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authorDaniel Baumann <daniel.baumann@progress-linux.org>2021-05-19 12:33:38 +0000
committerDaniel Baumann <daniel.baumann@progress-linux.org>2021-05-19 12:33:59 +0000
commit1ee0c09c5742557e037df5421ca62abddb90ae22 (patch)
tree71c0fa48bb6d31d036c9badd7e038527f90d1a73 /docs/dashboard
parentReleasing debian version 1.30.1-1. (diff)
downloadnetdata-1ee0c09c5742557e037df5421ca62abddb90ae22.tar.xz
netdata-1ee0c09c5742557e037df5421ca62abddb90ae22.zip
Merging upstream version 1.31.0.
Signed-off-by: Daniel Baumann <daniel.baumann@progress-linux.org>
Diffstat (limited to 'docs/dashboard')
-rw-r--r--docs/dashboard/customize.mdx93
-rw-r--r--docs/dashboard/dimensions-contexts-families.mdx96
-rw-r--r--docs/dashboard/how-dashboard-works.mdx112
-rw-r--r--docs/dashboard/import-export-print-snapshot.mdx83
-rw-r--r--docs/dashboard/interact-charts.mdx137
-rw-r--r--docs/dashboard/select-timeframes.mdx85
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diff --git a/docs/dashboard/customize.mdx b/docs/dashboard/customize.mdx
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+---
+title: "Customize the standard dashboard"
+description: "Netdata's preconfigured dashboard offers many customization options, such as choosing when charts are updated, your preferred theme, and custom text to document processes, and more."
+type: how-to
+custom_edit_url: https://github.com/netdata/netdata/edit/master/docs/dashboard/customize.mdx
+---
+
+# Customize the standard dashboard
+
+While the [Netdata dashboard](/docs/dashboard/how-dashboard-works.mdx) comes preconfigured with hundreds of charts and
+thousands of metrics, you may want to alter your experience based on a particular use case or preferences.
+
+## Dashboard settings
+
+To change dashboard settings, click the on the **settings** icon ![Import
+icon](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/netdata/netdata-ui/98e31799c1ec0983f433537ff16d2ac2b0d994aa/src/components/icon/assets/gear.svg)
+in the top panel.
+
+These settings only affect how the dashboard behaves in your browser. They take effect immediately and are permanently
+saved to browser local storage (except the refresh on focus / always option). Some settings are applied immediately, and
+others are only reflected after the dashboard is refreshed, which happens automatically.
+
+Here are a few popular settings:
+
+### Change chart legend position
+
+Find this setting under the **Visual** tab. By default, Netdata places the [legend of
+dimensions](/docs/dashboards/charts-dimensions-contexts-families.mdx#dimensions) _below_ charts. Click this toggle to
+move the legend to the _right_ of charts.
+
+### Change theme
+
+Find this setting under the **Visual** tab. Choose between Dark (the default) and White.
+
+## Customize the standard dashboard
+
+Netdata stores information about individual charts in the `dashboard_info.js` file. This file includes section and
+subsection headings, descriptions, colors, titles, tooltips, and other information for Netdata to render on the
+dashboard.
+
+One common use case for customizing the standard dashboard is adding internal "documentation" a section or specific
+chart that can then be read by anyone with access to that dashboard.
+
+For example, here is how `dashboard_info.js` defines the **System Overview** section.
+
+```javascript
+netdataDashboard.menu = {
+ 'system': {
+ title: 'System Overview',
+ icon: '<i class="fas fa-bookmark"></i>',
+ info: 'Overview of the key system metrics.'
+ },
+```
+
+If you want to customize this information, use the example `dashboard_info_custom_example.js` as a starting point.
+First, navigate to the web server's directory. If you're on a Linux system, this should be at `/usr/share/netdata/web/`.
+Copy the example file, then ensure that its permissions match the rest of the web server, which is `netdata:netdata` by
+default.
+
+```bash
+cd /usr/share/netdata/web/
+sudo cp dashboard_info_custom_example.js your_dashboard_info_file.js
+sudo chown netdata:netdata your_dashboard_info_file.js
+```
+
+Edit the file with customizations to the `title`, `icon`, and `info` fields. Replace the string after `fas fa-` with any
+icon from [Font Awesome](https://fontawesome.com/cheatsheet) to customize the icons that appear throughout the
+dashboard.
+
+Save the file, then navigate to your [Netdata config directory](/docs/configure/nodes.md) to edit `netdata.conf`. Add
+the following line to the `[web]` section to tell Netdata where to find your custom configuration.
+
+```conf
+[web]
+ custom dashboard_info.js = your_dashboard_info_file.js
+```
+
+Reload your browser tab to see your custom configuration.
+
+## What's next?
+
+If you're keen on continuing to customize your Netdata experience, check out our docs on [building new custom
+dashboards](/web/gui/custom/README.md) with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
+
+### 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/select-timeframes.mdx)
+ - [Import, export, and print a snapshot](/docs/dashboard/import-export-print-snapshot.mdx)
+ - **[Customize the standard dashboard](/docs/dashboard/customize.mdx)**
diff --git a/docs/dashboard/dimensions-contexts-families.mdx b/docs/dashboard/dimensions-contexts-families.mdx
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+---
+title: "Chart dimensions, contexts, and families"
+description: "Netdata organizes charts into dimensions, contexts, and families to automatically and meaningfully organize thousands of metrics into interactive charts."
+type: explanation
+custom_edit_url: https://github.com/netdata/netdata/edit/master/docs/dashboard/dimensions-contexts-families.mdx
+---
+
+# Chart dimensions, contexts, and families
+
+While Netdata's charts require no configuration and are [easy to interact with](/docs/dashboard/interact-charts.mdx),
+they have a lot of underlying complexity. To meaningfully organize charts out of the box based on what's happening in
+your nodes, Netdata uses the concepts of **dimensions**, **contexts**, and **families**.
+
+Understanding how these work will help you more easily navigate the dashboard, [write new
+alarms](/docs/monitor/configure-alarms.md), or play around with the [API](/web/api/README.md).
+
+For a refresher on the anatomy of a chart, see [dashboards and charts](/docs/dashboard/how-dashboard-works.mdx).
+
+## Dimension
+
+A **dimension** is a value that gets shown on a chart. The value can be raw data or calculated values, such as the
+average (the default), minimum, or maximum. These values can then be given any type of unit. For example, CPU
+utilization is represented as a percentage, disk I/O as `MiB/s`, and available RAM as an absolute value in `MiB` or
+`GiB`.
+
+Beneath every chart (or on the right-side if you configure the dashboard) is a legend of dimensions. When there are
+multiple dimensions, you'll see a different entry in the legend for each dimension.
+
+The **Apps CPU Time** chart (with the [context](#contexts) `apps.cpu`), which visualizes CPU utilization of
+different types of processes/services/applications on your node, always provides a vibrant example of a chart with
+multiple dimensions.
+
+![An example apps.cpu chart with many
+dimensions](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/1153921/114207816-a5cb7400-9911-11eb-8800-06f60b745f9c.png)
+
+The chart shows 13 unique dimensions, such as `httpd` for the CPU utilization for web servers, `kernel` for anything
+related to the Linux kernel, and so on. In your dashboard, these specific dimensions will almost certainly be different.
+
+Dimensions can be [hidden](/docs/dashboard/interact-charts.mdx#show-and-hide-dimensions) to help you focus your
+attention.
+
+## Context
+
+A **context** is a way of grouping charts by the types of metrics collected and dimensions displayed. It's kind of like
+a machine-readable naming and organization scheme.
+
+For example, the **Apps CPU Time** has the context `apps.cpu`. A little further down on the dashboard is a similar
+chart, **Apps Real Memory (w/o shared)** with the context `apps.mem`. The `apps` portion of the context is the **type**,
+whereas anything after the `.` is specified either by the chart's developer or by the [**family**](#family).
+
+By default, a chart's type affects where it fits in the menu, while its family creates submenus.
+
+Netdata also relies on contexts for [alarm configuration](/docs/monitor/configure-alarms.md) (the [`on`
+line](/health/REFERENCE.md#alarm-line-on)).
+
+## Family
+
+**Families** are a _single instance_ of a hardware or software resource that needs to be displayed separately from
+similar instances.
+
+For example, let's look at the **Disks** section, which contains a number of charts with contexts like `disk.io`,
+`disk.ops`, `disk.backlog`, and `disk.util`. If your node has multiple disk drives at `sda` and `sdb`, Netdata creates
+a separate family for each.
+
+Netdata now merges the contexts and families to create charts that are grouped by family, following a
+`[context].[family]` naming scheme, so that you can see the `disk.io` and `disk.ops` charts for `sda` right next to each
+other.
+
+Given the four example contexts, and two families of `sda` and `sdb`, Netdata will create the following charts and their
+names:
+
+| Context | `sda` family | `sdb` family |
+| :------------- | ------------------ | ------------------ |
+| `disk.io` | `disk_io.sda` | `disk_io.sdb` |
+| `disk.ops` | `disk_ops.sda` | `disk_ops.sdb` |
+| `disk.backlog` | `disk_backlog.sda` | `disk_backlog.sdb` |
+| `disk.util` | `disk_util.sda` | `disk_util.sdb` |
+
+## What's next?
+
+With an understanding of a chart's dimensions, context, and family, you're now ready to dig even deeper into Netdata's
+dashboard. We recommend looking into [using the timeframe selector](/docs/dashboard/select-timeframes.mdx).
+
+If you feel comfortable with the [dashboard](/docs/dashboard/how-dashboard-works.mdx) and interacting with charts, we
+recommend learning about [configuration](/docs/configure/nodes.md). While Netdata doesn't _require_ a complicated setup
+process or a query language to create charts, there are a lot of ways to tweak the experience to match your needs.
+
+### 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/select-timeframes.mdx)
+ - [Import, export, and print a snapshot](/docs/dashboard/import-export-print-snapshot.mdx)
+ - [Customize the standard dashboard](/docs/dashboard/customize.mdx)
diff --git a/docs/dashboard/how-dashboard-works.mdx b/docs/dashboard/how-dashboard-works.mdx
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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/select-timeframes.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)
diff --git a/docs/dashboard/import-export-print-snapshot.mdx b/docs/dashboard/import-export-print-snapshot.mdx
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b5488914a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/dashboard/import-export-print-snapshot.mdx
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+---
+title: "Import, export, and print a snapshot"
+description: "Snapshots can be incredibly useful for diagnosing anomalies after they've already happened, and are interoperable with any other node running Netdata."
+type: how-to
+custom_edit_url: https://github.com/netdata/netdata/edit/master/docs/dashboard/import-export-print-snapshot.mdx
+---
+
+# Import, export, and print snapshots
+
+Netdata can export snapshots of the contents of your dashboard at a given time, which you can then import into any other
+node running Netdata. Or, you can create a print-ready version of your dashboard to save to PDF or actually print to
+paper.
+
+Snapshots can be incredibly useful for diagnosing anomalies after they've already happened. Let's say Netdata triggered
+a warning alarm while you were asleep. In the morning, you can [pick the
+timeframe](/docs/dashboards/pick-timeframes.mdx) when the alarm triggered, export a snapshot, and send it to a colleague
+for further analysis.
+
+Or, send the Netdata team a snapshot of your dashboard when [filing a bug
+report](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/issues/new?assignees=&labels=bug%2C+needs+triage&template=bug_report.md) on
+GitHub.
+
+![The export, import, and print
+buttons](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/1153921/114218399-360fb600-991e-11eb-8dea-fabd2bffc5b3.gif)
+
+## Import a snapshot
+
+To import a snapshot, click on the **import** icon ![Import
+icon](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/netdata/netdata-ui/98e31799c1ec0983f433537ff16d2ac2b0d994aa/src/components/icon/assets/upload.svg)
+in the top panel.
+
+Select the Netdata snapshot file to import. Once the file is loaded, the modal updates with information about the
+snapshot and the system from which it was taken. Click **Import** to begin to process.
+
+Netdata takes the data embedded inside the snapshot and re-creates a static replica on your dashboard. When the import
+finishes, you're free to move around and examine the charts.
+
+Some caveats and tips to keep in mind:
+
+- Only metrics in the export timeframe are available to you. If you zoom out or pan through time, you'll see the
+ beginning and end of the snapshot.
+- Charts won't update with new inforamtion, as you're looking at a static replica, not the live dashboard.
+- The import is only temporary. Reload your browser tab to return to your node's real-time dashboard.
+
+## Export a snapshot
+
+To export a snapshot, first pan/zoom any chart to an appropriate _visible timeframe_. The export snapshot will only
+contain the metrics you see in charts, so choose the most relevant timeframe.
+
+Next, click on the **export** icon ![Export
+icon](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/netdata/netdata-ui/98e31799c1ec0983f433537ff16d2ac2b0d994aa/src/components/icon/assets/download.svg)
+in the top panel.
+
+Select the metrics resolution to export. The default is 1-second, equal to how often Netdata collects and stores
+metrics. Lowering the resolution will reduce the number of data points, and thus the snapshot's overall size.
+
+Edit the snapshot file name and select your desired compression method. Click on **Export**. When the export is
+complete, your browser will prompt you to save the `.snapshot` file to your machine.
+
+## Print a snapshot
+
+To print a snapshot, click on the **print** icon ![Import
+icon](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/netdata/netdata-ui/98e31799c1ec0983f433537ff16d2ac2b0d994aa/src/components/icon/assets/print.svg)
+in the top panel.
+
+When you click **Print**, Netdata opens a new window to render every chart. This might take some time. When finished,
+Netdata opens a browser print dialog for you to save to PDF or print.
+
+## What's next?
+
+Now that you understand snapshots, now is a good time to delve deeper into some of the dashboard's lesser-known
+features, such as [customization](/docs/dashboard/customize.mdx) or [building new, custom
+dashboards](/web/gui/custom/README.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/select-timeframes.mdx)
+ - **[Import, export, and print a snapshot](/docs/dashboard/import-export-print-snapshot.mdx)**
+ - [Customize the standard dashboard](/docs/dashboard/customize.mdx) \ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/docs/dashboard/interact-charts.mdx b/docs/dashboard/interact-charts.mdx
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2266e101e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/dashboard/interact-charts.mdx
@@ -0,0 +1,137 @@
+---
+title: "Interact with charts"
+description: "Learn how to pan, zoom, select, and customize Netdata's preconfigured charts to help you troubleshooting with real-time, per-second metrics data."
+type: how-to
+custom_edit_url: https://github.com/netdata/netdata/edit/master/docs/dashboard/interact-charts.mdx
+---
+
+# Interact with charts
+
+While charts that update every second with new metrics are helpful for understanding the immediate state of a node, deep
+troubleshooting and root cause analysis begins by manipulating the default charts. To help you troubleshoot, Netdata
+synchronizes every chart every time you interact with one of them.
+
+Here's what synchronization looks like:
+
+![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)
+
+Once you understand all the interactions available to you, you'll be able to quickly move around the dashboard, search
+for anomalies, and find root causes using per-second metrics.
+
+## Pause or stop
+
+| Interaction | Keyboard/mouse | Touchpad/touchscreen |
+| :---------------- | :------------- | :------------------- |
+| **Pause** a chart | `hover` | `n/a` |
+| **Stop** a chart | `click` | `tap` |
+
+By hovering over any chart, you temporarily pause it so that you can hover over a specific timeframe and see the exact
+values presented as dimensions. Click on the chart to lock it to this timeframe, which is useful if you want to jump to
+a different chart to look for possible correlations.
+
+![Animated GIF of hovering over a chart to see
+values](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/1153921/62968279-9227dd00-bdbf-11e9-9112-1d21444d0f31.gif)
+
+## Pan
+
+| Interaction | Keyboard/mouse | Touchpad/touchscreen |
+| :---------- | :------------- | :------------------- |
+| **Pan** | `click + drag` | `swipe` |
+
+Drag your mouse/finger 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.
+
+## Zoom
+
+| Interaction | Keyboard/mouse | Touchpad/touchscreen |
+| :------------------------------- | :-------------------------- | :--------------------------------------------------- |
+| **Zoom** in or out | `Shift + mouse scrollwheel` | `two-finger pinch` <br />`Shift + two-finger scroll` |
+| **Zoom** to a specific timeframe | `Shift + mouse selection` | `n/a` |
+
+Zooming in helps you see metrics with maximum granularity, which is useful when you're trying to diagnose the root cause
+of an anomaly or outage. Zooming out lets you see metrics within the larger context, such as the last hour, day, or
+week, which is useful in understanding what "normal" looks like, or to identify long-term trends, like a slow creep in
+memory usage.
+
+## Select
+
+| Interaction | Keyboard/mouse | Touchpad/touchscreen |
+| :------------------------------ | :-------------------------------------------------------- | :------------------- |
+| **Select** a specific timeframe | `Alt + mouse selection` or `⌘ + mouse selection` (macOS) | `n/a` |
+
+Selecting timeframes is useful when you see an interesting spike or change in a chart and want to investigate further.
+
+Select a timeframe, then move to different charts/sections of the dashboard. Each chart shows the same selection to help
+you immediately identify the timeframe and look for correlations.
+
+## Reset a chart to its default state
+
+| Interaction | Keyboard/mouse | Touchpad/touchscreen |
+| :---------------- | :------------- | :------------------- |
+| **Reset** a chart | `double-click` | `n/a` |
+
+Double-check on a chart to restore it to the default auto-updating state, with a timeframe based on your browser
+viewport.
+
+## Resize
+
+Click-and-drag the icon on the bottom-right corner of any chart. To restore the chart to its original height,
+double-click the same icon.
+
+![Animated GIF of resizing a chart and resetting it to the default
+height](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/1153921/80842459-7d41e280-8bb6-11ea-9488-1bc29f94d7f2.gif)
+
+## Show and hide dimensions
+
+| Interaction | Keyboard/mouse | Touchpad/touchscreen |
+| :------------------------------------- | :-------------- | :------------------- |
+| **Show one** dimension and hide others | `click` | `tap` |
+| **Toggle (show/hide)** one dimension | `Shift + click` | `n/a` |
+
+Hiding dimensions simplifies the chart and can help you better discover exactly which aspect of your system might be
+behaving strangely.
+
+## See the context
+
+Hover your mouse over the date that appears just beneath the chart itself. A tooltip will tell you the context for that
+chart. Below, the context is `apps.cpu`.
+
+![See a chart's
+context](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/1153921/114212924-39ec0a00-9917-11eb-9a9e-7e171057b3fd.gif)
+
+## See the resolution and update frequency
+
+Hover your mouse over the timestamp just to the right of the date. `resolution` is the number of seconds between each
+"tick" in the chart. `collection every` is how often Netdata collects and stores that metric.
+
+If the `resolution` value is higher than `collection every`, such as `resolution 5 secs, collected every 1 sec`, this
+means that each tick is calculating represents the average values across a 5-second period. You can zoom in to increase
+the resolution to `resolution 1 sec` to see the exact values.
+
+## Chart controls
+
+Many of the above interactions can also be triggered using the icons on the bottom-right corner of every chart. They
+are, respectively, `Pan Left`, `Reset`, `Pan Right`, `Zoom In`, and `Zoom Out`.
+
+## What's next?
+
+We recommend you read up on the differences between [chart dimensions, contexts, and
+families](/docs/dashboard/dimensions-contexts-families.mdx) to complete your understanding of how Netdata organizes its
+dashboards. Another valuable way to interact with charts is to use the [timeframe
+selector](/docs/dashboard/select-timeframes.mdx), which helps you visualize specific moments of historical metrics.
+
+If you feel comfortable with the [dashboard](/docs/dashboard/how-dashboard-works.mdx) and interacting with charts, we
+recommend moving on to learning about [configuration](/docs/configure/nodes.md). While Netdata doesn't _require_ a
+complicated setup process or a query language to create charts, there are a lot of ways to tweak the experience to match
+your needs.
+
+### 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/select-timeframes.mdx)
+ - [Import, export, and print a snapshot](/docs/dashboard/import-export-print-snapshot.mdx)
+ - [Customize the standard dashboard](/docs/dashboard/customize.mdx)
diff --git a/docs/dashboard/select-timeframes.mdx b/docs/dashboard/select-timeframes.mdx
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ac1b3f7c7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/dashboard/select-timeframes.mdx
@@ -0,0 +1,85 @@
+---
+title: "Select timeframes to visualize"
+description: "Netdata's dashboard features a rich timeframe selector, with useful defaults and rich customization, to help you narrow your focus when troubleshooting issues or anomalies."
+type: how-to
+custom_edit_url: https://github.com/netdata/netdata/edit/master/docs/dashboard/select-timeframes.mdx
+---
+
+# Pick timeframes to visualize
+
+While [panning through time and zooming in/out](/docs/dashboard/interact-charts.mdx) from charts is helpful when
+you're looking a recent history, or want to do granular troubleshooting, what if you want to see metrics from 6 hours
+ago? Or 6 days?
+
+Netdata's dashboard features a **timeframe selector** to help you visualize specific timeframes in a few helpful ways.
+By default, it shows a certain number of minutes of historical metrics based on the your browser's viewport to ensure
+it's always showing per-second granularity.
+
+## Open the timeframe selector
+
+To visualize a new timeframe, you need to open the picker, which appears just above the menu, near the top-right cover
+of the dashboard.
+
+![The timeframe selector in the local Agent
+dashboard](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/1153921/101507784-2c585080-3934-11eb-9d6e-eff30b8553e4.png)
+
+The **Clear** button resets the dashboard back to its default state based on your browser viewport, and **Apply** closes
+the picker and shifts all charts to the selected timeframe.
+
+## Use the Quick Selector
+
+Click any of the following options in the **Quick Selector** to choose a commonly-used timeframe.
+
+- Last 5 minutes
+- Last 15 minutes
+- Last 2 hours
+- Last 6 hours
+- Last 12 hours
+
+Click **Apply** to see metrics from your selected timeframe.
+
+## Choose a specific interval
+
+Beneath the Quick Selector is an input field and dropdown you use in combination to select a specific timeframe of
+minutes, hours, days, or months. Enter a number and choose the appropriate unit of time, then click **Apply**.
+
+## Choose multiple days
+
+Use the calendar to select multiple days. Click on a date to begin the timeframe selection, then an ending date. The
+timeframe begins at noon on the beginning and end dates. Click **Apply** to see your selected multi-day timeframe.
+
+## Caveats and considerations
+
+**Longer timeframes will decrease metrics granularity**. At the default timeframe, based on your browser viewport, each
+"tick" on charts represents one second. If you select a timeframe of 6 hours, each tick represents the _average_ value
+across a larger period of time.
+
+**You can only see metrics as far back in history as your metrics retention policy allows**. Netdata uses an internal
+time-series database (TSDB) to store as many metrics as it can within a specific amount of disk space. The default
+storage is 256 MiB, which should be enough for 1-3 days of historical metrics. If you navigate back to a timeframe
+beyond stored historical metrics, you'll see this message:
+
+![Screenshot of reaching the end of historical metrics
+storage](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/1153921/114207597-63a23280-9911-11eb-863d-4d2f75b030b4.png)
+
+At any time, [configure the internal TSDB's storage capacity](/docs/store/change-metrics-storage.md) to expand your
+depth of historical metrics.
+
+## What's next?
+
+One useful next step after selecting a timeframe is [exporting the
+metrics](/docs/dashboard/import-export-print-snapshot.mdx) into a snapshot file, which can then be shared and imported
+into any other Netdata dashboard.
+
+There are also many ways to [customize](/docs/dashboard/customize.mdx) the standard dashboard experience, from changing
+the theme to editing the text that accompanies every section of charts.
+
+### 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/select-timeframes.mdx)**
+ - [Import, export, and print a snapshot](/docs/dashboard/import-export-print-snapshot.mdx)
+ - [Customize the standard dashboard](/docs/dashboard/customize.mdx)