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How to use the Image tile

Catherine
  • Updated

The Image tile displays the rolled up health state of objects on an image background, such as a map.

You can scope to a list, a group or a more advanced scope perhaps using class and criteria and then position the health status icons on top of any image you upload, such as a map or diagram.

ImageTile.png

https://freevectormaps.com/ has a selection of maps to download.

Health status icons

The Image tile allows you to position health status icons on top of an image. To show the health state of objects by changing the colour of part of a map or image use an SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) file with the Visio tile.

HealthStateHealthy.pngHealthy


 HealthStateWarning.pngWarning


 HealthStateCritical.png Critical


 MaintenanceModeIcon.pngMaintenance Mode. The last known health state is shown as a faded colour behind the spanner.


 HealthStateOffline.pngOffline/Unmonitored. The power symbol signifies an object that SCOM has been monitoring, but at present the agent is unresponsive. Typically this is because the device is powered off or the agent is broken. The last known health state is shown as a faded colour behind the power button. This can often be resolved by restarting the Microsoft Monitoring Agent service on the server itself, or restarting the System Center Data Access service on the SCOM server. To show only objects that are currently offline/unmonitored you can specify IsAvailable = 0 in the Scope > Advanced > Criteria

HealthStateUnknown.pngUnknown/Uninitialized. The grey icon with a question mark signifies an object that has never had a health state, for example a device that has been badly or incompletely discovered. SCOM is aware of the object, but has never recorded any data from it. To resolve groups which show a grey health state see Groups show no health information. To show only objects with an unknown health state you can specify HealthState = 0 in the Scope > Advanced > Criteria.

Offline and with no known last health state value. To show objects where there is no current or last known health state specify HealthState IS NULL in the Scope > Advanced > Criteria.

To show all grey objects, both those with unknown health state and those offline with no known last health state specify HealthState = 0 OR HealthState IS NULL in the Scope > Advanced > Criteria.

For more information about grey health states see Not Monitored and grey Agents and Troubleshooting grey agent states in System Center Operations Manager.

Walkthrough: Creating a map dashboard using the Image tile

The Image tile can be used on a dashboard or a perspective. This walkthrough shows you how to add an Image tile to a dashboard.

  1. In SquaredUp navigate to where you'd like the dashboard to be created. Hover over the + button and click dashboard.

  2. Give the dashboard a title, by replacing the text that says New Dashboard.

    The dashboard is saved as you go along so there's no need to save your changes. You can find your dashboard by clicking on the right-hand menu ☰ > system > unpublished.

  3. A new tile has already been added to the dashboard. Edit the title by overwriting the placeholder value New tile with your own title.

  4. The tile selector will already be open. Click Image.

    ImageTile__1_.png

  5. You can either drag your own image into the box to upload it, or select one of the world maps provided. For this walkthrough select one of the maps.
  6. Click next to move to the scope section.

  7. In the scope section select group then type the name of a group, such as the IIS Computer Group and then click on group from the results.

    Correctly scoping the tile is probably the most important part, so to find out more see How to scope tiles on dashboards and How to scope tiles on perspectives.

    For advanced options, such as how to only show objects that are not healthy take a look at How to use criteria when scoping objects

    Icons for the objects should appear after a moment.

  8. You can now drag the icons into position on the map.

    You could stop here, but we'll continue to configure the tile.

  9. The icons section allows you to change the icon size and shape.

    ImageIconsSection.png

  10. The label section allows you to use the custom option to create a custom label. Click on custom, then click on the mustache {{}} helper button on the right to show the custom label dropdown list:

    ImageCustomLabelDropdown.png

  11. The dropdown list shows all the options available along with an example value. In this walkthrough we are going to select properties.netbiosComputerName. This will then appear in the label template box as {{properties.netbiosComputerName}}

    ImageLabelCustom.png

    Click done.

    ImageMapIcons2.png

 

Hints and Tips

How to show a readable date and time rather than Unix timestamp for {{stateLastModified}}

Selecting {{stateLastModified}} from the mustache helper will by default show a numerical value. In the label section click custom, and then paste in the following to show the value in a readable date and time format:

{{timeago(stateLastModified, true)}}

For example, to show the Netbios computer name followed by the time of the last heath state change:

{{properties.netbiosComputerName}}<br>{{timeago(stateLastModified, true)}}

How to show how long ago the last state change took place

In the label section click custom, and then paste in the following:

for {{timeago(stateLastModified, false, false, true)}}

For example:

{{properties.netbiosComputerName}}{{#if /Success/.test(healthState) }} Healthy {{else}} {{healthState}} {{/if}} for {{timeago(stateLastModified, false, false, true)}}

 

A group’s health state stays in the grey/uninitialized no health information state

See Groups show no health information

How to show all your distributed applications

In the scope section use a class of either service (system.service) or user created distributed application.

How to show only your Enterprise Applications

In the scope section use a class of Enterprise Application (Base).

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