Getting Started

A quick introduction

Create your first dashboard in SnappyFlow

Create a Summary Box

Basic Dashboard Concepts

Types of Aggregation

Use the following extensions to achieve the required aggregation on a metric

Aggregation	Extension	Comments
Average	.avg or no extension	Not allowed for text fields
Percentile	.95P, .99P etc	Not allowed for text fields
Max	.max	Not allowed for text fields
Min	.min	Not allowed for text fields
Count	.count
Terminal	.term	Retrieves the last value of the metric from DBDocument type has to be specified in the query
Current	.curr	Retrieves the last value of the metric in the last 8 mins. If no value is available, the result is displayed as NADocument type has to be specified in the query

Global vs Custom timeline

A component by default uses the timeline selected in the global component
However, a user can evaluate a component for a specific custom using the following steps
- Edit the component and go to the advanced section
- Select “Custom Time”
- Go to the JSON Editor and edit the time fields as shown below. In this example, we evaluate the component for last 1 hour. User can specify 30m for 30 minutes, 1d for 1day etc.

Constructing Queries

SnappyFlow provides SQL like query language to create components through a JSON editor provided. Features in JSON editor are selectively exposed based on options selected in advanced section

Every document that is collected in SnappyFlow will have these tags: _plugin, _documentType, _tag_projectName, _tag_appName
Whenever you create a new component, it will always have _tag_appName == $value by default, which is automatically substituted with current application name. This ensures that data is being queried for the current application only

Examples

Example Use Case	Query
Collect a metric for a specific instance	`select CPUUtil where _tag_Name == instance1`
Collect metrics for all instances in an application	`select CPUUtil where _tag_Name == *`
Collect metric based on a dropdown condition	`select CPUUtil where _tag_Name == DropDownXX.$value`
	Note: `DropDownXX` is the name of the dropdown. `DropDown.$value` is the value selected in the dropdown
Collect a terminal value of a metric	`Select clusterStatus.term where _plugin == elasticsearch and _documentType == clusterStats`
	Note: Whenever you query a terminal value, a `_documentType` has to be specified
Create a logic expression	`Select path.count where code >= 400 and code < 600`
	Equal: `==`
	Not Equal: `!==`
	Greater or Less: `>`, `>=`, `<`, `<=`
	Variable belongs to a list: `X ==(A,B,C..)`
String operations	`query_string == message:"Index to be deleted"`
	Query_string: Directive or operator for search by keyword
	Message: Field name in which the pattern has to be searched
	Search Text: Specify exact text in quotes To see all supported options, refer to Log Overview Search
Building queries for nested data
	Note: When using a nested field, enclose metric within square brackets.
	Enable `Add Nested Fields` option in the advanced section. This will add the section `nestedFields` in JSON editor.
	Specify the nested fields used in the query under `nestedFields` section.

Combined query: SnappyFlow allows upto 2 queries for SummaryBox and Tables and can be enabled from the advanced section. This is useful when querying terminal values from two different documentTypes
Render: This feature is useful when using combined query for tables and summary charts
It has 2 uses:
- change the order of rendering metrics when combined query is used
- collect a number of metrics, transform the metrics and render only a subset of the collected metrics. Enable the feature from advanced section

Histogram Intervals

Histogram interval is relevant for a Line chart and Bar chart histogram. It is a sub interval in which a metric is evaluated or aggregated. Every histogram interval will correspond to a point in the chart.

By default, histogram interval is calculated based on time range represented in the graph. If user deselects ‘Adaptive Interval’ option from the advanced section, the histogram interval is fixed at 60s.

Time Range represented in the chart	Line Chart Interval	Bar Chart Interval
<= 1 minute	1s	1s
<= 5 minutes	2s	4s
<= 10 minutes	4s	10s
<= 20 minutes	10s	10s
<= 30 minutes	30s	30s
<= 1 hr	30s	60s
<= 3 hrs	30s	5m
<= 6 hrs	60s	5m
<= 8 hrs	5m	5m
<= 12 hrs	5m	10m
<= 1 day	5m	30m
<= 7 days	30m	3h
<= 30 days	2h	12h
<= 60 days	4h	1d
<= 90 days	8h	1d
<= 120 days	8h	1d
<= 240 days	16h	1d
> 240 days	1d	1d

Metric Properties

User can enable the metric properties from advanced section for:

Formatting the data rendered in the component
Applying text/box color properties

Property	Description	Example Use Case	Comments
metricsFilter	Used to display specified portions of the string in the component or to shorten the displayed string	Consider a table component displaying pod details with `_tag_podName` as the table key. If the pod names have the form `apmmanager-apm-sfapm-apm`, we can shorten the displayed name using `metricsFilter`	Applicable for Table, Tabbed table, Line chart, Bar chart components
		For Example: This will display `apmmanager-apm-sfapm-apm-5cd8946d64-2smb9` as `apm-5cd8946d64-2smb9`
decimal	By default, data is shown upto 1 decimal placeUser can override this setting by using this option		Applicable for Table, Tabbed table, Summary box, Line chart and Bar chart histogram components
		If we have a table component with a header CPU (%), data under this column will be rounded to 3 decimal places.
		Note: To change the number of decimals for all metrics in the component, use `default: <num_of_decimals>`
format	Format time field from epoch milliseconds/epoch seconds format to DateTime format		Applicable for Table, Tabbed table, Bar charts, Key based line chart componentsAvailable options are DateTime, DateTime(ms) and DateTime(us)
		In the above example, the time displayed under `Last Seen` column of table is formatted to DateTime format
color	Display table cell with colors based on conditions	Refer the section “Display table cell with colors based on conditions” in the Table Component section below	Applicable for Table, Tabbed table and Excel Table components
rate	Used to display the urate/unit rate of the metric in Table and Summary Box components	Usage: `<var_name>: urate`	Applicable for Summary Box and Table components
		urate is calculated as value of the `metric/(time range used in query in seconds)`
nullValues	Null Values are displayed as NA by defaultUse this option to override the default setting	The null values will be displayed as `--` instead of NA	Applicable for Table component
boxColor	Display box color for Summary box based on condition	The condition should be specified in the same way as the table cell color. Refer Table Component section below.	Applicable for Summary Box
textColor	Display text color for Summary box based on condition	The condition should be specified in the same way as the table cell color.Refer Table Component section below.	Applicable for Summary Box

Table Component

Aggregation Table

All tables by default have aggregated option selected
In this option, metrics are computed for a bucket that corresponds to a unique value of the key
Example:
If we need documents such as (Group: A, Name: x, Age: 10, Weight: 20) , (Group B, Name: y, Age: 12, Weight: 22), (Group A, Name: xx, Age: 25, Weight: 100), (Group B, Name: yy, Age: 15, Weight: 70), a table for Select Age.avg, Weight.avg where Group == * provides an output as shown below.
Group Age Weight
A 17.5 60
B 13.5 46

Group	Age	Weight
A	17.5	60
B	13.5	46

*Group is the table key* in the above example

Non Aggregation Table:

User can choose this option by disabling “Aggregation” in advanced option or by leaving the “Table Key” field as empty
This option is used to represent values from a sequence of JSON in a tabular format, without performing any aggregations
Example: For the same example above, a query “Select Name, Group, Age, Weight” would provide the result as shown below that merely represents the data in a tabular form. The ordering by default will be in descending order of time
Group Name Age Weight
A x 10 20
B y 12 22
C xx 25 100
D yy 15 70

Group	Name	Age	Weight
A	x	10	20
B	y	12	22
C	xx	25	100
D	yy	15	70

Change Sort Field

Data for Aggregation tables by default is sorted in ascending order of table key
In order to change the sorting field, enable “Change Sort Field” in advanced section
Go to JSON editor and enter the raw metric (not a transformed field) that should be used for sorting
Please note that a metric that has a .term/.count aggregation cannot be specified as a sort field
By choosing “Change Sort Order” in advanced section, user can change the option to descending or ascending for the sort key. Please see in the example below

Filter

In many cases, a query may return a large number of results and we would want to filter the results from the database based on a certain values of a column
Enable filter by selecting “Add Filter” option in advanced options
Click on the filter icon
Define filters for specific columns. We can specify one or more filters at a time. In the example below we are asking to filter all API path values in databases that contain the key “snappyflow” and number of 4xx errors is GT 5
Please note the following limitations and rules to follow
- If combined query is used, filters can be applied only to table key
- Filter cannot be applied to a variable that is a transformation of more than one metric

Display table cell with colors based on conditions

Example- we are computing the total number of 4XX and 5XX errors in the query below and we would like color the cell containing #Errors in red if the number of errors are GT 0
Go to the advanced section and enable metric properties. This will bring up a section called metric properties under which add the condition as shown below for color
This will cause the color to rendered for the cell if #Errors is GT 0

Hyperlink

Hyperlink allows you to navigate from a table to another pane. The value of the hyperlink are propagated to a dropdown of the pane
Go to Edit Component’s advanced section and enable Hyperlink checkbox, which can be found under General category
A hyperlink section is enabled in the JSON editor. You will need to define the redirection target which comprises of Group (Group is a collection of panes. If the target pane does not belong a group, leave this field empty), Pane (dashboard pane name), Component (dropdown in the pane where the value of the hyperlink has to be propagated)
Hyperlinks are enabled for the table. Click on the value “200” will redirect to the pane “Transaction Analysis” which belongs to group “Nginx Access” and render this pane with DropDown11 value = 200

Hyperlink to Tracing

The Hyperlink to Tracing feature allows you to navigate from table to tracing page.

Follow the below steps to enable the Hyperlink to Tracing feature.

Go to Edit Component’s advanced section and enable Hyperlink to Tracing checkbox, which can be found under the General category.

In the JSON Editor tab, provide the configuration object as mentioned below in the traceHyperlink list.

{
 field:<tracing_field_name>,
 page:<tracing_page_name>,
 column:<table_column_name>
}

Example

traceHyperlink:[
    {
        field: traceId,
        page: realTime,
        column: Trace ID
    }
]
            

Field

The field refers to the tracing field in the tracing feature. It can be any of the following tracings fields: service, transactionType, method, resourceApi, result, status, origin, originIP, traceId, transactionId, nodeName, podName, forwardedIP.

Page

The page refers to the pages of the tracing feature. It can be any of the following pages: aggregate, realTime, history.

Column

The column refers to the column of the table to which the hyperlink will be enabled.

Generic Filter Component

The Generic Filter component is used to filter data displayed in the components in a pane. Generic Filter component gives more flexible filtering capabilities compared to Dropdown.

info

In any pane, only one of Generic Filter or Dropdown components can be added.

An example of Generic Filter in use in an Nginx dashboard where browser used is Chrome and OS is Windows.

Adding Generic Filter component

Generic filter can be added by selecting Generic Filter option from add component list

note

Only one generic filter component can be added to a pane

Using Generic Filter

The results in a pane can be filtered by adding condition(s) in the Generic Filter component. Multiple conditions can be added to further fine tune the results. Once all the condition(s) are added, click the search icon to filter the results.

Steps to add a condition

A condition contains 3 components:

Field: Field name on which search has to be performed
Operator: The search operator
Value: The value to be searched for the provided field name

For Example, if one of the condition is code == 200, all the components in the pane will only show results where the value of code field is 200.

Here,

code is the field name

== is the operator

200 is the value

Step 1: Add a field

Use the search box to select from a list of recommended fields. Alternatively, type in the field name and press enter.

Step 2: Add an operator

Based on the type of the selected field, operator recommendations will be provided.

If the field type is number, then the operators will be >, >=, <, <=, !=, ==
If the field type is text, then the operators will be ~(contains), ~-(does not contain), ==(equal to).

note

If the selected field has different types of values, all the opertors will be listed in operator recommendation.

Step 3: Add a value

Based on the field selected, all the possible values of that field will be fetched and will be provided as recommendations. Select the value from the list or type in the field name and press enter.

note

If the selected field is present in multiple indices (Metrics, Logs, Tracing), the value recommendation list will not be fetched

Getting Started

A quick introduction​

Create your first dashboard in SnappyFlow​

Create a Summary Box​

Basic Dashboard Concepts​

Types of Aggregation​

Global vs Custom timeline​

Constructing Queries​

Histogram Intervals​

Metric Properties​

Table Component​

Aggregation Table​

Non Aggregation Table:​

Change Sort Field​

Filter​

Display table cell with colors based on conditions​

Hyperlink​

Hyperlink to Tracing​

Generic Filter Component​

Adding Generic Filter component​

Using Generic Filter​

Steps to add a condition​

Step 1: Add a field​

Step 2: Add an operator​

Step 3: Add a value​

A quick introduction

Create your first dashboard in SnappyFlow

Create a Summary Box

Basic Dashboard Concepts

Types of Aggregation

Global vs Custom timeline

Constructing Queries

Histogram Intervals

Metric Properties

Table Component

Aggregation Table

Non Aggregation Table:

Change Sort Field

Filter

Display table cell with colors based on conditions

Hyperlink

Hyperlink to Tracing

Generic Filter Component

Adding Generic Filter component

Using Generic Filter

Steps to add a condition

Step 1: Add a field

Step 2: Add an operator

Step 3: Add a value