Trends

Trends provide a graphical representation of data using Line Charts, Heatmaps, and Tables. Build custom views of the raw data, incidents, and anomalies to analyze when needed. Use the Pinboard functionality (right-hand side of the display) to "pin" top-talkers. Use the left-hand side display of dimensions and the measures to build your views and pinboards. For information on views and pinboards, refer to Build Views.

Elements of the Trends Page

The text in red highlights the different areas of the Trends page that help provide relevant data to address your needs.

Page Constructs

Chart Type–Helps visualize data. Use one of the three data visualization options from the drop-down menu: Line Chart, Table, or Heatmap to select the type of preferred visualization.

Pinboard–Visualizes top-talker dimensions based on a selected measure. Add a new dimension to the pinboard from the dimensions on the left. At the top of the pin board, select the measure to use. Click on a dimension in the pinboard to add it to the filter.

Dimensions–Lists either all available or a subset of dimensions depending on selection. Add new dimensions to the pinboard, filter, and show parts of the page. For additional information on how to filter dimensions, refer to Filter Data.

Measures–Contains all available or a subset of measures depending on selection.

A Heatmap is limited to one measure.

For additional information on how to work with measures, refer to Build Views.

Filter Data

Augtera provides powerful data visualization capabilities to display granular data using filters as described in Views Overview.

Filter Data

In SHOW, select the granularity of the visualization for Line Chart or Heatmap views. For Table views, you must choose one or more dimensions. For Heatmap views you must choose either time granularity and one dimension or two dimensions. For Line Chart views you can optionally add one dimension to the charts.

Filter Data

In SHOW, click the plus (+) icon to add a dimension to display in the Line Chart. For example, view the results of choosing ifName in the SHOW field.

Results of choosing ifName in Show

Advanced Filter Settings

For all dimensions, use advanced data filtering capabilities. These include regular expression matching (regex) or including/excluding certain dimension values.

To use a simple regular expression, in the filter list, add a dimension that will be used by the filter. In the example, deviceName is used as the filter.

1. Click the filter name to display a drop-down menu.

2. Select the upper left square for a choice of filtering options.

3. From the drop-down menu, select Regex.

4. Type in the regex pattern you want to match. For example, enter srv to match any device name that contains srv in its name. Notice that all devices containing srv are displayed in the list.

Advanced Filter Settings

Use Top Talkers

Use the pinboard feature to rank one or more dimensions by a particular measure. For example, if used to rank devices by the number of Syslog messages sent per device, you can identify if one device far outpaces its peers. Similarly, interfaces can be ranked by the number of dropped packets to identify congestion. Since top talkers accommodate a combination of dimensions, objects, and a variety of measures, it serves as a powerful tool for data analysis.

To pin a dimension to the TOP TALKERS pinboard, refer to the following figure and follow the outlined steps:

Pinboard Capabilities

1. From Dimensions, select a dimension.

2. Next to the selected dimension, click the pushpin icon to pin the dimension. The dimension will appear on the TOP TALKERS pinboard on the right side of the screen.

Change a Metric

To change the metric that is used to sort data using a pinned dimension, follow these steps.

1. Select a measure from the MEASURES type selector.

2. Choose a new measure type.

Change a Pinned Metric

Add Top Talkers to a Dashboard

You can add Top Talkers to any dashboard.

1. Ensure that your current view displays the Top Talkers pinboard you want to add to your dashboard.

2. From the Trends tab, select the Add To Dashboard icon. This icon looks like a square made up of three boxes and a plus sign.

3. From the drop-down menu, select Top Talkers as the widget type.

4. Select the desired dashboard where information will be displayed.

5. Click OK to save it.

Select the Widget Type

Build Derived Metrics

Create a Derived Metric, a new (previously unavailable) metric, to perform operations on existing metrics. Supported operations include + (add), - (subtract), * (multiply), and / (divide), minof and maxof. For example, create a DiscardPercent metric and define it as the total number of discarded packets divided by the sum of all unicast, multicast, and broadcast packets.

To create derived metrics, type part of the metric name in the search bar to find the metrics you want to include in your calculation. This will reduce the size of the list. Highlight the metric and copy its name by clicking on the copy icon. Paste it into a text editor for use later. Repeat that process till you have all the metrics you want in your searches.

1. In the MEASURES list, click on the create, plus (+) icon.

2. In Derived Metric Name, enter DiscardPercent.

3. In Units, enter a percentage sign (%)

4. In Expression, enter ifOutDiscards/(outMulticastPackets+outBroadcastPackets+outUnicastPackets).

5. Click OK. This new measure would now be available in the MEASURES list for use in views.

   

   Create a Derived Metric

Build Views

Visualize data using a Line Chart, Heatmap, or Table. From the Chart Type area, create a Line Chart to visualize data in a time series; use Heatmap to compare two dimensions or a dimension and time represented on the X and Y axes for a single measure; or Table for a table representation of multiple dimensions that can also be exported.

Line Chart

Use Line Charts to visualize data in a time series manner. Control what data is chosen and how it is presented. This can include either data from a single object (for example, a specific interface), cumulative data from multiple objects of the same type (for example, all interfaces), or combinations of objects (for example, all spine interfaces that interconnect leaf and spine switches).

It follows the format of the page construct covered earlier.

1. From the Name and Settings area, use the plus icon (+) to create a new view, provide it with a unique name, and select the appropriate data source.

2. Select Line Chart, if not already selected.

   

   Select a Line Chart
3. Select either single or multiple metrics that you want to display from the MEASURES list. In the following example, multiple measures are selected.

   

   Select Multiple Data Sources

   Initially, measures from your previous view will be displayed. De-select any unwanted measures before creating your new view. If there is data present for a measure from a specific data source, it will be displayed. However, if there is no data to be displayed for a particular measure, no data will appear in the view. In this case, double-check the data source you used for your view.

4. Add dimensions to the Top Talkers:

   1. Select the Dimension from the dimension list on the left pane.

   2. Select Pin. Once pinned, information on the dimension will appear in the right Top Talkers pane.

      

      Pin Dimensions

Heatmap

Heatmaps allow you to compare two dimensions or a dimension and time represented on the X and Y axes for a single measure. Metrics with high values appear in bolder colors than others with lower values. Below is an example that shows Augtera synthetic probe RTT heatmap where the X axis represents the receiving agent, and the Y axis represents the sending agent. Hover over any square to learn its value.

RTT Heatmap

Create a new Heatmap view

1. Use the plus icon (+) labeled #2, to create a new view. Provide it with a unique name, and select the appropriate data source.

2. Select Heatmap (labeled #3) for the view type.

View a Heatmap

1. Heatmaps consist of two comparators, which represent the two axes in the heatmap. In this example, select deviceName and Time for the comparators and ifHCOutOctets as the measure.

   • From SHOW, click the plus (+) sign.

   • Type "device" in the search bar to narrow down choices.

   • Select deviceName from the drop-down list.

   

   Heatmaps with Two Splits

   • To add a second comparator, from SHOW, click the plus (+) sign again.

   • Select Time.

   

   Select Time

   • Select the metric to measure and select ifHCOutOctets to display data.

     1. From FILTER, add any filters you want and indicate the time duration for the Heatmap to display.

     2. From SHOW, adjust the time granularity.

     

     Adjust Time Granuality

     For the ifHCOutOctets measure, the final Heatmap will display deviceName on the Y axis and Time on the X axis.

   

   Examine the X and Y Axes

Optional Heatmap Settings

Your Heatmap color scheme is customizable. Use different colors if you prefer another color or if want to distinguish your data for multiple Heatmaps that you may add to a dashboard.

To change the color of your Heatmap, do the following:

1. From the upper right-hand corner of your Heatmap, select the settings (gear) icon.

2. Click to choose one of the five color schemes.

3. Click OK to save.

Select a Heatmap Color

Hover your mouse over any grid section to see the value in that grid section. Alternatively, set the Heatmap to always display numbers over each grid section.

To enable the display of numbers over your Heatmap:

1. From the upper right-hand corner of your Heatmap, select the settings (gear) icon.

2. Check Enable Displaying Numbers.

3. Check Round Decimals to choose to display only round numbers.

4. Click OK to save your change.

Enable Numbers Display

Also, if you are interested in select values, but not all, set the Heatmap to only display numbers over grid sections that are above a certain minimum, below a certain maximum, or fall within a certain minimum and maximum range. At any time, hover over a grid section if you want to see its value.

To set a minimum, maximum, or both values, do the following:

1. From the upper right-hand corner of your Heatmap, select the settings (gear) icon.

2. Type the minimum or maximum (or both) value that you want to use.

3. Click OK to save your changes.

Set Minimum or Maximum Number Display Values

Using colors to highlight certain grid sections that are above a minimum value, allows you to rapidly identify objects with measures of concern. It also helps you ignore grid sections without color.

If preferred, you can limit your Heatmap to display colors above a certain value on only the grid sections:

1. Highlight the measure your Heatmap is displaying in the MEASURES list.

2. Click the settings (gear) icon.

3. Enter the value you want to set as the minimum value to be displayed.

4. Click OK to save the changes.

Set a Minimum Value

Table

Tables help export data, view metrics, and nest multiple dimensions together in a hierarchy.

For example, the following table is configured for a specific device indicated in the FILTER field for the ifHCInOctets metric. The table will nest the device and interfaces.

Export or View Metrics in Tables

Create a Table

Follow the procedures to create a new Table view:

1. Use the plus (+) icon to create a new view, provide it with a unique name, and select the appropriate data source.

2. Select Table as the view type.

3. Configure any desired filters.

4. From SHOW, add the dimension you want to display.

5. Add the measures you want to display.

Create a Table View

Download the Table

To view a local copy of the tabular data, you can download the data in a file:

1. From the bottom of the screen, click Download to view the contents of the table.

2. (Optional) Select the number of rows that you want to display or download.

Download Tables