How to Create and Modify FlexViews


FlexViews are a powerful network management tool. They can be configured to let you set certain MIB objects and show a wide variety of information about the devices on your network. You can create FlexViews using the FlexView Properties window and add FlexView tabs to the Console right panel to display the FlexView information as a table, bar graph, line graph, or pie chart. You can define as many FlexViews as needed to cover the information that you need to manage your network. And, for your ease of use, Console comes with a set of predefined FlexViews that lets you view a wide variety of information about the devices on your network

When NetSight is initially installed, the Interface Summary right-panel tab is the default FlexView available in Console. From the Interface Summary tab you can open any of the FlexViews that come with Console or create new FlexViews, if desired. This Help topic provides instructions for creating a new FlexView. For information on opening an existing FlexView, see Working with FlexViews.

Instructions on:

Creating a FlexView

To create a new FlexView:

  1. Click a FlexView tab in the right panel. If you have just installed NetSight, this would be the Interface Summary tab in the right panel. If there are no FlexViews tabs in the right panel, click the Add FlexView Tab Add FlexView Tab button in the Console toolbar. This will add an Interface Summary tab to the right panel.
  2. Click the FlexView FlexView menu button at the left end of the FlexView toolbar and select New from the drop-down menu. The FlexView Properties window opens.
  3. There are two tabs in the FlexView Properties window: General and Columns. We'll begin by configuring the General tab.
  4. The General tab is where you can edit FlexView parameters and add any notes to describe its purpose or special conditions. Configure the following parameters:
    1. Select the Instance type for this FlexView. This setting affects the function and availability of the Port Tools options on the FlexView table right-click menu. The Instance type can be set to 802.1D Bridge Port, MIB-2 Interface, or Other.
      • 802.1D Bridge Port - Select 802.1D Bridge Port if the objects in the default request group for this FlexView are instanced by the MIB object dot1dBasePort. The Interface Statistics, RMON Ethernet Statistics, RMON History List, RMON Alarm/Event, RMON Packet Capture, I/F Enable, and I/F Disable options are added to the right-click menu.
      • MIB-2 Interface - Select MIB-2 Interface if the objects in the default request group for this FlexView are instanced by the MIB Object IfIndex. The Interface Statistics, RMON Ethernet Statistics, RMON History List, RMON Alarm/Event, RMON Packet Capture, I/F Enable, and I/F Disable options are added to the menu.
      • Other - no options are added to the right-click menu.
    2. The Export Type setting lets you automatically export FlexView data with each table refresh. Files can be exported as HTML or CSV (spreadsheet compatible) file format. The exported information is saved by default in the <user's home directory>\AppData\Roaming\NetSight\Console directory, or you can specify a different export directory in the FlexView Options (Tools > Options). You can select one of six methods for the exported information:
      • HTML - Exports table information in HTML (Web format). This format lets you create an HTML file that can be used with a Web based status monitoring system. Refer to How to Export FlexViews to a Web Monitor for more information about using this feature. Only Replace or Append can be used with Web monitoring.
        • Replace - when exported, the file replaces the previously exported file. The filename is the FlexView name without a timestamp.
        • Append - when exported, the current table information is appended to previously exported information in the export file. The filename is the FlexView name without a timestamp
        • Timestamp - when exported, the current table information is saved in a separate file. The filename incorporates a timestamp (year_month_day_hour_minutes_seconds) showing when the information was saved.
      • CSV - Exports table information in spreadsheet format.
        • Replace - when exported, the file replaces the previously exported file. The filename is the FlexView name without a timestamp
        • Append - when exported, the current table information is appended to previously exported information in the export file. The filename is the FlexView name without a timestamp
        • Timestamp - when exported, the current table information is saved in a separate file. The filename incorporates a timestamp (year_month_day_hour_minutes_seconds) showing when the information was saved.
    3. Select MaxAccess/SuperUser to use the Max Secure or SuperUser passwords for access to retrieve information and set values on devices.
    4. Select Read Only if you want to disable the table editor (via Table Editor or Guided Editor) for this table. Enforcing writable MIB objects will not be allowed when the table is set to Read Only.
    5. Select  Hide instance column to hide the Instance column so that it will not be displayed in the FlexView.
    6. Select Enable event notification if objects in the FlexView will be used with the table Filter feature to create an alarm for a specific condition. For example, you can select a FlexView that contains columns of various errors and set a filter to show rows that contain greater than zero errors (Type 0 as the filter value, select a column of interest and set the Options for Match as number and Not equal to). The first time the table contains a row (with the first error), an alarm will be generated and recorded in the Console Event Log. An export file is also created to capture the content of the table when the alarm occurred. The export file defaults to an HTML file and is saved to the <user's home directory>\AppData\Roaming\NetSight\Exports directory with the filename, <FlexView name>_EventData_<date>.html.
    7. Type a detailed description of this FlexView into the Notes field.
    8. In the FlexView Editing Instructions field, provide detailed instructions for how this FlexView should be edited by the FlexView Guided Editor or Table Editor. The information that you provide here will appear at the top of the Guided Editor window.
  5. Click the Columns Tab. This tab lets you define the content and arrangement of  the columns in your FlexViews. You can define columns that present the values for particular MIB objects or create expressions that combine specific MIB objects, to present information that shows the relationship between those objects. At the top left of the tab you can see two radio buttons that let you select a column type: SNMP and Expression. With SNMP selected, you can configure columns to show the values for specific MIB objects. With Expression selected, the Columns tab becomes an expression editor, providing functions that allow you to combine the values of specific MIB objects.
  6. Select SNMP to define the SNMP Columns for your new FlexView. The SNMP Columns view lets you select MIB objects for your FlexView columns, and arrange and name columns that will appear in your FlexView. The left panel contains three tabs. The Tree and List tabs let you select MIB objects. The Description tab shows the MIB description for a selected MIB object. Once an object is selected from the Tree or List tab, you can configure the object parameters in the right panel and then add the column to the Column Definition table (at the bottom of the window) by clicking the New button.
    Tree tab
    This tab shows the supported MIBs as a tree hierarchy. You can expand the tree to select MIB objects or use the Find Feature to locate the object that you want to appear in your FlexView.
    List tab
    This tab presents MIB objects in a table. A right-click menu provides find and filter features to help you locate specific MIB objects in the list. You access these Table Tools through a right-mouse click on a column heading or anywhere in the table body. For more information, see the Table Tools Help topic.
    Description
    This tab shows the text description that appears in the MIB for the selected object.
    Find
    The Find Feature lets you search the tree to locate a specific MIB Object by typing all or part of a text string for a particular Object ID or Description into the Find what field, selecting a search option, and clicking Find. For more information on how to select options refer to Help on the Find toolbar.

    To use the SNMP Columns view to define the columns that will appear in this FlexView:

    1. Select a MIB object from the left panel Tree or List tab.
    2. Type a column name for this MIB object into the Column Name field.
    3. Select a Request Group from the drop-down list. NetSight Console supports multiple SNMP requests. You can assign a particular MIB object to one of four request groups corresponding to a particular grouping of SNMP requests sent to devices. By grouping MIB objects, you can separate requests for objects that may not be supported on a particular device from objects that are. Request Groups are staged and queried in the following order: default, group 2, then group 3 and group 4. For more information, see the Request Groups and the Indirect Instancing Help topics.
    4. The Instance Column setting allows using the data returned in the column selected in the drop-down list as the instance for the MIB object selected for this column. The referenced column must be mapped to the Default request group or to a request group that has a lower number than the group for the referencing column. For more information, see the Request Groups and the Indirect Instancing Help topics.
    5. Check Extract Instance if you are using Console's Extract Instance feature and set the Offset value to define the starting position within the instance string and the Length to specify the number of elements to extract. This feature allows users having an in-depth knowledge of MIBs to extract data from one instance value and use that data as the instance for retrieving the value of another MIB object. For more information see the Extract Instance Help topic.
    6. If you've selected a writeable object for this column, you can click the Configure Instructions for the table editor button. It opens the Column Instructions window where you can add text to describe how or why a user may wish to set a particular value for this column. Enter your instructions into the text area and click OK to create instructions for this column.
    7. Type a description for this column into the Notes panel.
    8. Click New. The column appears in the Column Definitions Table at the bottom of the properties window. You can add up to 61 columns (for a total of 64 columns) to a FlexView.
    9. Repeat steps a through h until you've selected/defined all of the SNMP columns for this FlexView.
     NOTE:You can change the definition for a column that you've added by selecting the column from the Column Definitions Table, changing the definition, and then clicking Apply.
  7. If you are adding expression columns to your FlexView, select the Expression radio button at the top of the tab. Otherwise, go on to Step 8. The Expression Editor is a powerful tool that lets you enhance the value and clarity of FlexView tables by adding columns that contain data manipulating routines. These routines can access data in other columns in the table, and combine them with data from stored variables, constants, system functions, and user-defined functions to come up with new values to be displayed in the column. A conceptual discussion of the language of the Expression Editor is provided in the FlexView Concepts - Expression Editor topic.
     NOTE:The following is only an outline of the order of steps used to create a column routine or table function. This is because the Expression Editor is an advanced feature of FlexViews that uses a programming language similar to the C programming language and the possible combinations of expressions are too numerous to describe within this topic. They are only limited by your imagination and skill with the language of expressions. You should be familiar with this language before attempting to create a column routine. Refer to FlexView Concepts - Expression Editor for a more detailed description of the FlexView Expression Editor features and the language of expressions. Refer to the FlexView Properties Window Help topic for information on specific fields in the window.

    To add Expression columns:

    1. Select the Column Routine tab in the Column Routine/Function panel and type a name for your new column.
    2. Type expressions directly into the expression work area of the Expression tab or use the Expression Wizard to define the expressions for this column routine.
    3. When you have completed the routine, click New to add the column. New automatically checks the syntax of your expressions. The Status field reports Passed if there are no syntactic errors in the column routine. The syntax check does not check the logic of your expressions, only the syntax. When errors are found, the Status field identifies the error and, when possible, suggests corrective steps. Your new column is added to the Column Definitions Table at the bottom of the view.
       NOTE:You can change the definition for a column that you've added by selecting the column from the Column Definitions Table, changing the definition, and then clicking Apply.
    To add a table function:
    1. Select the Function tab in the Column Routine/Function panel and type a name for your new function.
    2. Type expressions directly into the expression work area of the Expression tab or use the Expression Wizard to define the expressions for this function.
    3. When you have completed the function, click New. New automatically checks the syntax of your expressions. The Status field reports Passed if there are no syntactic errors in the function. The syntax check does not check the logic of your expressions, only the syntax. When errors are found, the Status field identifies the error and, when possible, suggests corrective steps. Your new function is added to the Table Functions folder. You can access your new function by selecting Function>Table from the Expression Wizard, and use it in expressions within the table where it was created.
       NOTE:You can change the definition for a function that you've added by selecting the function from the Functions tab, changing the definition, and then clicking Apply.
  8. You can rearrange the order of the columns if necessary. Select a column in the Column Definitions Table and drag it to the right or left to adjust the order of your columns. The Column Definitions Table shows the order of the columns that will appear in the FlexView table. Delete removes the currently selected column from the Column Definitions Table.
  9. When you are satisfied with your changes, click OK. The FlexView file browser opens where you can name and save this FlexView. By default, FlexViews that you've created are saved to <user's home directory>\AppData\Roaming\NetSight\Console\My FlexViews directory. To save to another location, navigate to a directory where you want to save your FlexView and type a name for this FlexView into the File name field. This is the name that will appear on your FlexView tab, so try to make the name short, but meaningful.

Modifying a FlexView

You can add columns, rearrange the order of columns, and rename an existing FlexView using the FlexView Properties window. The following steps describe accessing the FlexView Properties window, but do not cover details of adding columns since that is accomplished in the same way as described in the section for Creating a FlexView.

  NOTE: Any pre-defined FlexViews that you modify and save will be overwritten when you update to a new release (or re-install the same release) of Console. However, your modified FlexViews will be retained and can be retrieved from the <install directory>\.installer\backup\current\appdata\System\FlexViews folder following installation.

To modify an existing FlexView:

  1. Select the FlexView that you want to modify from the FlexView drop-down list or click the FlexView menu  button on the FlexView toolbar and select Open from the menu to open a specific FlexView that is not on the list.
  2. Click the FlexView menu  button on the FlexView toolbar and select Properties from the menu. The FlexView Properties window opens.
  3. Click the General tab. Refer to Step 4 in the Creating a FlexView section for information about configuring General parameters.
  4. Click the Columns tab. If you are adding columns or changing column definitions, refer to Step 6 in the Creating a FlexView section for information about adding columns. When you've finished adding columns, return here to rearrange columns for this FlexView.
  5. You can remove unwanted columns and rearrange the order of the columns here if necessary.
    1. Select a column in Column Definitions Table at the bottom of the view and drag it to the left or right to reposition the column.
    2. Click Delete to remove the currently selected column from the Column Definitions Table.
     NOTE:Clicking Reload before you have saved any changes to the FlexView lets you restore the settings to the previously saved version.
  6. When you are satisfied with your changes, click OK or if you are going to save this FlexView under a different name, click Save As and rename the file. FlexViews that you've created are saved to <user's home directory>\AppData\Roaming\NetSight\Console\My FlexViews directory. To save the FlexView to another directory, navigate to a directory where you want to save your FlexView and type a name for this FlexView into the File Name field. This is the name that will appear on your FlexView tab, so try to make the name short, but meaningful.
  7. Click Close to exit from the FlexView Properties.

Adding and Removing FlexView Tabs

When Console is first installed, a default FlexView tab (Interface Summary) is available in the right panel. Use these instructions to add or remove other FlexView tabs from Console.

Adding Tabs

You can add up to ten FlexView tabs. Tabs that you create are available when Console is restarted.

To add a new FlexView tab:

  1. Click Add FlexView Tab  (Add FlexView Tab) on the toolbar. (You can also pull down the Tools menu and select FlexView > Add FlexView Tab or type Control-t.) The new tab appears with the default title, Interface Summary. Once the tab is added you can select a specific FlexView and its title will appear on the tab.
  2. Click the new tab and select a FlexView from the FlexView drop-down list or click the FlexView menu  button on the FlexView toolbar and select Open from the menu to open a specific FlexView. The name of the selected FlexView now appears on the tab.

Removing Tabs

To remove a new FlexView tab:

  1. Select the tab that you want to remove.
  2. Click FlexView Remove Tab  (Remove FlexView Tab) on the toolbar. (You can also pull down the Tools menu and select FlexView > Remove FlexView Tab or type Control-r.) The tab is removed without further confirmation.

For information on related windows:

For information on related tasks:

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