Using Visual KPI and system:inmation together
In this chapter we provide an introduction into using Visual KPI and system:inmation together and show you how to view objects in the KPI model of system:inmation using the Visual KPI web interface. Before beginning it is useful to have objects already created in the KPI Model of system:inmation using DataStudio. For this example, we will use the KPI objects created using the Examples_DemoData.xlsx file as described in the Using Lua Scripting Jump Start. The document shows you how to configure the DemoData example using the Mass Config feature and create objects in the KPI Model panel. After configuration, the KPI Model panel in DataStudio should look like the example shown below.
Enter License Key
The Visual KPI trial license will only allow you to display the first two groups and 10 objects in the KPI Model. If you have obtained a license key or .txt file containing the license key, you can enter it now by clicking on Visual KPI instance in the explorer panel of the Transpara Visual KPI Server Manager and entering the key in the License Key field (the key is a long alpha-numeric string). Click Apply to confirm changes.
Browsing Visual KPI
To open the Visual KPI web interface, right click on the on Visual KPI instance in the explorer panel of the Transpara Visual KPI Server Manager and select Browse from the context menu.
This will open the interface in your system’s default browser. The first time you open the web interface you will be asked to create a profile. Name the profile and add a description if you wish.
Once the profile is created the Dashboard will be displayed. When you first create a new profile the Dashboard will be empty, like as shown below.
Click on the KPIs tab in the left menu bar to view the KPIs available through the connection to system:inmation.
The KPIs available should match the items in the KPI Model in DataStudio. From the KPI page you can add items to the profile Dashboard and create watch items. The interface allows you to easily navigate between items and customize the environment to your liking. Further information on using the Visual KPI web interface is available from the Help tab, (accessible in the interface from the menu bar on the left) and on the Transpara website.
Error handling
During the configuration and later the use of Visual KPI, there can be several sources of error.
License Error
If the Licence is not configured correctly, you will see the following error message in Visual KPI.
Connection Error SQL Server
It is also possible, that the connection to the SQL Server of Visual KPI is lost, in this case Visual KPI will still work and show the following error message.
Connection Error to system:inmation
In the case of an connection error to system:inmation Visual KPI will still work based on its build in SQL Server, but it will not receive updated from system:inmation any more. This can be seen on the status page, with a quite generic error description. More details are then given in the event log.
Windows Event log
In addition to these different error display in Visual KPI itself, errors can also be seen in the Windows Event Log as described here: Visual KPI Event Log.
