---
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/blob/master/docs/dashboard/how-dashboard-works.mdx"
sidebar_label: "How the dashboard works"
learn_status: "Published"
learn_topic_type: "Concepts"
learn_rel_path: "Concepts"
---

# 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](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/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](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/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](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/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](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/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](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/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](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/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](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/docs/monitor/view-active-alarms.md), [configuring
alarms](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/docs/monitor/configure-alarms.md), or [enabling a new notification
method](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/docs/monitor/enable-notifications.md).

## What's next?

Learn more about [interacting with charts](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/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](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/docs/dashboard/dimensions-contexts-families.mdx) will also help with how Netdata
organizes its dashboard and operates [alarms](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/docs/monitor/configure-alarms.md).

### Further reading & related information

- Dashboard
  - **[How the dashboard works](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/docs/dashboard/how-dashboard-works.mdx)**
  - [Interact with charts](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/docs/dashboard/interact-charts.mdx)
  - [Chart dimensions, contexts, and families](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/docs/dashboard/dimensions-contexts-families.mdx)
  - [Select timeframes to visualize](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/docs/dashboard/visualization-date-and-time-controls.mdx)
  - [Import, export, and print a snapshot](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/docs/dashboard/import-export-print-snapshot.mdx)
  - [Customize the standard dashboard](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/docs/dashboard/customize.mdx)
- [HTTP API](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/web/api/README.md)
- [Custom dashboards](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/web/gui/custom/README.md)
