Labels

The management of labels in the Kentik portal is discussed in the following topics:

• About Labels
• Labels Page
• Edit Label Dialog
• Managing Labels
• Using Labels on Devices

A label in Kentik enables you to create a collection of items that can be treated as a group. You can specify a value (text) for the label property on any Kentik-registered data source listed on the Devices Page, though not on the cloud data sources on the Public Clouds page. Labels may also be applied to Synthetics tests (see About Synthetics) and ksynth agents (see Kentik Synthetics Agents). The items in a group would typically be (but are not required to be) alike in some way; the label simply allows you to refer to them all together rather than individually. Labels are not mutually exclusive, so any item to which a label can be applied may have more than one label.

Labels are particularly useful for determining which network devices will be included in a query. If a query's devices are referenced via a label rather than directly, the devices whose flow data is actually included when the query is run are determined at run time based on which devices have that label. This means that you can later change the devices included in the underlying query of a given component — e.g. dashboard, saved view, report, or saved filter — by changing the devices to which the label is applied rather than revising the component itself.

Note: The devices, agents, and tests that have a given label at the run time of a given query are treated by that query as if they have had that label for the query's entire time range, regardless of whether any individual item actually did or did not have that label at any given point in that time range.

The portal location in which a label can be applied or removed depends on the type of the labeled item:

• Devices: Apply/remove labels via the Label Controls above the Device list on the Devices page (Settings » Networking Devices).
• Agents: Apply/remove labels via the Agents List (Synthetics » Agent Management).
• Tests: Apply/remove labels via the Tests List (Synthetics » Test Control Center).

Labels are managed from the Labels List on the Labels page, which you get to by clicking Labels under Network Metadata on the Settings page. The Labels page is covered in the following topics:

• Labels Page UI
• Labels List
• Add Label Controls
• Label Filters Pane

Note: While a Member-level user can access this page to see your organization's existing labels, you must be an Administrator-level user to add, modify, delete, or remove a label.

The Labels page includes the following UI elements:

• Filters pane: Filters the Labels list (see Label Filters Pane).
• Labels list: A table listing your organization’s currently defined labels (see Labels List).
• Add Label controls: Buttons and fields that you use to add a label (see Add Label Controls).

The Labels list is a table that lists all of your organization’s existing labels. Click on a column heading to sort the list (ascending or descending). Each row of the table corresponds to one label and provides the information and options covered in the topics below.

The following information columns are displayed to users of all levels:

• Label: The designated color and name of the label.
• Usage: The numbers of devices, agents, and tests to which the label has been assigned.

The following actions (far-right column) are available only to admin-level users:

• Edit Label (edit icon): Opens an Edit Label Dialog that allows you to change the label’s color or name.
• Remove (trash icon): Opens a confirming dialog that allows you to remove the label from your organization.

The Add Label controls above the Labels list enable you to add a new label to your organization’s collection of labels:

• Color button: Click the swatch to open a popup color selector from which you can choose a color to associate with the label (default is gray).
• Name field: Enter a name for the new label.
• Add Label button (active only when text is present in the Name field): Adds a new label with the specified name and color. The new label will be added to the Labels list.

The Filters pane to the right of the Labels list includes a set of filters that you can use to narrow the labels that appear in the list.

• Clear All (present only when one or more filters are specified): Click to clear all current filters.
• Filter field: If text has been entered the Labels list will show only rows in which the Label column contains that text.
• Usage: Checkboxes that each represent a type of item to which a label can be applied.

The following rules govern how the filter controls affect the Labels list:

• If no criteria are selected, the list includes all of your organization's existing labels.
• If one or more Usage checkboxes are checked, the list will include all labels that have been applied to any items of the selected types. If a label hasn't been applied to any items of the selected types it will not appear in the list.
• If text is entered in the filter field and one or more of the checkboxes are checked, the list will include only labels that match both criteria.

The Edit Label dialog, which you open with the edit icon in each row of the Labels List, enables you to change the properties of a label:

• Color selector: Click the swatch to open a popup color selector from which you can change the color associated with the label (default is gray).
• Name field: Edit the label’s name.
• Cancel button: Cancel the edit operation and exit the dialog. All elements will be restored to their values at the time the dialog was opened.
• Save button: Save all changes and exit the dialog.

Label management is covered in the following topics:

• Add a Label
• Edit a Label
• Remove a Label

To add a new label to your organization’s collection of labels:

1. Open the Labels page (Settings » Labels).
2. In the Add Labels section at the top of the page, specify the following:
   - Label color: Click the color swatch to set a color for the label.
   - Label name: Enter a name string in the field.
3. Click the Add Label button. The label will be added to the Labels list.

To edit the settings for an existing label:

1. Open the Labels page (Settings » Labels).
2. In the Labels List, find the label that you'd like to modify.
3. Click the edit icon. In the resulting Edit Label dialog, modify the label using the name field and/or color swatch.
4. Click the Save button to save changes.

To remove an existing label from your organization's collection of labels:

1. Open the Labels page (Settings » Labels).
2. In the Labels List, find the label that you'd like to modify.
3. Click the trash icon. In the resulting dialog:
   - Click the Remove Label button to remove the label.
   - Click the Cancel button to close the dialog without removing the label.

The use of labels on devices is covered in the following topics:

• Label a Device
• Remove Label from Device

Notes:
- The UI for labels on devices is covered in Label Controls.
- For information on using labels for ksynth agents, see Agents List Labels.
- For information on using labels for Synthetics tests, see Label Controls.

To apply an existing label to one or more devices:

1. Open the Devices page (Settings » Network Devices).
2. In the Device list, click the checkbox at the left of each device that you'd like to label.
3. Click the drop-down Apply Labels menu.
4. In the menu, the labels (if any) that are already applied to any checked device will be highlighted.
   - If the label you wish to apply is not highlighted in the menu, click the label once to apply it to all checked devices.
   - If the label you wish to apply is highlighted in the menu, click the label twice. The first click will remove the label from all checked devices on which it is currently applied and the second click will apply the label to all checked devices.

To remove a label from one or more devices:

1. Open the Devices page (Settings » Network Devices).
2. In the Device list, click the checkbox at the left of each device from which you'd like to remove a given label.
3. Click the drop-down Apply Labels menu.
4. In the menu, the label that you'd like to remove should be highlighted. Click the label once to remove it from all selected devices to which it was previously applied.