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Timeframes for tiles

Documentation Team
  • Updated

Timeframes for tiles

The timeframe of a tile defines the period of time for which data is returned, for example "show me data for the last 24 hours".

There are two aspects that influence the timeframe of a tile:

  • The timeframe configuration in the tile.

    ClosedHow is the timeframe in tiles configured?

    How a tile's timeframe is configured depends on the type of tile:

    • Some tiles, like the Azure Log Analytics tile, have a panel in the tile's configuration where you can set the timeframe. How the timeframe is configured is described in the individual tile's article.

    • Other tiles, like the Splunk tile, don't have a dedicated timeframe panel but you can specify a timeframe in the query or script the tile uses to return data. How to use timeframe in the tile's query or script is described in the individual tile's article.

    • Other tiles, like the Status tiles, don't use any timeframe as the data for those tiles doesn't need a timeframe.

  • The current page timeframe of the dashboard or perspective you are looking at. This only affects tiles that use the page timeframe in their configuration.

    ClosedWhat 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.

Fixed and dynamic timeframes for tiles

You have two different options for configuring the timeframe in a tile:

  • Set the tile to use a fixed timeframe.

    A fixed timeframe is set in the tile configuration panel, query or script and can't be changed by users.

  • Set the tile to use the dynamic page timeframe.

The dynamic 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.

Default page timeframe

The default page timeframe affects two areas:

  • Within Dashboard Server, it decides which timeframe a dashboard or perspective uses when a user goes to the dashboard or perspective. Tiles set to use the page timeframe (not a fixed, specific timeframe) will use the default page timeframe every time the dashboard or perspective is opened. Users can change the page timeframe temporarily while they are on the dashboard or perspective, but their setting will only last until they leave the page. Their setting will only affect their view of the dashboard or perspective, not other users' views.

  • On Open Access dashboards, tiles that use the page timeframe according to their settings always use the default page timeframe.

Settings for the default page timeframe

You can change the default page timeframe for individual dashboards, or globally:

  • Changing the default page timeframe of a dashboard will affect this individual dashboard and it's Open Access representation. The default page timeframe for perspectives can't be changed individually, they always use the global default page timeframe. Pinned perspectives are treated as dashboards, which means you can change their default page timeframe settings.

  • The global default page timeframe is "last 12 hours". Changing this default setting will affect all dashboards (including Open Access dashboards) that don't have an individual default page timeframe setting. Perspectives always use the global default page timeframe as their timeframe can't be changed individually.

ClosedHow to change the default page timeframe for a single dashboard or pinned perspective

Note: If you are sharing the dashboard or pinned perspective via Open Access, these changes will also affect the Open Access dashboard.

Note: You can't change the individual default page timeframe of a perspective.

  1. Go to the dashboard or pinned perspective you want to change the individual default page timeframe for.

  2. On the dashboard, click the edit button

  3. Click the settings button.

  4. Choose the new default timeframe under Dashboard timeframe.

  5. Click on the publish button to make the changes go live.

    The dashboard will now by default use the page timeframe you chose. Users can still temporarily change the page timeframe while looking at the dashboard.

    Tip: If you want to undo the individual page timeframe setting to let the dashboard use the global default timeframe again, you need to switch to the JSON view of the dashboard and delete the parameter that defines the dashboard's page timeframe (for example "timeframe": "last7days").

ClosedHow to change the global default page timeframe for all dashboards and perspectives

Note: This setting affects all dashboards and perspectives (including Open Access dashboards and pinned perspectives on Open Access).

  1. On the SquaredUp server, run Notepad as administrator (Start, Run, type notepad, and then right-click and select Run as administrator).

  2. In your Dashboard Server folder, go to \User\Configuration and find the extensionpacks.json file.

    ClosedWhere to find the SquaredUp folder

    Name of the SquaredUp folder

    The name of the SquaredUp folder is SquaredUpv followed by the product version number.

    Location of the SquaredUp folder

    The default location for the SquaredUp folder is C:\inetpub\wwwroot\SquaredUpv[Version Number], but a custom location may have been chosen during the installation.
    For example, for Dashboard Server v5 the default folder location is C:\inetpub\wwwroot\SquaredUpv5 and for v4 C:\inetpub\wwwroot\SquaredUpv4

  3. Open the extensionpacks.json file and add the property default-timeframe with the value for your new default page timeframe for all your dashboards and perspectives.

    Example for a default timeframe of 24 hours:

    Copy
    {
        "default-timeframe": "last24hours"
    }

    Possible values for the default-timeframe property:

    last1hour, last12hours, last24hours, last7days, last30days, last3months,last6months, last12months, all

  4. Save the json file.

  5. Recycle the Dashboard Server application pool.

Timeframes and data 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

ClosedAuto 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 and No values found for the given metric for the last <time period> at the resolution '<raw/hourly/daily>'

Variables for timeframes

Whenever you can insert timeframe variables in a query, script or field, you'll see a mustache picker that lets you choose different variables.

Dynamic page timeframe formats

When you use page timeframe variables, the dynamic page timeframe will be inserted as a string in your search query, script, field, or wherever you use the variable.

timeframe.isoDuration

Use this format when you want to insert the page timeframe according to the ISO 8601 format for time ranges (period of time).

Example: When the page timeframe is set to "last 12 hours" the string PT12H is inserted.

timeframe.isoStart

Use this format to insert a "from" time when you want the starting point to be "now minus page timeframe". The page timeframe will be inserted as a starting time according to the ISO 8601 format.

Example: When the page timeframe is set to "last 12 hours" the starting time is "now minus 12 hours".

timeframe.isoEnd

Use this format to insert a "to" time when you need to specify the end time. The end time is always "now". The current time will be inserted according to the ISO 8601 format.

timeframe.unixStart

Use this format to insert a "from" time when you want the starting point to be "now minus page timeframe". The page timeframe will be inserted as a starting time in milliseconds according to the UNIX standard.

Example: When the page timeframe is set to "last 12 hours", the starting time is "now minus 12 hours".

timeframe.unixEndUse this format to insert a "to" time when you need to specify the end time. The end time is always "now". The current time will be inserted in milliseconds according to the Unix standard.
Math.floor(timeframe.UnixStart / 1000)

Use this format when you want to use the unixStart time but need to convert it from milliseconds to seconds.

Math.floor(timeframe.UnixEnd / 1000)Use this format when you want to use the unixEnd time but need to convert it from milliseconds to seconds.

Fixed timeframe formats (without using the dynamic page timeframe)

Date.now() - 86400 * 1000 *14

This is a template format to express the fixed timeframe "14 days ago" (now minus 14 days in milliseconds). You can use this template to create your own fixed timeframe.

How to read the parameters of the template:

Date.now() = the current date and time (now) in milliseconds
86400 = 24 hours in seconds
1000 = converts the seconds into milliseconds
14 = 14 days

If you want to use a fixed timeframe in seconds, you need to convert the Date.now() into seconds, for example "4 days ago in seconds": (Date.now() /1000) - 86400 * 4.

new Date().toISOString()A text based representation of "now". Use this format if you want to insert the date as a string in ISO 8601 format, rather than leaving it as a date object.

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