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Graphs & Live Polling
TowerOps provides powerful visualization capabilities for all monitored metrics. Every sensor, interface, and metric can be viewed as a time-series graph with multiple time ranges and a real-time live polling mode for instant feedback.
Accessing Graphs
Graphs are available throughout TowerOps wherever metrics are displayed:
- Device Overview: Click any metric card, traffic, latency, processors, memory, or any sensor, to open its graph
- Storage: Click a storage volume on the Overview tab to view usage over time
- Ports: Click the graph icon next to any interface to view its traffic graphs
- Checks: Click the graph icon next to a service check to view its results over time
- Neighbors, ARP, and MAC tables: Click the graph icon next to an entry to view the traffic on its interface
Time Ranges
All graphs support multiple time ranges for analyzing trends at different scales:
1 Hour
Recent activity with high detail
6 Hours
Half-day trends and patterns
12 Hours
Business day overview
24 Hours (Default)
Full day of activity
7 Days
Weekly trends and patterns
30 Days
Monthly overview and capacity planning
Live Polling Mode
Live mode provides real-time sensor monitoring with data updating every second. This is perfect for:
- Testing configuration changes and seeing immediate effects
- Monitoring system load during maintenance or upgrades
- Watching temperature changes during thermal testing
- Observing traffic patterns during load testing
- Real-time troubleshooting of performance issues
How Live Mode Works
- Polls sensors directly via SNMP every 1 second
- Displays a rolling 5-minute window (300 data points)
- Updates chart in real-time as new data arrives
- Automatically stops when you switch to another time range
- Works with remote pollers - polling happens on the agent
- Not offered on service-check graphs, which are historical only because checks run on their own interval
Using Live Mode
Open Any Graph
Navigate to any device and click on a metric graph (CPU, Memory, Temperature, Traffic, etc.)
Click the "Live" Button
Live is the first button in the time-range strip, highlighted like the other ranges when selected. Inside live mode a pulsing green indicator and a "Live polling" label appear above the chart.
Watch Real-Time Updates
The graph will start updating every second with fresh data. A pulsing green indicator shows that live polling is active.
Switch Back to Historical Data
Click any other time range button to stop live polling and view historical data
Supported Metrics in Live Mode
CPU / Processors
Real-time CPU load and utilization
Memory Usage
RAM utilization percentage
Temperature
Device and component temperatures
Voltage
Power supply voltages
Storage
Disk usage and capacity
Interface Traffic
Inbound and outbound rates per interface
Custom Metrics
Sessions, connections, and counts
Note About Traffic Graphs
Live mode works for interface traffic too, both for a single interface and for the device-wide traffic graph. Because a rate is the difference between two counter readings, the first tick or two after you switch to Live produce no point until two polls have been compared.
Tips for Using Graphs
Multiple Sensors on One Graph
When viewing aggregate metrics (like "Temperature" for all sensors), the graph automatically displays all sensors of that type with different colors for easy comparison.
Max and Min Values
Historical graphs (non-live) display the maximum and minimum values for the selected time range at the bottom of the chart for quick reference.
Traffic Graph Direction
Interface traffic graphs show inbound traffic as positive values (above zero) and outbound traffic as negative values (below zero) for easy visualization of bidirectional flow.
Automatic Unit Scaling
Traffic graphs automatically scale units (bps, Kbps, Mbps, Gbps) based on the data range for optimal readability. Hover over data points to see exact values.
Performance Tip
Live polling makes direct SNMP requests every second. While this provides instant feedback, keeping many live graphs open simultaneously may impact device performance. Use live mode for troubleshooting and testing, then switch back to historical ranges for routine monitoring.