Dashboards

Dashboards are configurable, multi-page views of Observium data. A dashboard can combine maps, logs, alerts, graphs, status cards, statistics and presentation widgets in a fixed twelve-column layout.

Each viewer only sees data they are permitted to access. Sharing a dashboard shares its layout and configuration; it does not grant access to devices or entities.

Finding and Creating Dashboards

Open the Observium menu and select Dashboard. Depending on your access, the menu can contain:

your dashboards;
dashboards shared directly with you or with one of your roles;
public dashboards;
dashboards you have marked as favourites.

Dashboards can optionally be placed in a one-level folder by setting the Folder field in Dashboard Settings.

To create a dashboard, select Create Dashboard from the Dashboard menu. New dashboards are personal and private. The minimum level allowed to create one is controlled by the dashboard policy.

Editing a Dashboard

If you have read/write access, use the sliders icon in the bottom navigation bar to enter or leave editing mode.

In editing mode:

use Add widget to open the searchable widget picker;
drag a widget using its move control;
resize it from either lower corner;
hover over it to reveal refresh, configure, delete and move controls;
use the Page menu to add, copy or delete pages;
use the Dashboard menu for settings, sharing, saved context and deletion.

Layout changes are saved automatically. Widget configuration is saved from the widget's configuration dialog.

Dashboard Settings includes the name, description and optional folder. It also provides clone, JSON export and JSON import operations. Only users at or above global_manage_min_level can change public visibility.

Pages and Display Modes

A dashboard contains one or more pages. The page selector switches pages without leaving the dashboard. When more than one page exists, the play control starts or pauses automatic page rotation.

The View menu offers:

Focus view, which removes the normal Observium page chrome;
Wallboard view, intended for unattended displays;
Return to Observium, which returns to the embedded dashboard view.

In focus and wallboard views the dashboard toolbar hides when it is not being used. Move the pointer to the top of the page to reveal it, press C to pin or unpin it, or press Esc to return to the embedded view.

Time and Scope Context

The dashboard toolbar can apply a time range and a device scope to every widget that supports that context.

The default context is Last 24 hours and All permitted devices. Scope choices can include a device, device group or location, and are restricted to entities the current viewer may access.

A scope narrows a widget's own device or group selection; it does not replace it. For example, a Device Group widget displays the intersection of its configured group and the active dashboard scope.

The current selection is kept for the session. An editor can choose Dashboard → Save context as default to store it with the dashboard. Context supplied in the dashboard URL takes precedence over the session selection and saved default.

When a non-default time range or scope is active, each widget shows a badge for that active axis:

Badge	Meaning
Green check	The widget follows the dashboard context.
Yellow prohibition	The widget intentionally ignores that context.
Blue pin	The widget uses a widget-specific value instead.
Grey minus	The widget does not support that type of context.

Badges are not shown for inactive context axes. The toolbar also reports how many widgets on the current page follow the active context.

Widgets

Widgets refresh automatically. Where a widget offers a Refresh setting, it can override the normal interval. Widgets that update themselves, such as Map, Network Map and Clock, do not use the general dashboard refresh scheduler.

Widget	Context	Purpose and important configuration
Alert Boxes	Scope	Cards for currently failing alerts.
Alert Log	Time and scope	Recent alert state changes, filterable by device, group, OS, alert rule, entity type, log type and message.
Alert Table	Scope	Current alert state, filterable by status, entity type, device and alert rule.
Clock	None	Digital or analogue clock with timezone, date, seconds, label and colour options.
Device Group	Scope	Device-state cards for a configured device group. Dashboard scope further narrows the group.
Eventlog	Time and scope	Event records, filterable by severity, device, group, OS, entity type and message.
Graph	Time	A graph selected from elsewhere in Observium. Supports a custom title and legend setting.
Map	Scope	Interactive Leaflet device map with group, basemap, initial view, marker size and marker-refresh settings.
Network Map	None	Read-only display of a saved Network Map. Editing remains on the Network Map page. Only one Network Map can be active on a dashboard.
Stat Tile	Depends on mode	A large count or entity value, optionally with a second metric, utilisation bar and sparkline. See Stat Tile.
Status Boxes	Scope	Cards for devices, ports or sessions currently down.
Status Summary	None	Compact summary of device, port and sensor states.
Status Table	Scope	Configurable status categories with maximum age and item-count limits.
Syslog	Time and scope	Syslog records, filterable by priority, device, group, OS, location, program and message.
Syslog Alerts	Time and scope	Matches from syslog alert rules, filterable by rule, device, group, OS, program and message.
Text	None	Free text, headings and section labels with alignment, frame and colour options.
Top N	Scope	Highest traffic, utilisation, error, discard, sensor, processor, storage or memory values. Configurable result count and sensor class.
Traffic Composition	Scope	Traffic percentage by selected port groups, with a single graph, multiple time-range graphs or bar only.

Graph

Graph widgets are added from a graph page or graph browser using Add to Dashboard, rather than from the widget picker. A graph normally follows the dashboard time range. Older graph widgets that already contain a saved range remain pinned to that range and display the override badge when dashboard time is active.

Map

The Map widget can use all permitted devices or a configured device group. An active dashboard scope narrows that selection.

The initial view can fit the visible markers, use a fixed latitude/longitude/zoom, or inherit the global map defaults. The widget can also override the global basemap and marker size. Marker updates have their own interval and do not reload the complete widget.

Basemaps marked API key required remain visible in the selector so the reason they are unavailable is explicit. If a selected provider is unavailable, the map tries the global provider and then the key-free fallback.

Network Map

The Network Map widget displays a saved Network Map read-only. Create and edit the map on the Network Map page, then select it in the widget configuration. The widget deliberately does not apply dashboard time or device scope.

Stat Tile

Stat Tile has two context behaviours:

Count mode shows devices down, ports down, sensors in alert or failed alerts. It follows dashboard scope but has no historical time range.
Entity modes show one sensor, status, counter, processor, storage or memory-pool entity. The selected entity is fixed, so dashboard scope does not replace it. Its sparkline or backdrop follows dashboard time.

Entity modes can show the current value or an available rate metric, an optional second metric, a utilisation bar where applicable, and a row or background sparkline.

Log and Alert Widgets

Alert Log, Eventlog, Syslog and Syslog Alerts reuse the filters from their corresponding Observium pages. A configured device filter is intersected with dashboard scope. Text fields support the same matching syntax as the underlying page; for example, the Syslog message filter accepts text, /regexp/ and !exclude forms.

Every dashboard has an owner and a visibility setting.

The owner always has read/write access.
A private dashboard is visible only to its owner, global dashboard managers, and users or roles granted access.
A public dashboard is read-only to ordinary authenticated users.
Legacy ownerless dashboards are read-only to ordinary users.
Users at or above global_manage_min_level have read/write access to every dashboard and can change public visibility.

The owner or a global dashboard manager can share a dashboard with an individual user or a role as Read-only or Read/write. A read/write recipient can edit the dashboard, but only the owner or a global manager can manage its sharing rules. If several grants apply, read/write takes precedence over read-only.

Dashboard sharing does not grant data access

Widgets are evaluated using the viewer's own device and entity permissions. A recipient can therefore see fewer results than the owner, or a permission message in place of a graph.

Favourites are per-user and only affect dashboard navigation.

Dashboard Policy

Two config.php settings control dashboard creation and global management:

PHP
1 2	`$config['dashboard']['create_min_level'] = 0; // default 0 $config['dashboard']['global_manage_min_level'] = 10; // default 10`

create_min_level is the minimum user level allowed to create a personal dashboard. With the default value, any authenticated user can create one.

global_manage_min_level is the minimum level that receives read/write access to every dashboard, can manage any dashboard's sharing rules, and can publish or unpublish dashboards.

Dashboard ownership and explicit read-only/read-write sharing grants determine all other access. Older settings named owner_can_edit and allow_nonowner_edit are not part of the current dashboard policy.

Some dashboard widgets still use configuration keys under the historical $config['frontpage'] namespace. The legacy front page no longer exists; these keys remain because they provide defaults for current widgets and location maps.

See Dashboard Widget Defaults for map providers, API keys, log defaults and Status Table defaults.