Creating and Managing Nectus Dashboards

How to Generate Direct Access URL for Graphs and Dashboards

How to Generate Direct Access URL for Graphs and Dashboards

Quick Start

Step 1: Login to the Nectus Portal, right-click on the specific device, and select the Graphs -> Availability Graph option.

Step 2: On the Availability Graph page, click on the Generate Direct Access URL button.

Step 3: Consequently, a unique URL is generated for this graph.

Nectus allows you to include additional configurations such as URL name, access control, link expiration date, etc.

Lastly, click on the Save And Copy button.

Step 4: Open the URL in the browser.

The graph page will automatically load.

Note: The same steps should be followed to generate other graphs like Latency, Lost Pings, Trace, etc.

Step 5: Likewise, Nectus also allows us to generate direct access URLs for the dashboards.

To create one, navigate to Monitoring -> Network Monitoring Dashboards -> Low Level Dashboard.

Step 6: On the Low-level Dashboard model, click on the gear icon (settings option) in the top right corner.

Step 7: In the Settings model, click on the Generate Direct URL button.

Step 8: Subsequently, a unique URL is generated for this dashboard.

Once again, Nectus allows us to add additional configurations such as name, view access control using mandatory login, link expiry dates, etc.

Finally, click on the Save And Copy button.

Step 9: To share the copied URL with relevant users/teams, paste the URL in the browser. The dashboard page will then automatically load.

Note: The same steps should be followed for other dashboards like Network Monitoring, Server Monitoring, DB Monitoring, HTTP URL Monitoring, etc.

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Using Graphs in Custom Dashboards

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Using Graphs in Custom Dashboards

Nectus offers extensive capabilities of visualizing different aspects of network performance and presenting it in custom dashboards.

This article guides you through the basic step of process of adding graphs to custom dashboards.

Step 1. Prepare Graphs for the Dashboard.

Generate the graph you’d like to include in a dashboard. Make sure to adjust the required time range using the drop-down menu in the left upper corner.

Click URL button to obtain the URL address for the graph.

In the URL window, click Copy and save the URL address into Notepad.

If creating a dashboard with multiple different graphs, repeat building graphs and save URLs for every graph that will be included in dashboard.

Step 2. Create Custom Dashboard.

Once you have built the graphs and saved all the URLs, you are now ready to create a custom dashboard.

Go to Monitor → Custom Dashboards → Manage Custom Dashboards.

Click Add Dashboard button.

In the “Dashboard Widgets” menu select “Custom Graphs” Tab, select the number of graphs you’d like to display in Dashboard by checking the boxes on the left, and paste the URL addresses that you previously saved.

Give Dashboard a Name and press “Ok”

Your new dashboard is now listed in the Custom Dashboards list. Click on the name to open it.

If desired, use paper clip icon in the right upper corner to make this dashboard appear every time you login.

 

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SNMP Device Status Color Codes

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SNMP Device Status Color Codes

Nectus uses different colors to encode SNMP Device Status in Dashboards, Trees and Status Panels. There are three main color codes: Green, Red and Orange.

Green Color represent SNMP Device status when it is reachable by ICMP Probe and don’t have any critical interfaces Down.

Red Color represent SNMP Device status when it is not responding to ICMP Probe.

Orange Color represent SNMP Device that is reachable via ICMP but has at least one critical Interface down.

You can designate any Interface as critical by following these steps:

  1. Create Interface View that will contain all the Critical Interfaces
  2. Select this Interface View in Global Monitoring Settings

Critical Interfaces are marked by special “Star” icon in Interface List View

You can quickly add/remove Interface to Critical List by using Interface Context menu Option

 

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Creating custom Dashboards in Nectus

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Creating Custom Dashboards

In this chapter, you’ll learn how to create Custom Dashboards. Nectus lets you create an unlimited number of Custom Dashboards, making it easy to focus on exactly the information you need at any time.

This chapter covers how to:

  1. Create a New Custom Dashboard
  2. Add Widgets
  3. Manage Widgets
  4. Manage Dashboards
  5. Available Widgets by Category

1. Create a New Custom Dashboard

You create and configure Custom Dashboards using the Dashboard Widgets dialog box.

  1. To create a new Custom Dashboard, go to the Nectus Top Menu then navigate to: Monitoring -> Custom Dashboards -> Manage Custom Dashboards and click the Add Dashboard button.

  1. Enter a Title for the Dashboard then add widgets to it as described in Section 2.

2. Add Widgets

The Dashboard Widgets dialog includes all the available Widgets grouped by Category. You can enable any number of Widgets from any number of Categories in the Dashboard.

Many Widgets have settings you can enter when you add them to the Dashboard. They may also have additional settings you configure once the Widget is live in the Dashboard. See the next section for more details.

3. Manage Widgets

Once a Widget is live in a Dashboard, you can drag it, resize it, or remove it.

You can customize any Widget by clicking its Settings icon. Most Widgets have a Style setting you can configure. Some Widgets also have Views. Views filter the information that appears in the Widget.

In the following example, the View filters the High Utilization Interfaces Widget so only interfaces that have had utilization levels of 70% of above in the last hour appear.

To keep any changes you make to widgets, click the Dashboard’s Save icon.

4. Manage Dashboards

You manage a Dashboard by clicking the Dashboard’s Settings icon to open the Dashboard Widgets dialog box. You can change the Title, as well as add or remove Widgets.

To keep any changes you make to the Dashboard, click the Save icon.

To make this Dashboard the default, click the Open by Default icon.

5. Available Widgets by Category

Nectus gives you over 60 Widgets, divided into over a dozen Categories. This section lists the Categories and the Widgets in each Category.

5.1 Device Widgets

  • Device Outages
  • Devices Down
  • High CPU Devices (Ave. CPU > 90%)
  • Low RAM Devices

5.2 Interface Widgets

  • High Utilization Interfaces
  • Interface Outages
  • Interfaces Down
  • Top 5 Interfaces by Dropped Packets
  • Top 5 Interfaces by Errors
  • Top 5 Interfaces by Utilization
  • Traffic Volume

5.3 SQL DB Widgets

  • Resource Pool Stats
    • Avg Disk Read/Write IO (ms)
    • CPU Usage
    • Disk Read/Write Bytes/sec
    • Disk Read/Write IO/sec
  • Memory Manager Metrics
    • Memory Grants Pending
    • Target-Total Memory
  • Buffer Manager
    • Buffer cache hit ratio
    • Lazy write/sec
    • Page life expectancy
    • Page lookups/sec
    • Page reads/writes sec
  • Databases
    • Active Transactions
    • DB Data/Log size
    • Log Flushes/sec
    • Percent Log Used
    • Running Query count
    • Transactions/sec
    • Write Transactions/sec
  • SQL Errors
    • Errors/sec
  • SQL Statistics
    • Batch Requests/sec
    • SQL Compilations/Re-Compilations sec
  • Services
    • Server Services
  • Sessions and Connections
    • Connections
    • Sessions

Locks (Total)

    • Average Wait Time (ms)
    • Lock Requests/sec
    • Lock Waits/sec
    • Number of Deadlocks/sec
  • Agent Jobs
    • Agent Jobs

5.4 Syslog Widgets

  • Major Syslog Events
  • Syslog (Severity 1-3)

5.5 Wireless Widgets

  • Wireless AP Client Load
  • Wireless Controllers
  • Wireless SSID Client Load
  • Wireless Total Clients

5.6 HTTP Widgets

  • HTTP URL Health

5.7 Server Health Widgets

  • Server Health (SNMP)
  • Server Health (WMI)

5.8 Custom Graphs Widgets

  • Custom Graph 1-10

5.9 Outage Map Widgets

  • Outage Map 1-10

5.10 Netflow Widgets

  • Top 5 Applications
  • Top 5 Protocols
  • Top 5 Sources
  • Top 5 Destinations

5.11 Call Manager

  • Call Manager Health

5.12 AWS

  • AWS CPU
  • AWS Disk
  • AWS Network
  • AWS Status

5.13 Others

  • Maintenance Schedule
  • Network Uptime
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Creating Network Outage Dashboards in Nectus with GoogleMaps

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Create an Outage Map

In this chapter, you’ll learn how to create and use Outage Maps. An Outage Map is a graphical representation of the status of the Sites in your organization. Using real world maps and GPS coordinates, an Outage Map instantly shows you outages for any of your Sites in any region of the world.

This chapter covers how to:

  1. Obtain and Configure a Google Map API Key
  2. Create an Empty Outage Map Dashboard
  3. Place Sites on the Outage Map
  4. Configure Outage Map Parameters

Obtain and Configure a Google Map API Key

Nectus needs an API key to work with Google Maps. Obtaining a Google Map API Key is outside the scope of this guide. Google provides detailed instructions for obtaining a key at:

https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/javascript/get-api-key

Once you acquire a key, follow these steps to configure Nectus to work with your key:

  1. To open the Map Integration dialog, go to the Nectus Top Menu and navigate to: Settings -> General Settings -> Map Integration.

  1. Enter your API Key on the Google Integration tab.

2. Create an Empty Outage Map

To create an empty Outage Map, go to the Nectus Top Menu then navigate to: Monitoring -> Outage Map Dashboards -> Outage Map Dashboard.

Note: Nectus supports up to 10 maps and can display any or all of them simultaneously. See Section 2.3 for instructions on creating and displaying additional maps.

2.1 Zoom In to the Geographical Area of Interest

  1. Zoom in to the geographical area you are interested in.

  1. Click Save on the Outage Map Dashboard so Nectus will open this map to this geographical location in the future.

2.2 Assign and Save a Map Name

  1. To assign and save a name, click the map’s Settings button to open the Settings dialog.

  1. Enter the new name in the Title field.

2.3 Display Multiple Maps Simultaneously

It can sometimes be helpful to display multiple Outage Maps simultaneously. Nectus can display up to 10 maps at once. Each map has its own adjustable settings and can be zoomed and configured independently.

  1. To display multiple maps simultaneously, open the Dashboard Widgets dialog by clicking the Outage Map Dashboards Settings icon. Select the Outage Map tab.

  1. Check the Outage Maps you want to display. You can also edit their names here if desired. Nectus displays all the checked maps.

3. Place Sites on the Outage Map

To place a Site on the Outage Map, you need to enter the GPS coordinates in the Site Properties. You can either enter the coordinates manually, or you can let Nectus derive the coordinates of the Site from its Address.

3.1 Enter the GPS Coordinates Manually

Enter the GPS coordinates in the GPS Latitude and GPS Longitude fields.

3.2 Derive GPS Coordinates from the Address

If you don’t know the GPS coordinates of the Site, enter the Site Address and click Find GPS from Address. Nectus derives the GPS coordinates from the Address and enters them for you.

3.3 Understand Site Colors

The color of a Site’s icon on the map gives you an easy way to check the status of the Devices at that Site. Each Site icon can have one of three colors:

  • Grey – The Site has no Devices assigned to it.
  • Green – All the Devices assigned to the Site are “Up”.
  • Red – One or more of the Devices at the Site is “Down”. When a Site goes Red, Nectus also increases the size of the Site icon to help you spot it more easily.

3.4 Access a Site Context Menu from a Map

If a Site appears on a map, you can open its context menu directly, without having to navigate through the Sites Panel. Simply right-click the icon of the Site.

3.5 Removing a Site from a Map

To remove a Site from any and all maps without removing the Site from the Nectus database, clear its GPS coordinates in its Site Properties.

4. Configure Outage Map Parameters

An Outage Map has several configurable parameters that control how things appear on the map. You can configure each map independently of the others, giving you maximum flexibility to get exactly the information you need. The following sections show you how to configure these parameters.

4.1 Change the Shape and Size of Individual Site Icons

Changing the shape or size of certain Site icons makes it easy to pick out those Sites on a crowded map. You might make your most important Sites larger than the rest, or assign them a different shape.

To change the shape and size of individual Site icons, navigate to Site Properties. In the Outage Map Icon Size field select the icon size in pixels. Use the Outage Map Icon list to select a Circle, Star, or Triangle for the shape.

4.2 Change the Size of All the Site Icons on a Map

To scale all the icons on a map simultaneously navigate to: Map Settings -> General tab. In the Set Circle Radius (%) field enter a scaling factor that will apply to all the Site icons on this particular map. The following figure shows the map from section 4.1 with the icons scaled down to 50% of their original size.

4.3 Show or Hide Site Names

Every Site must have a Site Level Name, but you control whether Nectus displays those names on a map.

To show or hide all the Site Level Names on a map simultaneously navigate to: Map Settings -> General tab and check or uncheck Site Name.

4.4 Display of Hide Map Objects

Outage Maps can display a huge amount of information, not all of which may be useful to you. You can configure a map to display only those objects that are relevant to you.

To show or hide all the Site Level Names on a map simultaneously navigate to: Map Settings -> Google Map tab. Check or uncheck Map Objects as desired.

 

 

 

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Cisco Wireless Dashboards

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After support for wireless devices was added in Nectus, specific monitoring dashboards were created to track any change that can affect the wireless users, controllers or access points.
The wireless dashboards are vendor specific and this is where you can find the dashboard for Cisco wireless devices:

The focus of this article is on Cisco wireless devices, this is how the Cisco wireless dashboard looks like:

Wireless dashboard has multiple sections.
One of the sections covers the controllers and can provide information about the CPU usage, how many APs are Up, Down or Downloading:

As always, you can get device details by selecting the controller:

The interesting things starts when you select the counters related to the number of APs that are up, down or in process of being associated with the controller.
You get a list of APs in that state associated with that specific controller:

To get details about an AP, it is enough to select one of the APs and a window with multiple tabs will provide various information that can help the operator to understand how that specific AP operates.
The first tab provides the name of AP assigned by the operator, the model of AP, the operating system, the IP address and some other useful information about the AP.

The next tab provides technical information about the two frequencies in which the AP operates:

In the next tab, quality of service settings are covered:

The forth tab is about the load in terms of number of clients, receive and transmit utilization for the frequencies supported:

The next tab shows the rogue APs detected:

You can also see the neighbor APs and some of their characteristics:

And the last tab shows the CDP neighbor:

Another section of the wireless dashboard is the SSID Client load which shows how many clients are on each SSID:

The wireless dashboard allows to see how many clients and on which frequency each AP has:

And the last section of the wireless dashboard is the one showing how many clients are on the two frequencies, 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz, in total and you can see some history of how many clients were at some point in time.

Nectus Cisco Wireless dashboard can provide useful information about the wireless devices, controllers and access points.

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