Dashboards

The Forward Enterprise Dashboard provides insights into a network's complexity and health over time.

The information provided on this page allows for senior leaders to establish targets and goals that focus on monitoring and improving the overall network reliability, correctness, and hygiene on a regular basis.

Customizable Dashboards

Users can create customizable dashboards by selecting panels from existing Forward-maintained dashboards or user-defined scorecards. You can also build your own panels from NQE queries. See NQE-based panels. Users can organize their dashboards by adding custom rows and moving panels to suit their preferences. Dashboards can also be pinned for quick access from the Dashboard page.

Only Org Admins, Network Admins, and Dashboard Creators can build a customizable dashboard using panels from existing dashboards or user-defined scorecard panels. These users can name the dashboards and pin individual dashboards for easy navigation and access from the Dashboard page.

Adding a New Dashboard

To create a custom dashboard, click the Dashboard Selector dropdown and select Add new dashboard. Provide a name and an optional description for the dashboard, then click Save.

Customizing a Dashboard

Add a New Panel

To add a new panel to your dashboard, click the Add panels dropdown and select Import panels from library. Choose panels from the Panel library to include in your custom dashboard. Panels can be added individually or in bulk.

You can also create an NQE panel and add it to the dashboard directly by selecting Create an NQE panel. See NQE-based panels.

The Dashboard Selector dropdown also includes a Manage panel library option, next to Add new dashboard. Select it to open and view the Panel library.

Panel library

The Panel library lists every panel available to your organization. It has two tabs:

• NQE and Forward panels: Forward-maintained panels and the NQE-based panels you create.
• Scorecards: Forward-maintained as well as user-defined scorecard panels.

Forward-maintained panels cannot be edited or deleted. Org Admins and Network Admins can add NQE panels to the Panel library from this page, and can edit or delete any NQE panel. Every panel also has a View panel option that opens a preview of the panel.

Deleting a panel in use also removes it from every dashboard that uses it. Delete is disabled when the panel is used on a dashboard you do not have permission to edit; in that case, contact an Org Admin for help.

Moving a Panel

To rearrange panels, click and hold the Drag to Move icon, then move the panel to your desired location on the dashboard.

Adding a New Row

To further organize your dashboard, click the Add panels dropdown and select Add a row. You can rename the row by clicking the Edit icon next to the row title.

Move panels under the new row to group and organize them as needed.

View/Edit Dashboard Settings

To access or edit the dashboard settings, click the Kebab menu (three vertical dots) and select Dashboard settings. Here, you can:

• Edit the dashboard name and description.
• View access details, such as who has permission to view or edit the dashboard.
• See information about when the dashboard was created, who created it, and the last time it was edited.

Deleting a Dashboard

To delete a custom dashboard, open the Dashboard Selector dropdown and click the Delete icon next to the dashboard you want to remove.

You can also delete a custom dashboard while viewing it by selecting the Kebab menu and choosing Delete. Note that only user-defined dashboards can be deleted.

Pinning Dashboards

By default, all Forward-maintained dashboards are pinned to the top of the page. To pin or unpin a dashboard, open the Dashboard Selector and click the pin icon next to each dashboard’s name. Pinned dashboards appear at the top of the page for easy access.

NQE-based Panels

You can build your own dashboard panels from NQE queries. An NQE-based panel runs a query and displays its result as a table or as a single metric. Use these panels to put the exact data you care about on a dashboard, alongside Forward-maintained panels and scorecards.

Creating an NQE-based Panel

You can create a panel in two ways:

• From a dashboard, click the Add panels dropdown and select Create an NQE panel. Selecting Save and add to dashboard creates the panel in the library and places it on the dashboard grid. The dashboard layout is not yet saved: a Save and Cancel footer appears. Select Save to keep the panel on the dashboard. If you select Cancel, the panel stays in the library but is not added to the dashboard.
• From the panel library, select Add an NQE panel.

Fill in the panel details:

1. Panel name: used in the panel library. It is not shown on dashboards unless the Panel display name is left empty.
2. NQE query: choose the query that supplies the panel's data. If the query takes parameters, select Edit parameters to set them.
3. Visualization type: choose Table or Metric.
4. Panel display name: shown on the dashboard. If left empty, the panel name is used instead.
5. Description: add an optional description for the panel.

Table

A table panel shows the full result of the query. You can:

• Use the Customize columns option to enable or disable individual columns you want to see in the table.
• The Customize columns window also allows you to reorder the sequence of columns. Rearrange the fields by dragging them or by using the arrow keys.

The preview updates as you make changes. Select Save and add to dashboard (or Save, when adding from the panel library) to save the panel.

Metric

A metric panel shows a single value calculated from one column of the query result. Configure:

1. Data source column: the column to calculate from. The panel shows the column's data type.
2. Data calculation: the calculation to apply, such as Sum, Average, or Count. The available options depend on the column's data type.
3. Unit (optional): a label shown next to the value, such as % or ms. Up to 16 characters.
4. Decimal places (optional): the number of decimal places to show, with an allowed range of 0 to 4.

note

Unit, Decimal places, and Threshold-based coloring apply to numeric metrics only. For a non-numeric column, these fields are disabled with the message "Only available for numeric metrics."

Threshold-based coloring

For numeric metrics, you can choose the display color of the value based on thresholds. Add one or more thresholds and set a status for each, such as Good, Warning, Issue, or Neutral. The panel colors the value according to the threshold its value falls into. Thresholds sort automatically as you set their values.

Editing a Panel

An NQE panel can be edited from two places; where you edit determines what the change affects.

• Edit in the panel library: changes apply to the panel everywhere it is used, unless a dashboard has overridden that field. If the panel is used on two or more dashboards and you change its query parameters, columns, or metric settings, saving opens a Save library panel changes? dialog. This dialog shows how many dashboards the change affects. Select Save to apply the change to all of them, or select Save as a new panel to leave the original panel unchanged and create a separate new panel instead. The change saves immediately without displaying this dialog if you change only the name, display name, or description, or if the panel is used on just one dashboard or not used on any dashboards.
• Edit from a dashboard: changes apply only to that dashboard. The window title indicates that you are editing a dashboard panel, and the change is saved as an override for that dashboard. It does not change the panel in the library or on other dashboards.

When editing from a dashboard, you can override the following fields: Panel display name, query parameters, table columns, Unit, Decimal places, and thresholds. To undo an override and return a field to its library value, click the reset icon next to the field (Reset <field> to library value).

The remaining fields can only be edited in the panel library. When editing from a dashboard, Panel name, Description, Data source column, and Data calculation are locked with the message: "This field can only be edited in the panel library."

The NQE query and Visualization type fields cannot be edited once the panel is created. They are locked with the message: "Chosen at creation. Cannot be changed because it could break existing dashboard usages." To use a different query or visualization, create a new panel.

note

If you change a field in the library, the change reaches a dashboard only for fields that the dashboard has not overridden. A field a dashboard has overridden keeps its override value.

Viewing Panel Details

On a dashboard, select See details on a metric panel to see the underlying query result. In the panel library, View panel shows the panel as it appears on a dashboard.

The kebab menu at the top right of an NQE panel also has a View query in NQE library option. It takes you to the NQE section of the Forward app and shows the details of the query that backs the panel.

note

The View query in NQE library option is disabled if the query that backs the panel no longer exists in the NQE library.

Permissions

Access to NQE-based panels depends on your role:

• Org Admins and Network Admins can create, edit, and delete panels in the panel library.
• Anyone who can edit a dashboard, such as a Network Admin or the dashboard's owner (a Dashboard Creator), can import existing NQE panels onto that dashboard and edit them there.
• Read-only roles and above can view NQE panels. Limited Read-only users cannot; they see the message "You don't have permission to view this panel."
• Viewing a panel also requires NQE and network-view access for that network.
• The Manage panel library option appears in the Dashboard Selector dropdown only for users who can view NQE panels.

Forward-maintained Dashboards

Insights Dashboard

The Insights dashboard provides a comprehensive overview of the network's operational health and security posture, enabling users to swiftly identify issues, monitor performance trends, and make informed decisions to enhance network security and efficiency. Users can select different Snapshots of their network to view specific datasets within the dashboard, providing a flexible examination of network states at various points in time.

Vulnerabilities and Verifications

The Vulnerabilities and Verifications section highlights network security by providing Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs) metrics and verification results.

Key Metrics of CVEs displays numerical counts for:

• Total CVEs detected: Overall number of CVEs identified in the current snapshot.
• Total devices impacted: Number of devices affected by at least one detected CVE.
• Devices vulnerable: Number of devices confirmed as vulnerable, broken down by:
  • Impacted by CVEs with known exploits: Devices with CVEs that have a documented exploit published by CISA or a vendor.
  • Addressable from the Internet: Devices with vulnerabilities that are reachable from the Internet.
  • Impacted by recent CVEs (last 30 days): Devices affected by vulnerabilities published within the last 30 days.
• Devices potentially vulnerable: Number of devices that may be vulnerable, broken down by:
  • Impacted by CVEs with known exploits: Devices with CVEs that have documented exploits but require further configuration checks to confirm.
  • Addressable from the Internet: Devices with possible vulnerabilities that are reachable from the Internet.
  • Impacted by recent CVEs (last 30 days): Devices potentially affected by CVEs published within the last 30 days.

Additional views include:

• Top vulnerabilities with KEV: Highlights CVEs with known exploits.
• Top vulnerabilities with Internet Exposure: Lists CVEs impacting devices that are Internet addressable.
• Active Verifications: A tabbed view showing the total number of passing verifications and violations.
• Device Verifications: A tabbed view showing the total number of devices passing verification checks and those with violations.

Scorecards and KPIs

This section displays scorecard metrics directly from the Scorecards and KPIs dashboard, providing users to view the network's operational efficiency and adherence to set KPIs.

Lay of the land

This section offers a broad overview of the network's infrastructure, including details regarding the number of cloud accounts and compute instances, device counts by top vendors, connection failures, and essential metrics such as links, OS versions, configuration lines, modeled paths, and ACLs.

Scorecards and KPIs dashboard

The Scorecards and KPIs dashboard provides greater insight into the overall quality and performance of a network. The dashboard is located under the Scorecards and KPIs tab of the dashboard page.

Navigating the scorecards and KPIs dashboard

The Scorecards overview section lists all assigned scorecards. Each scorecard provides its total score and historical trend of a selected snapshot.

A scorecard is a container of Forward Verification Checks grouped into KPI categories. The total score of a scorecard is the combined weighted score of each KPI category assigned to it.

Specific snapshots can be selected within the Select Snapshot drop-down menu. Historical trends can be changed by choosing different time intervals in the trends section.

By default, the Forward Scorecard is included with the scorecard and KPIs dashboard. The Forward Scorecard is a predefined scorecard, managed by Forward, that cannot be modified but can be deleted.

When hovering over any scorecard, the View Details and Move icons appear in the top right corner. Click the View Details icon to see the scorecard's details.

Scorecards

Scorecard details page

To access a comprehensive breakdown of a specific scorecard, click the View Details icon that appears when you hover over that scorecard.

Within the scorecard's details page, you will find all the KPI Categories affecting that scorecard's total score. The total score is the cumulative-weighted value of all the KPI categories assigned to that scorecard.

In the KPI Categories section, each KPI category displays both a total score and its specific weighted value. When hovering over any KPI Category, the View Details and Move icons appear in the top right corner.

To explore further, selecting View Details for a specific KPI category will provide you with a list of its associated verification checks. For each verification, you'll find essential information, including weight, raw score, goal value, and current score.

Adding a scorecard

To add a new scorecard, select Add Scorecard from the Scorecard KPI dashboard.

Fill in a name for your scorecard, and brief description in the designated field.

Select Create to finish the process.

note

Select Include default Forward Scorecard KPI categories to include a copy of the KPI categories used for the Forward Scorecard. Leaving this unselected will create an empty scorecard.

Editing and deleting a scorecard

To edit a scorecard, use the Edit Scorecard option located within the scorecard's detail page. This allows you to adjust the scorecard's name and description.

To remove a scorecard from the dashboard, simply select the delete option.

KPI Categories

View Details of a KPI category

On the details page of any scorecard, the KPI categories assigned to that scorecard are listed. When you hover over any KPI category, the View Details icon appears. Click that icon to see the list of all the Verifications affecting that KPI category's total score. For each verification, you'll find details such as description, weighted value, raw score, goal value and current score.

Editing a KPI category

To change a KPI category, go to the View Details section for that category and choose Edit KPI category on the right top corner.

A list of assigned Verifications along with their weighted scores will be displayed. This page allows you to edit the name, description and weighted score of each verification. To delete any verification, click the bin icon in that row.

To add a new verification select the Add Verifications option within the Edit KPI Category window. A new window pops up, allowing you to select available Verifications to add. More about adding verifications is covered in the following section of Adding a KPI Category.

Editing KPI Categories

To edit KPI categories assigned to a scorecard, select the Edit KPI Categories option from the scorecard's details page.

This page allows you to edit the weights assigned to each KPI category, delete a KPI category from the scorecard or add a new KPI category to the scorecard.

Adding a KPI category

To add a KPI category to a scorecard, select Add KPI Category option from the Edit KPI Categories window.

This option opens a new Add KPI Categories wizard which allows you to add an existing KPI category or create a new one configured with customized selection of verifications.

Select existing KPI categories to add (optional)

Select from the list of existing KPI categories to add to the scorecard. This step is optional and can be skipped.
Select Next to continue.

Add new KPI categories (optional)

Select Add new KPI category to start creating new KPI categories.

This step is optional, and can be skipped by selecting Next. Proceed to the Assign weights to KPI categories section of the documentation, if a new KPI category is not needed.

Creating a New KPI Category

Provide a unique name and optional description for the new KPI category.

Select Next to continue.

Assign Verifications

Select from the list of available verification checks to include.

Select Add to continue.

Assign weights to Verifications

Assign a weight and goal for each verification.

Select Done to continue.

Verify Newly Added KPI Categories

Verify all the newly added KPI categories and select Next to continue.

Assign/Adjust Weights of KPI categories

Assign and adjust the weight field for the existing and newly added KPI categories. These weights determine each KPI category's impact on the scorecard's total score.

Select Add to continue.

Verify the final list of KPI Categories assigned to a scorecard. And select Save on the Edit KPI Categories window.

Updated Scorecard Details

Navigating back to the scorecard's details page will display the updated KPI categories including the newly added category, assigned to the scorecard.

Network Complexity Dashboard

The network complexity dashboard has two parts: On-prem and Cloud.

On-prem Network Complexity

The on-prem network complexity dashboard provides insights on: device models, OS versions, device by type, number of links, number of configuration lines, number of VLANs, and number of VRFs.

Cloud Network Complexity

The cloud network complexity dashboard provides insights for cloud platforms, such as: AWS, Azure and GCP. The total number of compute instances are listed for the selected snapshot, with a 30-day average number of instances. The graph shows the distribution of average instances over the last 30 days. If the total number of instances consist of multiple cloud providers, a separate breakdown will be generated for each provider.

The vendor specific cards will show VPCs, subnets, VPN connections, and direct connects for AWS. Express routes will be shown for Azure, and direct interconnects will be shown for GCP with a breakdown for the number of routes, number of security groups, number of network ACLs, and number of managed cloud objects for each of the vendors.

Network Performance Dashboard

The Network Performance Dashboard offers a detailed view of network performance metrics for devices enabled for SNMP collection. It aggregates data such as CPU and memory usage and interface errors to provide insights into device efficiency and network health.

Navigating the Network Performance Dashboard

Located under the Network performance tab within the Dashboard page, this dashboard organizes performance metrics into several tabbed views:

• Interface Utilization
• Interface Packet Loss
• Interface Errors
• Device CPU Usage
• Device Memory Usage

Each metric is presented through an interactive chart and table. Devices and interfaces are listed and sorted by those exhibiting the highest values for the chosen metric within a selected time range.

Interactivity and Data Customization

• Time Range Selection: Use the Time Range dropdown menu to adjust the displayed historical data to focus on specific periods of interest.
• Graph Interaction: Hovering over a chart line emphasizes it for better visibility. Similarly, interacting with an item in the legend highlights it in the graph, offering a clearer view of specific data points.
• Legend Options: Clicking on additional options in the legend allows you to pin a device or interface to the graph or table, ensuring it remains visible until unpinned.
• Visibility Toggles: Show or hide any interface in the graph using the checkbox next to each name, allowing for a customized data view according to user preference. Clicking on the device or interface name in the legend will focus on the selected item and highlight individual data points in the chart, improving visibility and interactivity with a single interface or device of interest.
• Detailed View Links: Clicking on the link icon in the legend opens a new tab with a detailed view of the selected interface or device, allowing for an in-depth analysis interrupting your current view of the dashboard.

Enabling Performance Data Collection

To enable and configure the collection of performance data:

1. Navigate to Collection > Collection Settings > Schedule.
2. Click the edit icon to modify the frequency of data collection. By default, data is collected every 5 minutes.
3. To enable SNMP collection for specific devices; go to the Devices page.
4. Select the devices to enable data collection. Click the edit icon, check Enable SNMP Collection, and then click Save to apply the settings.

Network Verification Dashboard

The network verification dashboard provides insights on passing verification and violation checks for devices by failure, and violations by check type.

Hovering over a line chart will display more details on a specific insight, as well as useful links for further investigation. The passing verifications line chart within active checks shows the total number of active checks that are passing and categorizes each check as: predefined, intent, or NQE. This will include a direct link to the related section within the verify application.

tip

The Violations by check type chart can be customized by selecting specific Predefined or NQE checks in the drop-down menus on the right side of the chart. The selection is persistent for each network across sessions on a per-user basis.

System

The System dashboard provides insights on Collection results and time taken per Snapshot, and Collection times of devices per Snapshot.

Collection results and time taken per Snapshot

The collection and time details are reflective on hovering over the timeline.

To view detailed device collection times for a Snapshot, hover over the timeline and click Collection details.

The following screenshot shows an example of the detailed view:

Collection Times of Devices per Snapshot

The collection time details are reflective on hovering over the timeline.