Line chart
Line charts facilitate the viewing of trends over time.
The NQL query must include a timestamp field and at least one aggregation.
Data shape
<timestamp>, <kpi1>, <kpi2>, ...
NQL structure
Refer to the Live Dashboards NQL examples documentation for query examples of line chart widgets.
Aggregated KPI over time
The list line is optional. If you don’t specify the list line, the system uses start_time by default. If you would like to use a different time field, for example end_time, you can use the list line to specify this.
Series names
Series names come from their corresponding variable names in the NQL query.
The variable names are formatted with the following heuristic:
Underscores are replaced with spaces.
The first character of the variable is changed to upper-case.
Configuring visualization fields specific to line charts
To learn how to fill in the remaining configuration fields that are not specific to this widget, refer to the Managing Live Dashboards documentation.
After selecting the Line chart option from the Chart type dropdown in the Add widget/Edit a widget pop-up:
Give the widget a Title (optional).
Enter an Widget description (optional) to explain, for example, how the metric should be interpreted, calculated, or any subtleties to the metric.
The widget description appears by hovering over the info icon next to the line chart widget in the dashboard.
Select Data updates with:
Global timepicker: The chart updates based on the time range selected by the dashboard viewer, regardless of any time range specified in the NQL query.
Global filters: The chart updates based on the filters selected by the dashboard viewer.
Define Y-axis scaling:
Auto scaling: The system automatically adjusts the Y-axis range based on the highest and lowest values across the data series. The system extends these bounds to ensure the thresholds are visible, at a relative distance from the data series, enabling accurate interpretation.
Custom range: Specify minimum and maximum values when you know the expected data range.
Establish Rating thresholds to shade portions of the line chart in red or yellow, and quickly assess data for troubleshooting. Choose from:
1 threshold
The line chart shows a red section to indicate a bad range.
The system evaluates thresholds with the >= operator. The example above is evaluated as follows:
Good: if the metric is < 2.2
Bad: if the metric is >= 2.2
Select Invert to invert the good and bad conditions. When inverted, the example above is evaluated as follows:
Bad: if the metric is < 2.2
Good: if the metric is >= 2.2
2 thresholds
The line chart shows a red section to indicate a bad range and a yellow section to indicate an average range.
The system evaluates thresholds with the >= operator. The example above is evaluated as follows:
Good: if the metric is < -80
Average: if the metric is >= -80 AND the metric is < -60
Bad: if the metric is >= -60
Select Invert to invert the good and bad conditions. When inverted, the example above is evaluated as follows:
Bad: if the metric is < -80
Average: if the metric is >= -80 AND the metric is < -60
Good: if the metric is >= -60
Multiple metrics in line charts
Nexthink does not recommend mixing metrics with different units on the same line chart. If you choose to mix metrics of different units in the same line chart, note that the unit of measure is dictated by the order of the metric in the query:
The y-axis displays the unit of the first metric in the query.
The y-axis maximum and minimum values are based on the highest and lowest values across all displayed series, regardless of the series metric units. The system expands these values for scaling purposes.
Example 1
The system takes the unit from memory__, which is a bytes field. To obtain the maximum value for the y-axis, the system compares the maximum value of the memory__ series, which is 386MB (405 million bytes), to the maximum value of execution_duration__, which is 64 weeks (38 million seconds).
The system uses 386 MB as the maximum value to scale the y-axis up to 477 MB for display and interpretation.
Example 2
The system takes the unit from execution_duration__, which is a duration field. To obtain the maximum value for the y-axis, the system compares the maximum value of the memory__ series, which is 386MB (405 million bytes), to the maximum value of execution_duration__, which is 64 weeks (38 million seconds).
The system uses the value of 405 million and treats it as seconds (405 million seconds = 669 weeks and 4,5 days) to scale the y-axis up to 826 weeks and 5 days for display and interpretation.
Breaking metrics down into segments
Line chart queries support the use of summarize statements to break metrics down into data segments, by adding properties after the summarize ... by keyword.
For example, the query below retrieves custom trend snapshots. It breaks down the evolution of the number of crashes per hardware_manufacturer.
Display more breakdowns by adding properties at the end of the summarize statement. For example, add device.hardware.model after hardware_manufacturer to display a breakdown of both manufacturer and model.
The line chart only displays the top 5 series.
Use the sort clause to select the series with the largest metric value for a given period. For example, the | sort crashes_per_device desc in the query above selects the 5 hardware manufacturers and models with the most crashes per device.
Apply filters to the dashboard to see other series.
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