How to create a simple custom view of multiple interfaces' bandwidth utilization

I've used custom views to show clients and my Team many different things that NPM monitors, and those folks really appreciate the service.  You can be a rock star in their eyes when you give them something that helps them improve how they and their clients understand their systems and their performance.

Here's how to build a custom View that shows current and recent WAN interface utilization between routers connecting six different data centers.  Remember, your new View doesn't have to be of just interfaces on the same switch, or on the same router.

You can build this kind of report for as many interfaces as you'd like, from any switch or router or device interface that's monitored by your NPM.  This one shows a single WAN interface on six different routers that connect into the same MPLS cloud:

Here's how to do it:

Create the view:

1. From NPM, go to Settings > Manage Views > Add

2. Customize the new view:

• Name it intuitively
• Select Summary (there are MANY types of views.  Read up on them, test some to get a feel for the extreme versatility of NPM)
• Click Submit

3. Edit the View.

• You can change its name if you want.
• I chose not to enable Left Navigation--this will be simple, and won't load a lot of info.
• I added a Custom HTML Resource to Column 1, then cloned it three times.  Next I moved one instance into Column 2, and then cloned that one twice.  I ended up with three Custom HTML Resources in each column.
• I set the width to 500 px for each
• I set No View Limitation (but you can add one in if you need it)
• Click Done or Preview.  Preview lets you see it right away, without assigning it to any Menu Bar.  Plus, you can edit those custom HTML fields.

4. Here's the sweet spot to make you rock in the eyes of your boss & peers because it gives you the power to make a really useful view:

• • Open a second browser window to your NPM
  • Browse to a router node and open it
  • Open the interface that faces the WAN
  • Look at the URL bar and note the NetObject= section.   Example:
• your_server_name_here/.../InterfaceDetails.aspxXXXXX&view=InterfaceDetails
• Copy or write or memorize the NetObject number for use in the next step

5. Edit your new View in Preview, or assign it to a Menu Bar and open it

• Click Edit in the top left Custom HTML window
• Give it an intuitive Title
• Fill in the Subtitle if that helps you better identify the interface or feature you're displaying
• Copy and paste this into the html window:

<img src="/Orion/Netperfmon/Chart.aspx?ChartName=MMAvgBps&Title=&SubTitle=&SubTitle2=&Width=640&Height=0&NetObject=I:XXXX&CustomPollerID=&SampleSize=1H&Period=Last 10 Days&FontSize=1&NetObjectPrefix=I&SubsetColor=&RYSubsetColor=&Printable=true&ShowTrend=True&ResourceID=27" />

• Where I've put in the X's, remove them and enter in the NetObject ID number you wrote down from the previous step
• Click Submit

The new page should open, but this time the top left window won't say Custom HTML, it'll show the bandwidth used by that router's WAN interface for the last 10 days:

Now repeat this for every Custom HTML entry you've made, but change the NodeID info to the Node ID that's shown in the Interface Details page URL for new/different WAN routers and interfaces.

OK, you've made a new View.  But your team can't access it easily until you assign your new View to the Menu Bar they use.  If you don't know how to do that . . .

Here's how to define a new View to add to a Menu Bar:

1. Go to NPM > Settings > Customize Menu Bars
2. Edit the Menu Bar you or your team will use to access your new View
3. Find your new View in the Available Items column on the left
4. Drag it to the right column, drop it in where you want it.

If you can't find your new View, you'll need to discover its URL.  Follow this process:

1. 1. Open a second browser window and Edit the View by clicking the Preview open
   2. Copy the URL for the new View when you're previewing it
   3. Go back to the original browser window from step 3 and click Add
   4. Type in the Name of your View, paste in the URL address, give it a good Description
   5. I clicked the option to Open in a New Window.  It's your choice.
   6. Click OK

Now go back to NPM's Home Page, find the new View in the Menu Bar, and click on it.

Voila!

Tweaking and tuning:

If you're not afraid of a little keyboard editing of html, you can easily change the 10 days to show the last 7 days or last 23 hours or last 17 minutes or last pretty-much-anything.  Here's how:

Look for "SampleSize" and "Period" in the code you copied & pasted

<img src="/Orion/Netperfmon/Chart.aspx?ChartName=MMAvgBps&Title=&SubTitle=&SubTitle2=&Width=640&Height=0&NetObject=I:XXXX&CustomPollerID=&SampleSize=1H&Period=Last 10 Days&FontSize=1&NetObjectPrefix=I&SubsetColor=&RYSubsetColor=&Printable=true&ShowTrend=True&ResourceID=27" />

Note the SampleSize is 1H, or One Hour.

Node the Period is the Last 10 Days

Edit each window in your view and change the SampleSize and Period to whatever works best for you.  Keep in mind that some combinations of SampleSize and Period don't go well together (e.g.:  SampleSize=1M and Period=Last 10 Months) because NPM needs to have you be reasonable.  If you want a graph showing changes every 1 minute, you have to be polling & collecting the data pretty frequently.  Pick a Period that's reasonable for seeing good granularity of 1 minute points, like Last 20 Minutes.  If you just see points instead of a line in the chart, you've picked a combination of sample size & period that's too granular for what your NPM has polled.  Adjust until you've got something that meets your needs.

Remember to keep the spacing in the html code exactly the same as the example I show above.  If you add a space between words, or remove one, you risk breaking the pretty graph output.

Some examples:

Show the Last 3 Hours, in 10-minute increments uses this code:

<img src="/Orion/Netperfmon/Chart.aspx?ChartName=MMAvgBps&Title=&SubTitle=&SubTitle2=&Width=640&Height=0&NetObject=I:XXXX&CustomPollerID=&SampleSize=10M&Period=Last 3 Hours&FontSize=1&NetObjectPrefix=I&SubsetColor=&RYSubsetColor=&Printable=true&ShowTrend=True&ResourceID=27" />

Note how the graph automatically changed "Last 10 Days" to "Last 3 Hours" in the title.  Sweet!

Suppose you like the 10 minute samples, but want to show the last 24 hours.  Just change "Last 10 Hours" to "Last 24 Hours":

<img src="/Orion/Netperfmon/Chart.aspx?ChartName=MMAvgBps&Title=&SubTitle=&SubTitle2=&Width=640&Height=0&NetObject=I:25091&CustomPollerID=&SampleSize=10M&Period=Last 24 Hours&FontSize=1&NetObjectPrefix=I&SubsetColor=&RYSubsetColor=&Printable=true&ShowTrend=True&ResourceID=27" />

If it looks great, fire off an e-mail to your Team or your Boss and show off the new functionality you've provided to the organization.

If it doesn't look great, spend a little time fixing it up.  Look for typos, fix spelling & punctuation--this is your baby, and folks will judge you by your work.

Swift Packets!

Rick Schroeder