User interface reference

This reference topic describes the Netcool Agile Service Manager UI screen elements and associated functionality.

Resource management page

To access Agile Service Manager topology data, you launch the Resource management page from the main navigation menu. On the Resource management page, you can select either the Applications, Resource groups or Resources tabs to filter your topology data. Applications and resource groups are displayed in 'Favorites' and 'All results' sections, while resources are listed in table format only. You can toggle the display of favorites from the default card view to a table view. You can select an application, resource group or resource, or use the search function.
Applications tab
An application is a collection of resource groups, which can each be created and managed from different sources. When combined with resource-level event correlation and grouping mechanisms, applications provide rapid visibility of overall states, allowing operators to prioritize work orders and focus on specific sets of resources that relate to a specific application, thereby excluding resources and resource groups that are not of interest.
From the Applications tab of the Resource management page, you can manage applications, assign them a business criticality, assign them as favorites (by selecting the heart icon), and display them as topology views.
Resource groups tab
Resource groups are used to manage specific resources. You can have resource groups from different sources within an application, and also separate from an application. Resource groups are collections of resources that have been collected into a group in order to capture a business or technical context within the environment for both search and correlation purposes. They are either created directly from the topological data discovered via observer jobs, or they are created by defining templates that represent a specific business logic, which dynamically produces resource groups based on defined criteria, such as a model topology structure or a set of tags. Importantly, resource groups are dynamic, which means they change as and when the environment is updated, thereby ensuring the topology data is up-to-date.
From the Resource groups tab of the Resource management page, you can add resource groups to applications, assign them a business criticality, assign them as favorites (by selecting the heart icon), or view them as topologies; however, you cannot create resource groups from here.
Resource groups can only be created and managed through a connected inventory provider, such as Kubernetes or VMware, or through a resource group template, and cannot be created or deleted from the Resource management page; while the resources within a resource group must be created and managed through the connection with the inventory provider (that is, an observer job). If you need to change resources within a resource group, you do not directly manipulate the resource group. Instead, an administrator user must use the resource group template, or manage the group within the connected inventory provider.
Resources tab
All available resources, their types, and any associated alerts or tags are listed in the All resources table.
Resources are represented in topology visualizations, search experience, and APIs, and form the basis of any topology-based event analytics. Resources are created in the system from observations of different technologies, or from data entered directly, and can represent a multitude of different elements, which are interconnected by their specific relationships and related properties. Relationship types can represent physical connections or logical connections, and all resources together provide an end-to-end view of an environment across data sources and management silos.
From the Resources tab of the Resource management page, you can click the resource name to launch the topology view, assign them a predefined business criticality, or click More details to open the Resource details sidebar. Optionally, you can list deleted resources.
To view, render or manage topologies in real time, or compare them to previous versions within a historical time window, see the topics under Viewing a topology.

Navigation toolbar

The navigation toolbar is displayed at the top of the Topology Viewer and provides access to the following functionality, or information.

Topology search
If you conduct a resource search from the navigation toolbar with a topology already loaded, the search functionality searches the loaded topology as well as the topology database.
As you insert your cursor into the Search field, the five most recent searches are listed, and can be selected. You can delete a recent search by clicking the delete button (X) to the right of the suggested search, or click View all to display all recent searches. When viewing all recent searches, you can filter the results further using a Search field, or select them and then delete them from the Recent searches list.
As you type in a search term, a drop-down list is displayed that includes suggested search results, both from the topology database and from recent searches, with your entered text highlighted. When you click a search result, the results are listed under the Favorites and All results sections, separated into Applications, Resource groups and Resources tabs, and search is closed.
For the results listed under In view resources:
  • If you hover over a search result in this section, the resource is highlighted in the topology window.
  • If you click on a search result, the topology view zooms in on that resource and closes the search.
Number of hops
The number of relationship hops to visualize from the seed resource, with the default set at 'one'.
You define the number of relationship hops to be performed, which can be from zero to four, unless this setting has been customized. See the Defining advanced topology settings topic for more information on customizing the maximum hop count.
Type of hop
The type of graph traversal used. The options are:
Element to element hop type
This type performs the traversal using all element types in the graph.
Host to host hop type
This type generates a view showing host to host connections.
Element to host hop type
This type provides an aggregated hop view like the Host to Host type, but also includes the elements that are used to connect the hosts.
Tip: The URL captures the hopType as 'e2h'. When launching a view using a direct URL, you can use the hopType=e2h URL parameter.
Filter toggle
Use this icon to display or hide the filter toolbar. You can filter resources that are displayed in the topology, or set filters before rendering a topology to prevent a large, resource-intensive topology from being loaded.
If a filter has been applied to a displayed topology, the text Filtering applied is displayed in the status bar at the bottom of the topology.
Render
This performs the topology visualization action, rendering the topology based on the settings in the navigation toolbar. Once rendered, the topology will refresh on a 30 second interval by default.
Refresh rate
You can pause the auto-update refresh, or select a custom interval.
The default configuration refresh rate is 60s.
From the Refresh rate drop-down, you can choose either 10s, 30s, 1m, 5m, or Paused.
Tip: The UI can time out if a large amount of data is being received. For information on how to address this issue if a timeout message is displayed, see the timeout troubleshooting section in Rendering (visualizing) a topology.
Refresh configuration
Click the Refresh configuration icon to refresh the topology manually.
This action refreshes the topology data, and also clears all user-specific session data, thereby ensuring that any manual configuration changes imported by, for example, the REST API, are rendered and displayed immediately.
Sharing options
You can share a topology either by obtaining a direct URL linking to the topology view, or by exporting a view of the topology as an image.
Obtain direct URL
Open the Sharing options drop-down menu, and then use the Obtain direct URL option to display the Direct topology URL dialog.
The displayed URL captures the current topology configuration, including layout type (layout orientation is not tracked).
Click Copy to obtain a direct-launch URL string, then close the dialog (click X) to return to the previous screen.
Use the direct-launch URL for quick access to a given topology view.
Tip: You can share this URL with all DASH users with the required permissions.
Export as PNG / SVG
You can share a snapshot of a topology in either PNG or SVG format, for example with someone who does not have DASH access.
Open the Sharing options drop-down menu, and then use either the Export as PNG or the Export as SVG option.
Select or browse to a program to open the image, or use Save File to save the image. Specify a name and location, then click Save to create a snapshot of your topology view.
You can now share the image as required.
Opens the Topology configuration page, from where you can customize a number of Agile Service Manager UI elements.
Opens the Using resource group templates page already populated with the current view elements including the preview pane to the right of the Template builder. From here, you can create a new exact resource group template.
Restriction: While viewing topologies, you can only create exact templates based on element-to-element topologies. The Create exact template option will not appear in the Settings drop-down for other views.
Settings > User preferences
Open the Settings drop-down menu, and then use the User preferences option to access the User preferences window, where you can make changes to the Updates, Layout and Miscellaneous sections.
Click Save when done to return to the topology.
You can customize the following user preferences to suit your requirements:
Updates
Default auto refresh rate (seconds)
The rate at which the topology will be updated.
The default value is 30.
You must reopen the topology before any changes to this user preference take effect.
Maximum number of resources to load with auto refresh enabled
When the resource limit set here is reached, auto-refresh is turned off.
The maximum value is 2000, and the default is set to 500.
Tip: If you find that the default value is too high and negatively impacts your topology viewer's performance, reduce this value.
Auto render new resources
Enable this option to display new resources at the next scheduled or ad-hoc refresh as soon as they are detected.
Remove deleted topology resources
Enable this option to remove deleted resources at the next scheduled or ad-hoc refresh.
Layout
Set Default layout type including the layout orientation for some of the layout types.
You can choose from a number of layout types, and also set the orientation for layouts 4, 6, 7 and 8.
Tip: A change to a layout type is tracked in the URL (while layout orientation is not tracked). You can manually edit your URL to change the layout type display settings.
The following numbered layout types are available:
Layout 1
A layout that simply displays all resources in a topology without applying a specific layout structure.
Layout 2
A circular layout that is useful when you want to arrange a number of entities by type in a circular pattern.
Layout 3
A grouped layout is useful when you have many linked entities, as it helps you visualize the entities to which a number of other entities are linked. This layout helps to identify groups of interconnected entities and the relationships between them.
Layout 4
A hierarchical layout that is useful for topologies that contain hierarchical structures, as it shows how key vertices relate to others with peers in the topology being aligned.
Layout 5
A force-directed (or 'peacock') layout is useful when you have many interlinked vertices, which group the other linked vertices.
Layout 6
A planar rank layout is useful when you want to view how the topology relates to a given vertex in terms of its rank, and also how vertices are layered relative to one another.
Layout 7
A rank layout is useful when you want to see how a selected vertex and the vertices immediately related to it rank relative to the remainder of the topology (up to the specified amount of hops). The root selection is automatic.
For example, vertices with high degrees of connectivity outrank lower degrees of connectivity. This layout ranks the topology automatically around the specified seed vertex.
Layout 8
A root rank layout similar to layout 7, except that it treats the selected vertex as the root. This layout is useful when you want to treat a selected vertex as the root of the tree, with others being ranked below it.
Ranks the topology using the selected vertex as the root (root selection: Selection)
The following orientations for layouts 4, 6, 7 and 8 are available.
Layout orientation
For layouts 4, 6, 7 and 8, you can set the following layout orientations:
  • Top to bottom
  • Bottom to top
  • Left to right
  • Right to left
Miscellaneous
Information message auto hide timeout (seconds)
The number of seconds that information messages are shown for in the UI.
The default value is 3.
Tip: If you are using a screen reader, it may be helpful to increase this value to ensure that you do not miss the message.
Screen reader support for graphical topology
Disabled by default.
You can enable the display of additional Help text on screen elements, which can improve the usability of screen readers.
You must reopen the page before any changes to this user preference take effect.
Client side debug logging (on supported browsers)
Disabled by default.
If enabled, additional debug output is generated, which you can use for defect isolation.
Tip: Use this for specific defect hunting tasks, and then disable it again. If left enabled, it can reduce the topology viewer's performance.
You must reopen the page before any changes to this user preference take effect.
Maintain zoom level on render configuration changes
Disabled by default, which means that when a topology is rendered, it is returned to its original zoom level (that is, 'Zoom fit').
If enabled, keeps your current zoom level each time the topology is rendered.
Settings > Refresh configuration
Refreshes the topology, and also clears all user-specific session data, thereby ensuring that any manual configuration changes imported by, for example, the REST API, are rendered and displayed immediately.
Resource group templates
Opens the Resource group templates page, where administrators can create and manage templates to generate resource groups.

Visualization toolbar

The Topology Viewer visualization toolbar is along the top right hand corner (below the navigation toolbar and down the side) and provides you with access to functionality to manipulate the topology visualization.

View legend
Toggle View Legend to open a Help panel that describes the visual elements used in the topology to display, for example, added or removed resources, their status, and types.
Timeline
Use this to open or close the History timeline, which shows how a topology has changed over time.
The timeline is closed by default.
Delta
Use this to shows how a topology has changed between two specific moments in time.
Delta is off by default.
Select tool submenu
When you hover over the Select tool icon, a submenu is displayed from which you can choose the Select, Pan or Zoom Select tool.
Select tool
Use this icon to select individual resources using a mouse click, or to select groups of resources by creating a selection area (using click-and-drag).
Pan tool
Use this icon to pan across the topology using click-and-drag on a blank area of the visualization panel.
Zoom select tool
Use this icon to zoom in on an area of the topology using click-and-drag.
Zoom in
Use this icon to zoom in on the displayed topology.
Zoom out
Use this icon to zoom out of the displayed topology.
Zoom fit
Use this icon to fit the entire topology in the current view panel.
Overview (mini map)
Use this toggle to create the overview mini map in the bottom right corner.
The mini map provides an overview of the entire topology while you zoom in or out of the main topology. The mini map displays a red rectangle to represent the current topology view.
Note: In some browsers the use of the mini map may cause performance issues when displaying large topologies.
Layout
Use this icon to recalculate, and then render the topology layout again.
You can choose from a number of layout types and orientations.
Layout 1
A layout that simply displays all resources in a topology without applying a specific layout structure.
Layout 2
A circular layout that is useful when you want to arrange a number of entities by type in a circular pattern.
Layout 3
A grouped layout is useful when you have many linked entities, as it helps you visualize the entities to which a number of other entities are linked. This layout helps to identify groups of interconnected entities and the relationships between them.
Layout 4
A hierarchical layout that is useful for topologies that contain hierarchical structures, as it shows how key vertices relate to others with peers in the topology being aligned.
Layout 5
A peacock layout is useful when you have many interlinked vertices, which group the other linked vertices.
Layout 6
A planar rank layout is useful when you want to view how the topology relates to a given vertex in terms of its rank, and also how vertices are layered relative to one another.
Layout 7
A rank layout is useful when you want to see how a selected vertex and the vertices immediately related to it rank relative to the remainder of the topology (up to the specified amount of hops). The root selection is automatic.
For example, vertices with high degrees of connectivity outrank lower degrees of connectivity. This layout ranks the topology automatically around the specified seed vertex.
Layout 8
A root rank layout similar to layout 7, except that it treats the selected vertex as the root. This layout is useful when you want to treat a selected vertex as the root of the tree, with others being ranked below it.
Ranks the topology using the selected vertex as the root (root selection: Selection)
Layout orientation
For layouts 4, 6, 7 and 8, you can set the following layout orientations:
  • Top to bottom
  • Bottom to top
  • Left to right
  • Right to left

Topology visualization panel

The main panel under the visualization toolbar displays the topology.

The displayed topology consists of resource nodes and the relationship links connecting the resources. You can interact with these nodes and links using the mouse functionality.

Dragging a node
Click and drag a node to move it.
Selecting a node
Selection of a node highlights the node, and emphasizes its first-order connections by fading all other resources.
Context menu (right-click)
You open the context menu using the right-click function. The context menu provides access to the resource-specific actions you can perform, including access to any .
For resource entities, you can perform the following:
Resource details
Properties tab: Displays a window that shows all the current stored properties for the specified resource in tabular and JSON format.
If opened from the Resource management dashboard, the resource name is an active link that opens a topology view of the resource in context.
When selected while viewing a topology history with delta mode On, the Resource details window displays the properties of the resource at both the reference time and at the delta time.
'Related applications' and 'Related resource groups' are only displayed when not in historical mode
Toggle the Show JSON switch On or Off to display the properties in JSON format.
Data origin tab: Displays the point of origin of the resource data, such as a specific observer job.
If you have the appropriate user permission, such as the administrator role, the observer job name is an active link, which opens the observer job page from where you can re-run the job, view its history, or edit the job.
Related applications tab: Displays all related applications as active links, which open the application topologies in new windows.
Also lists the group type, number of groups, status, and tags.
Related resource groups tab: Displays all related resource groups as active links, which open the resource group topologies in new windows.
Also lists the resource type, number of resources, status, and tags.
Resource status tab: Displays a dialog that shows the time-stamped statuses related to the specified resource in table format.
The Severity and Time columns can be sorted, and the moment (that is, the historical time point) that Resource status was selected is also time-stamped.
You can use the Show active only toggle to remove inactive statuses.
In addition, if any status tools have been defined, the status tool selector (three dots) is displayed next to the resource's statuses. Click the status tool selector to display a list of any status tools that have been defined, and then click the specific tool to run it. Status tools are only displayed for the states that were specified when the tools were defined.
The severity of a status ranges from 'clear' (white tick on a green square) to 'critical' (white cross on a red circle).
Table 1. Severity levels
Icon Severity
clear icon clear
indeterminate icon indeterminate
information icon information
warning icon warning
minor icon minor
major icon major
critical icon critical
Tip: If statuses related to a specific resource are available, the resource will be marked with an icon depicting the status severity level, and the Resource status tab will appear on the Resource details window, accessible via the resource context menu.
Comments
When selected, this displays any comments recorded against the resource.
By default, resource comments are displayed by date in ascending order. You can sort them in the following way:
  • Oldest first
  • Newest first
  • User Id (A to Z)
  • User Id (Z to A)
Users with the inasm_operator role can view comments, but not add any. Users with inasm_editor or inasm_admin roles can also add new comments. See the Configuring DASH user roles topic for more information on assigning user roles.
To add a new comment, enter text into the New comment field, and then click Add comment to save.
Assign criticality
Business criticality sets the priority level for a resource (or application, or resource group).
To assign a priority, select a definition from the Business criticality drop-down, then click Save.
To remove a business criticality, select Unassigned.
Remember: Business criticality definitions must be created by an administrator user before you can assign them to a resource, as described in Defining business criticality.
Build a template
Opens the Create a new template dialog, from where you can create a new resource group template.
Get Neighbors
When selected, opens a menu that displays the resource types of all the neighboring resources. Each resource type lists the number of resources of that type, as well as the maximum severity associated with each type.
You can choose to get All neighbors of the selected resource, or choose a specific resource to add to the topology using the Choose neighbor option. This lets you expand the topology in controlled, incremental steps.
Selecting Get neighbors overrides any existing filters.
You can Undo the last neighbor request made.
Follow relationship
When selected, opens a menu that displays all adjacent relationship types.
Each relationship type lists the number of relationships of that type, as well as the maximum severity associated with each type.
You can choose to follow all relationships, or only the neighbors of a specific type.
Show last change in timeline
When selected, will display the history timeline depicting the most recent change made to the resource.
Show first change in timeline
When selected, will display the history timeline depicting the first change made to the resource.
Find path
When selected, opens the Path tool dialog, from where you can define the criteria for the system to find the shortest path between two resources in your topology. See the Using the Path tool topic for more information.
Recenter view
When selected, this updates the displayed topology with the specified resource as seed.
Delete resource
Removes the resource from the topology.
Topology Swagger
Opens the Swagger UI.
Swagger
Agile Service Manager uses Swagger for automated documentation generation and utilizes a Swagger server for each micro-service.
You can access and explore the REST APIs of the topology service and observers using Swagger via the proxy service.
For more information, see Swagger reference.
Information bar
A section at the bottom of the screen displays the current status of the rendered topology.
A timestamp on the left of the information bar indicates the time of the most recent refresh. If two time periods are being compared, both will be indicated.
Additional information on the right describes the number of resources rendered, their relationships, whether they were added or removed since the last refresh, and whether a filter has been applied.

Filter toolbar

Open and close the Filter toolbar using the Filter toggle in the Navigation toolbar (along the top). When you have filtered your topology, click Close to remove the toolbar from view.

The Filter toolbar is displayed as a panel on the right-hand side of the page, and consists of a Simple and an Advanced tab. If selected, each tab provides you with access to the following expandable lists of filters:
  • Resource types
  • Relationship types
  • Resource severity
Any resource or relationship types that have been excluded from view in order to optimize performance when rendering topologies are listed here. The seed resource of a topology can not be blocked, and neither can resource groups.
Note: You can override the exclusion using the context menu functionality.
  • If you are filtering a topology before rendering it: All types are displayed, except those that have been excluded. After rendering the topology, you can toggle the Show all types switch so that only types relevant to your topology are displayed.
  • If you are filtering a topology already displayed in the viewer: Only types relevant to your topology are displayed, for example host, ipaddress, or operatingsystem. You can toggle the Show all types switch so that all types are listed (apart from the excluded types).
Simple tab
When you use the Simple tab, all specified types are removed from view, including the seed resource.
It only removes the resources matching that type, leaving the resources below, or further out from that type, based on topology traversals.
By default, all types are On. Use the Off toggle to remove specific types from your view.
Advanced tab
The Advanced tab performs a server-side topology-based filter action.
If you change the topology, you can set filters before you render the topology to prevent a potentially large, resource-intensive topology from being loaded in full.
It can exclude or include types:
  • Exclude removes the resources matching that type, as well as all resources below that type. However, the seed resource is not removed from view, even if it is of a type selected for removal.
  • Include displays the selected types in the topology.
Tips
Reset or invert all filters: Click Reset to switch all types back on, or click Invert to invert your selection of types filtered.
Hover to highlight: When a topology is displayed, hover over one of the filtering type options to highlight them in the topology.

Topology history toolbar

Open and close the Topology history across the bottom of the screen using the Timeline toggle on the Topology Visualization toolbar (top right corner). You can also hide the Topology History toolbar by clicking X, which also returns the topology to normal (update) mode.

Timeline
The Timeline toggle switched the topology between the 'update' mode and the 'history' mode, which is displayed across the bottom of the screen.
Note: Topologies with a large amount of history may take longer to display. To avoid timeout issues, you can adjust the default timeout values.
A topology is displayed in update mode by default with delta mode set to Off. You use a time pin to control the topology shown. When you move a pin, the topology updates to show the topology representation at that time.
While viewing the timeline in update mode with delta mode set to Off, only a single time pin is displayed.
Delta mode
You toggle delta mode on and off using the Delta switch above the topology.
When delta mode is On with the timeline toggle Off, differences in topology are displayed via purple plus or minus symbols next to the affected resource.
When delta mode is On with timeline toggle On, you can compare two time points to view differences in topology. Historical change indicators (blue dots) are displayed next to each affected resource.
Note: For efficiency reasons, historical change indicators are only displayed for topologies with fifty or fewer resources. You can reduce (but not increase) this default by changing the value for the Historical change threshold setting as described in Defining advanced topology settings.
Lock time pin
Click the Lock icon on a time pin's head to lock a time point in place as a reference point, and then use the second time slider to view topology changes.
Compare resource properties
Click Resource details on a resource's context menu to compare the resource's data at the two selected time points. You can view and compare the resource's property names and values in table format, or JSON format (using the Show JSON toggle).
While viewing the timeline in update mode with delta mode set to On, any changes to the topology history are displayed on the right hand side of the timeline, with the time pins moving apart at set intervals. By clicking the Reset to now icon, you reset the endpoint to 'now' and the pins form a single line again.
While in delta mode you can move both pins to show a comparison between the earliest pin and the latest. The timeline shows the historic changes for a single selected resource, which is indicated in the timeline title. You can lock one of the time pins in place to be a reference point.
To view the timeline for a different resource, you click on it, and the heading above the timeline changes to display the name of the selected resource. If you click on the heading, the topology centers (and zooms into) the selected resource.
The history timeline is displayed above a secondary time bar, which displays a larger time segment and indicates how much of it is depicted in the main timeline. You can use the jump buttons to move back and forth along the timeline, or jump to the current time.
You can use the time picker, which opens a calendar and clock, to move to a specific second in time.
To view changes made during a specific time period, use the two time sliders to set the time period. You can zoom in and out to increase or decrease the granularity using the + and - buttons on the right, or by double-clicking within a time frame. The most granular level you can display is an interval of one second. The granularity is depicted with time indicators and parallel bars, which form 'buckets' that contain the recorded resource change event details.
The timeline displays changes to a resource's state, properties, and its relationships with other resources. These changes are displayed through color-coded bars and dash lines, and are elaborated on in a tooltip displayed when you hover over the change. You can exclude one or more of these from display.
Resource state changes
The timeline displays the number of state changes a resource has undergone.
Resource property changes
The timeline displays the number of times that resource properties were changed.
Each time that property changes were made is displayed as one property change event regardless of whether one or more properties were changed at the time.
Resource relationship changes
The number of relationships with neighboring resources are displayed, and whether these were changed.
The timeline displays when relationships with other resources were changed, and also whether these changes were the removal or addition of a relationship, or the modification of an existing relationship.

Update manager

If auto-updates have been turned off, the Update Manager informs you if new resources have been detected. It allows you to continue working with your current topology until you are ready to integrate the new resources into the view.

The Update Manager is displayed in the bottom right of the screen.

The Update Manager provides you with the following options:
Show details
Displays additional resource information.
Render
Integrates the new resources into the topology.
Choosing this option will recalculate the topology layout based on your current display settings, and may therefore adjust the displayed topology significantly.
Cogwheel icon
When clicked, provides you with quick access to change your user preferences:
  • Enable auto-refresh: Switches auto-refresh back on, and disables the Update Manager.
  • Remove deleted resources: Removes the deleted resources from your topology view when the next topology update occurs.
Hide
Reduces the Update Manager to a small purple icon that does not obstruct your current topology view.
When you are ready to deal with the new resources, click on the icon to display the Update Manager again.