Best Practices for Practitioners: Resource Explorer
Summary: Sky Donnell provides an overview of LogicMonitor's Resource Explorer, highlighting its key features such as centralized access, dynamic filtering, and visual widgets for enhanced IT resource management. Sky Donnell explains its integration with role-based access controls and offers best practices for optimizing resource organization and securing access. Jason Hupka shares positive feedback on the Resource Explorer, particularly appreciating its usability in dashboards and suggests additional enhancements like widget URLs for improved functionality.
Overview
LogicMonitor's Resource Explorer is a powerful tool designed to streamline IT resource management. It allows users to efficiently navigate, view, and analyze monitored resources through a unified, interactive interface. Let’s go over the core features, methods, and best practices for maximizing the value of Resource Explorer, including its dedicated widget and role-based access controls.
Key Principles
Centralized access to all monitored resources.
Dynamic filtering and sorting capabilities for streamlined exploration.
Visual widgets for customizable monitoring views.
Integration with role-based access to ensure proper data governance.
Scalable to complex and large environments.
Resource Explorer Features and Methods
Navigating Resource Explorer
Access Resource Explorer from the left-hand navigation in the LM Envision portal.
View resource information including:
Device details
Associated properties
DataSources and alert status
Select resources directly from the interactive tree or table view.
Viewing and Filtering Resources
Use a multitude of filter criteria like name, provider type, location, collector, and status.
Filtered results can be grouped by unique properties for more in depth viewing
Multi-select options allow targeted troubleshooting across devices or services.
Sorting options help prioritize by metrics such as criticality or recent activity.
Detail Panel and Contextual Data
Selecting a resource opens a side panel with:
Summary metrics
Performance graphs
Properties
Related devices and alerts
View detailed topology and relationship data for connected components.
The option to launch Logs and Datapoint Analysis on focused alerts
Resource Explorer Widget
The Resource Explorer widget enables quick, visual access to specific resource data within dashboards.
Key Capabilities
Embed Resource Explorer directly into any LM Envision dashboard.
Filter by:
Resource groups
Properties
Monitoring status or alert severity
Customize column display and sort order to suit operational needs.
Use Cases for Resource Explorer
➔ Executive dashboards showcasing critical system health.
➔ NOC boards visualizing key infrastructure components.
➔ Operations dashboards for quick triage and remediation workflows.
Best Practices
Optimizing Resource Organization
Group resources logically (by environment, geography, function) using dynamic groups and properties.
Apply consistent naming conventions for better discoverability.
Efficient Filtering and Navigation
Leverage property-based filters to dynamically track changing infrastructure.
Save filtered views or use them in widgets for quick access.
Using the Detail Panel Effectively
Quickly assess performance metrics and recent alert history.
Use related resource links for root cause analysis across services.
Implementing the Resource Explorer Widget
Use on team-specific dashboards for contextual, role-based access.
Tailor the display to highlight KPIs relevant to stakeholders.
Securing Access with Roles
Assign user roles with specific rights to Resource Explorer views.
Leverage LogicMonitor’s role configuration to enforce least-privilege access.
Implementation Checklist
✅Access Resource Explorer and explore navigation and views.
✅Configure custom filters for frequently accessed resource types.
✅Add the Resource Explorer widget to key dashboards.
✅Define and assign roles based on user responsibilities and access needs.
✅Use contextual panels to troubleshoot and triage active alerts.
✅Organize resources using dynamic groups and properties.
Callout: Role-Based Access for Resource Explorer
To ensure proper governance, you must configure user roles with specific access rights:
Navigate to Settings > Roles in the LogicMonitor platform.
Create or modify a role, enabling Resource Explorer Access under “Devices.”
Control visibility of resource groups and metrics per team or function.
Reference full documentation: LogicMonitor Role Configuration
Conclusion
Resource Explorer is an essential feature for gaining visibility into your monitored environment, simplifying troubleshooting, and enhancing operational workflows. With the Resource Explorer widget and robust role controls, teams can build tailored views that match their responsibilities, all within LogicMonitor’s scalable platform.
Additional Resources
Jason Hupka
·1 year agoI've been using Resource Explorer much more recently and love it. I especially like how it keeps track of what you've clicked on in the grid of hexes.
I love being able to include them on Dashboards, too - huge win there. I would love to be able to create widget URLs for these, or at least have another bearer-token-enabled-url widget with an easy grid of colored dots to represent dense status via color.