Docs » Charts in Splunk Observability Cloud » Create charts in Splunk Observability Cloud

Create charts in Splunk Observability Cloud 🔗

Splunk Observability Cloud provides a number of built-in dashboards for services you integrate with Splunk Observability Cloud. These dashboards have charts that track key metrics for integrated services. In many cases, you don’t have to create any additional charts or dashboards. However, if you do need a chart that isn’t included in a built-in dashboard, the following sections show you how to create a chart.

Before you create a chart, you need to have an idea of which metrics you want to track. Metrics appear on the chart as signals, which the documentation also refers to as plot lines or plots. If you are unfamiliar with the metrics available, see View dashboards in Splunk Observability Cloud to see the metrics that your organization receives for your dashboards.

Also consider customizing the defaults for your charts. You can filter metrics to limit the data to specific hosts, or specify a different time range for the chart. You can return to customize chart features at any time.

Create a chart 🔗

Once you have an initial plan for the metrics you want to display on your chart, there are various ways to create a chart, depending on your starting point.

Note

You can’t add charts to a built-in dashboard. For more information, see Built-in dashboards.

See the following table for different chart creation methods:

Method

Description

Create a chart using the Chart Builder

Use this method to create a complex chart with customizations during the creation process. To learn more, see Create a new chart using the Chart Builder.

Create a chart using the metrics sidebar

Use this method to create a simple chart or add a new chart to an existing dashboard. This method is useful for users who are new to Splunk Observability Cloud and are not familiar with more complex chart customizations. To learn more, see Create a chart using the metrics sidebar.

Create a chart using the Metric Finder

Use this method to browse metrics and decide which metric to track before creating a chart. To learn more, see Create a chart using the Metric Finder.

Copy a chart

Use this method to add a copy or move a chart to another dashboard. To learn more, see Copy a chart.

Create a chart using the API

Use this method to programmatically create a chart instead of creating one through the user interface. To learn more, see Create a chart using Splunk Observability Cloud API.

Create a new chart using the Chart Builder 🔗

Follow these steps to create a chart in the Chart Builder:

  1. In the Create menu on the top navigation bar, select Chart. Alternatively, select New chart on custom dashboards.

  2. Search for metrics or events you want to plot on your chart. For more information, see Plot metrics and events using chart builder in Splunk Observability Cloud.

    Note

    You can add functions to your chart with the F(x) column. See Apply analytics to a plot and Functions reference for Splunk Observability Cloud for more details.

  3. Customize your chart. See Chart options in the Chart Builder.

Create a chart using the metrics sidebar 🔗

To start creating a simple chart, use the metrics sidebar to find and select the metrics and events you want to display in your chart:

  1. Open the metrics sidebar.

    • For an existing dashboard: Navigate to the existing dashboard and open it. Select the sidebar icon in the top right to open the metrics sidebar.

    • For a new dashboard: From the Create menu in the top, select Dashboard. Select Browse metrics sidebar to open the metrics sidebar.

  2. On the Metrics tab, select Find metrics or Find events, depending what you want to plot in your chart.

  3. Enter keywords into the search field. If a search keyword also matches metric metadata, such as a dimension name or property value, the metadata displays under the metric name. To add the metadata to your query as a filter, select the matching metadata or the Filter (+) icon. To exclude the metadata from your search results, select the Exclude (-) icon.

    Note

    Hover over a metric or event name to display information about it.

Create charts with metrics 🔗

  • Create a chart with a single metric:

    1. Select the check box next to the metric name.

    2. Select Add chart.

  • Create a chart containing one plot for each metric:

    1. Select the check box next to each item you want to add.

    2. Select Add chart.

  • Create multiple charts, one for each metric:

    1. Select the check box next to each item you want to add.

    2. Select Separate charts.

    3. Select Add charts.

Note

Select Add with filters to add matching metadata from each metric result as filters to your chart.

Create charts with events 🔗

  • Create a chart with a single event:

    1. Select the check box next to the event name.

    2. Select Add chart.

  • Create a chart containing one plot for each event:

    1. Select the check box next to each item you want to add.

    2. Select Add single chart.

  • Create multiple charts, one for each event:

    1. Select the check box next to each item you want to add.

    2. Select Multiple charts.

Create a chart using the Metric Finder 🔗

If you’re not sure which metric you want to track, use the Metric Finder to browse different options before creating a new chart.

  1. From the navigation menu, select Metric Finder.

  2. Search for metrics by entering key words into the search bar, or selecting an integration name.

  3. Once you find the metric you’re interested in, select the metric name to open the Chart Builder, pre-populated with your metric.

To learn more about using the Metric Finder, see Search for metrics in the Metric Finder.

Copy a chart 🔗

You can copy charts from one or multiple dashboards to a clipboard. You might want to use this technique for the following use cases:

  • Pull some existing charts together in a new dashboard for troubleshooting.

  • Copy charts from one dashboard to another.

  • Move a chart from one dashboard to another; after copying a chart, delete the original chart.

Follow these steps to copy a chart to a clipboard:

  1. Open the dashboard containing the chart you want to copy.

  2. In the dashboard view, open the Chart actions menu of the chart you want to copy.

  3. Select Copy.

  4. When you copy a chart, a counter on the Create icon on the navigation bar indicates how many charts you have copied to the clipboard.

  5. To copy another chart to the clipboard, select Chart actions > Add to clipboard from a different chart, or select the Add to clipboard icon on another chart while in the dashboard view. The counter increments as you add additional charts.

Once you copy charts to the clipboard, several options from the Create menu let you paste the charts to another dashboard. Pasting charts clears the clipboard.

Option

Description

Paste charts

Select this option to paste the charts into a dashboard you are viewing. You must have write permissions for the dashboard. See Read and write permissions in Splunk Infrastructure Monitoring for more detail.

Dashboard with <n> copied charts

Select this option to create a new dashboard consisting of all the copied charts.

Dashboard (unsaved)

If you see this option, you have already added charts to a new dashboard but haven’t saved it. Select this option to open the unsaved dashboard. Select Past charts to add the copied charts to this dashboard.

Clear clipboard

Select this option to clear the clipboard content without pasting charts to a dashboard.

Create a chart using Splunk Observability Cloud API 🔗

If you prefer to work programmatically, see Display data using charts to create a chart with API.

Select a chart type 🔗

Available chart types are shown as icons in the chart’s title bar. You can also select a chart type in the Chart Options tab. Hover over an icon to see which chart type it represents, then select an icon to display the chart in that format. The selected chart type is highlighted and indicated by a small pointer.

To learn more about different chart types, see Chart types in Splunk Observability Cloud.

Note

In some cases, you might want to create multiple charts for the same data displayed in different ways. One way to do that is to copy a chart then change the chart type after you paste it from the clipboard. Another way is to change the chart type and then use Save as to save it as a new chart, preferably with a new name. See Copy a chart for more information.

The chart type you select is applied as a default to all the plots on the chart, but you can use different visualizations for individual plots. To learn more, see Set options in the plot configuration panel.

Save a chart 🔗

  1. When you finish creating or editing a chart, select Save, Save as, or Save and close from the Chart actions menu of the chart. The options vary depending on how you created or opened the chart.

    If you don’t have write permissions for the dashboard you are viewing or if you are in a built-in dashboard, you have to use Save as to save the chart to another dashboard.

  2. Select Close.

Note

Closing a chart doesn’t prompt you to save changes. You must save your changes before closing, or unsaved changes will be lost.

Edit a chart 🔗

To edit a chart, open it from any dashboard or the Dashboard panel of a navigator.

Note

If you don’t have write permissions for the dashboard containing the chart or if you are in a built-in dashboard, you have to use Save as to save the edited chart to another dashboard.

This page was last updated on Dec 18, 2024.