You can use the Metric Chart widget to monitor the workload of your objects over time. The widget displays data based on the metrics that you select.

Screenshot of the widget displays Capacity Analytics Generated|Capacity Remaining Percentage metric for an object type at a specific time interval.

How the Metric Chart Widget and Configuration Options Work

You can add the Metric Chart widget to one or more custom dashboards and configure it to display the workload for your objects. The data that appears in the widget is based on the configured menu items for each widget instance.

You edit the Metric Chart widget after you add it to a dashboard. The changes you make to the menu items create a custom widget with the selected metrics that display the workload on your objects.

To select metrics, you can select an object from the object list, then select the metrics. Or, you can select a tag from the object tag list to limit the object list, then select an object. You can configure multiple charts for the same object or multiple charts for different objects.

To use the metric configuration, which displays a set of metrics that you defined in an XML file, the dashboard and widget configuration must meet the following criteria:

  • The dashboard Widget Interaction menu items are configured so that another widget provides objects to the target widget. For example, an Object List widget provides the object interaction to a chart widget.
  • The widget Self Provider options are set to Off.
  • The custom XML file in the Metric Configuration drop-down menu is in the /usr/lib/vmware-vcops/tools/opscli directory and has been imported into the global storage using the import command.

Where You Find the Metric Chart Widget

The widget might be included on any of your custom dashboards. From the left menu, click Visualize > Dashboards to see your configured dashboards.

To customize the data that appears in the dashboard widget, from the left menu, click Visualize > Dashboards. To create your dashboard, from the left menu, click Visualize > Dashboards. From the Dashboards panel, click Create. To edit your dashboard, from the left menu, click Visualize > Dashboards. From the Dashboards panel, select the dashboard you want to edit and select Actions > Edit. Toggle between the Views and Widgets option to view and add a widget or view to the dashboard. The widgets list panel displays a list of all the predefined widgets. Drag a widget to the dashboard workspace in the upper panel.

Metric Chart Widget Toolbar Options

On the title bar of the widget, click the Show Toolbar icon to access the toolbar options.

The toolbar contains icons that you can use to change the view of the graphs.

Option Description
Split Charts

Displays each metric in a separate chart.

Stacked Chart

Consolidates all charts into one chart. This chart is useful for seeing how the total or sum of the metric values vary over time. To view the stacked chart, ensure that the split chart option is turned off.

Dynamic Thresholds

Shows or hides the calculated dynamic threshold values for a 24-hour period.

Show Entire Period Dynamic Thresholds

Shows or hides dynamic thresholds for the entire time period of the graph.

Static Thresholds Shows or hides the threshold values that have been set for a single metric.
Anomalies

Shows or hides anomalies. Time periods when the metric violates a threshold are shaded. Anomalies are generated when a metric crosses a dynamic or static threshold, either above or below.

Trend Line

Shows or hides the line and data points that represents the metric trend. The trend line filters out metric noise along the timeline by plotting each data point relative to the average of its adjoining data points.

Show Data Values

Enables the data point tooltips if you switched to a zoom or pan option. Show Data Point Tips must be enabled.

Zoom All Charts

Resizes all the charts that are open in the chart pane based on the area captured when you use the range selector.

You can switch between this option and Zoom the View.

Zoom the View

Resizes the current chart when you use the range selector.

Pan

When you are in zoom mode, allows you to drag the enlarged section of the chart so that you can view higher or lower, earlier or later values for the metric.

Zoom to Fit

Resets the chart to fit in the available space.

Remove All

Removes all the charts from the chart pane, allowing to you begin constructing a new set of charts.

Refresh Charts

Reloads the charts with current data.

Date Controls

Opens the date selector.

Use the date selector to limit the data that appears in each chart to the time period you are examining.

Select Dashboard Time to enable the dashboard time panel. The option chosen in the dashboard time panel is effective. The default time is 6 hours.

Dashboard Time is the default option.

Generate Dashboard

Saves the current charts as a dashboard.

Save as PDF Saves the current metric chart as a PDF file.

If you have added many metrics for different objects to a metric chart, you can quickly download and share the PDF file with another user or VM owner. You can create ad-hoc reports when analyzing metrics. You can also add notes to the metrics to provide context to the user.

Metric Chart Widget Graph Selector Options

The graph selector options determine how individual data appears in the graph.

Option Description
Close

Deletes the chart.

Save a snapshot

Creates a PNG file of the current chart. The image is the size that appears on your screen.

You can retrieve the file in your browser's download folder.

Download comma-separated data

Creates a CSV file that includes the data in the current chart.

You can retrieve the file in your browser's download folder.

Save a full screen snapshot

Downloads the current graph image as a full-page PNG file, which you can display or save.

You can retrieve the file in your browser's download folder.

Units

You can display the data with dots or as a percentage.

Thresholds You can choose to show/hide Critical, Immediate, and Warning thresholds in the current chart.
Scales You can choose a scale for a stacked chart.
  • Select Linear to view a chart in which the Y axis scale increases in a linear manner. For example, the Y axis can have ranges from 0 to 100, 100 to 200, 200 to 300, and so on.
  • Select Logarithmic to view a chart in which the Y axis scale increases in a logarithmic manner. For example, the Y axis can have ranges from 10 to 20, 20 to 300, 300 to 4000, and so on. This scale gives a better visibility of minimum and maximum values in the chart when you have a large range of metric values.
    Note: If you select a logarithmic scale, the chart does not display data points for metric values less than or equal to 0, which leads to gaps in the graph.
  • Select Combined to view overlapping graphs for the metrics. The chart uses individual scales for each graph instead of using a relative scale, and displays a combined view of the graphs.
  • Select Combined by Unit to view a chart that groups the graphs for similar metric units together. The chart uses a common scale for the combined graphs.
Move Down

Moves the chart down one position.

Move Up

Moves the chart up one position.

You can take the following actions on the Metric Chart graph.

Option Description
Y Axis

Shows or hides the Y-axis scale.

Chart

Shows or hides the line that connects the data points on the chart.

Data Point Tips

Shows or hides the data point tooltips when you hover the mouse over a data point in the chart.

Zoom by X

Enlarges the selected area on the X axis when you use the range selector in the chart to select a subset of the chart. You can use Zoom by X and Zoom by Y simultaneously.

Zoom by Y

Enlarges the selected area on the Y axis when you use the range selector in the chart to select a subset of the chart. You can use Zoom by X and Zoom by Y simultaneously.

Zoom by Dynamic Thresholds

Resizes the Y axis of the chart so that the highest and the lowest values on the axis are the highest and the lowest values of the dynamic threshold calculated for this metric.

Vertical resize Resizes the height of a graph in the chart.
Remove icon next to each metric name in a stacked chart Removes the graph for the metric from the chart.

Metric Chart Configuration Options

On the title bar of the widget, click the Edit Widget icon to configure the widget.

The configuration options are grouped into one or more sections. You can select the objects on which you want to base the widget data and refine the objects in the following sections. Each section filters the objects further and pushes the filtered objects to the next section. The widget data is based on the objects that are the output of the last section.

The Configuration section provides general configuration options for the widget.

The Input Data section provides options to specify input for the widget. This section appears when the widget is in self provider mode.

The Input Transformation section provides options to transform the input for the widget.

The Output Data section provides options to select object types on which you are basing the widget data.

The Output Filter section provides options to restrict the widget data based on the selected filter criteria.

Option Description
Title

Enter a custom title that identifies this widget from other instances that are based on the same widget template.

Configuration
Refresh Content

Enable or disable the automatic refreshing of the data in this widget.

If not enabled, the widget is updated only when the dashboard is opened or when you click the Refresh button on the widget in the dashboard.
Refresh Interval

If you enable the Refresh Content option, specify how often to refresh the data in this widget.
Self Provider
Indicates whether the objects for which data appears in the widget are defined in the widget or provided by another widget.
  • On. You define the objects for which data appears in the widget.
  • Off. You configure other widgets to provide the objects to the widget using the dashboard widget interactions options.
Input Data
Metrics
Select metrics on which you want to base the widget data. You can select an object and pick its metrics.

  1. Click the Add New Metrics icon to add metrics for the widget data. Select an object to view its metric tree and pick metrics for the object. The picked metrics appear in a list in this section.

    The metric tree shows common metrics for several objects when you click the Show common metrics icon.

    While selecting objects for which you want to pick metrics, you can use the Filter text box to search for objects. You can also expand the Tag Filter pane on the left hand side to select one or more object tag values. A list of objects with the selected tag values appears. If you select more than one value for the same tag, you can choose objects that have any of the tags applied. If you select more than one value for different tags, you can choose only the objects that have all the tags applied.

  2. Optionally, select metrics from the list and click the Remove Selected Metrics icon to remove the selected metrics.

    Click the Select All icon to select all the metrics in the list.

    Click the Clear Selection icon to clear your selection of metrics in the list.

Optionally, you can customize a metric and apply the customization to other metrics in the list.

  1. Double-click a metric box in the list to customize the metric and click Update.

    You can use the Box Label text box to customize the label of a metric box.

    You can use the Unit text box to define a measurement unit of each metric.

    You can use the Color Method option to define a coloring criteria for each metric. If this option is set to Custom, you can enter color values in the Yellow, Orange, and Red text boxes. You can also set coloring by symptom definition. If you do not want to use color, select None.

    For example, to view the remaining memory capacity of a VM, select Virtual Machine as an object type, expand the Memory from the metric tree and double-click Capacity Remaining(%). Define a meaningful label name and measurement unit to help you when you observe the metrics. You can select Custom from the Color Method drop-down menu and specify different values for each color, for example 50 for Yellow, 20 for Orange, and 10 for Red.

  2. Select a metric and click the Apply to All icon to apply the customization for the selected metric to all the metrics in the list.
Objects
Select objects on which you want to base the widget data.

  1. Click the Add New Objects icon and select objects in the pop-up window. The selected objects appear in a list in this section.

    While selecting objects, you can use the Filter text box to search for objects. You can also expand the Tag Filter pane on the left hand side to select one or more object tag values. A list of objects with the selected tag values appears. If you select more than one value for the same tag, you can choose objects that have any of the tags applied. If you select more than one value for different tags, you can choose only the objects that have all the tags applied.

  2. Optionally, select objects from the list and click the Remove Selected Objects icon to remove the selected objects.

    Click the Select All icon to select all the objects in the list.

    Click the Clear Selection icon to clear your selection of objects in the list.
All

If you select this option, the widget data is based on all the objects in your environment. The following sections provide options to refine the objects for the widget data.
Input Transformation
Relationship

Transform the input for the widget based on the relationship of the objects. For example, if you select the Children check box and a Depth of 1, the child objects are the transformed inputs for the widget.
Output Data
Empty drop-down menu

Specifies a list with attributes to display.

Select metrics on which you want to base the widget data. You can select an object and pick its metrics.

  1. Click the Add New Metrics icon to add metrics for the widget data. Select an object to view its metric tree and pick metrics for the object. The picked metrics appear in a list in this section.

    The metric tree shows common metrics for several objects when you click the Show common metrics icon.

    While selecting objects for which you want to pick metrics, you can use the Filter text box to search for objects. You can also expand the Tag Filter pane on the left hand side to select one or more object tag values. A list of objects with the selected tag values appears. If you select more than one value for the same tag, you can choose objects that have any of the tags applied. If you select more than one value for different tags, you can choose only the objects that have all the tags applied.

  2. Optionally, select metrics from the list and click the Remove Selected Metrics icon to remove the selected metrics.

    Click the Select All icon to select all the metrics in the list.

    Click the Clear Selection icon to clear your selection of metrics in the list.

Optionally, you can customize a metric and apply the customization to other metrics in the list.

  1. Double-click a metric box in the list to customize the metric and click Update.

    You can use the Box Label text box to customize the label of a metric box.

    You can use the Unit text box to define a measurement unit of each metric.

    You can use the Color Method option to define a coloring criteria for each metric. If this option is set to Custom, you can enter color values in the Yellow, Orange, and Red text boxes. You can also set coloring by symptom definition. If you do not want to use color, select None.

    For example, to view the remaining memory capacity of a VM, select Virtual Machine as an object type, expand the Memory from the metric tree and double-click Capacity Remaining(%). Define a meaningful label name and measurement unit to help you when you observe the metrics. You can select Custom from the Color Method drop-down menu and specify different values for each color, for example 50 for Yellow, 20 for Orange, and 10 for Red.

  2. Select a metric and click the Apply to All icon to apply the customization for the selected metric to all the metrics in the list.
Output Filter

Refine the widget data further based on the filter criteria for object types. The widget data is based on the objects for the filtered object types.

If the objects have an input transformation applied, you define filter criteria for the object types of the transformed objects.

  1. In the first drop-down menu, select an object type.
  2. In the second drop-down menu, select the option based on which you want to define the filter criteria. For example, if you select Metrics for the Datacenter object type, you can define a filter criteria based on the value of a specific metric for data centers.
  3. In the drop-down menus and text boxes that appear, select or enter values to filter the objects.
  4. To add more filter criteria, click Add.
  5. To add another filter criteria set, click Add another criteria set.