How to use the Surface tile

The Surface tile shows health state, performance metrics and other information on top of an image, such as a map.

How does the Surface tile work?

The Surface tile works by using a row perspective to show a row of data for each of the objects returned by the scope. (The Matrix tile also uses a row perspective to show data, but in a single table, see How to use the Matrix tile).

A row perspective can display health state, performance metrics, properties, and SLA information for each object. They work in a similar way to dashboard perspectives in that they are stored in dashboard packs, they use a match criteria that defines which class, group or particular object they apply to, and they have a rank that specifies which row perspective should be displayed when multiple row perspectives match. A row perspective is made up of 'cell tiles' of various types, such as Status, Sparkline, Bar, Health State History etc.

Objects shown on the Surface tile can use different row perspectives. (The Matrix tile uses the same row perspective for all the objects returned by the scope).

The Surface tile supports a maximum of 25 objects per tile, so only the first 25 objects of a scope are shown. Use the list or advanced scoping options to configure the scope to show the 25 objects you need.

Can I change what information is shown?

You can change the row perspective used by each individual object, and you can untick any cell tiles you don't want to show.

Can I create new row perspectives?

When cell tiles are unticked, the data is still returned, but it is hidden from view. To make the tile more efficient or for more customization you can create a new row perspective: How to create and modify row perspectives.

How to configure a Surface tile

1. Add a new tile to a dashboard or perspective and choose the Surface tile.

   
   

2. Image

   Here you can choose one of the provided images or upload your own.
   Tip: If you want a different selection of maps, you can download more at https://freevectormaps.com/

   Supported image formats: png, jpg, jpeg, gif, tif, tiff. svg, bmp
   Tip: SVG images resize best since they are vector images.

   File size limit: 10MB

   Image size: Images fill the size of the tile, which means you can resize the image by adjusting the tile's size. The size of the tile also depends on the screen the dashboard is being viewed on.

3. Scope:

   Configure the scope to define the objects you want to show, Scoped objects will appear straight away and can be dragged into position.

   The Surface tile supports multiple objects types. The Surface tile can show a different row perspective for each objects (whereas the Matrix tile can only display rows of data for objects of the same type with a common row perspective). The row perspective used by each object can be changed, see Display information below.

   The Surface tile supports a maximum of 25 objects per tile, so only the first 25 objects of a scope are shown. Use the list or advanced scoping options to configure the scope to show the 25 objects you need.

   

   Scope options on dashboards

   Tip: If you experience any problems with scoping tiles, you'll find FAQs and help in the article How to scope tiles.

   List	List allows you to select one or more objects or groups. You can add multiple objects and groups. To remove an object or group click the x to the right of its name. Tip: Start typing and after two characters you'll see suggestions that match the name appear. Tips for using wildcards when searching for objects or groups By default searching will look for the top 10 items containing the words listed in the search. If you wish to create a more specific search you will need to use wildcards (*). If you place a wildcard after the term you are looking for, it will find all the objects which start with that word searched and any terms that may follow. If you place a wildcard at the start of the search term, it will look for objects that contain the searched word and also have terms before that word. If you enclose your searched term in wildcards it will look for objects which contain the searched word, this object will not begin or end with the term searched.
   Group	Group allows you to select members of a specific group. Only one group can be selected.
   Advanced	Advanced allows you to select a group, class or both. You must at least define either a group or class. You can define both. You can also use criteria to narrow down your selection. Group: Same as the group option above. Class: Class equates to the target class within SCOM. As you type the dropdown will be populated with suggestions of matching classes from SCOM, from which you can select the required class. Criteria: Criteria allows you to create an expression to further refine the scope.
   Examples for commonly used criteria Objects you would like to see Criteria Objects with particular text in their name DisplayName like '%Server1%' Objects starting with a particular string DisplayName like 'test%' All objects in maintenance mode InMaintenanceMode = 'TRUE' Only healthy objects HealthState = 1 Objects with a health state in SCOM of 0, an unknown health state (uninitialized), a gray health state icon with a question mark. HealthState = 0 Objects that are not healthy HealthState != 1 Objects in critical state HealthState = 3 Objects in critical or warning state HealthState = 2 or HealthState = 3 To show all gray uninitialised objects HealthState = 0 OR HealthState IS NULL All objects not in maintenance mode InMaintenanceMode != 'TRUE' Objects where the parent agent is offline IsAvailable='false' Objects that are offline, in maintenance or state unknown IsAvailable='false' OR InMaintenanceMode=1 OR HealthState=0 Computers with a particular OS OSVersion = '6.3.9600' List objects by name and filter by HealthState (Name like '%Server3%' OR Name like '%Server4%' OR Name like '%Server2%') AND HealthState=3 List objects by SCOM Id and filter by HealthState Id IN ('7021174b-9e5d-5fbf-878a-42b9f0bf6f4a', '9bd4a1cc-f07a-0e36-b37d-d9ee974e0f3c') AND HealthState=3 Exclude object from the Group specified DisplayName not like '%server3%' Exclude objects from the Group specified (DisplayName NOT LIKE '%server3%') AND (DisplayName NOT LIKE '%server4%') For more information see: How to use criteria when scoping objects How to use criteria when scoping alerts

   Scope options on perspectives

   Note: If you never used a perspective, you should read Working with perspectives before 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 object. 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 object 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 objects you are viewing.

   Suggestions

   Suggestions are generated based on the object you are currently viewing. You'll see a list of relevant scope options based on the object's relations to other objects. Suggestions don't cover every possible scope, but they are a quick and easy way to select a suitable scope for your tile.

   Note: Suggestions won't be shown if an object has no children, parents or siblings.

   Tip: If the exact scope you want isn't listed in the suggestions, you can select a suggested scope that is similar to the one you want, and then click on custom. The custom section will now automatically be filled with the suggestion you picked and you can edit the scope here to adjust it exactly to your needs. This is a more intuitive way to pick a scope than starting in the custom section and navigating the SCOM object model for classes and groups.

   Double-check the scope when using suggestions: Using suggestions is an easy way to pick a scope, but you need to make sure that the generated suggestion is appropriate for all objects that use the perspective.
   For example, when you pick a suggestion for an EA, you will get suggestions that are specific to the map, dependencies, and availability tests for this one EA. On perspectives you want to use for all EAs, you have to change the scope suggestion in the custom section so that the tile work for all EAs.

   Walkthrough: Editing a scope suggestion to make it work for all EAs

   Enterprise Applications are designed so that you can map out the servers that make up the application. You can then configure tiles to show information related to just the servers on the EA's map. When you create a perspective that will be used for all EAs, you need to make sure that you scope the tiles so that they work for any EA. When you start with a suggestion, the tile's scope only works for the one EA you're currently looking at, and this is why you need to edit the scope:

   1. For an EA you want to scope to the servers that are specified on the EA map by selecting something from the suggestions (Dashboard Server 4.2 and above) that shows something similar to the following:

      This /<YourApplicationName> Map / ... / Windows Computer

      The above will scope the tile to all the objects of class Windows Computer on this EAs map.

      The screenshot below shows some scope suggestions for an application called FinanceXS. The bold text shows the currently selected scope is This object. The cursor shows the option This / FinanceXS / ... / Windows Computer. Once chosen this scope will show all the Windows computers shown on the applications map.

      

      Next, we need to adjust the specified scope to allow it to work for all EAs, rather than just this one.

   2. In the scope section click custom.

   3. Click on the text <YourApplicationName> Map (children) which is your first scope step. This will expand the scope step so you can edit it.

      

   4. Remove the auto-populated class <YourApplicationName> Map by clicking the cross x next to it.

      

   5. Start typing Enterprise Application - Map and select this from the list to add this class. This is so that this tile scope will work for all EAs, rather than just this one EA.

      

   6. The scope is now configured to show all the Windows computers on the EA's map, whichever EA you happen to be viewing with the perspective.

   How to read the suggestions

   You can pick between "this object" and objects that are related to this object as parents, children or siblings. The suggestions for children are written as paths that follow the SCOM object tree structure, parents and siblings can be identified by the word parent or sibling in the suggestion.

   A parent of an object is any object that hosts or contains that object.
   A child of an object is any object that this object hosts or contains.
   A sibling of an object is any object of the same class that is hosted by the same parent.

   This object	The dynamic scope will be resolved to the object currently viewed. "this object" option which does NOT mean the actual one object like for the target setting but the relative object I'm looking at
   This / child / child / class of object	The dynamic scope will be resolved to children of the object currently viewed. You select objects of a particular class that are contained in path. The class of the objects you are selecting is stated at the end of the path.
   This / *	The dynamic scope will be resolved to children of the object currently viewed. If a path ends with a wildcard (*) it means that you select all objects of any class within the path. Technically it means that we fill the class field with the class "logical entity" since every object in SCOM has this class, it is a "base" class Example: This / IIS Web Server / * selects all objects of any class in the level below This / IIS Web Server.
   This / child / ... / class of object	The dynamic scope will be resolved to children of the object currently viewed. If a path contains an ellipsis (...) it means that you select objects of a particular class that are contained in all of the objects that are contained in the path preceding the ellipsis. The class of the objects you are selecting is stated at the end of the path. Example: This / Sales App Map / ... / Windows Computer selects all objects of the class Windows Computer in the This / Sales App Map path.
   Parent class of object	The dynamic scope will be resolved to parents of the object currently viewed.
   Sibling class of object	The dynamic scope will be resolved to siblings of the object currently viewed.
   Show more triangle next to a suggestion	You can click the show more triangle to expand the list of suggestions and see more specific paths.

   Example for navigating suggestions in an EA

   If you are looking at an EA, the path to find all windows computers in that EA may read Map / ... / Windows Computer. It returns all objects of the Windows Computer class contained within all of the paths under Map.

   To narrow the scope down, you can click on the triangle to expand the suggestion and select one of the more specific paths. If you select Map / Web / Windows Computer you will find all objects of the Windows Computer class in the path Map / Web.

   If you choose the option Map / * you'll find all objects contained in the map. If you extend this suggestion by clicking on the triangle, you'll see suggestions to select all objects in a more specific path, for example Map / Web / *.

   

   Custom

   Here you can pick objects that are related to the object you are currently looking at. If you want to create a specific scope that is not listed under suggestions, you can create the scope here.

   Tip: You can pick a similar scope under suggestions first and then click on custom to edit it.

   How to pick a simple relation (one step through the SCOM model)

   1. At the top, you'll see the name of the object you are currently looking at. Now you can choose if you want to pick parents or children of that object, and if this parent or child relation should be considered only one level up or down the SCOM model or through all levels.

   2. Class:

      Here you pick the class of the objects you want to select. If you leave this field empty, the scope falls back to the "this object" scope.

      Note: You will only see groups and classes that the object you are currently looking at is a member of.

      Tip: If you want to pick objects of any class, enter the SCOM base class logical entity in the class field.

      Tip: If you want to find out what classes the object you are interested in belongs to, you can go to the Monitored Entity perspective of that object. You'll see all the classes the object belongs to listed there.

   3. Criteria:

      You can narrow the selection of objects of a particular class down further by entering criteria for those objects. For more help see How to use criteria when scoping objects.

      Tip: If you want to find out what properties you can base your criteria on, you can go to the Monitored Entity perspective of the object you are interested in. You'll see all the properties for criteria listed there.

   .

   Example for picking a simple relation

   For example, for a perspective created for the group IIS8 Computer Group adding a Status tile scoped to show children with a class of object will show the group members, i.e. the members of the IIS8 Computer Group.

   

   How to pick advanced relations (multiple steps through the SCOM model)

   If you need to traverse a more advanced SCOM object model like an EA, you can use the + button to add more steps. This creates a scope that can go through any kind of path of the SCOM object model.

   Complete the following steps and then click the + button after you're done to add the next level of SCOM objects:

   1. At the top, you'll see the name of the object you are currently looking at. Now you can choose if you want to pick parents or children of that object, and if this parent or child relation should be considered only one level up or down the SCOM model or through all levels.

   2. Class:

      Here you pick the class of the objects you want to select. If you leave this field empty, the scope falls back to the "this object" scope.

      Note: You will only see groups and classes that the object you are currently looking at is a member of.

      Tip: If you want to pick objects of any class, enter the SCOM base class logical entity in the class field.

      Tip: If you want to find out what classes the object you are interested in belongs to, you can go to the Monitored Entity perspective of that object. You'll see all the classes the object belongs to listed there.

   3. Criteria:

      You can narrow the selection of objects of a particular class down further by entering criteria for those objects. For more help see How to use criteria when scoping objects.

      Tip: If you want to find out what properties you can base your criteria on, you can go to the Monitored Entity perspective of the object you are interested in. You'll see all the properties for criteria listed there.

   .

   Other specific objects

   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 object, it will always show data for the static object picked here.

   Since the power of perspectives is that their tiles can show data for different objects depending on what object 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 viewed object.

4. Display

   Once the objects appear on the image you can drag them into location, and customize the way the panels look.

   

   Hide metrics - tick boxes allow you to hide/show individual metrics.

   Change row perspective - the drop down arrow at the bottom of the panel allows you to change the row perspective being used. The drop down list shows all the row perspectives that match the individual object, and you can choose a different row perspective to see different metrics. For more information about creating new row perspectives see How to create and modify row perspectives.

   Show preview - allows you to view the tile without the editing controls, so you can see what it will look like in normal use.

   Settings in the tile display panel:

   Object size	Change size of the panels. From the initial size set, the panels will scale with the image, as the tile or dashboard size changes.
   Object opacity	Change how transparent the panels are.
   Label	Change how the metric labels are shown in relation to the metric graph.
   Hide object name	Tick this option if you wish to remove the object name, if for example it's already shown on the image.
   Collapse mode	The metrics from the row perspective are hidden by default. Clicking on the object name (if shown) reveals the metrics, therefore clicking on the object name to drilldown is disabled.

5. Click done to save the tile.