Data Tab

The data definition process includes adding properties, metrics, policies, or data that adapters provide to a view. These are the items by which VMware Aria Operations collects, calculates, and presents the information for the view.

How to Add Data to a View

If you selected more than one subject, click the subject for which you add data. Double-click either a metric or a property from the tree in the left panel to add it to the view. For each subject that you select, the data available to add might be different. The Data, Transformation, and Configuration details are displayed.

You can see a live preview of the view type when you select a subject and associated data, and then click Select preview source.


Option	Description
Add Subject	Select the base object type for which the view shows information. The subject you specify determines where the view is applicable. If you select more than one subject, the view is applicable for each of them.
Data Grid options
Data selection tree	Double-click to select a metric or a property.
Data column	Click the metric or property to enter configuration details in the Configuration column.
Transformation column	Displays the type of transformation applied to the data.
Configuration column
Metric name	Default metric name.
Metric label	Customizable label as it appears in the view or report.
Units	Depends on the added metric or property. You can select in what unit to display the values. For example, for CPU\|Demand (MHz) from the Units drop-down menu, you can change the value to Hz, KHz, or GHz. If you select Auto, the scaling is set to a meaningful unit.
Sort order	Orders the values in ascending or descending order.
Transformation	Determines what calculation method is applied on the raw data. You can select the type of transformation: Minimum. The minimum value of the metric over the selected time range. Maximum. The maximum value of the metric over the selected time range. Average. The mean of all the metric values over the selected time range. Sum. The sum of the metric values over the selected time range. First. The first metric value for the selected time range. Last. The last value of a metric within the selected time range. Current. The last available value of a metric if it was last updated not before five collection cycles were complete, otherwise it is null. Standard Deviation. The standard deviation of the metric values. Metric Correlation. Displays the value when another metric is at the minimum or maximum. For example, displays the value for memory.usage when cpu.usage is at a maximum. Forecast. Performs a regressive analysis and predicts future values. Displays the last metric value of the selected range. Percentile. Calculates the specified percentile for the data range. For example, you can view the 95th percentile, 99th percentile, and so on. Expression. Allows you to construct a mathematical expression over existing transformations using minus, plus, multiplication, division, unary minus, unary plus, and round brackets. For example, `sum/((max + min)/2)`. You can use the operands of some of the existing transformations such as, max, min, avg, sum, first, last, current. You cannot use standard deviation, forecast, metric correlation, and percentile. You can customize the metric unit label when you select the Expression transformation. For example, some of the metric units available are, vCPUs, Bps, KBps, Mbps, and MBps.
Series Roll up	The time interval at which the data is rolled up. You can select one of the available options. For example, if you select Sum as a Transformation and 5 minutes as the roll-up interval, then the system selects 5-minute interval values and adds them. This option is applicable to the Transformation configuration option.

Time Settings Tab

Use the time settings to select the time interval of data transformation.

You can set a time range for a past period or set a future date for the end of the time period. When you select a future end date and no data is available, the view is populated by forecast data.

Table 1. Time Settings Options
Configuration Option	Description
Time Range Mode	In Basic mode, you can select date ranges. In Advanced mode, you can select any combination of relative or specific start and end dates.
Relative Date Range	Select a relative date range of data transformation. Available in Basic mode.
Specific Date Range	Select a specific date range of data transformation. Available in Basic mode.
Absolute Date Range	Select a date or time range to view data for a time unit such as a complete month or a week. For example, you can run a report on the third of every month for the previous month. Data from the first to the end of the previous month is displayed as against data from the third of the previous month to the third of the current month. The units of time available are: Hours, Days, Weeks, Months, and Years. The locale settings of the system determine the start and end of the unit. For example, weeks in most of the European countries begin on Monday while in the United States they begin on Sunday. Available in Basic mode.
Relative Start Date	Select a relative start date of data transformation. Available in Advanced mode.
Relative End Date	Select a relative end date of data transformation. Available in Advanced mode.
Specific Start Date	Select a specific start date of data transformation. Available in Advanced mode.
Specific End Date	Select a specific end date of data transformation. Available in Advanced mode.
Currently selected date range	Displays the date or time range you selected. For example, if you select a specific date range from 5/01/2016 to 5/18/2016, the following information is displayed: `May 1, 2016 12:00:00 AM to May 18, 2016 11:55:00 PM`.

Filter Tab

The filter option allows you to add additional criteria when the view displays too much information.

To add a filter to a view, from an existing or new view dialog box, click the Filter tab. Fill in the details for each row and click Add. You can activate Business Hours for the metric selected.

Each subject has a separate filter box. For Alerts Roll up, Alert, and Symptom subjects not all applicable metrics are supported for filtering.

Table 2. Filter Add Options
Option	Description
Add	Adds another criteria to the criteria set. The filter returns results that match all the specified criteria. If you add a filter for an instance metric, all the instances of the object for which the criteria is met, will be displayed in the preview screen. For instance metrics, you can filter based on transformations such as, Current, Average, First, Last, Maximum, Minimum, and Sum.
Add another criteria set	Adds another criteria set. The filter returns results that match one criteria set or another.

Previous, Next, Create, and Cancel Options

At the end of each tab, you can go to the previous or next tab. You can also cancel the creation of the view. After you have added all the details, click Create to create the view.