OrbVis — a NagVis successor candidate (developer preview, feedback welcome)

[_rb]

@adadietrich

we would like to have on the MAP a single Icon per Address.
The Address Icon shows the most critical Problem (if no Problems at all - green).

I think you could already use dynamic groups for that.
e.g.

Filter: custom_variable_names ~ LAT|LONG\nFilter: custom_variable_values ~ 50.9893|6.5712\n

@adadietrich

If I click on the address Icon or select expand, it will show me following Options:

You can set a custom link in the objekt settings (e.g. of the dynamic group mentioned above)

@adadietrich

Another idea would be to att the filter OnlyProblem with Severity to the board settings.
So we could create per severity boards and rotate it on a big screen.
Board1=>allok
Board2=>allCritical
Board30>AllMinor

I would think “Show only problems” in the search bar should already work for Board1 + Board2?

[adadietrich]

Board1=>allOK (Down Hosts are shown as well)
Board2=>Down is OK (Show only Problems stays active when selected)

Regarding adding the Address as ICON:
We have 500 Addresses and more to add. To do it manually: NO TIME and it will not be updated automatically if there is a new Address added or one gets deleted in checkmk. The map must be updated automatically with the existing addresses exists in checkmk.
Dynamic link:
geomap address ICON->Click on it and it opens Board5. On all address ICONS it allways opens Board5. Board5 has a filter on $address which is given from ICON I selected the link.
Maybe I’m missing something. But I can’t find a way how to do it.

[_rb]

The next version will include the possibility to join multiple hosts at the same location to a dynamic group. Furthermore, you can define if it only includes the selected hosts or if it also includes/excludes new/old hosts in the defined location area.

[_rb]

OrbVis 0.6.0 is out

The last release before the Checkmk conference with several bug fixes and some new features (see changelog). Biggest feature is a new experimental board type, the “Presentation board”.

The idea behind this new board type is that you turn around the way you configure a board. Design first, connect data later. You can enable it within “Settings” - “System” (like graphs and the folder board).

Would love to get your feedback about this (and also the folder board).

Where can I find it?

• Checkmk Exchange (2.5 only)
• GitHub Release v0.6.0

[andreas-doehler (Andreas)]

0.6.0 looks really good
The new experimental “Presentation board” is a nice feature.
Also the line attached to the objects

[mike1098 (Michael FRANK)]

Hi @_rb,

Thanks for the update.
I see that the update process for MKP has changed. So, I have just to ship the new MKP and restart the site, thats it? No uninstall/reinstall anymore?

How to update the standalone rpm based installation?
Didnt found anything in GIT

Thanks

Mike

[_rb]

@mike1098

I see that the update process for MKP has changed. So, I have just to ship the new MKP and restart the site, thats it? No uninstall/reinstall anymore?

Yes, the auto-refresh on MKP update has been in place since OrbVis v0.3.0.
So as long as you’re on v0.3.0 or newer, shipping the new MKP and restarting the site is all it takes — no manual orbvis-setup and no uninstall/reinstall. (if you update to version 0.3.0 you still need a single manual orbvis-setup; every upgrade after that is restart-only)

@mike1098

How to update the standalone rpm based installation?

sudo rpm -U orbvis-X.Y.Z.x86_64.rpm && orbvis-install

Ctrl+Shift+R might be needed in the browser.

I will add this to the documentation in the coming days.

[martin.hirschvogel]

I was about to ask you if we could get the excalidraw idea into Checkmk in general, but this is probably the faster way

[mingd111]

Just upgraded to 0.6.0. This project keeps getting better. Thanks!

On Nagvis import, all service lines now have the proper weathermap and metrics set. Is there any way to make the lines snap to the nearest host objects automatically? I can move them manually and they will snap, but for large maps this feature would be handy.

Also, for an imported map, the ability to zoom to less than 100%, or change what 100% zoom looks like would really be a handy feature.

[_rb]

@wittmannthom

When creating a new static map, the default zoom level lets the elements flicker very fast and disappears as soon as i zoom in just a little bit. When zooming out to the highest level, the flickering starts to reappear

I was able to reproduce that accidentally

It should already be fixed with 0.6.0

[wittmannthom (ThomasW)]

Hi Ronny

just wanted to try 0.6.0. but after updating to 0.6.0 only the Orbvis menu does work, all menus themselves (maps, settings…) are empty, at least in FF. are there any logs i can check?
Going back to 0.5.0. solves the problem

Best
Tom

[_rb]

@wittmannthom

are there any logs i can check?

~/var/log/orbvis.log

as site user

[wittmannthom (ThomasW)]

G’day
today it worked like it should.

, i mean

[tasskaff]

Hi Ronny,

I also think it would be good to be able to zoom out beyond 100% so we can build much larger dashboards.
Would it be possible to make the context menu (right-click) configurable so that, for example, we could display the graph from there? Otherwise, my screen space is pretty limited
Will it perhaps be possible in the future to color-code the lines based on the threshold values?

Thank you very much for your work

[_rb]

Where OrbVis is heading — focusing on Checkmk

Hi everyone,

first of all: thank you. The response to the developer preview has been better than we hoped — both here in the thread and in the many conversations we had at the Checkmk Conference. A lot of you took the time to deploy it, import your old NagVis maps, and send detailed feedback. That’s exactly what we needed.

The clearest takeaway: OrbVis is most valuable when it feels like a native part of Checkmk, not a separate tool sitting next to it. So that’s where we’re putting our energy now — making Checkmk and OrbVis integrate as tightly as possible.

A first concrete step concerns how OrbVis is installed. Since OrbVis is focused on Checkmk, and the established path for extending Checkmk is via MKPs, we’re going to drop the other, less-used installation modes (the standalone setup in particular). It isn’t worth splitting our effort across delivery variants that almost nobody runs, and consolidating lets us move faster and keep quality high.

What this means in practice:

• For now, MKPs stay the way to run OrbVis, and we intend to keep them as a channel for getting preview builds into your hands early — so you can keep testing and giving feedback while the integration work happens. I want to be upfront, though: as our focus shifts to the deeper integration, I can’t promise we’ll be able to keep building MKPs for every Checkmk version going forward — older releases in particular may become harder to support.
• If you’re currently on the standalone mode, nothing breaks overnight — but new development will land in the MKP path, and we’d encourage moving over.

It’s still early, so I won’t get ahead of myself on specifics or timelines. But the direction is set, and I’ll keep this thread updated as things take shape.

Keep the feedback coming — it’s shaping this directly.

[tcwork]

I’d like to see the following added on Geomap:

• Custom icons or text to support worst-state background coloring like it does when using the default icon. Currently I don’t see a way to do that.
• Upload a CSV or something with hostgroups and lat/long to bulk-place items.
• Option for hostgroups to use Alias instead of the name. Names are ugly.

[adadietrich]

How to use the dynamic filter. I can’t get an Icon per Address (Long/Lat value). Do I miss something?

[_rb]

did you tried this?

Filter: custom_variable_names ~ LAT|LONG\nFilter: custom_variable_values ~ 50.9893|6.5712\n

I remember testing it and it worked.

[_rb]

As there was no release in the last two weeks i just wanted to give you a quick update:

I’m still working “behind the scenes” with the same effort as before the conference but It will still take a while until i can provide something to show to you.

I will continue to gather all feedback here so that no one feels overlooked.

[mike1098 (Michael FRANK)]

Hello _rb,

One feature request from our side would be a more flexible access and ownership model for maps.

In our environment, multiple teams work with Checkmk, and they should not automatically have access to each other’s maps. Therefore, I would suggest introducing contact-group-based permissions for maps.

For example:

• Map owner: A map can be assigned to a contact group instead of only to an individual user.
• View permissions: Access to a map can be granted to one or more contact groups.
• Edit permissions: Editing rights can be managed separately from view access, also based on contact groups.

This would be much more suitable for enterprise environments. Assigning a map to a user creates an ownership problem when that person changes teams or leaves the company. Assigning ownership to a contact group would ensure that the map remains associated with the responsible team.

A possible model could therefore be:

Map → Owner Contact Group → View/Edit Permissions

This would allow access to be managed through existing Checkmk contact group membership and would avoid having to maintain permissions manually for individual users.

For us, this would be an important requirement for using maps in a larger, multi-team Checkmk environment.