Create and scope views in Operations Manager

System Center Operations Manager Operations console views and dashboards display information that meets specific criteria. When you select a view, a query is sent to the Operations Manager database and the results of the query are displayed in the results pane. With dashboards, the performance widget queries the data warehouse database.

You can use the standard views created when Operations Manager is installed, views provided by management packs, or create your own custom views.

At a minimum, you must have the rights of the Author role to create a view in the Monitoring workspace.

Use groups to scope views

You can use groups to limit a view in the Operations console, making it easier to find the specific information you need. You can change the scope for any existing view (other than dashboard views) to a specific group; however, this change only applies to the user who makes it and doesn't persist when the console is restarted.

For persistent management, you can create views that are scoped to a specific group. You can also scope the following widgets in a dashboard view:

• Alert

• Instance Details

• Performance

• State

For example, after you create a group of objects, you can create a dashboard view in which each widget is targeted to the group, providing a single view for important information for the members of the group.

After you create views for the group, you can create a user role that is scoped to the group and limited to the views for that group, and then assign users to that user role. This enables the individuals with that user role to monitor the objects they're concerned with, while limiting them to information that only pertains to those objects.

Create an alert view

You can create a custom alert view that shows only those alerts that you want to see. For example, if you need to track the status of UNIX-based or Linux-based computers, you can create a view that shows only critical alerts generated by those computers.

1. In the Operations console, select My Workspace.

2. Right-click the folder where you want to store the view and point to New, and select Alert View.

3. In the Properties dialog of the alert view, enter a name and a description for the view. (The description is optional.)

4. Set the criteria to identify the alerts to display:

   1. Narrow the pool of possible alerts by identifying a class or group for alerts. For example, to create an alert view for UNIX-based or Linux-based computers, select Unix Computer in the Show data related to list.

   2. Select the conditions that define the content of the view. There are many conditions that you can choose, from severity or priority to alerts that include text in specific fields. For example, for the UNIX-based or Linux-based computers alert view, select of a specific severity in the Select conditions list.

   3. Refine the criteria description by selecting the underlined text in the Criteria description box.

      For the UNIX-based or Linux-based computers alert view, select specific. In the Alert Type window, select Critical, and then select OK.

   Note

   You can add multiple criteria to refine the view to fit your needs.

5. Customize the appearance of the alert view on the Display tab. You can specify the columns to display, the sort order for the columns, and the manner in which items are grouped.

6. Select OK to create the view.

Create an event view

An event view can only display events that are collected by a management pack. Operations Manager doesn't collect all events.

1. In the Operations console, select My Workspace.

2. Right-click the folder where you want to store the view, point to New, and select Event View.

3. In the Properties dialog of the event view, enter a name and a description for the view. (The description is optional.)

4. Set the criteria to identify the events to display:

   1. Narrow the pool of possible events by identifying a class or group for events. For example, to create an event view for UNIX-based computers, select Unix Computer in the Show data related to list.

   2. Select the conditions that define the content of the view. There are many conditions that you can choose. For example, for the UNIX-based computers event view, select with specific severity level in the Select conditions list.

      Note

      When you select generated by specific rules, only event collection rules can be selected. If you don't see the rule that you want to select when you select specific, ensure that the category of the rule you want is Event Collection.

   3. Refine the criteria description by selecting the underlined text in the Criteria description box.

      For the UNIX-based computers event view, select specific. In the Event Type window, select Audit Failure, and select OK.

   Note

   You can add multiple criteria to refine the view to fit your needs.

5. Customize the appearance of the event view on the Display tab. You can specify the columns to display, the sort order for the columns, and the manner in which items are grouped.

6. Select OK to create the view.

Create a state view

The state view in Operations Manager is like most other view types in that you use the Criteria tab in the Properties dialog of the view to define which objects you want shown in your view. You then use the Display tab to customize how the data looks in your view. Each section of the Criteria tab adds an additional filter to your view.

Note

When a state view is displayed, you might find that multiple objects are listed by the same name. For example, a Windows-based computer object and management server object might have the same computer name. The Windows-based computer object and the management server object will be listed on their own row in the state view, and thus, the same computer name will be listed twice. This is expected behavior.

1. Right-click the folder where you want to store the view, point to New, and select State View.

2. In the Properties dialog of the event view, enter a name and a description for the view. (The description is optional.)

3. On the Criteria tab, select the ellipsis (...) next to the Show data related to box. The Select a Target Type dialog displays a list of the object types available in your management group. Click to select the object type of the objects that you want to view, and then select OK.

   The object type you select is listed in the Show data related to box. If you want to narrow the focus of the view, you can also select the ellipsis (...) next to Show data contained in a specific group. Select a group to filter the objects shown in your view, and select OK.

   Note

   If you don't see the object type that you want, select View all targets and then enter a word or phrase in Find to filter the displayed list.

4. Use the checkboxes provided to select individual criteria to apply additional filters to the objects that you want to display in your view. You might need to further define the criteria in the Criteria description box.

5. Select the Display tab. By default, all the columns in your state view display. Deselect one or more columns that you don't want to display. Choose how you want to sort the objects in your view in Sort columns by.

6. Select OK to create the view.

Create a performance view

Performance views use data stored in the operational database. A performance view can only display performance counters that are collected by a management pack. Operations Manager doesn't collect all performance counters.

1. In the Operations console, select My Workspace.

2. Right-click the folder where you want to store the view, point to New, and select Performance View.

3. In the Properties dialog of the performance view, enter a name and a description for the view. (The description is optional.)

4. Set the criteria to identify the performance data to display:

   1. Identify a class or group for performance data. For example, to create a performance view for UNIX-based computers, select Unix Computer in the Show data related to list.

   2. Select the conditions that define the content of the view. There are many conditions that you can choose. For the UNIX-based computers performance view, select collected by specific rules in the Select conditions list.

   3. Refine the criteria description by selecting the underlined text in the Criteria description box.

      For the collected by specific rules condition, select specific. In the Select rules window, select a performance collection rule, and select OK.

   Note

   You can add multiple criteria to refine the view to fit your needs.

5. Customize the appearance of the alert view on the Display tab. You can specify the chart type to display, the period of time that the chart should cover, and the display options for the X axis and Y axis.

6. Select OK to create the view.

Create a diagram view

In Operations Manager, a diagram view uses a template to control the layout of the information in the diagram. You can choose from an existing template or create your own template. If you choose to create your own template, you configure the layout of the view while you're creating the view.

1. In the Operations console, select My Workspace.

2. Right-click the folder where you want to store the view, point to New, and select Diagram View.

3. In the Properties dialog of the diagram view, enter a name and a description for the view. (The description is optional.)

4. Select Browse. In the Select Object dialog, select the group for the type of objects that you want to include in your diagram view, and select OK.

5. Select Create your own template to design a layout for your diagram view.

6. If you want to accept the default settings for the diagram view, select Create. If you want to change the default settings, continue with this procedure.

7. On the Diagram Properties tab, enter a number in Levels to show to display the number of related classes and subclasses that you want in your view. This number includes the top-level class. In Layout Direction, select the dropdown arrow to view a list of display options for the objects in your view. North South displays the objects in a vertical arrangement, and East West displays the objects side by side.

8. Select the Object Properties tab. Select Boxes if you want to delineate your related object types and child object types by containing them in a box. You can also adjust the Nodes Per Row setting to define how many of your related object types are listed before beginning another row.

9. On the Line Properties tab, choose the format for the lines of the boxes in your diagram by using the Containment Line settings. Choose the format for objects that aren't grouped by boxes using the Non Containment Line settings. Select Create.

Create a task status view

The task status view in Operations Manager is like most other view types in that you use the Criteria tab in the Properties dialog of the view to define which objects you want shown in your view. You then use the Display tab to customize how the data looks in your view. Each section of the Criteria tab adds an additional filter to your view.

1. In the Operations console, select My Workspace.

2. Right-click the folder where you want to store the view, point to New, and select Task Status View.

3. In the Properties dialog of the task status view, enter a name and a description for the view. (The description is optional.)

4. On the Criteria tab, select the ellipsis (...) next to the Show data related to box. The Select a Target Type dialog displays a list of the object types available in your management group. Select the object type that most specifically describes the objects that you want to view, and select OK.

   The object type you select is listed in the Show data related to box. If you want to narrow the focus of the view, you can also select the ellipsis (...) next to Show data contained in a specific group. Select a group to filter the objects shown in your view, and select OK.

   Note

   If you don't see the object type that you want, select View all targets and then enter a word or phrase in Find to filter the displayed list.

5. Use the checkboxes provided to select individual criteria to apply additional filters to the objects that you want to display in your view. You might need to further define the criteria in the Criteria description box.

6. Select the Display tab. By default, all the columns in your state view display. Deselect one or more columns that you don't want to display. Choose how you want to sort the objects in your view in Sort columns by.

7. Select OK to create the view.

Create a web page view

You can create a view that displays a specific web page. For example, you can create a web page view that points to http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/category/systemcenteroperationsmanager, which makes the community forums for Operations Manager available to you within the Operations console. You can interact with the web pages displayed in a web page view, just as you can in an internet browser.

1. In the Operations console, select My Workspace.

2. Right-click the folder where you want to store the view, point to New, and select Web Page View.

3. Enter a name and description for the view. (The description is optional.)

4. In the Target website field, enter the URI for the web page to be displayed in the view. You can specify an Internet or intranet address.

   Note

   The web view will only display the specified web page on computers that have access to that web page. For example, if you create a web page view that links to the System Center page on Microsoft.com, an Operations console on a computer that doesn't have Internet access won't display the correct web page in that web page view.

5. Select OK.

Create a dashboard view

You can create dashboard views in the Operations Manager web console and the Operations console.

Important

When a dashboard view uses data from the data warehouse database, operators might be able to view data that they wouldn't otherwise have access to in views that use data from the operational database.

You can use dashboard views to present multiple types of data in a single view. You select either a flow layout, which consists of multiple columns, or a grid layout, which consists of multiple cells. In the grid layout, you also specify the layout of the cells.

If you create a dashboard view that uses a flow layout, you can change the number of columns afterward. If you create a dashboard view that uses a grid layout, you can change the layout afterward but you can't change the number of cells.

For both layouts, after you create the dashboard view, you add widgets that will display specific types of data.

Note

A column or cell in a dashboard view can contain a widget or another dashboard view.

Widgets in a dashboard view can display data for a particular target class or group of objects. To support the dashboard view that you're going to create, you should first create a group containing a set of computers or objects to include in the displayed data.

Note

When you create a dashboard view that includes a widget that displays data for a target class that contains instances (a non-singleton class), that dashboard view can't be imported into other management groups.

You can also create a service level dashboard view to track data for service level objectives that you create. For more information, see Creating a Service Level Dashboard.

1. In the Operations console, select My Workspace.

2. Right-click the folder where you want to store the view, point to New, and select Dashboard View.

3. In the New Instance Wizard, on the Template page, select either Flow Layout or Grid Layout, and select Next.

4. On the General Properties page, enter a name for the dashboard view. The description is optional. Select Next.

5. For a grid layout, on the Select Layout page, choose the number of cells to display and the layout template for the cells. The layout templates change based on the number of cells selected. Select Next.

   For a flow layout, on the Specify the flow layout column count page, select the number of columns to display. Select Next.

6. Review the settings on the Summary page, and select Create.

7. Select Close.

The dashboard view that you created is displayed. Next, you configure the columns or cells in the dashboard view.

Add widgets to a dashboard view

1. In a cell or column of a dashboard view, select Click to add widget.

2. In the New Instance Wizard, on the Template page, select from the available templates. The wizard pages for the Flow Layout and Grid Layout templates are the same as in the new dashboard view procedure. The following steps provide instructions for the other widget templates.

   Alert Widget:

   1. On the General Properties page, enter a name for the widget. The description is optional. Select Next.

   2. On the Specify the Scope page, select a group or object, and select Next.

   3. On the Specify the Criteria page, use the severity, priority, and resolution state checkboxes to select the criteria for data to be displayed, and select Next.

   4. On the Display page, select the columns you want displayed. You can also configure the sort order and how to group the data. Select Next.

   5. Review the settings on the Summary page, and select Create.

   6. Select Close.

   Performance Widget:

   1. On the General Properties page, enter a name for the widget. The description is optional. Select Next.

   2. On the Specify the Scope and Counters page, select a group or object.

   3. On the Specify the Scope and Counters page, select Add.

   4. In the Select performance counters dialog, use the Object, Counter, and Instance dropdown menus to filter the performance counters listed in Available Items. Select performance counters from the Available Items list, select Add, and select OK.

      Note

      The performance counters available are scoped to the group or object you selected in Select a group or object.

   5. Select Next.

   6. On the Time Range page, select the time range for the data, and select Next.

   7. On the Specify the Chart Preferences page, select the items you want displayed in the performance chart. You can configure order of the items by using the up and down arrows. For the vertical axis, you can select Automatic or configure the minimum and maximum values manually. Select Next.

   8. Review the settings on the Summary page, and select Create.

   9. Select Close.

   State Widget:

   1. On the General Properties page, enter a name for the widget. The description is optional. Select Next.

   2. On the Specify the Scope page, select Add.

   3. In the Add Groups or Objects window, select the groups or objects in Available items and select Add, and select OK.

   4. In Select a class to scope the members of the specific groups, you can change the selected class. (Object is selected by default.) Select Next.

   5. On the Specify the Criteria page, use the health state checkboxes to select the criteria for data to be displayed, and select Next.

      Note

      You can also select to display only objects in the maintenance mode.

   6. On the Display page, select the columns you want displayed. You can also configure the sort order and how to group the data. Select Next.

   7. Review the settings on the Summary page, and select Create.

Create an overrides summary view

You can only create an overrides summary view in My Workspace.

You can view all rule and monitor overrides in an overrides summary view. The overrides summary view can be used for both sealed and unsealed management packs.

1. In the Operations console, select My Workspace.

2. Right-click the folder where you want to store the view, point to New, and select Overrides Summary View.

3. In the Properties dialog of the overrides summary view, enter a name and description for the view. (The description is optional.)

4. Set the criteria to identify the performance data to display:

   1. Identify a class or group for performance data. For example, to create an overrides summary view for all System Center agents, select Agent in the Show data related to list.

   2. Select the conditions that define the content of the view.

   3. Refine the criteria description by selecting the underlined text in the Criteria description box.

   Note

   You can add multiple criteria to refine the view to fit your needs.

5. Customize the appearance of the alert view on the Display tab.

6. Select OK to create the view.

Next steps

• You can use views and dashboards to visualize operational data from different perspectives to make meaningful decisions. To understand how to do this, see Using Views and Dashboards in Operations Manager.

• Operations Manager includes a number of views that are created during installation. To understand what these views provide, see Standard Views in Operations Manager.

• Views included in sealed management packs can be modified to include other monitored object properties. To customize a view, see How to Personalize a View in Operations Manager.