Author : Priyanka Matadh, Kinshuk Tripathi
1. Predefined and Custom Dashboards
- Prebuilt dashboards for infrastructure operations are included out-of-the-box, offering key insights and visualizations tailored for VCF environments.
- We can fully customize dashboards using a drag-and-drop interface—adding widgets, views, badges, and filters.
- We can clone a predefined dashboard and customize or create new dashboard from scratch.
- Dashboards can be shared and marked as favourites; up to 10 recent dashboards are tracked for easy access.
Capacity and Cost Management Dashboards
- Integrated capacity forecasting dashboards show consumption data, projections, time remaining, most constrained resources, and rightsizing recommendations—all powered by AI/ML.
- Customize capacity planning using custom metrics, adjusting for spikes and desired risk levels to better model real-world usage.
Infrastructure Stack and NSX Monitoring
- Prebuilt dashboards monitor key infrastructure layers—compute, storage, network—offering insights into vCenter, ESXi, vSAN, and NSX health and performance.
Key Takeaways
- Ready-to-use, fleet-scoped dashboards across VCF environments
- Highly customizable and shareable visualizations
- Predictive, transparent capacity planning at both cluster and workload levels
- Deeper infrastructure visibility spanning vSphere and NSX
Create a Simple Dashboard in Aria Operations (VCF 9)
Aria Operations (VCF Operations) allows to build custom dashboards using widgets, views, filters, and interactive elements. Below are the steps to it.
Step 1 — Open the Dashboard Interface
- Log in to Aria Operations / VCF Operations UI.
- Navigate to:
Infrastructure Operations → Dashboards & Reports → Dashboards - Click Manage to see dashboard actions.
Step 2 — Create a New Dashboard
- Click Create Dashboard.
- A blank canvas appears where you can add your widgets (charts, lists, heatmaps, etc.).
Aria Operations lets you build dashboards by dragging widgets or cloning existing ones.
Step 3 — Add Widgets to the Dashboard
Widgets determine what your dashboard shows.
Common widget types:
- Object List (shows resources such as clusters, hosts, VMs)
- Metric Chart (CPU, memory, IOPS, latency trends)
- Health Chart
- Scoreboard
- Map / Topology View
To add a widget:
- Click Add Widget.
- Select a widget type e.g. Metric Chart.
- Drag it onto the dashboard canvas.
- Configure the widget:
- Choose data source (cluster, host, VM, datastore).
- Choose metrics (CPU usage %, memory workload %, disk latency, etc.).
- Set filters if needed.
Aria Operations gathers all metric data from monitored infrastructure and uses it for dashboards.
Step 4 — Configure Widget Interactions (Optional but Powerful)
You can link widgets so selecting an object in one widget filters another.
Example:
- Clicking a cluster in Object List updates a Metric Chart to show only that cluster’s metrics.
This allows interactive drilling-down into your environment.
Aria Operations supports widget-to-widget interactions for dependency visibility.
Step 5 — Save
- Click Save.
- Give your dashboard a name (e.g., Simple Infra Overview)..
Step 6 — Verify Dashboard Data
Your dashboard immediately begins showing:
- Real-time metrics
- Performance analysis
- Capacity and trend visualizations
Aria Operations continuously pulls performance and health data from infrastructure sources.
Example: Simple Dashboard You Can Build
Here’s a minimal 3‑widget dashboard:
Widget 1: Object List
- Shows all clusters in the environment
- Filter: “vSphere Cluster”
Widget 2: Metric Chart
- CPU Usage (Average) for selected cluster
- Memory Usage (Workload) for selected cluster
Widget 3: Health Chart
- Displays overall health score of selected cluster
Set widget interaction to:
Object List → Metric Chart → Health Chart
