Using Dashboards

11 Using Dashboards

Enterprise Manager dashboards are data visualization tools that gather real-time data from the enterprise and display them in easy-to-interpret widgets. Dashboards enable you to monitor your IT infrastructure or specific areas or targets at a glance, and quickly identify outliers and take corrective action.

To access Dashboards in Enterprise Manager, open the navigation menu (upper-left corner), select Enterprise, and then select Dashboards. On the Dashboards page, the list of out-of-the-box dashboards and custom dashboards, if any, is displayed. On this page, you can:

Click Create dashboard to create a custom dashboard. For information, see Creating a Custom Dashboard.
Click Import dashboards to import a dashboard. For information, see Exporting and Importing Dashboards.
Click Show widgets to view the list of available out-of-the-box and custom widgets. On the Widgets page, you can click the icon for a custom widget and click the available options to perform tasks such as duplicating or deleting the widget. Note that these options are currently disabled for out-of-the-box widgets.
Click Show filters to view the list of available out-of-the-box and custom filters. On the Filters page, you can click the icon for an out-of-the-box filter and click Duplicate to duplicate the filter. For custom filters, you can click the icon and click the available options to perform tasks such as duplicating or deleting the filter.
Select an option in the Created by or Updated by drop-down lists or enter text in the Search field to filter the list of dashboards. For example, select Oracle in the Created by drop-down list to only view out-of-the-box dashboards.
Sort the list of dashboards by clicking the Sort ascending or Sort descending icon ( or ) in the column headings.
Enter text in the Search... field to view the dashboards that have the text in the name or description.
Click the name of a dashboard to open it.
Click the icon for a dashboard and click the available options to perform tasks such as opening the dashboard in the view or edit mode, duplicating the dashboard, or deleting the dashboard. For out-of-the-box dashboards, only the Open and Duplicate options are enabled in this menu.

For Dashboards-related new features available in Enterprise Manager 24ai Release 1 (24.1), see Enterprise Monitoring New Features in Enterprise Manager Introduction.

Note:

In addition to Enterprise Manager dashboards, you can create dashboards using Grafana, which is an open-source technology used for metric analytics and visualization. In the Oracle Enterprise Manager App for Grafana, you can extract OMS repository metric data and display it graphically for fast, intuitive access to performance and metric information. For information on enabling the Oracle Enterprise Manager App for Grafana, see Enable the Oracle Enterprise Manager App for Grafana.

Out-of-the-Box Enterprise Manager Dashboards

The out-of-the-box Enterprise Manager dashboards provide a summary of the health, compliance, and other details of the assets in your enterprise or the targets that are a part of a group. The data in these dashboards is organized in widgets and presented using visualization options such as graphs, thereby facilitating quick and easy interpretation.

The following out-of-the-box dashboards are listed on the Dashboards page and you can click the name of the dashboard to access it and monitor the data available in the widgets:

Target Summary: Provides an overview of the health and performance of a target. In this dashboard, you can select a single target and monitor its availability, a summary of open incidents, and key metrics over the last 24 hours. In addition, the tabs below the widgets display historical metric data, the list of incidents, compliance standards, and jobs for the target. In this dashboard, you can click the titles and contents of the widgets to go to the corresponding Enterprise Manager page to obtain additional inputs. For example, if monitoring a database instance in the Target Summary dashboard, click the title of the Availability widget to go to the Availability (Status History) page and obtain detailed availability information for the database.
Enterprise Summary: Provides an overview of the assets in the enterprise, their health, and compliance. The widgets in this dashboard are organized within three major categories, Overview, Infrastructure, and Compliance. The widgets display information such as the status of the targets, inventory data such as the number of hosts and databases, compliance information, number of incidents and jobs, patch recommendations, and version details.
Group Summary: Provides an overview of the health, top metrics, and compliance information of the targets in a particular group. As a prerequisite task to using this dashboard, an administrator user must create a group. For information on creating a group, see Creating and Editing Groups.
On accessing this dashboard and selecting a group in the Group drop-down list, you can monitor target status, target types, incident trend, compliance information, and inventory data. In addition, you can also monitor the top metrics for hosts, databases, and WebLogic server.
Federation Summary – By Sites: Provides a consolidated view of targets, incidents, jobs, and compliance data across a list of federated Enterprise Manager sites. It can be further filtered by a group that exists on multiple sites.
Federation Summary – By Groups: Provides a consolidated view of targets, incidents, jobs, and compliance data for selected groups across a list of federated Enterprise Manager sites.

Note that before you use the out-of-the-box Federation Summary dashboards, you must configure Enterprise Manager Federation. For information, see Configuring Enterprise Manager Federation in Oracle Enterprise Manager Advanced Installation and Configuration Guide.

In addition to the out-of-the-box dashboards listed above, you can use the out-of-the-box Exadata dashboards to monitor Exadata fleet configuration and capacity. These dashboards are a part of the Exadata Management Pack and Zero Data Loss Recovery Appliance Management Pack. For more information, see Exadata Fleet Dashboards in Oracle Enterprise Manager Advanced Management and Monitoring for Engineered Systems.

In the out-of-the-box dashboards, click Actions and click one of the following options:

Duplicate: Create a duplicate of the out-of-the-box dashboard and customize it to meet your requirements.
Print: Print the dashboard.
Auto-refresh: Specify the frequency at which the data in the dashboard must be refreshed automatically.
Refresh: Refresh the data in the dashboard.

In the out-of-the-box widgets, click the data or value in a widget to navigate to the corresponding Enterprise Manager page. For example, if you click the number in the Databases widget, the All Targets page, which is refined to only list database targets, is displayed.

Customizing an Out-of-the-Box Dashboard

You can customize out-of-the-box dashboards in Enterprise Manager to meet your specific requirements.

By customizing an out-of-the-box dashboard, you can add filters and widgets, remove the widgets that you do not need, alter the size of the widgets and change the layout to ensure that the widgets that have data of importance are prominently displayed.

To customize a dashboard and add a widget:

Navigate to the Dashboards page.
For the out-of-the-box dashboard that you want to customize, click the icon and click Duplicate.

Note:
To duplicate the out-of-the-box Target Summary dashboard, you must first open it, specify Target Type and Target Name, click Actions in the upper-right corner, and then click Duplicate.
In the Duplicate dashboard dialog, specify a name for the duplicate dashboard and click OK.
Click the name of the duplicate dashboard on the Dashboards page to open it.
Click Actions and then click Edit to go to the edit mode.

In the edit mode, click the icon in the upper-right corner of each widget to delete the widget, alter its size, or change the layout by moving the widget.
Optionally, click + Add time selector to add a time selector that will allow you to select a duration of time for which you want to display data in the widgets in the dashboard.
Optionally, in the Filters tab, click or drag and drop the filter you want to add to the dashboard and select an option in the drop-down list to narrow down and view data within the context of the selected option.
Optionally, in the Widgets tab, create a custom widget or click or drag and drop an out-of the box widget to add it to the dashboard.
For information on:
- Adding an out-of the box widget, see step 7 in Creating a Custom Dashboard.
- Creating a custom widget and adding it to the dashboard, see Creating a Custom Query-based Widget.
Click Save changes to save the dashboard.

The dashboard is in view mode. In the view mode, click the

icon on a widget and then click Export to CSV to export widget data to a CSV file. Note that the Export to CSV option is disabled if the widget does not support this feature.

If you want to make changes to the contents of the dashboard, click Actions in the upper-right corner of the dashboard and then click Edit to go to the edit mode.

Creating a Custom Dashboard

You can create a custom dashboard by adding the out-of-the-box widgets in the widget library and creating and adding custom query-based widgets.

Before you create a dashboard, you must ensure that you have the CREATE_ANY_DASHBOARD privilege. An Enterprise Manager Super Administrator can grant the CREATE_ANY_DASHBOARD privilege to a user or role using the emcli grant_privs command. Alternatively, a Super Administrator can grant the Create Dashboards privilege using the Dashboards resource type in the Security user interface.

To create a custom dashboard:

Navigate to the Dashboards page.
Click Create Dashboard.
A blank untitled dashboard is displayed with the About, Widgets, and Filters tabs on the right.
Optionally, in the upper-right side of the dashboard, select the duration of time for which you want to display data in the widgets in the dashboard. You can click the icons adjacent to the time selector to edit or delete it.
Click the About tab, specify a name for the dashboard, and optionally add a description for the dashboard.
Optionally, click the Filters tab, click or drag and drop the filter you want to add to the dashboard, and select an option in the drop-down list to narrow down and view data within the context of the selected option.
Click the Widgets tab.
The list of widgets in the widget library is displayed under Add widgets. You can enter text in the Search... field to view the widgets that have the text in the name or description.
Optionally, click the Launch widgets table view icon () to view the widget library in a tabular format. On the Widget library table view page, select an option in the Created by drop-down list or enter text in the Search... field to filter the list of widgets and click Apply changes to widget library to view the filtered list in the Widgets tab. For example, in the Widget library table view page, select a user name in the Created by drop-down list, and click Apply changes to widget library to only view the widgets created by that user in the Widgets tab.
Add widgets to the dashboard. To do so:
- Drag and drop an out-of-the-box widget into the dashboard.
- Click the Add widget group and widgets icon () in the Widgets tab and click Create query-based widget to create a custom query-based widget. For information, see Creating a Custom Query-based Widget.
If you are adding an out-of-the-box widget, then you may have to manually configure inputs for relevant data to be displayed. In such cases, the Configure <Name> Input for <Widget Name> (Required) dialog is displayed when you add the widget to the dashboard. This dialog has the following options:
- Link with an existing filter: Select to link the input to an existing filter in the dashboard. Note that this option is only displayed if a filter related to the input has already been added to the dashboard.
- Add a new filter: Select to link the input with a filter available in the filter library.
- Specify the input: Select to specify a fixed value of the input that will be used only in the context of this widget.
Note:
Some of the required widget inputs such as Aggregate Target Name are automatically linked to the Aggregate Target Name filter and the Configure <Name> Input for <Widget Name> (Required) dialog is not displayed. For example, when adding the Group - Target Types - Pie widget, you are not prompted to configure inputs for the widget and the Aggregate Target Name filter is automatically added to the filter panel. If you want to make changes to the widget input that is automatically linked to a filter, you can do so in the Edit Widgets tab.

The Edit Widgets tab on the right displays the details of the widget you have added. This includes the list of required inputs, which are denoted by an asterisk. Some of the inputs are configured when adding the widget and the others may have to be configured by clicking the Edit icon (). On clicking the Edit icon, the Configure <Name> Input for <Widget Name>... dialog is displayed and you have the option of linking the input to an existing filter in the dashboard, adding a new filter, or specifying a fixed value as input.

If you have added a custom widget, then you have the additional option of clicking Edit Widget to go to the widget builder and edit the input parameters or visualization options.
Click Save changes to save the dashboard.

After you click Save changes, the dashboard is in view mode. In the view mode, click the icon on a widget and then click Export to CSV to export widget data to a CSV file. Note that the Export to CSV option is disabled if the widget does not support this feature.

If you want to make changes to the contents of your dashboard, click Actions in the upper-right corner of the dashboard and then click Edit to go to the edit mode.

You can allow other Enterprise Manager users to view or edit the dashboard you have created. For information, see Editing Dashboard Privileges.

Using Out-of-the-Box Metric Widgets

You can add out-of-the-box metric widgets to a dashboard and visualize and display the metrics stored in Enterprise Manager.

The out-of-the-box metric widgets access and obtain the metric data uploaded to the Enterprise Manager Management Repository and display it in a visual format. The visualization of metric data in a widget makes it easy to monitor and interpret. Depending on the duration for which you want to display metric data in the widgets, it is fetched from the following sources:

Metric data for a duration of less than 2 days is fetched from RAW data.
Metric data for a duration of 2 to 14 days is fetched from the hourly roll-up table.
Metric data for a duration of more than 14 days is fetched from the daily roll-up table.

Here is a scenario that illustrates how to create a new dashboard and use the Target Metric - Line metric widget to display the Active Sessions: CPU metric for a specific Pluggable Database (PDB):

Navigate to the Dashboards page.
Click Create Dashboard to create a new dashboard.
A blank untitled dashboard is displayed.
In the About tab, specify a name for the dashboard, and optionally add a description for the dashboard.
In the Widgets tab, type Target Metric - Line in the search field to view the widget in the list of out-of-the-box widgets.
Click or drag and drop the Target Metric - Line widget to add it to the new dashboard.
As you add the widget to the dashboard, you must configure the inputs to display the Active Sessions : CPU metric for a specific PDB. Here is more information on the options you can select:
1. In the Configure Target Type input for Target Metric - Line (Required) dialog, select the Specify the Target Type input option and select the Pluggable Database option in the drop-down list.
2. In the Configure Target Name input for Target Metric - Line (Required) dialog, select the Specify the Target Name input option and select the specific PDB in the drop-down list.
3. In the Configure Metric Name input for Target Metric - Line (Required) dialog, select the Specify the Metric Name input option and select Wait Count in the drop-down list.
4. In the Configure Metric Column input for Target Metric - Line (Required) dialog, select the Specify the Metric Column input option and select Active Sessions : CPU in the drop-down list.
On configuring these inputs, the Target Metric - Line widget is added to the dashboard and displays the number of active sessions using CPU for the specified PDB in a line chart. The Edit Widgets tab on the right displays the details of the widget, and this includes the list of inputs configured for the widget. To make changes to the input configuration, click the Edit icon () adjacent to the input. For example, in the Target Metric - Line widget, the time input is linked to the dashboard time by default, however, you can edit this input and specify a different duration of time.
Click Save changes to save the dashboard.

Similar to the Target Metric - Line widget that displays metric data for a single target, you can also use the Group - Metrics - Line widget that displays historical metric data for a target type. For the Group - Metrics - Line widget, in addition to the required inputs that must be configured when adding the widget, you can configure the following optional inputs to further customize the metric data:

Aggregate Target Type: The Group option is selected by default, however, you can change the aggregate target type. Any target type that has been defined to have members, is listed as an aggregate target type.
Number of Targets: The default number of top targets for which data is displayed is 5, however, you can change this to display data for more or fewer targets. The top <n> targets are determined based on the highest average metric value queried from the hourly roll-up table.
Rollup Column: The pre-aggregated column that must be selected from the historical metric table. Historical metric data is pre-aggregated using standard functions such as average, min, and max. Average is the default function, however, you can edit the Rollup Column input and select the Min or Max functions.
Key Aggregate Function: The function used to aggregate multiple key metric values for a target for a given time stamp. Average is the default function, however, you can edit the Key Aggregate Function input and select the Min, Max, or Sum functions.
Here is a scenario that illustrates how Key Aggregate Function can be used. A Windows host target has multiple drives (keys), such as C: and D:, and the file system in the C: drive uses 1.5 GB and the file system in the D: drive uses 2 GB. You can select the FileSystem Used metric, which is a key metric for host targets and select Sum as the Key Aggregate Function to view the total file system usage in the Windows host at a given time: 1.5 + 2 = 3.5 GB.
Time: The time input is set to the last 7 days by default, however, you can specify a different duration of time for which metric data will be displayed.

Editing Dashboard Privileges

You can grant or revoke the privileges required to view, edit, and delete a custom dashboard on the Dashboards page in Enterprise Manager.

After a custom dashboard is created, an Enterprise Manager Super Administrator can edit privileges to grant the following dashboard privileges:

VIEW_DASHBOARD: Allows a user to view the dashboard.
EDIT_DASHBOARD: Allows a user to view and edit the dashboard.
FULL_DASHBOARD: Allows a user to view, edit, and delete the dashboard.

To edit dashboard privileges:

Navigate to the Dashboards page.
Click the icon for the custom dashboard and click Edit privileges....

Note:
The Edit privileges... option is disabled for out-of-the-box dashboards and if you are not the Enterprise Manager Super Administrator.
In the Edit dashboard privileges panel:
1. Select one or more users and the privileges you want to grant to the users, and click Add.
  Note that if assigning the View Dashboard privilege to a user, the View Saved Search (VIEW_SAVED_SEARCH) privilege, which allows the user to view the widgets in the dashboard, is also automatically assigned.
2. Review the selected users and privileges under Dashboard Privileges.
  To revoke the privilege granted to a user, click the icon in the Revoke column.
3. Click Save.
4. Review the Save dashboard privileges message and click OK.

The changes to the dashboard privileges are saved.

Note that you can also use the emcli grant_privs command and the DashboardID, which is a part of the dashboard metadata identified by the "id" attribute, to grant dashboard privileges. Here is an example of the EMCLI command:

$ emcli grant_privs -name="<USER>" -privilege="EDIT_DASHBOARD;DASHBOARD_ID=<DashboardID>"

Exporting and Importing Dashboards

You can export a custom dashboard along with its widgets and filters, and import it to a different environment.

Note:

You cannot export and import out-of-the-box dashboards.

Exporting a Dashboard

You can export a custom dashboard in JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) format.

Navigate to the Dashboards page.
Click the icon for the dashboard that you want to export, and click Export.
Alternatively, click the name of the dashboard that you want to export, click Actions in the upper-right corner, and click Export.

The JSON file with the configuration information of the dashboard is downloaded.

Importing a Dashboard

You can import a dashboard using the configuration information JSON file that was downloaded when exporting the dashboard.

When importing a dashboard, its widgets and filters are imported too.

To import a dashboard:

Navigate to the Dashboards page.
Click Import dashboards.
Select the configuration information JSON file of the dashboard you want to import, and click Open.
The Import dashboards dialog is displayed.
In the Import dashboards dialog, review the message and click Import.

The dashboard is imported. If the imported dashboard or widget already exists, then it is updated.

Creating a Custom Query-based Widget

You can create a custom query-based widget and add it to a new or existing dashboard.

Before you create a widget, you must ensure that you have the CREATE_SAVED_SEARCHES privilege. An Enterprise Manager Super Administrator can grant the CREATE_SAVED_SEARCHES privilege to a user or role using the emcli grant_privs command. Alternatively, a Super Administrator can grant the Create Saved Searches privilege using the Saved Searches resource type in the Security user interface.

An additional prerequisite for creating query-based widgets is possessing a working knowledge of SQL queries and the ability to create and edit them.

The SQL query retrieves the data you want to view in the widget from the following data sources:

Enterprise Manager Management Repository views (EM Repository), which provide access to target, metric, and monitoring information stored in the Management Repository. For information on Management Repository views, see About Management Repository Views in Oracle Enterprise Manager Management Repository Views Reference.
Federated Enterprise Manager sites (EM Federation), which provide a consolidated view of all Enterprise Manager sites, thereby providing a summary of all the sites deployed across the enterprise. For information on Enterprise Manager Federation, see Configuring Enterprise Manager Federation in Oracle Enterprise Manager Advanced Installation and Configuration Guide.
Schema residing in a target database managed by Enterprise Manager (EM Target Database), which allows you to visualize the data in a managed database in a custom widget.

To access the widget builder to create a custom query-based widget:

Navigate to the Dashboards page.
Click Create Dashboard or open an existing dashboard in edit mode.
In the Widgets tab, under Add widgets, click the Add widget group and widgets icon (), and then click Create query-based widget.
A blank untitled widget is displayed in the widget builder.

You can use the following types of SQL queries as input to create a query-based widget:

Custom SQL: Use the sample custom SQL query, edit it, or replace it with a new query to create a widget that meets your specific requirements. For more information, see Creating a Widget Using Custom SQL.
Predefined SQL: Select from the out-of-the-box named SQL queries, which display the requested data in the widget. For more information, see Creating a Widget Using Predefined SQL.

Note:

Custom SQL queries can be used to retrieve data from the EM Repository, EM Federation, and EM Target Database data sources. Predefined SQL queries can only be used to retrieve data from the EM Repository data source.

On specifying the input to the widget in the widget builder, use the available visualization options to display data to support various scenarios.

Note:

Only custom query-based widgets can be edited in the widget builder.
Any changes made to a custom query-based widget will impact its use in all the dashboards of which it is a part. For example, if a custom query-based widget is used in two dashboards and the widget is edited in one of the dashboards and changes are made to the parameter configuration, then this may result in the widget not displaying any data in the other dashboard.

You can allow other Enterprise Manager users to view or edit the widget you have created. To grant the required privileges, use the emcli grant_privs command and the SavedSearchID, which is a part of the saved search metadata identified by the "id" attribute. The privilege levels include:

VIEW_SAVED_SEARCH: Allows a user to view the saved search.
EDIT_SAVED_SEARCH: Allows a user to view and edit the saved search.
FULL_SAVED_SEARCH: Allows a user to view, edit, and delete the saved search.

Here is an example of the EMCLI command:

$ emcli grant_privs -name="<USER>" -privilege="EDIT_SAVED_SEARCH;SAVED_SEARCH_ID=<SavedSearchID>"

Creating a Widget Using Custom SQL

Navigate to the widget builder.
Optionally, click the Open/close filter panel icon () in the upper-left corner to view the filters added to the dashboard and make changes, if required.
From the Data Source drop-down list, select one of the following data sources:
- EM Repository: Select this option to query data from Enterprise Manager Management Repository views and tables. For information on Management Repository views, see About Management Repository Views in Oracle Enterprise Manager Management Repository Views Reference.
- EM Federation: Select this option to query data from federated Enterprise Manager sites. For information on Enterprise Manager Federation, see Configuring Enterprise Manager Federation in Oracle Enterprise Manager Advanced Installation and Configuration Guide.
- EM Target Database: Select this option to query schema residing in a target database managed by Enterprise Manager and retrieve and visualize data in a custom widget. For information, see Creating a Target Database Widget.
From the SQL Selector drop-down list, select Custom SQL.

The Custom SQL option is selected by default and a sample query is added to the SQL Query field and the corresponding widget is displayed. In the sample query, the SELECT statement queries column names from the selected data source, EM Repository or EM Federation. The visualization options are also selected by default to visualize the data retrieved by the sample query.
In the SQL Query field, replace the sample query with a new query or customize the SQL query to meet specific requirements by adding custom input parameters for the widget.
Optionally, to add a custom input parameter, you can replace the part of the query that you want to customize with a standard bind parameter marker denoted by a question mark (?). This is similar to JDBC bind parameter support. Custom input parameters are of two types, a regular input parameter to specify input such as target types and a time input parameter, which is essentially a composite parameter, to specify the duration of time (start and end time) for which data will be displayed in the widget.

Note:
This is an advanced concept and some familiarity with the widget builder and bind parameters is required. If you are creating a widget using custom SQL for the first time, it is recommended that you go to step 6.
- To add a regular input parameter and specify a custom value:
  1. Replace the part of the query to which you want to add the regular input parameter with the standard bind parameter marker (?). Here is an example in which the target types in the custom SQL query are replaced with a bind parameter marker, so you can add custom input values for the target types you want to view in the widget.
    Replace the target types in bold:
```
SELECT
	target_type as "Target Type",
	type_display_name as "Type Display Name",            
	count(target_type) as "Target Type Count"
FROM
	mgmt$target
WHERE
	target_type in (            
		'oracle_database', 'weblogic_j2eeserver',
		'host','oracle_apache','rac_database','oracle_exadata','exalytics_machine'            
	)
GROUP BY
	target_type,
	type_display_name
```
    with the bind parameter marker
```
SELECT
	target_type as "Target Type",
	type_display_name as "Type Display Name",            
	count(target_type) as "Target Type Count"
FROM
	mgmt$target
WHERE
	target_type = ?
GROUP BY
	target_type,
	type_display_name
```
  2. In the Settings tab in the lower-right corner, click Add input +.
  3. In the Configure input for Untitled Widget (Required) dialog:
    1. Is time input: Ensure that this check box is not selected. Note that this check box should only be selected to specify time input parameters. For information, see To add a time input parameter and specify custom values.
    2. Input Name: Enter a name for the input. For example, TargetType.
    3. Input Label: Enter a display name for the input. The input name is displayed in this field and you can make changes to it, if required.
    4. Parameter Indexes: Enter the index value to map the input parameter's value to the bind parameter marker in the SQL query.
    5. Default settings: Review and make changes to the default settings, if required.
      
      Note:
      If you update the Default settings to configure the input parameter, the same settings will be applied whenever this widget is added to a different dashboard. To configure an input parameter whose value can be edited after the widget is created and added to the widget library, use the options in the Configure widget input section of this dialog.
      
      Required: Deselect to indicate that this is not a required widget input. By default, this check box is selected and if you do not configure the input parameter, data will not be displayed in the widget.
      
      Allow multiple values: Select to allow multiple values to be configured for the input parameter. Here is an example:
      WHERE TARGET_TYPE IN (select /*+ Cardinality(theArray 10)*/ COLUMN_VALUE from (TABLE (CAST(? AS MGMT_MEDIUM_STRING_TABLE)) theArray) )
      
      Allow widget users to link the input with a filter: Deselect this check box to only specify a fixed input parameter value. This check box is selected by default and if you deselect it, the fields available to link the input to a filter are not displayed in the dialog.
      
      Allow widget users to specify the input: Deselect this check box to only link the input to a filter. This check box is selected by default and if you deselect it, the fields available to specify a fixed input parameter value are not displayed in the dialog.
    6. Configure widget input: Specify the value for the regular input parameter:
      
      Link the <name> input with an existing filter: Select to link the input parameter to an existing filter in the widget.
      
      Specify the <name> input: Select to specify a fixed input value.
      
      Not configured: Select this option to leave the input unconfigured.
    7. Click Save changes.
- To add a time input parameter and specify custom values:
  1. Add bind parameter markers for a time input parameter in the custom SQL query. Here are a couple of examples:
    - WHERE clause
      WHERE mtx.collection_timestamp > CAST(TO_UTC_TIMESTAMP_TZ(?) at time zone tgt.timezone_region AS DATE) AND mtx.collection_timestamp < CAST(TO_UTC_TIMESTAMP_TZ(?) at time zone tgt.timezone_region AS DATE)
      In this example, mtx.collection_timestamp is in the target time zone and the bind variable (for both the start and end time represented by ?) is the UTC time zone string that is cast to the target time zone for comparison with collection_timestamp. When constructing the WHERE clause for a time input parameter:
      
      Avoid using a function around timestamp columns that are indexed or partitioned, as this may nullify the usage of the index or partition. If you are bounding timestamps by an upper or lower value, apply the function to that side of the equality operation.
      
      Ensure that the TIMESTAMP and DATE values contain no built-in time zone information but can be cast from one time zone to another.
    - SELECT clause
      SELECT FROM_TZ(CAST(mmh.rollup_timestamp as TIMESTAMP), mmh.timezone_region) AT TIME ZONE 'UTC' from mgmt$metric_hourly mmh WHERE ...
      In this example, a column select statement is used to convert time in one particular time zone (timezone_region) to the UTC time zone and return a value in the TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE format.
      
      Note:
      You must ensure that the selected TIMESTAMP and DATE values are returned in the correct time zone as various columns and tables in Enterprise Manager store TIMESTAMP and DATE values differently.
  2. In the Settings tab in the lower-right corner, click Add input +.
  3. In the Configure input for Untitled Widget (Required) dialog:
    1. Is time input: Select this check box.
    2. Input Name: This field is not editable and displays time.
    3. Input Label: Edit the default display name, Time, if required.
    4. Start Time Indexes: Enter the index value to map the time input parameter's start time value to the bind parameter marker in the SQL query.
    5. End Time Indexes: Enter the index value to map the time input parameter's end time value to the bind parameter marker in the SQL query.
    6. Default settings: Review and make changes to the default settings, if required.
      
      Note:
      If you update the Default settings to configure the input parameter, the same settings will be applied whenever this widget is added to a different dashboard. To configure an input parameter whose value can be edited after the widget is created and added to the widget library, use the options in the Configure widget input section of this dialog.
      
      For information on the Default settings, see To add a regular input parameter and specify a custom value.
    7. Configure widget input: Specify the values for the time input parameter:
      
      Link with Dashboard time: Select to link the time input parameter values with the time range selected for the dashboard.
      
      Specify the Time input: Select this option to specify a custom time range.
      
      Not configured: Select this option to leave the input unconfigured.
    8. Click Save changes.
On adding the regular or time input parameters to the SQL query, you can view the input parameter and value in Configured widget inputs in the Settings tab. You can also view the bind index mapped to the input parameter in Parameter Index Mapping adjacent to the SQL query.
Review the changes made to the SQL query and click Run.
On clicking Run, the query is executed and data is displayed in the widget. Below the widget, a table with the various attributes of the raw data for the widget is displayed and you can click Hide raw data to hide it.
Use the other tabs in the lower-right corner to perform the following tasks:
Note:
You can click JSON in the upper-right corner to specify or edit the details on the About, Visualization, and Settings tabs, in a JSON editor. The JSON editor provides you with greater flexibility and more options to visualize data in the widget, however, it is recommended that you use it only if you are familiar with editing widget JSON. For more information on the JSON editor, contact Oracle Support.
- About: Add a name and description for the widget.
- Visualization: Select a chart type and customize the visualization by specifying or modifying additional options.
  If you select Table as the chart type, then you have the option of removing some of the columns or select the All Columns check box to display all columns. Chart types that have Y and X axes, such as the Line chart have the following additional visualization options:
  - Y Axis: Select the data attribute you want projected on the Y axis. Y axis supports numeric data attributes and only those are listed.
  - X Axis: Select the data attribute you want projected on the X axis.
  - Series: Select the data attribute that you want to plot in separate series in the chart. To use this option, add the GROUP BY clause for a certain data attribute in the query and view the categories of data in the widget. This option is also available for a Pie chart.
  - Color By: Select the data attribute for which you want to view color distinct values in the chart. This option is also available for a Pie chart.
  - Y Axis Title: Specify a title for the data attribute projected on the Y axis.
  - Legend: Specify the location of the legend in the widget. This option is also available for a Pie chart.
  - Stacked: Select this option if you want to stack the data attributes displayed in the chart, by color.
  - Use solid color: When you use an Area chart for visualization, the area that represents the presence of data is covered in solid color. This option is selected by default.
Click Save to save the widget.

After you save the widget, it is added to the dashboard and is also listed in the Widgets tab. Click the icon in the upper-right corner of the widget and click Edit to view the widget in the Edit widgets tab and click Edit Widget to go to the widget builder and edit the input parameters or visualization options.

Creating a Target Database Widget

Here are the prerequisites for a SQL query to retrieve data from the schema residing in a target database in Enterprise Manager:

Supported database types: Oracle Database Instances, PDBs, RAC Databases
Minimum agent version: 13.5.4.0
Access to the named credentials for the target database. For information on named credentials, see Named Credentials in Oracle Enterprise Manager Security Guide.
Target Instance Privileges: VIEW_TARGET, CONNECT_TARGET, and RUN_ANY_SQL on the database.

Note:
The target instance privileges are in addition to the CREATE_SAVED_SEARCHES resource privilege, which is required to create a custom query-based widget using any data source such as Management Repository, federated Enterprise Manager sites, or target databases.

Note:

Named credentials and target instance privileges mentioned in the prerequisites above are also required to view data in the target database widget after it is added to a dashboard. For instance, if users other than the creator of the target database widget are accessing the dashboard in view mode, then they must have access to the named credentials for the target database and the required target instance privileges, to view data in the target database widget.

To create a target database widget and add it to the dashboard:

Navigate to the widget builder.
From the Data Source drop-down list, select EM Target Database.
In SQL Selector, Custom SQL is selected by default.

Note:
Only the Custom SQL option can be used to retrieve data from the EM Target Database data source.
In the SQL Query field, enter the query to retrieve data from the EM Target Database data source and click Run.
Here is an example of a SQL query that retrieves the total number of employees per department from a target database, and displays it in the widget:
```
SELECT
  COUNT(empno) AS total,
  job
FROM emp
GROUP BY job;
```
Note:
It is recommended that you develop and test your custom SQL query using a non-production database.
In the Settings tab in the lower-right corner, configure the widget inputs.
The Target Type, Target Name, and Database Credential inputs must be configured, and in addition, you can add other widget inputs. For information on how to configure widget inputs, see Creating a Widget Using Custom SQL.
Use the other tabs in the lower-right corner to perform the following tasks:
- About: Add a name and description for the widget.
- Visualization: Select a chart type and customize the visualization by specifying or modifying additional options. By default, data is displayed in a table. For information on visualization options, see Creating a Widget Using Custom SQL.
Click Save to save the widget.

After you save the widget, it is added to the dashboard and is also listed in the Widgets tab.

Creating a Widget Using Predefined SQL

Navigate to the widget builder.
Optionally, click the Open/close filter panel icon () in the upper-left corner to view the filters added to the dashboard and make changes, if required.
From the SQL Selector drop-down list, select an option listed under Predefined SQLs.

The predefined SQLs are Oracle-defined named SQL queries, which display the requested data in the widget. When you select a predefined SQL query, the query is displayed for your reference in the SQL Query field. Click the tooltip adjacent to the SQL Selector drop-down list to view a description.
Optionally, select the Convert to Custom SQL check box to convert the predefined SQL query into a custom SQL query and customize it. On selecting this check box, the index values mapped to the input parameters in the SQL query are displayed in Parameter Index Mapping adjacent to the SQL query and the configured widget inputs are displayed in the Settings tab in the lower-right corner. For information on working with custom SQL queries, see Creating a Widget Using Custom SQL.
In the Settings tab in the lower-right corner, click the Edit icon () adjacent to the widget inputs to configure the input and display relevant data in the widget, if required. Note that the list of required inputs are denoted by an asterisk.
For example, if you select Group - Incidents count of last 7 days in the SQL Selector drop-down list, then the Group Type and Group Name widget inputs are listed in the Settings tab and must be configured. Here is how you can configure the widget input parameters for Group - Incidents count of last 7 days:
1. Click the Edit icon () adjacent to the Group Type input in the Settings tab.
2. In the Configure Group Type input for Untitled Widget (Required) dialog, specify the Group Type input in one of the following sections:
  - Default settings: Review the default configuration settings for the input and select a filter. By default, the Allow widget users to link the Group Type input with a filter and Allow widget users to specify the Group Type input check boxes are selected and you can select a default filter and a value to link the input with an available filter. This is useful when the widget is added to a dashboard that uses the same filter, and this configuration setting will apply to future widgets.
  - Configure widget input: Select one of the following options to configure specific inputs that will only apply to this widget:
    - Link the Group Type input with an existing filter: Select this option to link the input with an existing filter. Note that this option is only displayed if a filter is already added to the dashboard in which you are creating the widget.
    - Specify the Group Type input: Select this option to specify a fixed value as the input for the widget.
    - Not configured: Select this option to leave the input unconfigured.
3. Click Save changes to save the configuration for the Group Type input.
On configuring the Group Type input, the Edit icon () adjacent to the Group Name input is enabled and you have to perform the same set of steps to configure it. After the input parameters are configured, data is displayed in the widget. Below the widget, a table with the various attributes of the raw data for the widget is displayed and you can click Hide raw data to hide it.
Use the other tabs in the lower-right corner to perform the following tasks:
Note:
You can click JSON in the upper-right corner to specify or edit the details on the About, Visualization, and Settings tabs, in a JSON editor. The JSON editor provides you with greater flexibility and more options to visualize data in the widget, however, it is recommended that you use it only if you are familiar with editing widget JSON. For more information on the JSON editor, contact Oracle Support.
- About: Add a name and description for the widget.
- Visualization: Select a chart type and customize the visualization by specifying or modifying additional options.
  If you select Table as the chart type, then you have the option of removing some of the columns or select the All Columns check box to display all columns. Chart types that have Y and X axes, such as the Line chart have the following additional visualization options:
  - Y Axis: Select the data attribute you want projected on the Y axis. Y axis supports numeric data attributes and only those are listed.
  - X Axis: Select the attribute of the data you want projected on the X axis.
  - Series: Select the data attribute that you want to plot in separate series in the chart. Typically, the GROUP BY clause in a custom SQL query can be used for series. This option is also available for a Pie chart.
  - Color By: Select the data attribute for which you want to view color distinct values in the chart. This option is also available for a Pie chart.
  - Y Axis Title: Specify a title for the data attribute projected on the Y axis.
  - Legend: Specify the location of the legend in the widget. This option is also available for a Pie chart.
  - Stacked: Select this option if you want to stack the data attributes displayed in the chart, by color.
  - Use solid color: When you use an Area chart for visualization, the area that represents the presence of data is covered in solid color. This option is selected by default.
Click Save to save the widget.

Adding a Widget Group

You can add a widget group container to group widgets in a dashboard.

The widget group can be used to group related widgets in a new or existing dashboard. For example, you can add a widget group that contains all the compliance-related widgets in the dashboard.

To add a widget group to a dashboard:

Navigate to the Dashboards page.
Click Create Dashboard or open an existing dashboard in edit mode.
In the Widgets tab, under Add widgets, click the Add widget group and widgets icon (), and then click Add widget group.
A blank widget group container is added to the dashboard.
Drag and drop the widgets you want to group together into the widget group container.
Click Edit widgets on the Widgets tab to view and specify a name for the widget group, and review and configure inputs for the widgets in the group, if required.
Optionally, click the icon on the widget group to perform tasks such as altering its size or placement, deleting or duplicating it, and ungrouping all the widgets in the group. Click the icon on a single widget in the widget group and click Ungroup to remove that widget from the group.
Click Save changes to save the dashboard.