About the Dashboard UI

Presets are a way of visualizing data that Sysdig Monitor gathers every 10 minutes. Select a preset to determine the data sample to be displayed. Overview supports the following presets:

A preset that is 10 minutes or less is refreshed every 30 seconds. A preset that is greater than 10 minutes is refreshed every 1 minute.

Presets work in conjunction with Range selections. Selecting a particular preset interval refreshes Range selection and reloads the data subsequently. For example:

Range shows both date and time interval as well as the selected Presets in parenthesis. The Range indicated on the UI is determined by Presets. The time given is the closest time interval and by default, it is the current date and time preset by 1 hour.

Click on the Range tab to open a calendar to select a range.

See Presets to understand how Range works with Presets.

The Live badge shows if the data shown is Live or Paused.

Dashboards support UTC and PDT time formats. Use the toggle button next to Range to change the time format for the slot shown in Range. The default is PDT.

With the Dashboard, you can construct queries in two ways: Form-Based and Advanced. As you construct your query and type in a keyword in the Metrics field, auto-complete offers suggestions for the metrics in the query.

Form-Based Query

Use the UI fields to construct queries. Form-based data queries consist of one or multiple metrics with time and group aggregation, Segmentation, Display, Unit for both incoming data as well as displaying data on the Y-Axis, and Scope. You can choose to inherit the Dashboard scope.

Form-based queries support both Sysdig dot notation and Prometheus-compatible underscore notation.

PromQL Query

The PromQL field supports only PromQL queries. Manually enter a PromQL query as follows:

Each query starts with a group aggregator, followed by a time aggregator, then the metrics and segmentation. For example:

sum(rate(promraw_go_memstats_heap_released_bytes_total[5m])) by(kubernetes_cluster_name)

Intelligent $__interval

You can use $__interval within a PromQL query to use the most appropriate sampling depending on the time range you have selected. This configuration ensures that the most granular data is accessible while downsampling when you select a long time range to panels load as fast as possible.

Scope variables

You can configure scope variables at the dashboard level to quickly filter metrics based on Cluster, Namespace, Workload, and more.

When using PromQL queries, you can select the scope by using dynamic variables. This configuration is significant when troubleshooting as it allows you to switch context quickly without reconfiguring queries.

Smart Autocompletion and Syntax Highlighting

Autocomplete suggests metrics, operators, and functions, while syntax highlighting helps highlight problems within a PromQL query. This is invaluable in dynamic environments and allows you to craft the right queries faster.

Sysdig Monitor provides the flexibility to add two Y-axes on the graph. You can also determine whether you want to use them at all. Having the option to add an extra Y-axis help when you decide to add an extra query.

Specify the following for both Y-Axis and Y-Axis Right:

Determine whether you want a legend with a descriptive label for each plotted time series. Specify the location and layout. Determine the value to be displayed should be the most recently calculated data.

For the labels, the legend uses the text you have specified in the Query Display Name and Timeseries Name fields.

Enable Show to show the legend or create a legend if one does not exist.

Right positions the legend in the upper right corner of the panel. Bottom positions the legend in the lower-left corner of the panel.

Specify the Panel heading and description by using the Panel tab. The description you enter appears as the panel information as follows: