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+---
+title: "How the dashboard works"
+description: "Learn how to navigate Netdata's preconfigured dashboard to get started exploring, visualizing, and troubleshooting in real time."
+type: explanation
+custom_edit_url: https://github.com/netdata/netdata/edit/master/docs/dashboard/how-dashboard-works.mdx
+---
+
+# How the dashboard works
+
+Because Netdata is a monitoring and _troubleshooting_ platform, a dashboard with real-time, meaningful, and
+context-aware charts is essential.
+
+As soon as you [install Netdata](/docs/get-started.mdx), it autodetects hardware, OS, containers, services, and
+applications running on your node and builds a dashboard on a single, scrollable webpage. This page features hundreds of
+charts, which are preconfigured to save you time from learning a query language, all stacked on top of one another. This
+vertical rhythm is designed to encourage exploration and help you visually identify connections between the metrics
+visualized in different charts.
+
+It's essential to understand the core concepts and features of Netdata's dashboard if you want to maximize your Netdata
+experience right after installation.
+
+## Open the dashboard
+
+Access Netdata's dashboard by navigating to `http://NODE:19999` in your browser, replacing `NODE` with either
+`localhost` or the hostname/IP address of a remote node.
+
+![Animated GIF of navigating to the
+dashboard](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/1153921/80825153-abaec600-8b94-11ea-8b17-1b770a2abaa9.gif)
+
+Many features of the internal web server that serves the dashboard are [configurable](/web/server/README.md), including
+the listen port, enforced TLS, and even disabling the dashboard altogether.
+
+## Sections and menus
+
+As mentioned in the introduction, Netdata automatically organizes all the metrics it collects from your node, and places
+them into **sections** of closely related charts.
+
+The first section on any dashboard is the **System Overview**, followed by **CPUs**, **Memory**, and so on.
+
+These sections populate the **menu**, which is on the right-hand side of the dashboard. Instead of manually scrolling up
+and down to explore the dashboard, it's generally faster to click on the relevant menu item to jump to that position on
+the dashboard.
+
+Many menu items also contain a **submenu**, with links to additional categories. For example, the **Disks** section is often separated into multiple groups based on the number of disk drives/partitions on your node, which are also known as a family.
+
+![Animated GIF of using Netdata's menus and
+submenus](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/1153921/80832425-7c528600-8ba1-11ea-8140-d0a17a62009b.gif)
+
+## Charts
+
+Every **chart** in the Netdata dashboard is [fully interactive](/docs/dashboard/interact-charts.mdx). Netdata
+synchronizes your interactions to help you understand exactly how a node behaved in any timeframe, whether that's
+seconds or days.
+
+A chart is an individual, interactive, always-updating graphic displaying one or more collected/calculated metrics,
+which are generated by [collectors](/docs/collect/how-collectors-work.md).
+
+![Animated GIF of the standard Netdata dashboard being manipulated and synchronizing
+charts](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/1153921/80839230-b034a800-8baf-11ea-9cb2-99c1e10f0f85.gif)
+
+Hover over any chart to temporarily pause it and see the exact metrics values presented as different dimensions. Click
+or tap to stop the chart from automatically updating with new metrics, thereby locking it to a single timeframe.
+Double-click it to resume auto-updating.
+
+Let's cover two of the most important ways to interact with charts: panning through time and zooming.
+
+To pan through time, **click and hold** (or touch and hold) on any chart, then **drag your mouse** (or finger) to the
+left or right. Drag to the right to pan backward through time, or drag to the left to pan forward in time. Think of it
+like pushing the current timeframe off the screen to see what came before or after.
+
+To zoom, press and hold `Shift`, then use your mouse's scroll wheel, or a two-finger pinch if you're using a touchpad.
+
+See [interact with charts](/docs/dashboard/interact-charts.mdx) for all the possible ways to interact with the charts on
+your dashboard.
+
+## Alarms
+
+Many of the preconfigured charts on the Netdata dashboard also come with preconfigured alarms. Netdata sends three
+primary alarm states via alarms: `CLEAR`, `WARNING`, and `CRITICAL`. If an alarm moves from a `CLEAR` state to either
+`WARNING` or `CRITICAL`, Netdata creates a notification to let you know exactly what's going on. There are [other alarm
+states](/health/REFERENCE.md#alarm-statuses) as well.
+
+The easiest way to see alarms is by clicking on the alarm icon ![Alarms
+icon](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/netdata/netdata-ui/98e31799c1ec0983f433537ff16d2ac2b0d994aa/src/components/icon/assets/alarm.svg)
+in the top panel to open the alarms panel, which shows you all the active alarms. The other **All** tab shows every
+active alarm, and the **Log** tab shows a historical record of exactly when alarms triggered and to which state.
+
+![Animated GIF of looking at raised alarms and the alarm
+log](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/1153921/80842482-8c289500-8bb6-11ea-9791-600cfdbe82ce.gif)
+
+Learn more about [viewing active alarms](/docs/monitor/view-active-alarms.md), [configuring
+alarms](/docs/monitor/configure-alarms.md), or [enabling a new notification
+method](/docs/monitor/enable-notifications.md).
+
+## What's next?
+
+Learn more about [interacting with charts](/docs/dashboard/interact-charts.mdx) to quickly pan through time, zoom, and
+show/hide dimensions to best understand the state of your node in any timeframe. A complete understanding of [chart
+dimensions, contexts, and families](/docs/dashboard/dimensions-contexts-families.mdx) will also help with how Netdata
+organizes its dashboard and operates [alarms](/docs/monitor/configure-alarms.md).
+
+### Further reading & related information
+
+- Dashboard
+ - **[How the dashboard works](/docs/dashboard/how-dashboard-works.mdx)**
+ - [Interact with charts](/docs/dashboard/interact-charts.mdx)
+ - [Chart dimensions, contexts, and families](/docs/dashboard/dimensions-contexts-families.mdx)
+ - [Select timeframes to visualize](/docs/dashboard/visualization-date-and-time-controls.mdx)
+ - [Import, export, and print a snapshot](/docs/dashboard/import-export-print-snapshot.mdx)
+ - [Customize the standard dashboard](/docs/dashboard/customize.mdx)
+- [HTTP API](/web/api/README.md)
+- [Custom dashboards](/web/gui/custom/README.md)