Splunk 6.4 has added support of 12 new advanced visualizations directly in the Visualization panel. Some of the new visualizations in Splunk 6.4 were possible in the earlier version of Splunk, that is, Splunk 6.3 using the D3 extension plugin along with the use of customized JS and CSS. Splunk 6.4 adds capability to create any new visualization that can be installed as a plugin directly and share it with other fellow Splunk users.
The following is the list of visualizations introduced in Splunk 6.4 that can be selected and used from the Visualization tab of the Splunk dashboard. When it is said that Splunk 6.4 supports inbuilt visualizations, this means that these visualizations can be directly downloaded from the app store, and the visualizations gets added in the Visualization tab.
The following is the list of visualizations that we have covered in this book in various chapters of visualization using custom CSS and JS. In Splunk 6.4, these visualization apps can be directly downloaded from the Splunk app store and can be used from the Visualization tab of the Splunk dashboard. At the time of writing this book, not all the 12 visualizations apps are available on the Splunk app store, but they are expected to be there soon. The link for the apps is available on the app store.
The method used in Splunk 6.3 to implement these visualizations will still run in Splunk 6.4; it is just that instead of dealing with custom CSS and JS, it is now available as a ready-to-use app from the app store. The following is a list of these applications:
- Sankey diagram
- Punchcard visualization
- Calendar heatmap
- Parallel coordinates
The following are the visualizations that are newly introduced in Splunk, which can be installed as an extension and can be directly used from the Visualization tab from the Splunk dashboard.
- Timeline: The timeline chart is used to visualize data points over time. It depicts the value of a given parameter over time. This kind of visualization can be used to monitor network activities, climatic changes, and so on.
- Status indicator: The status indicator is a variant of single-value visualization. This visualization shows an icon and value together. Depending on the value, icon, color, and so on, it can be customized in this visualization.
- Horizon charts: The horizon chart is a suggested visualization that is used to compare data over time among many items within a category. It combines position and color to compare patterns of elements in a category over time. It can be used to compare indexes and scripts of share market, and so on.
- Treemap: Treemap is a widely used visualization that shows hierarchical data using rectangles and colors. It can be used to show hard disk space usage analytics, export/import of products, electoral data over different countries and states, and so on.
- Bullet graph: The bullet graph is a variant of bar chart visualization. It is very useful in showing the value of the variable along with its target value. It also shows whether the current value is good, bad, or satisfactory. Basically, it is a three-in-one bar chart that shows important information of three types of the factor in just one visualization. Let's say, the bullet graph can be used to show the sales along with the target for the given month. It also shows a scale of whether what has been achieved is good, bad, or satisfactory.
- Location tracker: Basically this graph visualization can be used to show information on maps. A device such an, automobile can be located on the map as per its reported coordinates.