Custom dashboards v2 (legacy)

The custom dashboards feature (v2) allows you to create dashboards containing charts and tables with metric timeslice data from New Relic APM agents, plugins, and the REST API. It also provides a way to view your custom metrics by adding them to your custom dashboard.

Examples

Custom dashboards are useful for creating unique overviews that present data differently than New Relic does automatically. For example, you can:

• Show web and mobile application information, custom metric data, and plugin metric data all on a single custom dashboard.
• Create dashboards that present charts and tables with a uniform size and arrangement on a grid.
• Select existing New Relic charts for your dashboard, or create your own charts and tables.
• Add New Relic charts to your custom dashboard.

Add New Relic charts to v2 dashboard

You can add existing New Relic charts to a custom dashboard (v2). This includes:

• Apps in New Relic APM
• Mobile apps in New Relic Mobile
• Plugins in New Relic Plugins

Exception: Plugin charts cannot be added to custom dashboards v1 (legacy).

To add an existing New Relic chart to a custom dashboard (v2):

1. Mouse anywhere over an available New Relic chart, then select Add to custom dashboards.
2. Select your choice to create a new dashboard or add it to an existing dashboard.

3. For new custom dashboards: Type the new dashboard's title, then select the type of dashboard layout.

   For existing custom dashboards: Select the dashboard's name.

4. Optional: To limit this chart so that it always shows data for the time period currently selected with the time picker, select the option to lock the time span.
5. Select Add.
6. To view your custom dashboard where the New Relic chart has been added, select the Chart has been added to your custom dashboard here link.

You cannot change existing New Relic chart data or change the chart's title. However, you can move or delete New Relic charts that you add to your custom dashboard (v2).

Create v2 dashboard

Custom dashboards plot metric timeslice data (but not event data) from applications, mobile applications, hosts, or plugins you select during the create or edit process.

To create a new custom dashboard (v2):

1. From rpm.newrelic.com, select Tools > Create custom dashboard.
2. Type the dashboard's title, or keep the default name.
3. Select the layout (Overview or Grid), and select Create.
4. Add charts, tables, and data to your dashboard.

Define metrics

The Metrics value you select will affect the type and amount of information that appears on your chart or table. For example, to select multiple metrics and plot a multi-series graph on your dashboard, you can use specific metric values, such as WebTransaction/accounts/create (referred to as Controller/accounts/create for Ruby users).

Add charts, tables, and data

After you give the new dashboard a name and select the layout, you can add one or more charts or tables to it. You can also select the type of information that will appear in each chart or table.

1. From the dashboard layout page, select Add chart or table.
2. Select the Agent type: Web application, Mobile application, or Plugin.
3. Select your choice from the list of available agents for the selected type; for example, a specific web application, mobile application, host or instance, or plugin component or instance.
4. Select how the information will appear on your dashboard (Visualizer): chart or table.
5. From the preview widget, fill in the fields as applicable.

6. To save the chart or table in your dashboard and view it, select Save and preview.

   OR

   To exit without saving your edits, click anywhere outside the widget.

7. To exit and go to your custom dashboard, select Save and finish.
8. When finished with your custom dashboard, select I'm done editing.

After you select Save and finish, you can continue adding more charts and tables (maximum of 15) to your custom dashboard. You can also make changes to existing charts and tables, or delete them.

Time windows for charts

When you create a custom dashboard (v2), you can change the time period for information that appears on your charts by changing the time picker value (for example, last 60 minutes, last 7 days, etc.). The time period for your custom dashboard is dynamic, because the charts you add will adjust automatically with the time picker. You also have the option to lock specific time periods to New Relic charts that you add to your custom dashboard.

Time window examples

There are three different ways that charts may show time windows:

• Dynamic (unlocked) periods that move with time
• Fixed intervals that move with time
• Snapshot (locked) time periods that do not change

Time windows for custom dashboard charts: Here are examples of charts on a custom dashboard with (A) a dynamic, unlocked time window, (B) a time period locked to a fixed interval that moves with time, and (C) a snapshot time period that does not change.

Example: You create a custom dashboard with three charts with different time windows. You set the custom dashboard's time picker to Last 6 hours, ending now. Depending on the type of time window selected for each chart, different data appears:

Custom dashboard with time picker set to "Last 6 hours, ending now"	Chart data at 3:00 p.m.	Chart data at 4:00 p.m.
Dynamic (unlocked) chart Follows custom dashboard's time picker set to Last 6 hours	9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.	10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Fixed interval chart set to Last 30 minutes Follows custom dashboard's time picker but keeps 30-minute time period	2:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.	3:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Snapshot (locked) chart set to June 28-30 Keeps time period from original dashboard	June 28-30	June 28-30

Dynamic (unlocked) time periods

Dynamic charts show data for the time interval you select with the time picker, such as the last 6 hours, a date range, etc. When you change the time picker on the custom dashboard (for example, Last 6 hours ending now), the chart changes to match.

Examples:

• Chart you create for a custom dashboard
• New Relic chart on a custom dashboard that is not locked (chart A in the screenshot above)
• New Relic chart on a New Relic dashboard

Fixed intervals that move with time

When you add an existing New Relic chart to your custom dashboard by selecting Add to dashboard, you have the option to lock the chart's time picker value from its original New Relic dashboard. For example, if the New Relic dashboard's time picker shows last 30 minutes, last 3 days, etc., you can lock that range when you add the New Relic chart to your custom dashboard.

These charts show data for a fixed time interval, but they adjust to your custom dashboard's time picker. For example, if you change the time picker to the Last 6 hours ending now and the chart was originally Locked to 30 minutes, this chart will show the past 30 minutes of information from the current time. Any other dynamic charts on the dashboard will show the past 6 hours from the current time.

Examples:

• New Relic chart locked to a time span; for example, last 30 minutes (chart B in the screenshot above)
• New Relic chart that you embed into an iFrame

This option is not available for charts you create for your custom dashboard.

Snapshot (locked) time periods

When you lock a New Relic chart to a specific time period in the past (from a custom date or range) and add it to your custom dashboard, the chart only shows data for that time period. It does not adjust with your custom dashboard.

This is useful to have comparison data for different time periods when viewing other charts on your custom dashboard. For example, if you change the custom dashboard's time picker to the Last 6 hours ending now and the New Relic chart was originally Locked to 3 days for June 28-30, the New Relic "snapshot" chart will continue to show its original time period (June 28-30), regardless of the current date or selected time period for your custom dashboard's time picker.

Example: New Relic charts are the only kind of charts that can be locked to a custom date range in the past before being added to your custom dashboard (chart C in the screenshot above). The snapshot time period option is not available for charts you create for your custom dashboard.

Metric naming conventions

When you build a chart or table for your custom dashboard, the Metrics, Limit, and Value fields work together to determine what appears. Custom dashboards support metric timeslice data.

Metric naming examples

The root (initial) metric folders contain much of the metric timeslice data used to show data about your application throughout New Relic. When creating a new chart for your custom dashboard, enter in the complete metric name, including subfolders. For example, Apdex/accounts/new.

To search for metric names, see Metric explorer: Search and chart metrics sent by New Relic agents.

Naming conventions for available metric values depend on your programming language. For example, Java and .NET users select WebTransaction as a valid metric option, while Ruby users select Controller.

For example, to plot the response time for a single web transaction (or controller/action), you would enter the metric value WebTransaction/accounts/index (or Controller/accounts/index, if your app has an accounts controller). This will plot a transaction that shows an index of accounts.

Metric folders

The custom dashboards (v2) feature includes many root metric timeslice folders for you to experiment with. Here are some of the most common.

Metric timeslice folder	Explanation
EndUser/	All Browser metric timeslices, including web transactions from the browser perspective. Without the trailing slash, this name also serves as a metric timeslice and will plot overall response time and throughput from the browser perspective for your entire app.
Database/ or ActiveRecord/ (Ruby)	Database performance from the app's perspective.
HttpDispatcher	A single metric timeslice with summary data about your entire app in aggregate. This metric does not include a trailing slash.
Custom/	Custom metrics that you may be tracking (for example, Custom/MyMetric/My_label). The Custom/ prefix is required for all custom metrics.

Value and Limit fields

By default, metric timeslices plotted on your chart or table appear in order from the highest to the lowest number. For example, if you choose Average response time for the Value field, this plots the slowest to fastest response times for the selected metric timeslices. Typical values include Average response time or Requests per minute (rpm).

A custom metric can be any kind of value, so you must select one of the available types from the Value field. You cannot customize the type of Value you select in the UI, but you can use the Y-axis unit label field for additional clarification.

In addition, the Limit field controls the number of series visible on the chart, showing the top five items by default. To set a custom item limit, set the Limit field to the desired number. For example, to plot the top ten slowest web transactions, use these values:

• Metrics: WebTransaction/accounts/create
• Value: Average response time
• Limit: 10

Troubleshooting metric auto-completion

Sometimes metric names do not auto-complete when you type them in. New Relic imposes a soft limit of 2250 unique metric names. If your application exceeds the limit, the auto-complete may not return all metrics.

If you have an application that is not returning all metric names in the auto-complete, use the REST API to list metric names for your app. Once you have the full metric name, you will be able to copy and paste the metric name in the Metric(s) field and proceed from there.

View custom dashboards

To view, edit, or delete custom dashboards:

1. From rpm.newrelic.com, select Tools > Custom dashboards > (select a custom dashboard).
2. From the selected custom dashboard, use any of the available user interface functions to drill down into detailed information.
3. Optional: To view the complete list of custom dashboards and custom views, select View all.

Exception: The embed function is not available with custom dashboards.

Blank areas on charts

If an area on a chart appears blank when you preview it, this may be due to the selected time value. For example, if a chart shows data in minutes, areas with activity in milliseconds may be empty.

To view data, use the edit widget to change the Value field for an individual chart or table as needed. Or, use New Relic's time picker to change the time period for the dashboard itself.

Edit v2 dashboards

After you select Save and finish on a new or existing custom dashboard, you can continue making additions, changes, and deletions to your own charts. Your custom dashboard includes tools to edit, delete, and move charts and tables on it.

You cannot edit existing New Relic charts that you add to your dashboard. However, you can move or delete them.

To edit an existing custom dashboard:

1. From rpm.newrelic.com, select Tools > Custom dashboards.

2. From the Custom dashboards index, select the edit icon for your dashboard.

   OR

   Select the dashboard's name from the list, then select Edit dashboard.

3. From the selected chart or table, use any of the available editing tools and functions.
4. To review your changes, select Save and preview.
5. To exit your changes, select Save and finish.
6. To save all dashboard changes, select I'm done editing.

Editing tools and functions

Here are some of the standard tools and functions for editing your custom dashboards.

Change names and labels

If you want to...	Do this...
Rename the dashboard	Type a new name where the original name appears at the top of the dashboard.
Add labels to a chart or table	To give the chart or table a name: Select the edit [pencil] icon for the chart or table. From the edit widget, select the Title field. This is useful, for example, to identify an app or server if you select a specific one. To identify the type of units on your table or chart (seconds, kbps, etc.): From the edit widget, use the Suffix field.
Define the Y axis for a chart or table	Select the edit [pencil] icon for the chart or table. From the edit widget, type a value in the Y-axis unit label field. For example, you may want to clarify that the Y axis shows data in milliseconds, seconds, pages per minute (PPM), etc. You can also use the edit widget's Suffix field to clarify what appears on your chart or table. This is useful, for example, when the Y axis is not related to a time value.

Change individual charts and tables

If you want to...	Do this...
Change a chart to a table, or vice versa	Select the edit [pencil] icon for the chart or table. From the edit widget, select Visualizer, then select your choice.
Add more charts or tables to an existing dashboard	From the selected dashboard, select Add chart or table, then follow standard procedures to create another chart or table.
Insert an existing New Relic chart into an existing dashboard	From an application, mobile application, server, or plugin dashboard with charts, follow standard procedures to select Add to dashboard, then select the existing dashboard's name. To move or delete the chart on your custom dashboard, select the here link that immediately appears.
Select how many items to show on a chart or table	The Limit field defaults to the top five items. Also, the sorting value depends on the Metrics you select. Typically items sort from slowest to fastest, so your chart or table will show the top five slowest items. However, you can edit the Limit field to specify the number of items that show. For example, if you type 25 for a table, then your custom dashboard will show the first five rows of the table and include a link indicating how many more rows are available. To select how many items to show on a chart or table: Select the edit [pencil] icon for the chart or table. From the edit widget, type a value in the Limit field.

Change dashboard structure

If you want to...	Do this...
Rearrange charts and tables	Select the Column icon , then drag the chart or table to a new location on the dashboard.
Remove a chart or table from the dashboard	Select the delete icon for the chart or table, then select the confirmation prompt to cancel or continue.
Change the time period for charts on the dashboard	Select I'm done editing to return to the custom dashboard, then use the time picker to change the range. If an existing New Relic chart on your dashboard has been locked to a specific time period, you cannot change it. Instead, you can delete the New Relic chart, add it to your dashboard again, and this time do not select the Lock to span checkbox.
Delete the entire dashboard	If you delete a custom dashboard, you cannot recover it. If you accidentally delete the wrong custom dashboard, you will need to re-create it. To permanently delete your custom dashboard: Select Delete dashboard, then select the confirmation prompt to cancel or continue.

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