Sidebar Settings

The sidebars used in various sections of the v3 Kentik Detect portal are covered in the following topics:

• About Sidebar Panes
• General Sidebar Controls
• Time Pane Settings
• Bracketing Pane Settings
• Filtering Pane Settings
• Devices Pane Settings

Note: For sidebar settings in the Kentik v4 portal see Query Sidebar Controls.

Several sections of the Kentik Detect portal include a sidebar at left that contains a series of panes. The controls in the panes are used to set values for queries whose results (graph and table) are shown in a display area to the right of the sidebar. The panes that are common to more than one area of the portal (Time, Filtering, and Devices) are covered in this article, while panes that are unique to a given portal section are covered as part of that section.

The following table shows which panes appear in the various portal sections that include sidebars:

A sidebar can be either of the following pane display modes:

• Summary mode: The panes each show only their current setting (read-only). Each pane includes an Edit button at upper right to switch the sidebar to edit mode.
• Edit mode: The panes each show their controls so that changes can be made to settings. Each pane includes a Show Summary button at upper right to switch the sidebar to summary mode.

Note: When the sidebar is in summary mode you can switch to edit mode by clicking in any pane.

In addition to individual panes, portal sidebars include the overall controls described below.

The top of the sidebar contains the Run Query button:

• If the button is blue then the button applies changes made in the sidebar to the chart and table in the display area.
• If the button is gray then all outstanding changes have already been applied.

The sidebar can be collapsed to allocate more of the browser window space to the display area. The location of the expand/collapse control, a gray direction icon (« or ») that toggles the sidebar between expanded and collapsed states, depends on where you are in the portal:

• In the Library, the control is located at the top right of the sidebar, to the right of the sidebar tabs. When the sidebar is collapsed it’s represented by a gray strip along the left edge of the window, which contains the expand icon.
• In Data Explorer, as well as in the Analytics section of the portal, the control is a black vertical strip (with « or ») that appears when the cursor is hovered between the sidebar and the main display area (just to the right of the sidebar’s vertical scroll bar):
  - When the sidebar is collapsed, each pane is represented by an icon. Click on the icon to pop out the pane, or click in the strip to expand the entire sidebar.
  - When the sidebar is expanded click anywhere in the strip to collapse.

Time-range settings in the sidebar’s Time pane define the timespan covered by the query whose results are displayed in the graph and table in the display area:

• Lookback: Sets the time range for a preset duration back from the current time. The duration is chosen from the drop-down Show the menu. For example, if the current time is 11:00 and the chosen duration is Last 15 Minutes, the resulting time range will be from 10:45 to 11:00.
• From: Sets the time range to a preset duration forward from a specified start time:
  - From: Date and time fields for the start of the range.
  - Show the: Preset durations for the time range. For example, if the start time is 11:00 and the setting is Next 15 Minutes, the resulting time range will be from 11:00 to 11:15.
• To: Sets the time range to a preset duration back from a specified end time:
  - Show the: Preset durations for specifying the start of the range. For example, if the end time is 11:00 and setting is Previous 15 Minutes, the resulting time range will be from 10:45 to 11:00.
  - Before: Date and time fields for the end of the range.
• From + To: Allows a time range to be defined from a start time to an end time:
  - From: Date and time fields for specifying the start of the range.
  - To: Date and time fields for specifying the end of the range.
• Zone: The time zone in which times are expressed, either UTC or local.
  Note: To change the default for this setting, see user Default Settings.
• Jump Back: Moves the time range back by the current duration. For example if the time range is 35 minutes from 12:10 to 12:45, the button will move the range 35 minutes earlier to 11:35 - 12:10.
• Jump Forward: Moves the time range forward by the current duration. For example if the time range is 35 minutes from 11:35 to 12:10, the button will move the range 35 minutes later to 12:10 - 12:45.

Note: When zooming the display area (see Data Explorer Chart), the Time pane is automatically set to From + To with the start and end times defined based on the zoomed region.

The bracketing feature is covered in the following topics:

• About Bracketing
• Bracketing View Types
• Bracketing Options Dialog

The bracketing feature allows you define from two to five ranges (brackets) of values and assign various colors to the brackets so that you can see at a glance the range into which the current value falls. Bracketing is configured with the Bracketing Options Dialog.

Note: Bracketing is required when view type is Gauge (see Chart View Types).

As shown in the following table, the effect of bracketing in charts and results tables (e.g. in Data Explorer or a dashboard panel) depends on the current view type.

In supported view types, bracketing has the following effect:

• Bracketing in charts: Results displayed in the chart will be colored by bracket. In the Gauge chart at right, for example, the background color (red) corresponds to the bracket that includes the current bracketing value (see Bracketing Value Control).
• Bracketing in tables: The bracket of each row will be indicated with a colored bar at the left of the row (as shown below).
  Note: If a series is excluded from bracketing because its value falls outside of the range defined with the Trim Overall Range controls (see Bracketing Range Controls) then the colored bar for the row corresponding to that series will be gray.

The Bracketing Options dialog, opened by clicking the Bracketing pane, defines the type of bracketing and the ranges of the brackets. The dialog consists of the following general UI elements as well as several panes described below:

• Close button: Click the X in the upper right corner to close the dialog without saving changes to the settings.
• Cancel button: Close the dialog without saving changes. All elements will be restored to their values at the time the dialog was opened.
• Save button: Save changes to settings and exit the dialog.
• Remove button (shown only when bracketing already exists on the query): Opens a confirming dialog that allows you to remove the bracketing. When bracketing is removed, the dialog is reset to defaults and closed. You must click the Run Query button in the sidebar to execute removal of the bracketing from the query.

The Bracketing Type pane includes a single drop-down menu used to choose the basis on which the brackets will be defined in the Bracketing Ranges pane, which may be one of the following:

• Static ranges: Series are bracketed by comparing Bracketing Value to user-specified numeric ranges.
• Percentages: Series are evaluated by Bracketing Value and bracketed by percent of the highest value.
• Percentiles: Series are ranked by Bracketing Value and bracketed by percentile relative to all series.

As shown in the following set of screen shots, the Bracketing Type setting determines the key displayed in the Bracketing pane in the sidebar.

The Bracketing Value pane includes a single switch, Use Last Datapoint Value, which is used to determine the value by which each series is evaluated for bracketing:

• If the switch is on, series are evaluated by the value of their most recent data point.
• If the switch is off, series are evaluated by the value of the Primary Display & Sort Metric specified in the Metrics dialog (accessed via the Customize Metrics button in the sidebar’s Query pane).

The Bracketing Ranges pane includes the following controls:

• Group Results: A switch that, when on, sets the results table to include a collapsible header row for each bracket.
• Trim Overall Range: A switch that, when on, enables the following fields, which are used to narrow the range of values considered for bracketing:
  - Exclude values under: Set the minimum value for the lowest range.
  - Exclude values over: Set the maximum value for the highest range.
  - Value type: A drop-down menu used to choose the value type (fixed, percentage, or percentile) for the minimum and maximum values.
• Range controls: Set the color and value boundary associated with each range, as well as the number of ranges. By default there are two ranges, but you can have up to five ranges with different colors (e.g. orange for a range that’s slightly above normal and red for a critical peak).

The following controls are available for each range:

• Select A Color: Click the button to choose a color for the range.
• Value field: Enter the highest value that will be included in the range:
  - The lowest range will include values from the entered number down to the Exclude Values Under value from Trim Overall Range.
  - Intermediate ranges will include values above the previous range up to and including the entered number.
  - The field is not shown for the highest range.
• Delete button: Click the red X to delete the range.

The Filtering pane is covered in the following topics:

• About the Filtering Pane
• Filtering Pane Functions
• Filtering Pane Locations

Note: For best performance, whenever possible use the Device selector (see Devices Pane UI) to choose devices rather filtering for devices.

The Filtering pane is used to apply filters to the query that will be displayed in the graph and table in the display area to the right of the sidebar. Each of the dozens of possible filters corresponds to a dimension About Dimensions. Filters are organized into filter groups to allow control over the ANDing and ORing of individual filter conditions, and filter groups may be nested within other filter groups. The resulting compound filter is included in the WHERE clause of the underlying query.

Note: For more general information about filters, see About Filters.

While the appearance of the Filtering pane may vary depending on its location in the portal (see Filtering Pane Locations), the pane has the same functions in all locations:

• To display the filters that are applied to the current query.
• To provide access to the Filtering Options dialog (see Filtering Options Dialog), which enables you to configure a set of filters to apply to the current query and to save those filters for later reuse (see Saved Filters). The setting of filters in the dialog is covered in Filter Groups Interface.

As shown in the following table, the Filtering pane appears in multiple locations in the Kentik Detect portal:

The Devices pane allows you to select the devices (routers, hosts, etc.) that will be covered by the query whose results are displayed in the graph and table in the display area. The Devices pane is covered in the following topics:

• Devices Pane UI
• Selected Devices Dialog
• Device Selector with Sidebar
• Device Selector with Columns
• Add Devices
• Remove Devices

Note: For best performance, whenever possible use the Device selector (see Devices Pane UI) to choose devices rather filtering for devices.

The Devices pane has the following controls:

• Device Selector (radio button): Choose one of the following:
  - All: Include traffic from all of your organization’s Kentik-registered devices.
  - Specific devices: Include traffic only from devices that you specify in the Selected Devices Dialog, which opens when you click in the Selected Devices Box.
• Selected Devices box: A list of currently selected devices (not shown when Device Selector is set to All).

Note: By default (e.g. when you first navigate to Data Explorer), the Selected Devices box displays one device, which is the first device (alphabetically) in your organization’s first site (alphabetically).

The Selected Devices dialog enables you to choose the devices whose traffic will be included in a query. There are two versions of the dialog; each has a different layout and controls. The dialog presented in a given situation depends on your current location in the Kentik Detect portal.

For device selection from the following portal locations, see Device Selector with Sidebar:

• Library » Dashboards:
  - Add/Edit Dashboard dialog » Default Query Options » Edit Devices button
  - Add/Edit View Panel dialog » Query tab » Devices pane » Edit Devices button
  - Add/Edit View Panel dialog » Navigate To tab» Devices setting » Use Custom Device List » Edit Devices button
• Data Explorer: Devices pane in sidebar
• Alerting » Policies: Add/Edit Alert Policy dialog » Dataset tab » Specific Devices button
• Analytics » Capacity Planning: Devices pane in sidebar
• Analytics » Raw Flow: Devices pane in sidebar
• Admin » My Kentik Portal: Add/Edit Tenant dialog » Edit Devices button

For device selection from the following portal locations, see Device Selector with Columns:

• Alerting » Platforms: Add/Edit Mitigation Platform dialog » Devices (when Platform = RTBH or Flowspec)
  Note: Only devices that are directly BGP peered with Kentik (see Device BGP Settings) will be available in the Selected Devices dialog.
• Analytics » Peering: Add Dataset dialog » Devices
• Analytics » Peering: Peering Analytics page » Devices pane in sidebar
• Analytics » Route Traffic: Devices pane in sidebar

This version of the Selected Devices dialog includes the following settings and controls:

• Filter field: Filters the list of available devices to show only devices whose name, label, or site contains the entered string.
• Available devices: A list of available devices and logical device groups from which you can choose devices to add to the Selected Devices list; see Available Devices List.
• Selected Devices list: A list of the devices and logical device groups that have been chosen from the sidebar for inclusion in the query. An “X” at the right of each item allows you to remove an item from the list.
• Save button: Save changes to the list of selected devices and exit the dialog.

The list of available devices and logical device groups, which is displayed in the sidebar of the Selected Devices dialog, is categorized as follows:

• Use All Devices: Select all of your organization’s Kentik-registered devices.
• Types: Select all devices of a given type: routers, hosts, etc. (see Supported Device Types).
• Labels: Device labels, which enable free-form grouping of devices (see About Device Labels).
• Sites: Sites represent user-defined physical locations, such as a data center (see About Sites).
• Devices: Individual devices that are registered with Kentik Detect.
  Note: If an individual device is part of a group (e.g. label or site) that has already been selected then the device will not appear in the Available Devices list.

The following additional functionality is supported for the Labels and Sites categories of the Available Devices list:

• Clear button (shown only when the Filter field is empty): Removes all items of the category (Labels or Sites) from the Selected Devices list.
• Add All button (shown only when the Filter field is not empty): Adds all items of the category (Labels or Sites) that are currently shown in the Available Devices list to the Selected Devices list.

This version of the Selected Devices dialog includes the following settings and controls:

• Close button: Click the X in the upper right corner to close the dialog without saving changes to the device settings.
• Device type selector: Populates the Selected Devices list with different types of devices (see Device Type Selector).
• Filter field: Filters the Device List to show only devices whose name or site contains the entered text.
• Selected Devices list: Lists all of the devices whose traffic will be included in the current query. To remove an individual device, click the X at the right of that device’s row.
• Device List: Lists all of your organization’s devices in alphabetical order of the sites to which those devices have been assigned (See About Sites).
  - Use the checkbox for an individual device to add that device to the Selected Devices list.
  - Use the Select All button for a given site to select all of the devices for that site.
  Note: Devices that haven’t been assigned to a site are grouped under Unassigned.
• Cancel button: Close the dialog without saving changes.
• Save button: Save changes to device settings and exit the dialog.

The device type selector adds an entire category of devices to the Selected Devices list. The following categories can be added:

• All: Selects all Kentik-registered devices in your organization.
• None: Clears the selection of all devices in your organization.
• kprobe: Selects host devices in your organization that represent kprobe host agents, which enable Kentik Detect to derive DNS/WWW dimensions and NPM metrics (see About kprobe).
• Routers: Selects all routers, switches, and other network infrastructure devices in your organization.

The way to specify devices for a query depends on the dialog used for device selection in your current location in the Kentik Detect portal (see Selected Devices Dialog).

To select devices using the Device Selector with Sidebar:

1. In the Devices pane, click in the Selected Devices box. The Selected Devices dialog will open.
2. In the Available Devices list, do one of the following to add devices to the Selected Devices list:
   - To add an individual device, click on the device in the Devices section.
   - To add all devices with a given label, click on the label in the Labels section.
   - To add all devices from a given site, click on the site in the Sites section.
3. Repeat the above to add more devices either individually or by label or site.
4. Click the Save button. The devices in the Selected Devices list will appear in the Selected Devices box in the Devices pane.

To select devices using the Device Selector with Columns:

1. In the Devices pane, click in the Selected Devices box. The Selected Devices dialog will open.
2. If desired, clear the Selected Devices list by clicking the None button in the Device Type selector.
3. Do one of the following to add devices to the Selected Devices list:
   - To add all devices in a category, click a button on the Device Type selector.
   - To add all devices from a given site, find the site in the Device List and click its Select All button.
   - To add an individual device, find the device in the Device List and click its checkbox.
4. Repeat the above to add each additional device.
5. Click the Save button. The devices in the Selected Devices list will appear in the Selected Devices box in the Devices pane.

The way to remove devices from a query depends on the dialog used for device selection in your current location in the Kentik Detect portal (see Selected Devices Dialog).

To remove devices (individually or by label or site) in the Device Selector with Sidebar, do one of the following:

• In the Selected Devices list, click the gray X to the right of the name of a device, label, or site.
• In the Available Devices list, click a label or site (indicated with a highlight and checkmark).
• In the Available Devices list, if the Filter field is empty, click the Clear button at the right of the Labels or Sites heading to remove any items in the corresponding category.

To remove devices in the Device Selector with Columns, do one of the following:

• Click the gray X to the right of the name of the device in the Selected Devices list.
• Uncheck the checkbox to the left of the device in the Device List.
• To remove all devices at once, click the None button in the Device Type selector.