Since the introduction of Dashboard Application Services Hub (DASH), many people have asked what are the plans for Web GUI to support it. Can we build dashboards in DASH that visualize OMNIbus data? When will this be available? How can we do it?

I'm pleased to say that with the release of OMNIbus Web GUI fix pack 1, some integration with DASH is possible. Whilst it won't be until the next full release of OMNIbus that Web GUI will deploy into, and make full use of all of the DASH capabilities, we are introducing a good, solid level of support in fix pack 1, and we will continue to add further support in future fix packs.

Obviously this is not a full new release of OMNIBus Web GUI and so it remains deployed in Tivoli Integrated Portal (TIP). You will need a DASH server as well as the TIP server in order to achieve any of this.

So, with a Web GUI in server in combination with a DASH server you can now:

1. Visualise OMNIbus event data in DASH widgets, such as the table widget.
2. Display OMNIbus operator widgets, such as the AEL and Map on a DASH dashboard.
3. Click a hotspot anywhere on a page to cause the AEL to relaunch with new context.

As an example, you can create a DASH dashboard displaying a map of the world as a background image, and an AEL on the same page. The map of the world has a hotspot over Europe and over USA. If you click the hotspot over Europe, the AEL will refresh with the Europe events, and if you click on USA only the USA events. If you right-click on the event in the AEL, the event can be acknowledged, or you can launch out to another system such as a ticketing system.

For more information about creating dashboards that visualize Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus Web GUI data in Dashboard Application Services Hub, see the technical introduction that is provided here:
 

http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v8r1/topic/com.ibm.netcool_OMNIbus.doc_7.4.0/webtop/wip/task/web_con_dash_integratewithdash.html

and a detailed how-to here (the information differs depending on your fix pack version of the Web GUI):

For V7.4 FP1: https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/community/wikis/home?lang=en#!/wiki/Tivoli%20Netcool%20OMNIbus/page/V7.4%20FP1%2C%20Setting%20up%20Netcool%20OMNIbus%20Web%20GUI%20integration%20features%20in%20Jazz%20for%20Service%20Management

For V7.4 FP2: https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/community/wikis/home?lang=en#!/wiki/Tivoli%20Netcool%20OMNIbus/page/V7.4%20FP2%2C%20Setting%20up%20Netcool%20OMNIbus%20Web%20GUI%20integration%20features%20in%20Jazz%20for%20Service%20Management

(These documents is available on the OMNIbus wiki, under Home > Reference > How-to documentation Administering > Setting up Netcool OMNIbus integration features for Jazz for Service Management.

Looking forward, the next full release of OMNIBus will be deployed into, and fully exploit, DASH. Once this is released, you will no longer require separate TIP and DASH servers. You will also be able to do the following things which are not possible in 7.4:

1. Click a hotspot anywhere on a page to cause the AEL to refresh with new context, without losing run-time configured state such as column sorting or view selection.
2. Pass context when navigating between dashboards, effectively re-using one page to visualise multiple data sets.
3. From an external application (such as a Web browser), launch a dashboard with context, such that it displays more relevant data.
4. Visualise OMNIbus operator widgets, styled consistently according to the configured dashboard theme.

Building on the previous example, it will be possible to create a dashboard, which contains an AEL and a set of Gauges. A click on the Europe Gauge will launch a second dashboard, supplying Europe as a context. This second dashboard will contain a European map and show events originating from the European region. A click on the USA Gauge will launch the same dashboard, this time supplying USA as context. Now the second dashboard will contain a map of the USA and show events originating from the United Sates.