TrafficLights.md

Showing traffic lights status in workbooks

It is often desirable to summarize status using a simpler domain instead presenting the full range of values. For example, you may want to categorize your computers by CPU utilization as Cold/Warm/Hot OR user by the performance experienced as Satisfied/Tolerating/Frustrated. This can be as simple as showing an indicator or icon which represents the status next to the underlying metric.

The example below shows how do setup a traffic light icon per computer based on the CPU utilization metric.

1. Create a new empty workbook.
2. Add a time range parameter called TimeRange
3. Use the Add query link to add a log query control to the workbook.
4. Select the query type as Log, resource type as Log Analytics and the resources as an Log Analytics workspace in your subscription that has VM performance data.
5. Use the Query editor, enter:

   Perf
   | where ObjectName == 'Processor' and CounterName == '% Processor Time'
   | summarize Cpu = percentile(CounterValue, 95) by Computer
   | join kind = inner (Perf
       | where ObjectName == 'Processor' and CounterName == '% Processor Time'
       | make-series Trend = percentile(CounterValue, 95) default = 0 on TimeGenerated from {TimeRange:start} to {TimeRange:end} step {TimeRange:grain} by Computer
       ) on Computer
   | project-away Computer1, TimeGenerated
   | order by Cpu desc
   

6. Set the visualization to Grid
7. Click on Column Settings
8. In the Columns section:
   1. Cpu - Column renderer: Thresholds, Custom number formatting: checked, Units: Percentage, Threshold settings (last two need to be in order):
      1. Icon: Success, Operator: Default
      2. Icon: Critical, Operator: >, Value: 80
      3. Icon: Warning, Operator: >, Value: 60
   2. Trend - Column renderer: Spark line, Color paletter: Green to Red, Minimum value: 60, Maximum value: 80
9. Click Save and Close to commit changes.

The grid looks like this in read-mode:

You can also pin this grid to a dashboard using the Pin to dashboard button in toolbar. Note that the pinned grid automatically binds to the time range in the dashboard.