Community
- Command Central
- MVP Program
- Monthly Mission
- Blogs
- Groups
- Events
- Media Vault
Products
- Observability
- Network Management
- Application Management
- IT Security
- IT Service Management
- System Management
- Database Management
Content Exchange
- SolarWinds Platform
- Server & Application Monitor
- Database Performance Analyzer
- Server Configuration Monitor
- Network Performance Monitor
- Network Configuration Manager
- SQL Sentry
- Web Help Desk
Free Tools & Trials
Store

Multi-day graphs difficult to interpret?

I know its not just me, because my bosses are complaining, but do others out there find multi-day graphs difficult to interpret?

For example, I go and do a 7 day graph of an interface. The markings along the bottom of my graphs say:

30 Tue 10:30PM 9:00PM 7:30PM 6:00PM 4:30PM 3:00PM 1:30PM

Not sure why the 1.5 hour difference on a 7 day graph for when it plots the time, but the big thing that most people want to know is exactly when on the graph that time is. I think it would also make sense to mark where Maybe midnight or noon is, but that's my personal preference, makes figuring out when peak times are easier.

But IMHO there needs to be a line in the graph, preferably at "midnight", identifying where the time is that is noted on the graph. Maybe it doesn't have to go from the bottom to the top of the graph, maybe we just need ticks at those points, but I think they're definitely needed. I'd also vote for not having "random" times like the ones noted above on the graphs, but to instead have set times, such as midnight...

Actually, come to think of it, maybe it would be nice to have nice bold ticks where each midnight is. Then maybe have shorter ticks, maybe of a different color, dividing the day up. I think the divisions should be based on the type of graph. A one or two day graph could maybe have them every hour, while a 7 day graph might have them ever quarter day or something? Maybe make it a function of the width you choose to generate your graph in. ie: a 640 width graph would have fewer ticks than if you did it 1280 width?

Just thinking here. I know I don't like what it currently is. I'm also quite sure that somebody else has a much better idea of what looks aesthetically good than I do!!

Other ideas?

Find more posts tagged with

Accepted answers

All comments

FormerMember

The chart should be showing the days across the bottom(30 Tue, 1 Wed, 2 Thu, ...). We did some work in 9.0 SP2 to fix the majority of these issues, so I'd make sure that you're at least up to date on that and it should resolve a lot of the issues. In some recent testing, we found a case where it wasn't working as expected. We've fixed that and it should be available soon.

jcobb

I agree that the scale on graphs still isn't great. The following image shows a 7-day graph and whilst is shows where the days (although the 1 appears to be missing for the 1st Oct), there is no indication what the times are - where does the day start and finish ? It needs ticks on the x-axis or gridlines to distinguish between days.

This is on NPM v9 SP2

Thanks,

Jim.

FormerMember

The times are midnight. And gridlines for the x-axis will be part of the same update.

jcobb

The times are midnight. And gridlines for the x-axis will be part of the same update.

but is midnight at the left edge of the label (eg. "3 Oct"), the middle of the label, the right edge of the label or mid way between labels ? The width of the label is around 8 hours so it makes a big difference.

Thanks,

Jim.

cnorborg

Hmm... Well that upsets me a bit. I specifically waited for the SP2 to come out and asked if the 9.0 version I downloaded the day I installed would have SP2 in it, but I don't think it does. It should say SP2 somewhere, right?

cnorborg

Oh wait, this is on my "Additional Web Server", which I just downloaded a new copy yesterday and reinstalled BTW. On my 9.0 main server it definitely is saying "SP2" and it is putting the DoTW in the graphs rather than the random times... Still think there should be ticks or something there showing where midnight is.

Now that brings up the question, how do I get my "Additional Web Server" displaying the same graphs as the main poller/web server...