Navigating Densify

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Once you obtain your Densify instance details and credentials you can log into the user interface.

Click on the provided URL.

You will be prompted to change your password. Follow the instructions provided. See Resetting Your Own Password.

Densify Console Landing Page

See Browser Requirements for detailed browser requirements.

When you first log into your Densify instance, you will see the landing page with the option to add connections via the Public Cloud Connections wizard. Use the wizard to collect your infrastructure configuration, workload data and load it into Densify for analysis.

It may take up to 24 hours from the time you create the connection to data being collected, loaded and analyzed. If after 24 hours, there is still no data, or if your subscription or trial has expired, contact Contact [email protected] for details.

The pre-data landing page appears immediately after you login into your Densify instance for the first time.

You need to first download and configure the Densify Connector. See Installing the Densify Connector for details on installing and configuring the Densify Connector. You can also click the corresponding Play Now button to see video instructions.

If your Densify instance has pre-configured connections, you may see the following, no-data landing page. Contact [email protected] to review the collected data and to proceed to the Densify Console.

Densify Console

The Densify Console is available to all Densify SaaS users after bypassing the initial Densify landing page. A menu at the top of the console provides you with access to features and reports applicable to your Densify user role. The main report content page, filters, settings, and available toolbar items are dependent on the menu feature you select.

The first page displayed after you log into the Densify Console is dependent on the type of data collected in your Densify instance:

By the Numbers—The By the Numbers page is displayed if you have on-premise, private cloud data collected, such as VMware infrastructure data. See Understanding the By the Numbers Report for further details of this report.

Only the options for which you are collecting and analyzing data are displayed in your Densify Console.

Page Navigation

Use the breadcrumbs in the upper left corner or click the Back button, in the top-right corner of the page, to return to the parent dashboard. Do not use the browser's Back button for navigation within Densify. You will be logged out of your session. See Navigating Densify for other features of the Densify user interface.

Common UI Features

The common features are described below. They appear only when applicable.

The public cloud reports contain some features that are not available on the Private Cloud dashboards and reports.

Table: Common UI Features

Feature	Description
Logo	The logo image in the upper left corner takes you back to the default landing page. Typically this is the Optimization Overview page for your public cloud environments, but it depends on the type of data you are collecting.
Menu	Allows you to navigate to the various features of the Densify Console. The features are grouped into the following menu sections: PUBLIC CLOUD—contains public cloud optimization opportunity dashboards and access to the public cloud connection wizard; CONTAINERS—contains Kubernetes Container optimization opportunity reports; PRIVATE CLOUD—contains private cloud optimization opportunity reports, access to the Control Console and Densify Connector; DEMAND PLANNING—contains private cloud features such as transform to cloud, route and reserve demand, plan and manage supply, and forecast reports; MY REPORTS—contains Densify business intelligence reporting and analytics through the JasperReport Server. In general, menu dropdown items and tabs are displayed only if there is applicable data. For example, with only public cloud data, menu items related to private cloud, demand planning, and automation are not displayed.
Global Filter	Allows you to set and control the scope of systems on which most components of the user interface report upon, i.e., reporting, managing of supply and demand, etc. For details, see Using the Global Filter.
Tabs	Within a topic page, tabs allow you to navigate to the different views or reports available.
Pagination	Allows you to navigate to a specific page, to the first/last page, or to the next/prev page of a multi-page table or report. The current page is highlighted.
Pop Up Descriptions	Some columns in tabular reports provide a pop up description of the values shown in the column. Hover over this icon to see the description.
Go Back	Takes you back to the parent page/dashboard. Densifyrecommends using the breadcrumbs feature. See below. Note: Do not use your browser's Back button for navigation within Densify as that will close your session.
Setting Options	The setting option is dynamic, depending on your current display. For example, if you are displaying the Transform to Cloud page, selecting this icon displays the Transform to Cloud Options dialog box. See Transform to Cloud Options. If you are displaying a report with capacity displayed, selecting this icon allows you to report using either the average VM size or a standard VM size. See Reporting Based on Average or Standard VM.
Export to Excel	Exports tabular reports to Microsoft® Excel. This icon is only displayed if the export option is available for the displayed dashboard.
Online Help	Connects to the Densify online help pages. The online help is located on the Densify website.
Profile & Settings	This dialog box provides the following: Shows you the name of the currently logged in user. Shows you the Densify version. Provides access to the license compliance reports. See License Compliance Report. Allows you to reset your user password and log out of Densify. If you are a member of the SaaS_User_Admin group, you can access the user management window to add, edit or delete Densify SaaS user accounts. See Managing Densify User Accounts for details on managing users through the Densify Console.
Download Connector	Downloads the Densify Connector for VMware data collection. For details, see Installing the Densify Connector.

Data Controls on Tabular Reports

The controls, in the upper right corner of the page, provide options for managing and viewing your data more effectively.

Table: Dashboard Data Controls

Icon	Description
	Click this icon to open the filter table to create advanced filters to locate specific container or pods. This advanced filter is not available on all tabular reports. See Using Container Filters
	Allows you to search for any type of data in the displayed columns. i.e. for a pod or container name. Typically, you will search for items in the first column, but you can search for a value in the other columns. Click the icon and enter your search string. All matching rows are displayed in the table. You must enter a string of alpha-numeric characters. Wildcard characters are not supported. If the data is on multiple pages (i.e. 1 of 5), all pages are searched for the matching string.
	Click this icon to export the content of the currently displayed table to .CSV format.
	Click this icon to configure the table to display only the columns of interest. The default settings are re-applied when you navigate away from this page. Columns required to identify the container cannot be excluded. i.e. Cluster, namespace.
	If there are more than 50 rows in this table, multiple pages will be indicated here. Click the right/left arrows to move to the next/previous page of a multi-page report. You will see a vertical scroll bar since all 50 rows cannot be displayed.

Sorting Tabular Data

By default the table is sorted by cluster name. You can sort the content of this table using any of the available columns, by clicking the column header.

Click the column header to sort the table, in ascending order, using the content of the selected table as the sort key.
Click the column header again, to sort the table, in descending order, again using the content of the selected column as the sort key.
Click the column header a third time to clear the sort and return to the default, sorted by Cluster.

An up/down arrow is displayed in the column header to indicate the column is being used to sort the content of the table.

Sorting is not persistent between pages, tabs or login sessions.

Documentation and Training

The Densify help system provides the complete set of Densify documentation in an online, searchable format: