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Create a Graph Filter

A graph filter is a filtering mechanism that determines the specific servers, services, relationships, applications, and software components that are displayed in your custom graphs. Creating a graph filter enables you to specify graph views of network objects that are important to you to monitor. For example, if your organization makes assignments based on operation system expertise, you may be assigned to monitor the configuration of servers with Solaris operating systems. You can create a filter whose associated graph only shows the servers with Solaris operating systems.

Note: All filters work using an implied AND when using multiple filter criteria. For example if you create a graph filter that includes a selected server called factotum.ca.com and a server group called My_assigned_servers, and factotum.ca.com was not part of the server group, the filter would not display any servers.

To create a graph filter

  1. Select a visualization template as described in the previous section.

    The Graph Filter dialog appears.

  2. Enter or select the following information as appropriate.

    Note: The tabs and fields described in this step are not available for every visualization template. For example, Change Detection and Rule Compliance options are specific to the templates that include their names, while server or operating system options are available for most templates.

    Applications tab
    Include Patches

    Specifies whether to include application patches in the list of available applications. This option is not available on every template's Applications tab.

    Include Version

    Specifies whether to include application release numbers in the list of available applications. This option is not available on every template's Applications tab.

    Available Applications

    Lists the applications known to CA Configuration Automation that can be included in the graph. Double-click an available application to move it to the Selected Applications field.

    Selected Applications

    Lists the applications that will be included in the graph filter.

    Available Publishers

    Lists the companies or organizations that created the listed applications. Double-click an available publisher to move it to the Selected Publishers field.

    Selected Publishers

    Lists the companies or organizations that will be included in the graph filter.

    Change Detection tab
    Change Detection

    Specifies whether the results of Change Detection operations for the server or service are shown on the graph. The options are any combination of Differences Found, No Differences Found, and No Results Found.

    Communication tab
    Limit displayed relationships to target servers/applications only

    Specifies whether only the relationships of the target servers or applications appear in the graph. If you clear this check box, relationships of target and source servers and applications are shown.

    Relationship Type

    Lists the available types of relationships for servers within a service. The following options are available on this drop-down list:

    Providing Servers—For source servers, the relationship type is "is used by," for destination servers, the relationship types is "uses."

    Consuming Servers—For source servers, the relationship type is "uses," for destination servers, the relationship types is "is used by."

    Providers and Consumers—Includes all relationships with a relationships type of "uses" and "is used by."

    Communicates With—Includes all relationships with a relationship type of "communicates with."

    Available Communication Type

    Lists the specific communication protocols used by servers in a service. Double-click an available operating system to move it to the Selected Communication field.

    Selected Communication Type

    Lists the types of communications that will be included in the graph filter.

    Date Range

    Specifies the time period for which the communication relationship appears in the graph. For example, if you select Today, only the relationships for the current day are shown. If you select Last N Months, the Months field appears and you must select the number of months to display.

    Components tab
    Available Components

    Lists the specific software components and versions known to CA Configuration Automation that can be included in the graph filter. These components have a corresponding predefined or custom Blueprint. Double-click an available component to move it to the Selected Components field.

    Selected Components

    Lists the components that will be included in the graph filter.

    Available Categories

    Lists the software categories defined in blueprints (for example, operating systems or relational databases) that can be included in the graph filter. Double-click an available category to move it to the Selected Categories field.

    Selected Categories

    Lists the categories that will be included in the graph filter.

    Configuration tab
    Expand Nodes

    Specifies if the parent node is expanded to show child nodes in the graph. If you do not select this option, you can manually expand the node in the final graph.

    Display Labels

    Specifies if the descriptive label is displayed on the relationship lines between nodes in the graph. If you do not select this option, you can mouse-over elements in the final graph to temporarily display pop-up labels. This option is not available on every template's Configuration tab.

    Operating System tab
    Available OS Family

    Lists the general operating systems and device types to include in the graph. The WINDOWS option includes both WIN32 and WIN64 families. Double-click an available OS family to move it to the Selected OS Family field.

    Selected OS Family

    Lists the operating system families that will be included in the graph filter.

    Available Operating System

    Lists specific operating systems, and in some cases, the specific version to include in the graph. Double-click an available operating system to move it to the Selected Operating System field.

    Selected Operating System

    Lists the operating systems that will be included in the graph filter.

    Relationships tab
    Available Relationship Type

    Lists the following component relationship types available for the graph: Communicates With and References. Double-click an available relationship type to move it to the Selected Relationship Type field.

    Selected Relationship Type

    Lists the types of relationships that will be included in the graph filter.

    Available Specific Relationship Type

    Lists the specific relationship types available for the graph. Options include Database Connectivity, File Reference, Virtualizes, and so on. Double-click an available specific relationship type to move it to the Selected Specific Relationship Type field.

    Selected Specific Relationship Type

    Lists the types of relationships that will be included in the graph filter.

    Rule Compliance tab
    Rules Compliance

    Specifies whether the results of Rule Compliance operations for the server or service are shown on the graph. The options are to show any combination of Failures Found, No Failures Found, and No Results.

    Servers tab
    Server Name Mask

    Accepts a fully qualified server name or a masked server name with an either an asterisk (*) or percent sign (%) as a wild card.

    IP Address Mask

    Accepts a fully qualified IPv4 or IPv6 address or a masked IPv4 IPv6 address with an asterisk (*) or percent sign (%) as a wild card. The field does not accept IP Address ranges or CIDR notation.

    Available Servers

    Lists the servers being managed by CA Configuration Automation. These servers can be discovered by, or imported into CA Configuration Automation. Double-click an available server to move it to the Selected Server field.

    Selected Servers

    Lists the servers that will be included in the graph filter. Double-click an available server to move it to the Selected Server field.

    Available Server Groups

    Lists the server groups (including dynamic server groups) being managed by CA Configuration Automation. These server groups can be created by, or imported into CA Configuration Automation. Double-click an available server group to move it to the Selected Server Group field.

    Selected Server Groups

    Lists the server groups that will be included in the graph filter.

    Available Services

    Lists the services being managed by CA Configuration Automation. These services can be created in, discovered by, or imported into CA Configuration Automation. Double-click an available service to move it to the Selected Service field.

    Selected Services

    Lists the services that will be included in the graph filter.

    Virtualization Filter

    Specifies what combination of Non-virtual Servers, VM Hosting Servers, or VM Guest Servers is included in the graph.

    For filtering purposes, VM Hosting Servers includes VM managers, and VM Guest Servers includes actual Virtual Machines running on a VM Host and VM Hosts that have a VM Manager assigned to it.

    Server State

    Specifies what combination of New, Managed, Unmanaged, and Imported servers is included in the graph. This option is not available on every template's Server tab.

    Services tab
    Available Services

    Lists the services that are being managed by CA Configuration Automation. These services can be created in, discovered by, or imported into CA Configuration Automation. Double-click an available service to move it to the Selected Service field.

    Selected Services

    Lists the services that will be included in the graph filter.

  3. Click OK.

    The visualized view resulting from applying the graph filter appears in the main visualization pane (the template name appears at the top of the pane) and the Overview pane. The Legend pane describes elements in the visualized view.

  4. (Optional) Click any of the navigation icons to alter the view.

    The icons enable you to zoom in or out, pan, and display the icons and relationship lines in different arrangements. Refer to Graph Display Options for details about using the navigation icons.