Working with perspectives
What is a perspective?
A perspective looks like a dashboard, but while a dashboard gives you an overview about all your
Each perspective contains data about a specific aspect of the
Perspectives use the same tiles as a dashboard, but they show data in the context of the specific
The power of perspectives is that tiles on a perspective can use a dynamic scope. A dynamic scope considers the currently viewed
the configuration of the scope in the tile (for example, "consider child objects of type logical disk for the currently viewed object")
the actual resolved scope that depends on which
resource you are currently viewing ("this object has 5 child objects of type logical disk")
After configuring the dynamic scope once in the tile, you'll get different results depending how the scope is resolved on the different
The overall health state
(if available) of theresource is shown directly in the titleYou can easily switch between perspectives for the same
resource to get all the information they need.
a subscription
a resource group
a single resource like a VM
an alert
Where do I find perspectives?
Perspectives are only visible on the drilldown of
Perspective ribbon:
Tip: You can also add perspectives to the navigation bar to create a shortcut to a specific perspective (see Pinned Perspectives).
A 'pinned perspective' is a perspective that has been added to the navigation bar (available in v4.5 and above).
Pinning a perspective to the navigation bar creates a handy shortcut to a perspective for a specific
Note: A pinned perspective is one perspective for one specific
For more use cases of pinned perspectives and how to create them see Pinned Perspectives.
What are suppressed perspectives?
A suppressed perspective is hidden from the perspective ribbon by default. The perspective is still available for the
Suppressing a perspective does not change the target, which means the
How to create or edit a perspective
Note: Only Dashboard Server Admins can create and edit perspectives. This applies also to pinned perspectives in Team Folders. While a normal dashboard in a Team Folder can be edited by users when they have the author or owner role for the Team Folder, a pinned perspective in a Team Folder can't be edited by users, even if they have the author or owner role, since editing a perspective affects all
If you want to create a new perspective:
You first need to decide which
resources the perspective will apply to:If you want to create a perspective that only applies to one specific
resource, resource group, or subscription you need to navigate to that specificresource, resource group, or subscription .If you want to create a perspective that applies to all resources no matter their type or all resources of a specific type, you can navigate to any resource, but not to a resource group or subscription.
If you want to create a perspective that applies to all resource groups, you can navigate to any resource group, but not to a resource or subscription.
If you want to create a perspective that applies to all subscriptions, you can navigate to any subscription, but not to a resource or resource group.
After you navigated to the correct
resource, resource group, or subscription you need to click on the + button on the perspective ribbon.If you want to edit a perspective:
Go to one of the
resources, resource groups or subscriptions that contain the perspective, choose the perspective from the perspective ribbon and click on the edit button.Creating or editing perspectives consists of three parts:
Defining the settings for the perspective
Configuring the tiles on the perspective
Publishing the perspective to make it available
Defining the settings for the perspective
Tip: If the settings section is hidden, click on the settings button at the top right of the page to make the section visible again.
Settings for perspectivesTitle
The title of the perspective is the name that will be shown in the perspective ribbon.
Choose a title that is appropriate for this perspective. A perspective often applies to different
resources so the title should not be specific to oneresource in that case.Target
The target of a perspectives determines two things:
for which set of
resources the perspective will be visible in the perspective ribbonwhich set of
resources will be used for the dynamic scope of the tilesNote about the relation between the perspective's target and the scope of the perspective's tiles:
Usually, when you create tiles on a perspective you use a dynamic scope for them that adapts to the currently viewedresource . When you define a perspective's target, you define for whichresources the perspective will be available. Since the target determines theresources that can be viewed and the currently viewedresource determines how the dynamic scope is resolved, the target directly affects the scope of those tiles.
this
resource onlyThe perspective will only be visible for the one specific
resource you picked, for example one specificVM . This means the perspective won't be visible for any otherresources .Choose this option if you want to create a very specific perspective that is only relevant to one specific
resource .all resources The perspective will be visible for all
resources , no matter theirtype .Choose this option if you want to create a very broad perspective that is relevant for every
resource .Resources of type The perspective will be visible for resources of the specified type. For example, by choosing SQL databases
the perspective will be shown for all SQL databases. This option is not shown for resource groups or subscriptions.Suppress this perspective
Here you can choose the criteria for when the perspective should be suppressed.
What is a suppressed perspective?A suppressed perspective is hidden from the perspective ribbon by default. The perspective is still available for the
resource but users have to click on the arrow button in the perspective ribbon to see it. Suppressing perspectives are helpful to keep the perspective ribbon nice and tidy.Suppressing a perspective does not change the target, which means the
resource still has to match the target for the perspective to be available in the ribbon bar. If it does, the criteria for the suppressed perspective determine if the perspective is visible directly or hidden behind the arrow button.Settings for suppressing perspectivesthis resource only Suppresses the perspective only for the one resource you are currently looking at. all resources Suppresses the perspective for all resources, no matter their type.
Graph colors
Graph color matching means that one item (a specific resource, object, site, anything you are displaying in your graphs) is shown in the same color in different graphs on one dashboard
or one perspective .The default setting is on.
For more details about graph color matching see How to enable graph color matching.
Configuring the tiles on the perspective
The main difference between configuring tiles on dashboards and on a perspective is the scope option.
Scope options for tiles on perspectivesThe power of perspectives is that tiles on a perspective can use a dynamic scope. A dynamic scope considers the currently viewed
resource . A dynamic scope consists of two different states:the configuration of the scope in the tile (for example, "consider child objects of type logical disk for the currently viewed object")
the actual resolved scope that depends on which
resource you are currently viewing ("this object has 5 child objects of type logical disk")
After configuring the dynamic scope once in the tile, you'll get different results depending how the scope is resolved on the different
resources you are viewing.Scope options for tiles on perspectivesOn perspectives, you can scope tiles to:
this resource
(only on perspectives for resources)The tile's scope will be the resolved to the resource that is currently viewed. child resources
(only on perspectives for resource groups and subscriptions)When you select this option, the scope of the tile will be resolved to all resources that are in the group or subscription that is currently viewed.
If you want to narrow the scope down to a specific type of resource in the group or subscription, you can filter for one specific type of resource.
other resources 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
resource , it will always show data for the staticresource picked here.Since the power of perspectives is that their tiles can show data for different
resources depending on whatresource 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 viewedresource .There are detailed articles for each of the different tiles, that take you through all the configuration options and a walkthrough to get you started.
For more information about how to configure each tile type see the list of tile articles here:
Publishing the perspective
The new or edited perspective will be saved as a draft. You can identify a draft by two indicators:
There's (DRAFT) written behind the perspective's names in the perspective ribbon
There's an unpublished changes button next to the
resource's name
To publish the new or changed perspective click the unpublished changes button at the top of the screen, then click publish to make the changes live.
How to delete a perspective
The easiest way to delete a dashboard
Note: If you are deleting a pinned perspective, you only delete the pinned perspective, not the original perspective.
Note about the discard button:
If a dashboard
If the dashboard
If you unpublish a dashboard
More options to delete a dashboard
Note: These options only work for dashboards and pinned perspectives, not for perspectives. If you delete a pinned perspective, only the pinned perspective will be deleted, not the original perspective.
Other options to delete a dashboard
You can delete the dashboard
or pinned perspective from the navigation bar. Deleting it from the navigation bar will delete it completely, not just from the navigation bar.Information about editing the navigation barThe global navigation editor is accessible only by
Dashboard Server administrators (How to make a user a Dashboard Server administrator ) from the right-hand menu ☰ > edit navigation or system > dashboards.This allows
Dashboard Server administrators to reposition globally viewable folders and Team Folders on the navigation bar, as well as the ability to move any globally viewable dashboards.Globally viewable (normal) dashboards are shown simply by the dashboard name.
Globally viewable folders (normal folders that appear on the navigation bars for everyone) are shown by a folder icon:
Team folders are shown with this icon:
Managing the dashboards within Team Folders is done from the Team Folder settings page.
Click on the dashboard 'handle' to drag it to a new position, for example, drag it to the right to move it into a subfolder.
Reordering content is saved automatically and any changes are instantly reflected.
There are 3 icons across different elements of the navigation editor when hovering on a folder:
The edit team folder icon is shown next to Team Folders and clicking it will take you to the Team Folder settings page where you can view and sort the dashboards within the Team Folder. The view folder button takes you to the folder itself to view or edit that folder. The delete button will delete items. This deletes the dashboard or folder and sub-contents completely, not just from the navigation bar. If the dashboard
or pinned perspective is in a folder, you can go to the folder settings , click the edit button, and delete it from the folder. Deleting it from the folder will delete it completely, not just from the folder.
Walkthrough: Creating a perspective and adding tiles
This walkthrough will guide you through creating a new perspective using a specific example.
In the first walkthrough, we are going to create a perspective with a Cost Management tile treemap for a subscription. In the second walkthrough, we are going to create a new perspective with a tile for a resource.
In this walkthrough we are going to create a perspective to show a Cost Treemap for a subscription.
In Dashboard Server browse to a subscription. For example, Overview > Subscriptions and click on one of the subscriptions shown. As the menu structure is completely customisable this may be different in your environment, so you may prefer to use the search at the top right.
On the perspective ribbon click the plus button to add a new perspective.
The plus button on the navigation bar allows you to create a dashboard or a folder. To create a perspective you want the plus button on the perspective ribbon.
When you create a new perspective the perspective settings are opened straight away. Give your new perspective a title.
To make this perspective show for all subscriptions, leave the target set to all all subscriptions.
If you select this subscription only then this new perspective will only be shown for the subscription you are viewing now.
The Suppress this perspective (hide by default) option can be used to hide a perspective from a subset of resources. We won't use this for this walkthrough.
Close the perspective settings by clicking the cross at the top of the section.
The new tile section is open by default. Click the Cost Management tile icon.
Click on the Treemap tile.
In the scope section click on child resources. This means that the tile will show the cost details of all the resources in the subscription being viewed.
In the color section click on type. When you hover on a virtual machine for example, the other virtual machines will be highlighted.
Click done.
If you want to make this the default perspective shown when users browse to a VM you can drag your new perspective to the far left hand side of the perspectives bar.
To make this new perspective available to other users you would click the publish button at the top of the screen.
Browse to a different subscription and check that your new perspective is shown where you want it to be.
In this walkthrough we are going to create a perspective to show details for a VM.
- In Dashboard Server browse to a VM you wish to create a perspective for. For example, Resources > Computer > Virtual Machines and click on one of the VMs at the bottom of the page. As the menu structure is completely customisable this may be different in your environment, so you may prefer to use the search at the top right.
On the perspective ribbon click the plus button to add a new perspective.
The plus button on the navigation bar allows you to create a dashboard or a folder. To create a perspective you want the plus button on the perspective ribbon.
When you create a new perspective the perspective settings are opened straight away. Give your new perspective a title.
Now we are going to set the target for the new perspective.
If you select this resource only then this new perspective will only be shown for the resource you are viewing now. If you select all resources then every resource you view in Dashboard Server will show this perspective. If you choose resources of type then all resources of the type you specify will show this perspective. To make this perspective show for all VMs, choose resources of type, enter
virtual
and select Virtual machines from the drop down list.The Suppress this perspective (hide by default) option can be used to hide a perspective from a subset of resources. We won't use this for this walkthrough.
- Close the perspective settings by clicking the cross at the top of the section.
The new tile section is open by default. Click the Matrix tile icon.
In the scope section click on this resource. This means that the tile will show details of whichever VM you happen to be viewing with this perspective.
- Click done.
If you want to make this the default perspective shown when users browse to a VM you can drag your new perspective to the far left hand side of the perspectives bar.
To make this new perspective available to other users you would click the publish button at the top of the screen.
- Browse to a different virtual machine and check that your new perspective is shown where you want it to be: Resources > Computer > Virtual Machines and click on one of the VMs at the bottom of the page.
Settings for perspectives
Title
The title of the perspective is the name that will be shown in the perspective ribbon.
Choose a title that is appropriate for this perspective. A perspective often applies to different
Target
The target of a perspectives determines two things:
for which set of
resources the perspective will be visible in the perspective ribbonwhich set of
resources will be used for the dynamic scope of the tilesNote about the relation between the perspective's target and the scope of the perspective's tiles:
Usually, when you create tiles on a perspective you use a dynamic scope for them that adapts to the currently viewedresource . When you define a perspective's target, you define for whichresources the perspective will be available. Since the target determines theresources that can be viewed and the currently viewedresource determines how the dynamic scope is resolved, the target directly affects the scope of those tiles.
this | The perspective will only be visible for the one specific Choose this option if you want to create a very specific perspective that is only relevant to one specific |
all | The perspective will be visible for all Choose this option if you want to create a very broad perspective that is relevant for every |
Resources of type | The perspective will be visible for resources of the specified type. For example, by choosing SQL databases the perspective will be shown for all SQL databases. This option is not shown for resource groups or subscriptions. |
Suppress this perspective
Here you can choose the criteria for when the perspective should be suppressed.
A suppressed perspective is hidden from the perspective ribbon by default. The perspective is still available for the
Suppressing a perspective does not change the target, which means the
this resource only | Suppresses the perspective only for the one resource you are currently looking at. |
all resources | Suppresses the perspective for all resources, no matter their type. |
Graph colors
Graph color matching means that one item (a specific resource, object, site, anything you are displaying in your graphs) is shown in the same color in different graphs on one dashboard
The default setting is on.
For more details about graph color matching see How to enable graph color matching.
Scoping tiles on perspectives
The power of perspectives is that tiles on a perspective can use a dynamic scope. A dynamic scope considers the currently viewed
the configuration of the scope in the tile (for example, "consider child objects of type logical disk for the currently viewed object")
the actual resolved scope that depends on which
resource you are currently viewing ("this object has 5 child objects of type logical disk")
After configuring the dynamic scope once in the tile, you'll get different results depending how the scope is resolved on the different
On perspectives, you can scope tiles to:
this resource (only on perspectives for resources) | The tile's scope will be the resolved to the resource that is currently viewed. |
child resources (only on perspectives for resource groups and subscriptions) | When you select this option, the scope of the tile will be resolved to all resources that are in the group or subscription that is currently viewed. If you want to narrow the scope down to a specific type of resource in the group or subscription, you can filter for one specific type of resource. |
other resources | 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 Since the power of perspectives is that their tiles can show data for different |
How to change the order of perspectives
You can change the order of perspectives for an object simply by dragging them to a new position on the perspective ribbon. The first perspective on the far left of the ribbon bar is the default perspective that will be shown first when you navigate to the object.
- Navigate to the perspective you want to move.
- Click on the edit button
Click on the perspective name on the ribbon and drag it to its new position.
Action buttons for perspectives
Action buttons are customized buttons that you can add at the top of a dashboard
You can choose between different types of actions:
Open an internal link
An internal link within your Dashboard Server instance.
For example, when you want to link from an object's perspective to a dashboard that is relevant for that object. Internal links use only the part of the URL that comes after .../SquaredUpv[version number]/. For example, if the full URL to a dashboard is https://mysquaredup.com/SquaredUpv5/page/dashboard-enterprise-applications, you need to use /page/dashboard-enterprise-applications.Open a web link
A link to any URL. For example, when you have a dashboard for monitoring a website or application, you can add a link to that website or application. Web links have to include the http:// or https:// prefix. These links will open in a new tab by default.
How to add an action button to a perspective
For dashboards: Go to the dashboard where you want to add the action button.For perspectives: If you want to add the action button to a specific perspective, go to
a resource that contains the perspective and choose this perspective. If you want to add the action button to all perspectives of a specifictype of resource , go toa resource of this type .Click on the edit button to go into edit mode.
Click on the Edit actions button.
Under Actions, click on the add button.
Enter a name for your new action button.
Select the type of action you want to create:
Open an internal link
An internal link within your Dashboard Server instance.
For example, when you want to link from an object's perspective to a dashboard that is relevant for that object. Internal links use only the part of the URL that comes after .../SquaredUpv[version number]/. For example, if the full URL to a dashboard is https://mysquaredup.com/SquaredUpv5/page/dashboard-enterprise-applications, you need to use /page/dashboard-enterprise-applications.Open a web link
A link to any URL. For example, when you have a dashboard for monitoring a website or application, you can add a link to that website or application. Web links have to include the http:// or https:// prefix. These links will open in a new tab by default.
Only for perspectives: Decide when the action button will be shown.
"only show when this perspective is selected":
If you leave the checkbox activated, the action button will be visible only on this one perspective.If you deactivate the checkbox, the action button will be visible on all perspectives for all resources of the same type as the resource you are currently viewing.
Click done to save the action button.
- You can add more buttons or click done to finish adding buttons.
Click publish to make the changes live.
You can now see your newly added action button.
FAQs and Troubleshooting
How can I add a perspective to the navigation bar?
See Pinned Perspectives.
I have duplicates of some perspectives on the perspective ribbon, what can I do?
This can happen if the same dashboard pack is imported more than once. The easiest way to resolve this is to delete the duplicate perspectives from Dashboard Server. This can't be undone, so make sure you have a backup of Dashboard Server (How to backup and restore Dashboard Server Azure Edition).
Click on a duplicated perspective, click the edit button at the top right of the page, and then click the delete button.