Dashboards and Reports

You can build custom views of the data you want to monitor using dashboards. Create a new dashboard or use an existing dashboard as a starting point. Then, add, edit, resize, and rearrange data visualization cards to tailor the data view to you and your organization’s needs.

The Dashboard feature consists of 5 main parts:

  • Dashboards - a custom InsightIDR data view composed of data visualization cards from the Dashboard Card Library.
  • Dashboard Library - pre-built dashboards that have been curated by experts at Rapid7. This library includes our compliance dashboards for ISO 27001. You can add pre-built dashboards to your dashboards list, and customize them to meet your needs.
  • Card Library - pre-built data visualization cards that you can add to your custom dashboards. You can also customize pre-built cards to meet your specific use case.
  • Dashboard List - the list of all the dashboards created by users in your organization. You can access it from the Dashboards and Reports page by selecting the All Dashboards tab.
  • Card Builder - the Card Builder makes it easier for users to build custom visualizations that best suit their needs

Add Pre-built Dashboards

  1. Go to the Dashboards and Reports page.
  2. Click the Dashboard Library button to access the pre-built dashboards.
  3. Find the dashboard you want to add:
    • Read the dashboard descriptions to learn more about each dashboard.
    • Click Preview to view the cards for a dashboard.
    • Use the filters on the left to display the dashboards by category.
  4. Click Add to immediately add to your Dashboards list. You should only add Dashboards that are applicable to you.

Customize your Pre-Built Dashboard

Once the Dashboard has been added, it is fully customizable. You can edit the dashboard details or add, create and delete cards to ensure your Dashboard meets your requirements.

Create a New Dashboard

  1. From the InsightIDR left menu, click Dashboards and Reports.
  2. From the dashboard list, click the New Dashboard button. The New Dashboard modal appears.
  3. Enter a Dashboard Name and Description. The “Description” is optional, but it helps differentiate all of the dashboards at your organization.
  4. Click the Create Dashboard button. As soon as you click the Create Dashboard button, the dashboard is available in the dashboard list. However, it’s empty until you add data visualization cards to it, so you’re immediately directed to the Card Library. From there, you can find, add, and customize cards for your dashboard. Read Dashboard Cards to learn all about customizing the data visualization cards on your dashboard. If you can’t find a card you want in the Card Library, build your own in the Card Builder.

Edit an Existing Dashboard

You can edit, remove, resize, reposition, and add new cards on any dashboard, including pre-built dashboards. Just open the dashboard and make your changes. They are saved automatically.

Edit the dashboard name or description

To edit the name or description associated with the dashboard, you can do so from the dashboard list or an open dashboard. Click the gear icon, select Edit Dashboard, then make and save your changes.

Edit dashboard details

  1. From the dashboards list, open the dashboard you want to edit.
  2. To adjust the data refresh rate of your dashboard, select a new value from the refresh rate dropdown list.
  3. To edit the cards, click the gear icon on the card you want to edit, click Edit, and make and save your changes.

Copy a dashboard

You may want to use an existing dashboard as a starting point for a new dashboard to save you time. If so, click the gear icon and select Copy Dashboard, then edit the copy as needed.

Dashboard Cards

Dashboard cards contain pre-built visualizations of your data. Without cards, your dashboard is just a blank screen. When you add cards to a dashboard, you’re adding the data you want to see in that particular view. Dashboard cards live in the Card Library. From the Card Library you can:

Find Cards

The Dashboard Card Library contains the pre-built data visualization cards you use to create dashboards. You can preview real data in the card before adding it to their dashboard. To access the library, click the Add Card button from an open dashboard. You can then search for cards using the search bar, or browse for cards by category.

Card Library

Add Cards to Your Dashboard

In InsightIDR it is possible to save yourself some time by adding cards curated by Rapid7 experts to your dashboards. To add card(s) to dashboard:

  • Select your dashboard and click the Add Card button.
  • View the Card Library and click Add on desired cards.
  • Return to your dashboard and the cards should appear there.

Customize Pre-Built Cards

You can customize the name and description of pre-built cards before and after you add them to your dashboard.

To customize prebuilt cards before adding them:

  • Open your dashboard and click Add Card.
  • In the Card Library, find the card that you'd like to use and click Preview.
  • Click Edit to update the card's name and description.
  • Click Add.

You can also customize cards after they have been added to your dashboard. Click the Settings icon and click Edit.

Visualize card data in layers

To visualize your card data in layers, open the Edit modal and groupby up to five fields in your full query.

Build a Custom Card

You can build a custom card that is specific to your requirements.

To build a custom card:

  • Open your dashboard and click Add Card.
  • Click Create Card and enter the card details.
  • In the Query section of Select Data Source, you can either select a saved query from Log Search or type a valid query. As you type, syntax highlighting helps you build a query by displaying the different syntax elements in contrasting colors.
  • Click Add to Dashboard.

View Dashboards

Click the All Dashboards button to access a list of dashboards created by users in your organization. You can then open and view any dashboard in the list by clicking the dashboard name.

Filter Dashboards

Dashboard filtering gives you another level of flexibility to find the insights you want. By default, no filter is applied to your dashboard.

To apply a filter:

  • At the top of your dashboard, click the filter icon.
  • Click Edit and either select a saved query from Log Search or a type a valid query. As you type, syntax highlighting helps you build a query by displaying the different syntax elements in contrasting colors.
  • Click Apply. This filter will be applied to all cards on your dashboard.
  • Click Save to either save the filtered view to your current dashboard or use the filter to create a new dashboard.

You can also create reports from your filtered views by clicking Create Report.

Filter Examples

To filter your dashboard to focus on a specific asset or user, you could create the query “asset=ExampleCollector”. Then, click "Apply" to filter your dashboard. How you can leverage dashboard filters:

  • Create a network perimeter-themed dashboard and then use dashboard filters to focus on a specific IP address or asset.
  • Build a cloud-focused dashboard and then use dashboard filters to focus on activity associated with a single EC2 instance
  • Create a network activity dashboard and then use a domain filter like “dropbox” to focus on any Dropbox activity on a network

Manage Reports

You can easily create, schedule, and send reports based on their dashboards to anyone you want. To access your reports, go to Dashboards and Reporting and click the Reports tab.

Reports tab

Create and Schedule a Report

  1. From the InsightIDR left menu, click Dashboards and Reports.
  2. Select the dashboard that you want to report on.
  3. Click Create Report.

Create a report from your dashboard

  1. Enter a report name and description.
  2. Select your desired report format. You can select PDF, HTML, or both.
  3. Optionally, choose if you'd like the report to use saved dashboard filters.
  4. Click Add Schedule to generate and share your report on a specified schedule.
  5. Click Create Report to save your changes.

Report Details