Data Presentation

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Graphs show data collected by Pandora FMS during a time threshold defined by the user. Pandora FMS graphs show data on request, and they are generated every time the operator requires one of them, showing the most recent data.

The graphs in Pandora represent the values that a module has had over a period of time.

Due to the great amount of data that Pandora FMS stores, two different types of features are offered, the normal graphs and the full scale graphs or TIP.

General features

These are graphs that represent the information stored by the module at a basic level.

It allows us to see an approximation of the value range of the module.

They divide the module data into boxes in such a way that a sample of the module values is represented.

Not all values are represented, which is complemented by dividing the view into three graphs:

• Max (maximum values).
• min (minimum values).
• avg (average values).

Advantages: They are generated very quickly, without hardly consuming any resources.

Disadvantages: The information provided is approximate. The states of the monitors they represent are calculated based on events.

General features

These graphs represent real data.

It shows us a true representation of the data reported by the module.

As these are real data, it will not be necessary to add extra graphs to the information (avg, min, max).

Calculating periods in unknown state is supported by events, such as normal graphs, but is complemented by extra detection for cases where events have been purged (by performance optimization, for example).

• Advantages: The data represented are all decompressed data from the database. It is the most realistic way to review module data.
• Disadvantages: Its processing is slower than that of normal graphs. Depending on the time range and the volume of data to be displayed, your display may be less fluid.

Module graphs represent data reported by specific modules.

They may be interactive or static graphs (by placing the mouse at some point on the backside of the graph, the specific data of that point will be shown).

In normal mode, it is possible to adjust the resolution of the graph to improve the display. The values between which the resolution can be configured are 1 (lowest) and 5 (highest).

TIP mode:

Module graphs are accessible through monitor detail, which can be reached by clicking on Monitoring → Views → Monitor detail (Pandora FMS interface). Select the parameters to filter or leave those by default and click Show.

You may also find them in the agent view (module list). To access these graphs, choose an agent from Monitoring → Views → Agents Detail:

To see the agent's operation menu, click on the agent's name, for example localhost.localdomain.

This image shows a list with all agent modules. In the module table view, two icons appear under the legend Graph, one will show the raw data (right) and the other one a link to access the module graph (left).

To customize the module data to be displayed, click on the graph icon and then Graph configuration menu.

Enabling Show AVG/MAX/MIN data series in graph will show the map key with the statistical data (Last value, Average, Maximum and Minimum) for each of the series shown.

To select an area of ​​the graph that you want to represent, select that area with the mouse in the graph below, zooming in the desired area.You may use the right icon Overview Graph to have both graphs at the same time and click Cancel zoom to reset.

Refresh Time

The field where the graph's refresh time is defined.

Avg. Only

If you select it, it will show the average data graph.

Begin Date

Date until which the graph will be drawn.

Begin Time

Time until which the graph will be drawn (hour, minutes, seconds).

Zoom Factor

Graph visor size, multipliable.

Time Range

Time range when data will be collected.

Show Events

It shows indicator points with event information at the top.

Show Alerts

It shows indicator points with triggered alert information at the top.

“Show percentile”

It adds a graph that indicates the percentile line (configurable in Pandora FMS general visual options).

Time Compare (Overlapped)

It shows the same graph overlapped but in the previous interval to the selected one. For instance, if you request a period of one week and activate this option, the week prior to the chosen one will also be shown overlapped.

Time Compare (Separated)

It shows the same graph as the overlapped version but in a separated graph. For example, if you request a period of one week and activate this option, the week before the chosen one will also be displayed.

Show Unknowns Chart

It shows boxes in grey shading covering the periods where Pandora FMS cannot guarantee the module's status, either due to data loss, software agent shutdown, etc.

Show Full Scale Graph (TIP).

It switches the drawing mode from “normal” to “TIP”. That way, graphs will show real data rather than approximations, so the time it will take to generate them will be longer.

Once the values have been changed, click Reload to apply them.

Interface graphs are specialized combined graphs that allow to analyze the performance of a network interface.

They are automatically shown whenever the following modules exist in the agent:

• interface_ifOperStatus
• interface_ifInOctets
• interface_ifOutOctets

Input and output octets may also appear as your HC alternatives (ifHCInOctects, ifHCOutOctects).

When the system detects the existence of these modules, it will automatically generate the interface analysis section and the following graphs:

Agent overview with network traffic data

Interface graph detail

These graphs also enable quick option selection, as in module graphs, with the particularity that they add to same view information from different sources (input and output octets) and the variety of drawing options is smaller.

Custom graphs allow to combine information from multiple modules into a single, size-variable graph. That way, information from several sources can be compared visually.

To add a combined graph, go to Reporting > Custom graphs

And click on Create graph.

These are the fields that can be found:

Group

Here the graph can be added to a specific group. Users can only assign a group the user creating the combined graph belongs to, unless that user explicitly belongs to the ALL group.

Periodicity

Define in the combo list the temporal period used to create the graph.

Type of graph

Choose between, horizontal bars, vertical bars, bullet graph, circle graph, line graph, stacked line, gauge, area and stacked area.

Equalize maximum thresholds

It indicates whether the general maximum and minimum thresholds should be set for value comparisons in bullet charts.

Percentile

It displays data percentile (customizable value in Pandora fMS console visual options).

Add summation series

It displays the sum of all data.

Add average series

It displays the average of all data.

Show TIP graphic

The TIP drawing system will be used to display real values of each data source selected in the element configuration.

To add new modules, click on the Graph Editor button, you will be presented with a form where you can add new modules from any agent.

The weight option allows to adjust the data in order to compare graphs of different magnitudes. This field multiplies the data by the defined weight.

For example, if you want to put in the same CPU graph with values between 0 and 100 and number of connections with values between 1000 and 10000, it is convenient to multiply the CPU by 10.

There is no limit on the number of elements to display, however the default limit (in terms of the number of modules) is 10 and can be modified in “Number of elements in custom graph”.

Example of custom graph:

You can adjust certain displays within the view screen:

To see a combined graph, go to Reporting > Custom Graph where a list of all saved graphs appears. To see a graph, click on its name.

When accessing the graph, it will be made up by the most recent values for the selected time threshold.

From this page, it is possible to modify certain display parameters such as time period, graph type and zoom (Graph definition, Zoom x1, Zoom x2 and Zoom x3).

Example with the different types of graphics:

• Area Type

• Horizontal bars Type

• Vertical bars Type

• Bullet chart Type

Bear in mind, this type of chart is not compatible with negative values.

• Gauge Type

• Pie Type

• Line Type

• Stacked area Type

• Stacked line Type

To delete a stored combined graph, click on Reporting > Custom Graph. It is where all stored graphs are listed. Click on the trash icon on the graph's right side to delete it.

The Graph container allows:

• Defining as many containers as desired.
• Nesting containers.
• Creating simple module graphs.
• Referencing custom graps.
• Creating graphs using dynamic rules.

To create a graph container, access the container tab from the custom graphs homepage:

Click on Create container:

Set the fields:

Group

Owner group of the container. Even if the user who is creating the container does not explicitly belong to the ALL group, he/she can still assign the ALL group as the owner group of the container.

Parent container

Where to store the container.

There are three options to add graphs to a container:

Simple module graph

Select the agent and module to be drawn, as well as the time threshold, in addition to the following options:

• Type of graph: Area or line graph.

• Show TIP graph: It shows the module's real data.

Custom graph

Similar to the previous graph, it allows to select an existing custom graph.

Simple module graphs based on dynamic rules

It allows you to add several simple module graphs using selectors based on regular expressions.

Specify the regular expressions that agents and modules must meet to be added to the list of graphs to generate.

For example, if you have the agents called office1, office2, room1 and room2 with the inOctects modules, and you would only like to represent the modules of the office agents, you should specify it as follows:

• agent: office.*
• module: inOctects

The system would automatically create 2 graphs, one for the office1 agent inOctects module, and another for the office2 agent inOctects module.

At the bottom of the container's editing page, you may see the list of graphs registered in this container. You can delete them by clicking on the trash can icon.

By clicking on the container tab, you may access the list of containers and their graphs:

To see the graphs stored in a container, click on the container title. On this tab you will see nested those containers defined like that.

There are two ways to display graphs in real time. On the one hand, there is a series of checks generated by Pandora FMS and others generated by SNMP modules. You may find more inofrmation in our video tutorial “PFMS Reviews Real-time graphs”.

The first to be discussed is graphs created by Pandora FMS. Therefore, go to Monitoring > Views > Real-time graphs.

Pandora FMS Server Apache load

It shows in real time the load by the Apache service.

Pandora FMS Server CPU

It shows in real time the CPU load where the Pandora FMS console you are working with is installed.

;Pandora FMS Server Disk IO wait: It shows in real time the input/output disk requests that are queueing. Pandora FMS Server load

It shows in real time the load caused by the server.

Pandora FMS Server MySQL load

It shows in real time the load caused by the MySQL service.

Pending packages from Pandora FMS Server

It shows in real time the amount of queued packets that the Pandora FMS server has yet to manage.

SNMP Interface throughput

Once SNMP data about the machine are entered: IP, community and OID, it will show in real time the data returned by the machine to which you are making the request. In this type of graphs, only versions 1, 2 and 2c can be checked. In order to know the OID, there is the SNMP walk tool with which you can see in tree form the OID of the machine to which you point. To learn more about SNMP monitoring, go to the following link.

Besides choosing the type of graph to use, select the graphic update interval (which minimally affects the performance) and if you wish to show the data incrementally or not. If you use the incremental, you will see a rate of the changes made in the results per second (if the interval is 1 second). It is important to emphasize that it is not possible to generate new graphs apart from those that come by default in Pandora FMS.

Another graph type is SNMP version 3 available both in in Monitoring > Views > Monitor Detail as well as within the view the agent view.

These graphs are the same as those generated in SNMP Interface throughput explained above, with the data added to the module.

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