chronograf/docs/GETTING_STARTED.md

# Getting Started with Chronograf

Let's get familiar with some of Chronograf's main features.
In the next sections, we'll show you how Chronograf makes the monitoring and alerting for your infrastructure easy to configure and maintain.

If you haven't installed Chronograf check out the [Installation Guide](https://github.com/influxdata/chronograf/blob/master/docs/INSTALLATION.md).

## Host List

The `HOST LIST` page is essentially Chronograf's home page.
It lists every host that is sending [Telegraf](https://github.com/influxdata/telegraf) data to your [InfluxDB](https://github.com/influxdata/influxdb) instance as well a some information about each host's CPU usage, load, and configured apps.

![Host List](https://github.com/influxdata/chronograf/blob/master/docs/images/host-list-gs.png)

The Chronograf instance shown above is connected to two hosts (`telegraf-neverland` and `telegraf-narnia`).
The first host is using 0.23%	of its total CPU and has a load of 0.00.
It has one configured app: `system`.
Apps are Telegraf [input plugins](https://github.com/influxdata/telegraf#input-plugins) that have dashboard templates in Chronograf.

Click on the app on the `HOST LIST` page to access its dashboard template.
The dashboard offers [pre-canned](https://github.com/influxdata/chronograf/tree/master/canned) graphs of the input's data that are currently in InfluxDB.
Here's the dashboard template for Telegraf's [system stats](https://github.com/influxdata/telegraf/tree/master/plugins/inputs/system) input plugin:

![System Graph Layout](https://github.com/influxdata/chronograf/blob/master/docs/images/system-layout-gs.gif)

Hover over the graphs to get additional information about the data, and select alternative time ranges for the graphs by using the time selector in the top right corner.

See the [README](https://github.com/influxdata/chronograf#dashboard-templates) for a complete list of the apps supported by Chronograf.

## Data Explorer

Chronograf's Data Explorer gives you the tools to dig in and create personalized visualizations of your data.

### Generate Visualizations with the Query Builder

Use the query builder to easily generate [InfluxQL](https://docs.influxdata.com/influxdb/latest/query_language/) queries and create beautiful visualizations:

![Data Exploration](https://github.com/influxdata/chronograf/blob/master/docs/images/data-exploration-gs.gif)

### Generate Visualizations with the Raw Query Editor

Paste an existing [InfluxQL](https://docs.influxdata.com/influxdb/latest/query_language/) query or write a query from scratch with the `InfluxQL` editor:

![Raw Editor](https://github.com/influxdata/chronograf/blob/master/docs/images/raw-editor-gs.gif)

### Other Features
View query results in tabular format (1), easily alter the query's time range with the time range selector (2), and save your graphs in individual exploration sessions (3):

![Data Exploration Extras](https://github.com/influxdata/chronograf/blob/master/docs/images/data-exploration-extras-gs.png)

## Create and View Alerts

Chronograf also offers a UI for generating [Kapacitor](https://github.com/influxdata/kapacitor) alerting rules and viewing those alerts as they occur.

### Create an Alert Rule
Easily create a Kapacitor alert rule on the `KAPACITOR RULES` page.
Access the `KAPACITOR RULES` page by hovering over the third item in the left navigation menu and selecting `Kapacitor Rules`.
Then, click on the `Create New Rule` button to create a new alert rule.

The example rule shown below operates on data from Telegraf's [system stats](https://github.com/influxdata/telegraf/tree/master/plugins/inputs/system) input plugin and sends a simple threshold alert to Slack:

![Example Rule](https://github.com/influxdata/chronograf/blob/master/docs/images/example-rule-gs.png)

The `Select a Time Series` section includes an [InfluxQL](https://docs.influxdata.com/influxdb/latest/query_language/) query builder which allows you to specify the target data for the alert rule.
The example shown above is working with the system stat's `usage_idle` [field](https://docs.influxdata.com/influxdb/v1.1/concepts/glossary/#field) in the `cpu` [measurement](https://docs.influxdata.com/influxdb/v1.1/concepts/glossary/#measurement).

The `Values` section defines the alert rule.
It supports three rule types:

* Threshold Rule - alert if the data cross a boundary
* Relative Rule - alert if the data change relative to the data in a different time range
* Deadman Rule - alert if no data are received for the specified time range

The example above creates a simple threshold rule that sends an alert when `usage_idle` values are less than 86% within the past minute.
Notice that the graph provides a preview of the target data and the configured rule boundary.

Lastly, the `Alert Message` section allows you to personalize the alert message and select an alert endpoint.
The rule shown above sends alert messages to a Slack channel.
Here's an example of the alert messages in Slack:

![Slack Alert](https://github.com/influxdata/chronograf/blob/master/docs/images/slack-alert-gs.png)

Currently, Chronograf supports the following alert endpoints: HipChat, PagerDuty, Sensu, Slack, SMTP, Telegram, and VictorOps.
You can configure your alert endpoints on the `CONFIGURE KAPACITOR` page.

### View all Active Alerts

See all active alerts on the `ALERTING` page, and filter them by `Name`,
`Level`, and `Host`:

![Alert View](https://github.com/influxdata/chronograf/blob/master/docs/images/alert-view-gs.png)