.. _introduction:


Welcome to the VOSS Insights Dashboard System 
-----------------------------------------------



Overview 
.........

VOSS Insights Dashboard is a log analytics platform that allows multiple
data sources and log formats to be consumed, extracted, analyzed, and displayed on dashboards, and to 
produce reports from the dashboards.

The system ships with several default dashboards, which you can copy (clone) and edit to 
create your own custom dashboards, and you can create new dashboards from scratch. 


This guide describes how to use and manage the VOSS Insights Dashboard platform, and includes details 
for the following: 

* Importing existing dashboard templates
* Configuring new dashboards and widgets
* Cloning existing dashboards
* Ad-hoc report printing
* Scheduling reports
* Searching logs
* Building search extraction queries
* Troubleshooting issues by analyzing the logs being collected



The VOSS Insights platform design allows it to be used in multiple workflows. This guide describes 
the system elements that must be configured in a particular order, but there is no overall prescribed 
linear flow that must be followed. 


.. image:: /src/images/insights-dashboard-main-gui.png





.. rubric:: Related Topics 

* 
  .. raw:: latex
  
     Introduction to Dashboards in the Dashboards Administration Guide.

  .. raw:: html

     <a href="dashboards.html">Introduction to Dashboards</a>

* 
  .. raw:: latex
  
     Default Dashboards in the Dashboards Administration Guide.

  .. raw:: html

     <a href="default-dashboards.html">Default Dashboards</a>

* 
  .. raw:: latex
  
     Custom Dashboards in the Dashboards Administration Guide.

  .. raw:: html

     <a href="custom-dashboards.html">Custom Dashboards</a>


Dashboard User Interface 
............................

The table describes the elements that allow you to navigate and work with the Insights Dashboard system from the 
user interface:

.. image:: /src/images/insights-dash-toolbar.png

.. tabularcolumns:: |p{5cm}|p{10cm}|

+-------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Toolbar element                           | Description                                                                            |
+===========================================+========================================================================================+
| 1. |main-menu-icon|                       | Main Menu (Hamburger icon). Opens the dashboard library pane on the left of the GUI.   |                                                            
+-------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| 2. Search Dashboards                      | Search for dashboards by their name from the toolbar **Search** field.                 |
+-------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| 3. |cog-icon|                             | System Configuration (Cog icon). Displays a menu of options for                        |
|                                           | configuring and working with the system, such as Import/Export Wizard, Manage          |
|                                           | Dashboards, Theme Management, Help, About, and Sign Out.                               |
+-------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| 4. Breadcrumbs                            | Breadcrumbs provide a navigational aid for the dashboard library. You can click back   |
|                                           | to folders that are in the dashboard tree, or use the down-arrow to display            |
|                                           | dashboards in folders.                                                                 |
+-------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| 5. Filters, Refresh, Dashboard Operations | * Show Global Filters |filter-icon| - create and apply filters to dashboards           |
|                                           | * Refresh |refresh-icon| - refreshes dashboard data                                    |
|                                           | * Dashboard Operations |dash-ops-icon| - opens a submenu with the following            |
|                                           |   options:                                                                             |
|                                           |                                                                                        |
|                                           |   * Add Widget                                                                         |
|                                           |   * Print Dashboard                                                                    |
|                                           |   * Position Widgets                                                                   |
|                                           |   * Edit Dashboard                                                                     |
|                                           |   * Clone Dashboard                                                                    |
|                                           |   * Delete Dashboard                                                                   |
|                                           |   * Move Dashboard                                                                     |
|                                           |   * Dashboard link                                                                     |
|                                           |   * Dashboard Options                                                                  |
+-------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+





.. |main-menu-icon| image:: /src/images/analytics-main-menu-icon.png
.. |cog-icon| image:: /src/images/insights-dashboard-sys-config-icon.png
.. |filter-icon| image:: /src/images/insights-show-global-filter-icon.png 
.. |refresh-icon| image:: /src/images/insights-refresh-icon.png 
.. |dash-ops-icon| image:: /src/images/insights-dash-ops-icon.png