Observability
Observability aggregates resource, metric, log, alert, and health data from connected components. It helps users view running status from global, component, and resource perspectives, and supports operations analysis and report generation.
Before using observability capabilities, connect infrastructure components through Cloud Federation and enable resource, metric, or log collection as needed. After access and collection are configured, users can view data at different levels through Home, Platform Health, dashboards or custom dashboards, views, reports, Assets, Infrastructure, Metrics Explorer, Log Explorer, collection configuration, and alerts and notifications.
If a page does not show expected data, first check whether the corresponding component is connected, whether collection is enabled, and whether the latest collection or synchronization is normal.
Core Concepts
Before using Observability, learn the following concepts about data sources, analysis views, and collection configurations:
| Concept | Description |
|---|---|
| Data Source | A component or environment that is connected through Cloud Federation and has collection enabled. Resource, metric, and log data on observability pages depends on the connection scope and collection configuration. |
| Dashboard | A visualization page that displays resource health, capacity, performance, and asset status. Users can use preset dashboards or create custom dashboards by combining frequently used views. |
| View | A reusable chart or data display unit for viewing resources and metrics from a specific perspective. |
| Report Template | A template that defines report content and generation method. It can be used to generate operations reports on demand or on a schedule. |
| Generation Record | A historical record generated after report generation. It is used to view generation results and download generated report files. |
| Metric | Numeric data that describes resource running status, such as CPU, memory, capacity, network, or service status. |
| Log | Runtime, operation, or audit text records from connected components. Logs are used for troubleshooting, anomaly diagnosis, and operation traceability. |
| Asset | A resource object synchronized to ZCF, such as a physical host, VM instance, container resource, or storage resource. |
| Platform Health | A health summary of ZCF key platform services, health domains, component details, and external dependencies. It is used to identify control plane, data path, and capacity risks. |
| Health Domain | A grouping view for platform health checks. It groups check items by core services, monitoring collection, alert evaluation, notification chain, capacity risk, and basic dependencies to help users identify the impact area of an issue. |
| Alarm Center | The entry for viewing alarm messages and managing alarm rules, notification channels, notification policies, and message templates. |
| Collection Configuration | A configuration that controls the collection scope of resource, metric, and log data. After collection is configured correctly, related data becomes available for queries, dashboards, and reports. |
Access Observability Pages
After switching to Global Management in the upper-right corner of the main menu, use the following pages for ZCF Observability tasks. Different pages serve different operations tasks: Home is used for quick checks, Dashboards & Reports is used for detailed analysis, and Operations is used to view platform health, query metrics and logs, manage collection configurations, and handle alerts.
| Page | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Home | View resource scale, health status, capacity usage, and performance status of connected components. This page is suitable for daily checks and overall environment review. |
| Dashboards & Reports | View global or component-level dashboards, create and maintain custom dashboards, views, and report templates, and generate reports on demand or on a schedule. |
| Operations |
|
Note: Observability data depends on component connection and collection configuration. If a page has no data, check whether the related component is connected through Cloud Federation and whether resource, metric, or log collection is enabled.Configure Data Collection
Resource, metric, and log data are the basis of observability analysis. Enable the required collection items when connecting components through Cloud Federation. After access is complete, use the collection pages to check collection status, synchronization results, and collection configurations, and adjust collection policies when data is missing or the collection scope changes.
Configure Resource Collection
Before configuring resource collection, make sure the following conditions are met:
- The target component is connected to ZCF from the Platform Access list or area under , and connection verification is complete. Resource collection was selected during access, or resource collection has been enabled later in platform configuration.
- The current account has the required Cloud Federation and resource collection permissions.
Resource Collection is used to maintain the resource synchronization scope of connected components and view resource synchronization status. After resource collection is normal, Assets, Infrastructure, Dashboards, and Reports can display the corresponding resource data.
Note: After adjusting resource collection configuration, go to Assets, Infrastructure, Dashboards, or Reports to confirm whether resource data meets expectations.Configure Metric Collection
Before configuring metric collection, make sure the following conditions are met:
- The target component is connected to ZCF from the Platform Access list or area under , and connection verification is complete. Metric collection was selected during access, or collection has been added later on the Metric Collection Management page.
- The target component supports metric collection, and the current account has the required Cloud Federation and metric collection permissions.
Metric Collection Management is used to view and maintain metric collection status for connected components. After metric collection is normal, Metrics Summary, Metrics Explorer, Dashboards, and Reports can display corresponding metric data.
Note: If dashboards or Metrics Explorer lack metric data, first confirm that metric collection status is normal, and then check the target component connection status.Configure Log Collection
Before configuring log collection, make sure the following conditions are met:
- The target component is connected to ZCF from the Platform Access list or area under , and connection verification is complete. Log collection was selected during access, or collection has been added later on the Log Collection Management page.
- The target component supports log collection, and the current account has the required Cloud Federation and log collection permissions.
- If the target component requires audit or log output to be enabled first, complete the configuration according to the component requirements.
Log Collection Management is used to view and maintain log collection status and collection targets for connected components. After log collection is normal, Log Summary, Log Explorer, and Live Tail can display corresponding log data.
Note: If Log Summary, Log Explorer, or Live Tail lacks data, first confirm that log collection status and collection targets are correct, and then check the target component connection status.Review Runtime Overview
Use the Home, Dashboard, Assets, and Infrastructure pages to view resource scale, health status, capacity usage, performance trends, and resource distribution across the connected environment. This workflow is useful for routine checks, environment overview, and resource status confirmation.
View the Global Overview
Home shows the resource and operations overview of ZCF. It helps users understand resource scale, health status, capacity usage, and performance status of connected components on one page. After ZNS is connected, Home can show an overview of VPC and other network service resources. For detailed ZSphere virtualization data, use virtualization dashboards, views, and reports.
| Area | Description |
|---|---|
| Global Core Status | Displays resource overview, health overview, and capacity usage to help users understand the overall status of the current environment. |
| Cloud Platform · Basic Resources | Displays the scale and distribution of cloud platform resources, such as VM instances, physical hosts, networks, and capacity-related resources. |
| Network Services | After ZNS is connected, displays the status of VPC and other network service resources to help users understand network resource status from Home. |
| Container · Orchestration | Displays the status of Kubernetes clusters, nodes, workloads, and pods to help users understand container environment status. |
| Storage · Distributed | Displays the status and health of storage servers, disks, and related storage resources to help users understand storage availability. |
| Performance Insights · Resource Consumption Rankings | Displays performance-related rankings to help users quickly locate resource objects that need attention. |
- Log in to ZCF.
- In the upper-right corner of the main menu, switch to Global Management.
- In the main menu, click Home.
- View global core status, resource overview, health overview, capacity usage, network service resource status, and performance rankings.
Note: Home data depends on component access and collection status. If a resource area is empty, check whether the corresponding component is connected through Cloud Federation and whether resource, monitoring, or log collection is enabled. Detailed resources, capacity, performance, and inventory data of the ZSphere virtualization platform are available in virtualization dashboards, views, and reports.View Platform Health
The Platform Health page shows the running status of key ZCF services, health domains, component details, and external dependencies. Use this page for routine inspection, pre-upgrade checks, and fault isolation. A health domain summarizes check results by area, such as monitoring collection, alert evaluation, notification delivery, capacity risks, and basic dependencies.
Note: Platform health focuses on ZCF platform services and key service chains. For business resource metrics and logs, use monitoring queries, log queries, dashboards, or resource details.View Dashboards
Dashboards show resource health, capacity, performance, and asset status from a global or component perspective. You can view preset dashboards or open custom dashboards for frequently used inspection and analysis perspectives. After ZSphere is connected and collection is enabled, virtualization data such as availability, capacity, performance, and asset inventory is available from the Virtualization dashboard.
| Dashboard | Use Case |
|---|---|
| Operations Overview | View the overall status of connected components. Use it for daily checks and cross-component status review. |
| Cloud Dashboard | View overview, availability, capacity, performance, and asset inventory for cloud resources. |
| Virtualization Dashboard | View availability, capacity, performance, and asset inventory for virtualization platform resources, including ZSphere resources. |
| Container Dashboard | View overview, availability, capacity, performance, control plane, and asset inventory for Kubernetes-related resources. |
| Storage Dashboard | View overview, availability, capacity, performance, and asset inventory for storage resources. |
| Custom Dashboard | View user-defined combinations of views. Use custom dashboards to save common perspectives by business, resource type, or team responsibility. |
- In the upper-right corner of the main menu, switch to Global Management.
- Go to .
- Select the operations overview, or select the cloud dashboard, virtualization dashboard, container dashboard, or storage dashboard from Specialized Dashboards. You can also open a custom dashboard.
- Review overview, availability, capacity, performance, and asset inventory information on the selected dashboard.
Note: Dashboard data depends on resource, metric, and log collection. If the Virtualization dashboard has no data, or the page indicates that the current product is not deployed or collection is not enabled, check whether ZSphere is connected through ZCF Cloud Federation and whether the required resource or metric collection is enabled.View Assets
Assets is used to view and search resources across components. It is suitable for resource inventory, locating abnormal objects, and drilling down from Home, dashboards, or alarm messages. Users can locate specific objects by resource type, and then view resource details and related metrics.
| Item | Description |
|---|---|
| Select Resource Type | Switch between resource types such as host, VM instance, and pod. |
| Search Resources | Search resources by field and value. |
| Lists and Relationships | View resource lists by supported grouping methods, and view related metrics or resource relationships in resource details. |
| View Resource Details | View resource details and related monitoring information. |
- In the upper-right corner of the main menu, switch to Global Management.
- Go to .
- Select the resource type to view.
- Search resources by field and value, or view the resource list by supported grouping methods.
- Open resource details to view resource information, related metrics, or resource relationships provided by the page.
Note: If the target resource is not displayed, confirm that the corresponding component is connected and resource collection is complete. If resource status or metrics are abnormal, continue troubleshooting in Metrics Explorer, Log Explorer, or Alarm Center.View Infrastructure
Infrastructure shows base resource structure and capacity distribution from global, Cloud Federation, cloud, storage, and container perspectives.
| Item | Description |
|---|---|
| Global Overview | View total asset count and resource counts for cloud, storage, and container resources. |
| Capacity Distribution | View CPU, memory, storage, and other capacity usage across connected platforms. |
| Network Resource Summary | View summaries of L3 networks, L2 networks, IP addresses, security groups, load balancers, and other network resources. |
- In the upper-right corner of the main menu, switch to Global Management.
- Go to .
- Switch among tabs such as Overview, Cloud Federation, Cloud, Storage, and Container (K8S).
- View resource count, capacity distribution, resource status, or network resource summary.
Build Analysis Views and Reports
Use built-in or custom views to preserve common analysis dimensions, and organize views into report templates for on-demand or scheduled report generation. This workflow is useful for periodic checks, capacity analysis, performance review, and asset inventory output.
View and Maintain Views
Views are reusable chart views for resource or metric analysis. Built-in views are grouped by cloud, virtualization, container, and storage. You can also maintain custom views for later checks, report output, or troubleshooting.
Note: Built-in views are typically used for viewing and cloning. Custom views can be edited, cloned, or deleted. Virtualization views can be used to build custom dashboards or report templates.Create a Custom View
Create a custom view when built-in views do not cover a specific resource or metric analysis requirement. After a custom view is created, you can reuse it from the view list or add it to a report template.
Note: Custom views are useful for recurring analysis dimensions. Before creating a view, make sure that the required resource or metric data has been collected. Otherwise, the preview and later reports might have no data.Save a Metric Query as a View
For metric queries that you need to revisit, save the query conditions and display settings as a view. The saved view can be reused from the view list or added to a report template.
Create a Custom Dashboard
A custom dashboard combines frequently used views on one page. Use custom dashboards to create reusable observation perspectives by business, resource type, or team responsibility.
Note: Data in a custom dashboard depends on the data sources and collection status of the selected views. If a view has no data, check the corresponding component connection and collection configuration.Create a Report Template
A report template combines multiple views into an operations report that can be generated on demand or on a schedule. Create report templates from existing views for capacity analysis, performance review, asset inventory, or availability checks.
Note: If the available views do not meet your reporting needs, create a custom view first and then add it to the report template.View and Maintain Report Templates
Report Template defines report content and generation methods. View built-in templates for capacity, performance, asset inventory, and availability, or clone existing templates to create new report templates.
Generate and Download Reports
Reports can be generated from report templates on demand or on a schedule. View generation history on the Generation Record tab and download generated report files.
Troubleshoot Metrics and Logs
Use Metrics Summary and Log Summary to understand data volume, source distribution, and trends, and then use Metrics Explorer or Log Explorer to locate issues by metric, field, level, and time range. This workflow is useful for performance analysis, abnormal log investigation, and real-time log diagnosis.
View Metrics Summary
Before viewing metrics summary, make sure the target component is connected to ZCF and metric collection is enabled.
Metrics Summary shows whether metric data is entering ZCF normally. Use this page to confirm the metric ingestion scale and source distribution before opening Metrics Explorer for further analysis.
| Item | Description |
|---|---|
| Collection Overview | View connected platform count, online status, metric count, and total metric data volume. |
| Source Distribution | View metric count and data ratio by connected platform to determine whether data volume is as expected. |
| Integrated Platforms | View connected monitoring platforms and their data volume to locate platforms with missing metric data. |
- In the upper-right corner of the main menu, switch to Global Management.
- Go to .
- View the collection overview and confirm whether metric data is continuously entering ZCF.
- View source distribution and the connected component list to determine whether the data volume of each component is as expected.
Note: If a component has no metric data, check the component connection status, metric collection configuration, and collection status first. If only some metrics are abnormal, continue troubleshooting in Metrics Explorer.Query Metrics
Before querying metrics, make sure the target component is connected to ZCF and metric collection is enabled. The platforms, resources, and metrics that can be queried depend on component connection status, metric collection status, and current user permissions.
Metrics Explorer queries metric trends by platform, resource, and metric conditions. It is suitable for further locating affected objects after performance fluctuations, capacity pressure, or resource exceptions are found. Frequently used queries can be saved as views for later analysis.
Note: If the target metric cannot be queried, check whether the target component is connected, and confirm that metric collection configuration, collection status, and current user permissions are normal. To reuse the current query conditions, save the metrics query as a view.View Log Summary
Before viewing log summary, make sure the target component is connected to ZCF and log collection is enabled.
Log Summary shows the overall status of log collection and ingestion. Users can use log volume, event count, source ranking, log trends, and level distribution to quickly determine whether logs are continuously entering ZCF and which sources require attention.
| Item | Description |
|---|---|
| Time Range | Switch the statistics time range and observe whether log volume, event count, and source ranking change over time. |
| Log Overview | View total data volume, log entries, ingestion rate, and active data sources to confirm whether logs are continuously entering ZCF. |
| Source Ranking | View components or data sources with high log volume to locate sources of log spikes or abnormal collection scale. |
| Level Distribution | View the proportions of ERROR, WARN, INFO, and other log levels to identify scopes with concentrated error or warning logs. |
- In the upper-right corner of the main menu, switch to Global Management.
- Go to .
- Select a time range and view the log overview and log volume trend.
- View source ranking and level distribution to determine whether there are log spikes, collection interruptions, or concentrated error logs.
Note: If a log source or level is abnormal, open Log Explorer and continue retrieving log details by time range, source, and level.Query Logs
Before querying logs, make sure the target component is connected to ZCF and log collection is enabled. The available sources and fields depend on log collection status, log parsing results, and current user permissions.
Log Explorer retrieves and analyzes historical logs. Users can narrow the scope by time, source, level, keyword, or structured field to locate abnormal time ranges, log sources, and key log content.
Note: If log query results are empty, check whether the target component is connected, and confirm that log collection configuration, collection status, query time range, and current user permissions are normal.Diagnose Logs with Live Tail
Before using Live Tail, make sure the target component is connected to ZCF, log collection is normal, and logs are being generated at the current time.
Live Tail is used to view the latest logs that are continuously written. It is suitable for observing immediate output while reproducing an issue, performing an operations task, or verifying collection status. Compared with log query, Live Tail is better for seeing log changes that are happening now.
Note: If Live Tail does not return logs, first confirm that the target component is connected, and check whether log collection configuration, collection status, and current user permissions are normal.Manage Alarms and Notifications
Alarms and notifications turn metric anomalies, event risks, and resource issues into a trackable workflow. Users can confirm data sources and collection status first, define risk detection conditions with alarm rules, send important alarms to the right teams through message templates, notification channels, and notification policies, and view and handle risks in alarm messages.
Configuration Workflow
- Confirm that the target component is connected and that resource, metric, log, or event alarm data sources are enabled as needed.
- Create an alarm rule to define trigger rules, alarm severity, and alarm scope for metric risks.
- Create a message template to define the content format of external notifications.
- Create a notification channel for DingTalk, WeCom, email, Webhook, or SMS delivery.
- Create a notification policy to match alarms that require external notification and bind notification channels.
- View and handle alarm messages, including alarm status, notification delivery results, and follow-up actions.
Note: Component event alarm integration is an access or initialization capability that brings component-side events into ZCF Alarm Center. After integration is complete, event alarms can use the same notification channels and notification policies as resource alarms.Core Concepts
| Concept | Description |
|---|---|
| Alarm Message | A risk record generated after an alarm rule or event integration is triggered. It is used to view the affected object, severity, trigger time, and handling status. |
| Alarm Rule | A rule that defines trigger logic, severity, and scope for metric or resource risks, and generates alarm messages when matched. |
| Notification Channel | An external destination for alarm delivery, such as DingTalk, WeCom, email, Webhook, or SMS. |
| Notification Policy | A rule that matches alarms by severity, source, resource type, or other attributes and decides whether to send them to external channels. |
| Message Template | A template that defines the content and format of an external notification. Notification channels reference message templates. |
| Event Alarm Integration | A configuration that brings event alarms reported by connected components into ZCF for unified viewing and notification. |
Enable Event Alarm Integration
Before enabling event alarm integration, make sure the target component is connected to ZCF through Cloud Federation, the connection is normal, and the current administrator has the required Cloud Federation and Alarm Center permissions.
After you connect a platform or component through Cloud Federation, you can enable event alarm integration on the Event Alarm Integration page. Once enabled, event alarms reported by the component enter ZCF Alarm Center. You can view these alarms in Alarm Messages and use notification policies to send important alarms to external channels.
Note: Event alarm integrations apply to event alarms reported by connected components. For resource alarms triggered by metric thresholds, manage alarm rules.Create an Alarm Rule
Before creating an alarm rule, make sure the target component is connected to ZCF and the required resource or metric collection is enabled.
Alarm rules define how ZCF identifies resource or metric risks. Users can configure trigger rules, alarm severity, and alarm scope by platform type, resource type, and alarm item. After a rule is triggered, ZCF generates an alarm message.
Note: An alarm rule only defines how a risk is detected. To send triggered alarms to external channels, configure notification channels and notification policies.Create a Message Template
Before creating a custom message template, confirm the content format required by the target channel. For example, chatbot channels often use Markdown, email may use HTML or plain text, and Webhook channels may use JSON.
Message templates define the content format of external alarm notifications. System templates cover common notification scenarios. Create a custom template only when different notification channels, teams, or services require different notification content, formats, or fields.
Note: To delete a template that is referenced by a notification channel, change the referenced template in the channel first. After changing a template, test the channels that use it.Create a Notification Channel
ZCF supports DingTalk, WeCom, email, Webhook, and SMS notification channels. Before creating a channel, prepare the information required by the channel type you plan to use:
- Make sure ZCF can access the target notification system or receiving endpoint.
- For DingTalk or WeCom, create a chatbot in the target group, obtain the Webhook URL, and prepare the keyword, signing secret, or IP allowlist information required by the chatbot security settings.
- For email, configure and test the mail server first, and prepare recipient, CC, or BCC email addresses.
- For Webhook, prepare the receiver URL, request method, and authentication headers.
- For SMS, prepare the provider credentials, SMS signature, template or API URL, and confirm that the SMS quota is sufficient.
- If custom notification content is required, create a message template first. You can also use a system template.
Notification channels define external destinations for alarm delivery. Alarms are displayed in by default. To send alarms to DingTalk, WeCom, email, Webhook, or SMS, create a channel first, and then reference the channel in a notification policy.
Note: A notification channel only defines where alarms can be sent. To send specific alarms to the channel, create a notification policy.Create a Notification Policy
Before creating a notification policy, make sure at least one notification channel has been created and tested, and confirm which alarms need external notification.
Notification policies define which alarms are sent to external channels and how notifications are grouped and deduplicated. Users can filter alarms by alarm attributes, bind one or more notification channels, and configure recovery notifications, grouping, and repeat reminders.
View and Handle Alarm Messages
The Alarm Messages page centralizes resource alarms and event alarms. Use it to filter active risks, confirm handling status, check notification delivery, and continue troubleshooting from related resource, monitoring, or log pages. If an alarm matches a notification policy and the policy references notification channels, ZCF sends the alarm to the corresponding external channels. You can check the delivery result in the alarm details and confirm receipt in the third-party channel.
Note: If an alarm is not delivered to an external channel, check the delivery details first, and then verify the notification channel and notification policy configurations.Manage Alarm Rules
Before managing alarm rules, make sure the alarm rules that need maintenance already exist.
Use the Alarm Rules page to view and maintain built-in and custom rules. You can enable, disable, edit, clone, import, export, or delete rules as supported, and continuously refine the risk detection scope.
Note: After adjusting alarm rules, continue monitoring the number and trigger frequency of alarm messages to confirm that the rule changes meet expectations.