Symptoms

A Performance tile or Matrix tile shows no graph (graph tile is blank) or an error similar to the following:

The server encountered a problem whilst processing the request.
No values found for the given metric for the last <time period> at the resolution 'raw/hourly/daily'.

Cause

This error indicates that there is no data to show. There are several reasons why there may not be any data:

• No data is being collected.
• The SCOM collection rule is saving data to the Operations Manager database, but not to the Data Warehouse database.
• For the chosen timeframe and resolution there is no data.
• For the chosen scope and metric there is no data.
• The group specified contains only subgroups and you have not specified, or have removed, the class.

Procedure

1. Install the latest version of Dashboard Server

   Get the latest version of SCOM Edition

2. Check the Data Warehouse connection

   If this message is shown for all performance graphs in Dashboard Server then you should check that Data Warehouse specified is correct.

   See Troubleshooting the Data Warehouse connection.

3. Check data is being collected

   Dashboard Server uses data from the Data Warehouse database. If the data is available in SCOM this means the data is being collected and stored in the Operations Manager database. SCOM Reporting uses the Data Warehouse database, so if the data appears in a report then it is in the Data Warehouse.

   How to trigger the workflows to collect data

   Flush the health service state and cache to trigger the workflows to collect the data, either using SCOM or Dashboard Server.

   To do this in Dashboard Server, browse to the object in Dashboard Server, then:

   1. Click on the Monitored Entity perspective.
   2. Click on Health Service in the Children section.
   3. Click the task button at the top of the page.
   4. Select the task Flush Health Service State and Cache.
   5. Click execute.

4. Change the timeframe

   Change the page timeframe, or tile timeframe if applicable, to see if there is data over a different period of time. See Timeframes for tiles

   Why is no data shown?

   There may be no data points available if you are using hourly data and looking at the last 1 hour (metric > resolution is set to hourly and the tile or page timeframe is set to last 1 hour), or using daily data and looking at the last 24 hours (metric > resolution is set to daily and the tile or page timeframe is set to last 24 hours). Try changing the resolution to auto and the tile or page timeframe to a longer time period.

   Check the Timeframe section of the tile configuration

   The timeframe section allows you to determine the timeframe for the data. You can choose either to use:

   • Use page timeframe

     What is the page timeframe?

     The page timeframe is the timeframe setting a dashboard or perspective is currently using. These timeframes are all relative to the current time, for example 7 days ago until now. When a user changes the page timeframe, all tiles that have use page timeframe set will adapt to the new timeframe. (Tiles that do not have use page timeframe set (i.e. are set to specific timeframe or custom timeframe) are not affected and won't change.)

     The custom option can be used to set timeframes using ISO 8601 format

     Dashboard Server does not support the week notation.

     

   • Specific timeframe

     What is a Specific timeframe?

     These timeframes allow you to set a fixed timeframe such as last 1 hour or last 7 days. These timeframes are all relative to the current time, for example 7 days ago until now. Using this setting means that any change the user makes to the page timeframe is ignored.

     The custom option can be used to set timeframes using ISO 8601 format

     Dashboard Server does not support the week notation.

     

   • Custom timeframe

     What is a Custom timeframe?

     This allows you to set a fixed timeframe window from the time and calendar picker. This sets a completely customizable timeframe window, not relative to now.

     

    

5. Check the resolution

   Data resolution in the Data Warehouse

   Resolution refers to the raw, hourly or daily data stored in the Data Warehouse.

   The data available in the Data Warehouse is determined by the retention period set in SCOM.

   Whether raw or hourly data is available for the whole timeframe will depend on your Data Warehouse data retention settings. Using the default SCOM data retention settings means that Dashboard Server timeframes of 1 week or less will probably be using raw data, for timeframes between 30 days and 12 months Dashboard Server will be probably be using hourly data. The SCOM data retention settings may well have been changed from the default.

   Understanding how Dashboard Server uses the different resolution data from the Data Warehouse

   For Performance tiles the resolution is set in the Metric panel. Try changing metric > resolution to auto.

   Auto resolution setting

   Dashboard Server, when using the auto resolution setting, uses the highest resolution data available (raw, hourly or daily), based on what data is available in the Data Warehouse for the whole graph timeframe. So Dashboard Server will use raw data as long as it is available for the whole reporting timeframe, then it will use hourly, and when that is not available for the whole timeframe it will use daily data.

   For Performance tiles the resolution is set in metric > resolution

   Using the auto resolution setting on a Performance tile automatically changes to a more suitable resolution when the page timeframe is changed by a user, in order to optimize the time to return the graphs.

   The auto setting applies to visualizations that use time periods, such as line graphs, sparklines and reports. Visualizations that do not show a time period, such as Bar Top N, Heatmap and Scalar, use the latest data point. These visualizations do not change when a user changes the page timeframe. For these visualizations the auto resolution setting defaults to daily.

   Why is no data shown?

   There may be no data points available if you are using hourly data and looking at the last 1 hour (metric > resolution is set to hourly and the tile or page timeframe is set to last 1 hour), or using daily data and looking at the last 24 hours (metric > resolution is set to daily and the tile or page timeframe is set to last 24 hours). Try changing the resolution to auto and the tile or page timeframe to a longer time period.

   Why is daily, rather than hourly, data shown for a 6 month graph?

   When the retention period for hourly data is set to 180 days and a Dashboard Server graph is set to display 6 months of data, this can actually be 182 or 183 days. Dashboard Server will switch to daily data because hourly data is not available for the full 6 month period, i.e. the retention period is less than the date range. The solution is to modify the retention period to reflect 6 months i.e. an extra 5 days and set the retention period to 185 days, this should not affect your storage levels too greatly. After a few days this will resolve the problem because 6 months of hourly data will then be available, when Dashboard Server checks the retention period against the requested time frame, the retention period would be higher and Dashboard Server would show hourly data.

   For more information see How to optimize the Data Warehouse - 5 Point Plan - 4. Data Retention

6. Check the metric

   The quickest way to check the metric is correct, is to clear the existing metric and use the down arrow button on the keyboard to view all the metrics available for the scope you have chosen.

   You may get the No values found for the given metric message returned if you change the scope after setting the metric.

Suggestions

Suggestions are generated based on the object you are currently viewing. You'll see a list of relevant scope options based on the object's relations to other objects. Suggestions don't cover every possible scope, but they are a quick and easy way to select a suitable scope for your tile.

Note: Suggestions won't be shown if an object has no children, parents or siblings.

Tip: If the exact scope you want isn't listed in the suggestions, you can select a suggested scope that is similar to the one you want, and then click on custom. The custom section will now automatically be filled with the suggestion you picked and you can edit the scope here to adjust it exactly to your needs. This is a more intuitive way to pick a scope than starting in the custom section and navigating the SCOM object model for classes and groups.

Double-check the scope when using suggestions: Using suggestions is an easy way to pick a scope, but you need to make sure that the generated suggestion is appropriate for all objects that use the perspective.
For example, when you pick a suggestion for an EA, you will get suggestions that are specific to the map, dependencies, and availability tests for this one EA. On perspectives you want to use for all EAs, you have to change the scope suggestion in the custom section so that the tile work for all EAs.

How to read the suggestions

You can pick between "this object" and objects that are related to this object as parents, children or siblings. The suggestions for children are written as paths that follow the SCOM object tree structure, parents and siblings can be identified by the word parent or sibling in the suggestion.

A parent of an object is any object that hosts or contains that object.
A child of an object is any object that this object hosts or contains.
A sibling of an object is any object of the same class that is hosted by the same parent.

This object	The dynamic scope will be resolved to the object currently viewed. "this object" option which does NOT mean the actual one object like for the target setting but the relative object I'm looking at
This / child / child / class of object	The dynamic scope will be resolved to children of the object currently viewed. You select objects of a particular class that are contained in path. The class of the objects you are selecting is stated at the end of the path.
This / *	The dynamic scope will be resolved to children of the object currently viewed. If a path ends with a wildcard (*) it means that you select all objects of any class within the path. Technically it means that we fill the class field with the class "logical entity" since every object in SCOM has this class, it is a "base" class Example: This / IIS Web Server / * selects all objects of any class in the level below This / IIS Web Server.
This / child / ... / class of object	The dynamic scope will be resolved to children of the object currently viewed. If a path contains an ellipsis (...) it means that you select objects of a particular class that are contained in all of the objects that are contained in the path preceding the ellipsis. The class of the objects you are selecting is stated at the end of the path. Example: This / Sales App Map / ... / Windows Computer selects all objects of the class Windows Computer in the This / Sales App Map path.
Parent class of object	The dynamic scope will be resolved to parents of the object currently viewed.
Sibling class of object	The dynamic scope will be resolved to siblings of the object currently viewed.
Show more triangle next to a suggestion	You can click the show more triangle to expand the list of suggestions and see more specific paths.

Walkthrough: Editing a scope suggestion to make it work for all EAs

Enterprise Applications are designed so that you can map out the servers that make up the application. You can then configure tiles to show information related to just the servers on the EA's map. When you create a perspective that will be used for all EAs, you need to make sure that you scope the tiles so that they work for any EA. When you start with a suggestion, the tile's scope only works for the one EA you're currently looking at, and this is why you need to edit the scope:

1. For an EA you want to scope to the servers that are specified on the EA map by selecting something from the suggestions (Dashboard Server 4.2 and above) that shows something similar to the following:

   This /<YourApplicationName> Map / ... / Windows Computer

   The above will scope the tile to all the objects of class Windows Computer on this EAs map.

   The screenshot below shows some scope suggestions for an application called FinanceXS. The bold text shows the currently selected scope is This object. The cursor shows the option This / FinanceXS / ... / Windows Computer. Once chosen this scope will show all the Windows computers shown on the applications map.

   

   Next, we need to adjust the specified scope to allow it to work for all EAs, rather than just this one.

2. In the scope section click custom.

3. Click on the text <YourApplicationName> Map (children) which is your first scope step. This will expand the scope step so you can edit it.

   

4. Remove the auto-populated class <YourApplicationName> Map by clicking the cross x next to it.

   

5. Start typing Enterprise Application - Map and select this from the list to add this class. This is so that this tile scope will work for all EAs, rather than just this one EA.

   

6. The scope is now configured to show all the Windows computers on the EA's map, whichever EA you happen to be viewing with the perspective.

Example for navigating suggestions in an EA

If you are looking at an EA, the path to find all windows computers in that EA may read Map / ... / Windows Computer. It returns all objects of the Windows Computer class contained within all of the paths under Map.

To narrow the scope down, you can click on the triangle to expand the suggestion and select one of the more specific paths. If you select Map / Web / Windows Computer you will find all objects of the Windows Computer class in the path Map / Web.

If you choose the option Map / * you'll find all objects contained in the map. If you extend this suggestion by clicking on the triangle, you'll see suggestions to select all objects in a more specific path, for example Map / Web / *.

Custom

Here you can pick objects that are related to the object you are currently looking at. If you want to create a specific scope that is not listed under suggestions, you can create the scope here.

Tip: You can pick a similar scope under suggestions first and then click on custom to edit it.

How to pick a simple relation (one step through the SCOM model)

1. At the top, you'll see the name of the object you are currently looking at. Now you can choose if you want to pick parents or children of that object, and if this parent or child relation should be considered only one level up or down the SCOM model or through all levels.

2. Class:

   Here you pick the class of the objects you want to select. If you leave this field empty, the scope falls back to the "this object" scope.

   Note: You will only see groups and classes that the object you are currently looking at is a member of.

   Tip: If you want to pick objects of any class, enter the SCOM base class logical entity in the class field.

   Tip: If you want to find out what classes the object you are interested in belongs to, you can go to the Monitored Entity perspective of that object. You'll see all the classes the object belongs to listed there.

3. Criteria:

   You can narrow the selection of objects of a particular class down further by entering criteria for those objects. For more help see How to use criteria when scoping objects.

   Tip: If you want to find out what properties you can base your criteria on, you can go to the Monitored Entity perspective of the object you are interested in. You'll see all the properties for criteria listed there.

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Example for picking a simple relation

For example, for a perspective created for the group IIS8 Computer Group adding a Status tile scoped to show children with a class of object will show the group members, i.e. the members of the IIS8 Computer Group.

How to pick advanced relations (multiple steps through the SCOM model)

If you need to traverse a more advanced SCOM object model like an EA, you can use the + button to add more steps. This creates a scope that can go through any kind of path of the SCOM object model.

Complete the following steps and then click the + button after you're done to add the next level of SCOM objects:

1. At the top, you'll see the name of the object you are currently looking at. Now you can choose if you want to pick parents or children of that object, and if this parent or child relation should be considered only one level up or down the SCOM model or through all levels.

2. Class:

   Here you pick the class of the objects you want to select. If you leave this field empty, the scope falls back to the "this object" scope.

   Note: You will only see groups and classes that the object you are currently looking at is a member of.

   Tip: If you want to pick objects of any class, enter the SCOM base class logical entity in the class field.

   Tip: If you want to find out what classes the object you are interested in belongs to, you can go to the Monitored Entity perspective of that object. You'll see all the classes the object belongs to listed there.

3. Criteria:

   You can narrow the selection of objects of a particular class down further by entering criteria for those objects. For more help see How to use criteria when scoping objects.

   Tip: If you want to find out what properties you can base your criteria on, you can go to the Monitored Entity perspective of the object you are interested in. You'll see all the properties for criteria listed there.

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Other specific objects

Gives you the normal, non-dynamic scope options you are used to when scoping tiles on dashboards. This means the tile will not dynamically adapt it's content to the currently viewed object, it will always show data for the static object picked here.

Since the power of perspectives is that their tiles can show data for different objects depending on what object is currently being viewed, you should only select this option when you are sure that there is no relationship between the desired scope and the currently viewed object.

The Alerts and the SCOM task tile have slightly different options than other tiles because they require different settings.

This object

The dynamic scope will be the resolved to the object that is currently viewed.

Relative objects

The dynamic scope will be resolved to relative objects (parents or children) of the object that is currently viewed.

How to pick relative objects

1. At the top, you'll see the name of the object you are currently looking at. Now you can choose if you want to pick parents or children of that object, and if this parent or child relation should be considered only one level up or down the SCOM model or through all levels.

2. Class:

   Here you pick the class of the objects you want to select. If you leave this field empty, the scope falls back to the "this object" scope.

   Note: You will only see groups and classes that the object you are currently looking at is a member of.

   Tip: If you want to pick objects of any class, enter the SCOM base class logical entity in the class field.

   Tip: If you want to find out what classes the object you are interested in belongs to, you can go to the Monitored Entity perspective of that object. You'll see all the classes the object belongs to listed there.

3. Criteria:

   You can narrow the selection of objects of a particular class down further by entering criteria for those objects. For more help see How to use criteria when scoping objects.

   Tip: If you want to find out what properties you can base your criteria on, you can go to the Monitored Entity perspective of the object you are interested in. You'll see all the properties for criteria listed there.

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Note for SCOM task tiles:

You have to pick one single object for SCOM task tiles since the task has to be run for one specific object. If you pick the scope option relative objects, you need to narrow the scope down to one object with the help of a class and criteria.

Other specific objects

Gives you the normal, non-dynamic scope options you are used to when scoping tiles on dashboards. This means the tile will not dynamically adapt it's content to the currently viewed object, it will always show data for the static object picked here.

Since the power of perspectives is that their tiles can show data for different objects depending on what object is currently being viewed, you should only select this option when you are sure that there is no relationship between the desired scope and the currently viewed object.