Configuring the System data explorer template

The System data explorer template is a drill-down type of template that displays summary charts relative to a system. 

This view is useful when you want to show the behavior of entity-specific performance metrics over fixed time periods.

These views display the resource utilization of key metrics and these metrics are displayed in separate charts. The data (tables, charts, analyses), available metrics, and granularity in these views is based on data present in the BMC Helix Continuous Optimization database.

To configure a view using the System data explorer template 

1. Open the view page with the System data explorer template:

   • When creating a new view, click the Add View option, and select System data explorer as the template. For detailed steps, see Adding and managing views.
   • When creating a new page in an existing view, click Add a new page option, add a page and select System data explorer as the template. For detailed steps, see To add a page to an existing custom view.

2. Enter values for the following properties:

   • Title: Type a title for the page.

   • Show contained elements count: Enable or disable the display of contained elements count.

   • Show tags: Enable or disable the display of tags.

   • To display information related to a particular system, use the system filters:

     1. Display system type: Select the type of system to display in the view. You can select one or more similar system types from the list. For example, Virtual Machine - AIX LPAR, Virtual Machine - AIX Shared Processor LPAR and Virtual Machine - AIX VIO LPAR.
        (Optional) As an administrator, you can configure the default system to display in the view. Click the action menu  next to No Default System Selected and click Select Default System. In the Select Default System dialog box, a list of systems corresponding to the selected system type, are displayed. If the list is long, you can also type a string in the Search field and click Search. A list of names containing the search string is displayed and you can select the system you require. Click Apply. The capacity view user can view the configured default system next to the system type field on the view and can change the system using the Select System option. 
        Select Apply Lock if you do not want the capacity view user to change the default system.

     2. Filter label: Type a label for the system type filter. By default, the name of the system filter is selected as the label.

     3. (Optional) Filters: To add more filters, click (Change). You can add up to two additional filters to aid in the selection of the system.

        For example, if you do not know the exact system whose data you want to display, you can add additional filters to restrict the number of systems to choose from.

        To illustrate, If you select VMware Virtual Machine as the base system type filter, you can select VMware Virtual Host and VMware Virtual Cluster as the additional filters that you can use to restrict the number of VMware Virtual Machine systems to choose from.

        In the edit box that appears at the bottom, perform the following steps:

        1. (Optional): Subresource: Click the button to enable or disable subresource filter for the selected system types. When you enable this filter, a Label field for the subresource is enabled and System type filter 2 field is disabled. In the Label field for the subresource, type the required filter label to be displayed in the view. If multiple systems are selected in the Display system type, this filter can be used only if the systems are of similar type. This filter enables the Capacity Planner to filter the storage and network interface details according to the available subresources (BY metrics).

        2. (Optional): Select the system type from the System type filter 1 list. If you have selected more than one system in the Display system type, you can select the common parent system type for the selected systems. For example, if you have selected the Display system type as Virtual Machine - AIX LPAR, Virtual Machine - AIX Shared Processor LPAR and Virtual Machine - AIX VIO LPAR, you can select Virtual Host - AIX PowerVM in the System type filter 1 list.

        3. (Optional): Label: The field is populated with the filter name you select. You can type a different label.

           Similarly, select System type filter 2, if required.

           For more information, see Filtering data displayed in Views.

     4. Click Apply. The additional filters appear under Filters (Change) in the top edit area of the view. 

        To delete filters, click X on the filters.

   • Related information: Displays the drill-down links, if available, for the view. To add a link, click + Add link. In the edit area at the bottom, do the following: 
     1. In the Link Label box, type a name for the link.
     2. From the Target page list, select the page you want to link to.
     3. Click Apply. 
        The links you add appear under Related information and you can continue to configure the tabs.
     To edit links, click Change. To delete available links, click X on the links.  

3. To edit tabs, click on the tab that you want to configure. By default, 10 tabs are displayed, and the first tab is enabled. In addition, a Process Profile tab is displayed that lists the top 30 processes.

   1. If the chart is disabled, click to enable it. If you disable a tab, it is not displayed in the view.

      Note

      You must enable at least one tab.

   2. In the Tab label box, type a name for the tab.

   3. (Optional) To add custom text, click Add custom text. To update an existing custom text, click Change in the custom text panel. You can add descriptions, instructions, links, or any other textual information for the users of the view page. Use markdown tags to format the content of custom text and to add images, links, and tables. For example, add a description such as “Displays performance metrics for Payroll application”, or a label such as "NY Datacenter - Capacity Metrics".

      • Title: Type the required title for the custom text.

      • Always expand custom text: Select to display the custom text as expanded or collapsed.
      • Editor: Type the required content and format it by using markdown tags such as * to create an unordered list and # to increase the font size. A preview of the formatted content is displayed in the Preview section.
      • Insert image: Enable you to add an image. The selected image is displayed in the Preview section. 

      The following image illustrates the preview of the commonly-used standard markdown language tags. 

      

      

      For more information about markdown tags, see  Showdown's Markdown syntax .

   4. To configure the charts, click in the individual chart. 
       denotes that the display of the chart is enabled.  denotes that the display of the chart is disabled. 

      By default, the display of only one chart is enabled. If you disable the display of the chart, it is not displayed in the Summary tab.
      
      Configure the following properties for charts:

      1. Title: Displays the title according to the selected chart template. You can change the title. You can also change the chart labels by clicking the Change chart labels link. Type a subtitle, X axis title, Left Y axis title, Right Y axis title, and legend for chart.

      2. Template: Select a template from the list, based on which to render the chart. The following templates are available.

         • Area Chart
         • Bar Chart
         • Line Chart
           
         • Pie Chart
         • Stacked Area Chart
           
         • Stacked Bar Chart
         • Top 10 Workloads by <metricName>
           

         For information about the types of charts, see Analysis chart types.

         You can also add custom templates that you create in the BMC Helix Continuous Optimization.

         Info

         The following functions from the analysis chart types are not supported in the charts in the Views tab:

         • Trendlines
         • Right axis on line charts
         • Calendar charts
         • Other minor customization options (Format of ticks, Format of dates, Label rotation, Format of chart grid, Logarithmic axes, Palette, Dashed lines)

      3. Metrics: Click Add to add the metrics to display in the chart. To add a metric, click + Add. To edit existing links, click Change. 
         You can add multiple metrics. 

         • Perform the following to add or change the metrics:

           1. In the System type panel, select the system type from which to select the metrics. Select from the following options: All System types, Specified type or Workload.

              • If you have selected a system type from the Display system type list  in step 2, that system type is also displayed and selected by default.

              • The Workload system type option is available only if you select Top 10 Workloads by <metricName> as the template in the previous step.

           2. If you select Specified Type, select a system, or systems, from the list.  

           3. In the Metrics panel, depending on the system type you select, the Metrics panel lists the available metrics for that system type, to choose from. 

              The metrics are grouped by category, for example, CPU, Disk, Formulas, Memory, BYFileSystem and so on. Click a category to expand it and select the metrics. You can also search for a metric. 
              If you have enabled the subresource filter, select a BY metric from the list of available metrics. The selected metrics are listed in the Selected Metrics panel. 

           4. Click Done.

         • To customize the metric statistics or display on the right Y axis, click the corresponding Customize link. In the Customize Metric <metricName> screen that opens, specify the following options:

           • You can choose to select a different statistics for this metric. Selecting the default value retains the original statistics. 
           • Select Show Value to show the metric values on the chart. 
             

           • Select Show on Right Y Axis to show this metric value on the right Y axis. Selecting this option for any of the metrics in the chart displays two Y axes, one on the left and other on the right side of the chart. This feature can be useful for viewing a chart configured with metrics of different units. 

      4. Related information: You can add drill-down links for the chart. To delete available links, click X at the top-right of that link. To add or edit links, click Change. In the edit area at the bottom, do the following:
         
         • To add a link, click + Add link.
         • In the Link Label box, type a name for the link.
         • From the Target page list, select the page you want to link to.
         • Click Apply. The links you add appear under Related information and you can continue to configure the tabs.

   5. Click Done to go back to the previous edit screen.

4. Click Apply. The changes are updated dynamically in the view, and you continue to be in the edit mode.

   When you click Apply, a live preview of your configuration is displayed, without saving the changes. This live update helps you to review your changes, and if required, quickly make further changes as you continue to be in the edit mode.

5. (Optional): Click the Process Profile tab and click Enable tab. This displays the top process-level data for systems. For example, Top 30 processes by CPU.

   The Process Profile tab displays pre-configured data. You can only enable or disable the display of the pre-configured data, but cannot configure the data that is displayed.

   
   

6. Click Apply. The changes are updated dynamically in the view, and you continue to be in the edit mode.

7. To configure the table, click in the table section. In the edit box at the bottom, first enable the table by clicking . The following properties are available to edit: .

   1. Information to display: Choose the type of information to display in the table. You can choose either Configuration Metric Changes or Data mart.

   2. If you select Configuration Metric Changes, you can select which metrics you want to display for the entity and for the parent. In the metric selection area, first add metrics for the entity:

      1. Metrics: Click Add to add the metrics to display in the chart. To add a metric, click + Add. To edit existing links, click Change. 
         You can add multiple metrics. 

      2. In the System type panel, select the system type from which to select the metrics. Select from the following options: All System types, Specified type or Workload.

         • If you have selected a system type from the Display system type list  in step 2, that system type is also displayed and selected by default.
         • The Workload system type option is available only if you select Top 10 Workloads by <metricName> as the template in the previous step.

      3. If you select Workload or Specified type, select a system, or systems, from the list.

      4. In the Metrics panel, depending on the system type you select, the Metrics panel lists the available metrics for that system type, to choose from. 

         The metrics are grouped by category, for example, CPU, Disk, Formulas, Memory, BYFileSystem and so on. Click the category name to expand the category and select the metrics. The selected metrics are listed in the Selected metrics panel.

      5. If you want to display metrics for the parent system, click Display metrics from parent system to enable the display.

      6. Select the system type from the System type list for the parent system.

      7. Under Parent metrics, click + Add and follow the same process as you did to add the entity metrics. 

   3. If you select Data mart, complete the following steps:
      
      1. Data mart: Select a data mart from the list. You must select a data mart to show data on the page.

      2. Columns: Add columns to the table and select the corresponding metric for each column. By default, three columns are displayed. 
         To add more columns, click + Add column. To delete a column click X at the top-right of that column.

      3. Select a value for each column, from the list.

      4. To modify the default column header label, renderer, and column visibility option, select a column, and click the corresponding Edit parameters link to configure it further:

         In the Edit <columnName> parameters screen that opens, specify the following options:

         1. If you do not want the column name as appears in the data mart to be displayed as the column header, type a new label in the Column header label field.

         2. Select the Renderer and configure it. 

            The default renderer is automatically selected based on the data mart column that you select in the previous step. For example, if you select data center (dc_name) as one of the columns, the corresponding default renderer for that column is Text. 

            Depending on the selected renderer, the parameters to configure differ. For more information about the available renderers, see Renderer options in custom views. 

         3. In the Column visibility section, specify whether the column must be shown or hidden on the view page:

            • Column is always shown: The column is permanently shown. User of the view cannot hide the column.

            • Column is displayed and user can hide it: The column is shown by default. The user can hide or show it from the Show/Hide columns window.

            • Column is hidden and the user can show it: The column is hidden by default. The user can choose to show or hide it from the Show/Hide columns window.

               Consider the following example

              As per the following column configuration, the Name column is displayed by default and the capacity view user can hide it.

              

              When the capacity view user opens the configured view page, the Name column is displayed.
              The capacity view user can choose to hide the column by selecting the Show/Hide Columns option from the table action menu.

              In the Show/Hide Columns window, the Name column is displayed, by default. To hide the column, clear the check box and click Save.

              
              The column is not displayed in the table.

         4. After you complete editing parameters for one column, click Done to return to the previous edit screen. 

            You can continue to edit parameters for other columns.

      5. To reorder the columns, click Reorder columns. Type the required order or position number in the Order field for the required column. The columns rearrange automatically.

         Information

         You can only enter a number between 1 and the total number of columns in the Order field. For example, if four columns are displayed, then you cannot add an order number greater than 4.

      6. After you complete editing parameters for that column, click Done to return to the previous edit screen.

      7. You can continue to edit parameters for other columns.

8. Click Apply. The changes are updated dynamically in the view, and you continue to be in the edit mode.

9. If you are satisfied with the changes, and do not want to edit the page further, click Save.

   The custom view page is displayed with the new configuration.

Example of a view page with System data explorer template