Plugins and data sources
Usage limits for data sources are determined by your plan
Plugins connect SquaredUp to your data sources. There are lots of plugins available with new ones being made available regularly, see SquaredUp: Plugins.
Plugins can be used to add new data sources from Data sources on the left-hand menu, which gives you access to their corresponding Data Streams and Objects when creating Dashboards.
While configuration steps vary between plugins, many data sources require credentials like an API key, access token or other authentication methods.
On-prem plugins allow you to connect to APIs hosted on-prem.
If there isn't a plugin available for your data source, then you can use the Web API plugin to connect to any HTTP API that returns JSON. Alternatively, you can build and customize your own plugin.
Contact our support team in-app or via SquaredUp Support
List of documentation for data source plugins available
Adding a new data source
To add a data source click on the + next to Data Sources on the left-hand menu in SquaredUp. Search for the data source and click on it to open the Configure data source page.
You must then configure the parameters for your data source. Each data source may have slightly different fields to fill out. See the corresponding data source documentation for detailed information.
The first time you are adding the data source to a workspace, a window showing the progress of the data source indexing displays.
You can click Run in background to close this window but you will still have to wait for the indexing to complete before the data source becomes usable.
Once the process completes, you can do the following if the data source was added successfully:
- If you installed sample dashboards, click Explore Dashboards to be taken to the first sample dashboard in the list.
- If you did not install sample dashboards, click Add Dashboard to create a new dashboard.
- Click Close to go to the connected data source.
If the data source was not successfully installed, click Close to go to the failed data source.
What happens when I add a data source?
Most data sources will add the following to SquaredUp:
Data streams standardize data from all the different shapes and formats your tools use into a straightforward tabular format.
While creating a tile you can tweak data streams by grouping or aggregating specific columns.
Depending on the kind of data, SquaredUp will automatically suggest how to visualize the result, for example as a table or line graph.
Data streams can be either global or scoped:
- Global data streams are unscoped and return information of a general nature (e.g. "Get the current number of unused hosts").
- A scoped data stream gets information relevant to the specific set objects supplied in the tile scope (e.g. "Get the current session count for these hosts").
What are types?
Every object in SquaredUp has a type. Types are usually indexed when you add a data source as they often bring new types of objects (like domain controllers, tickets, projects, alerts, incidents, etc.).
You can also add custom types if you've indexed data from a custom data source to give those new objects nice looking types with an icon and the singular and plural forms of the type.
Many data sources will also add some default sample dashboards to help you get started.
- To read more about the dashboards installed with data sources take a look at the Dashboard Gallery.
- You can edit these dashboards, as well as create your own new dashboards. See Dashboards
Adding data sources across workspaces
While there are reasons to add multiple instances of the same data source in your workspace, there's no need to recreate an exact copy of a data source in each of the workspaces you want to use it.
So long as no access restrictions have been added to a data source, you can quickly add a data source that's been configured in one workspace to another by simply selecting it from the Data sources in my organization section of the Add a data source page.
Adding multiple data source instances
It's possible to add multiple instances of the same data source in SquaredUp, and there are many use cases where this may be a benefit.
For example, you can add multiple instances of the AzureDevops plugin if you want to connect to both your production and development environments.
The only condition for adding multiple instances of a data source is that each data source instance must be configured with a unique Display Name.
Data source overview page
Once you have added a data source, it will be listed under Data Sources on the left-hand menu, and the data source overview page will appear. Each data source has its own overview page, which is a management page showing all the indexed objects.
- The name of the data source.
The indexing status of the data source:
- Connected: Everything is working correctly.
- Failed: The data source configuration failed. Click More Info to find out more about the issue with the data source.
- When the last object finished indexing: Objects are automatically indexed every 12 hours. Admin users can use the Refresh button next to the status to manually index objects.
- An overview of the objects for the data source.
Installing sample dashboards
Click the Install sample dashboards button at the top of the page to open the Install sample dashboards window. From here, you can pick and choose sample dashboards to install/reinstall for the plugin.
Each time you click Install, the selected sample dashboards are added under a new folder with the name of the plugin. This will create duplicate folders with the same name if one already exists, so you don't have to worry about overwriting your existing dashboards.
This is useful if you chose not to install sample dashboards when you initially configured the plugin, if there are updates to the sample dashboards you want, or if you simply want to install more copies of the sample dashboard.
Managing a data source
Admin users can click Manage data source to open the Edit data source window for the plugin, where they can manage the data source's configuration settings.
Editing a data source's configuration settings will update the settings for every workspace that uses it in SquaredUp.
For detailed information on each plugin's configuration options, refer to the corresponding Data source article.
Removing a data source
Admin users can click the Remove button at the top of the page to remove the data source from the workspace. However any dashboard tiles configured to use that data source will no longer work.
Data source settings
Admin users can also manage data sources from Settings > Data Sources. This page provides a single place to manage all of your data sources. You are able to add, edit, index, and delete data sources from this page.
Access control
This feature is available with an Enterprise plan
Data source access control works differently to workspace access control. Access control on a data source restricts which users are allowed to link a data source to a workspace, rather than which users are allowed to read data from the data source.
Access control functions per instance of a data source. Meaning that if you have multiple instances of a data source you must manage data source access for each instance individually.
Access control is configured in the Edit data source window and is enabled via the restrict access to this data source toggle. By default, Restrict access to this data source is set to off, meaning that the data source can be viewed, edited and administered by anyone. Enable this toggle to manage manage access to a data source instance.
- Tailor access to the data source by selecting individual users or user groups from the dropdown and giving them Link to workspace or Full Control permissions.
- By default, the user setting the permissions for the data source is given Full Control and the Everyone group will be given Link to workspace permissions.
- If a user is not available from the dropdown, you can invite them to the data source by typing in their email address and then clicking Add. The new user is sent an email inviting them to create an account on SquaredUp. Once the account has been created they will gain access to the organization.
Like workspaces, administrators have special ‘administrative’ access to all data sources. This means they see all data sources listed under Settings > Data Sources, and they can modify data source properties, including the ACL, for any data source.
Administrators do not have any special access to data from data sources unless they add themselves to the data source ACL.
Data source troubleshooting
Sometimes data source indexing fails, perhaps due to permissions or changes in the source system. A red indicator next to Settings at the bottom of SquaredUp will let you know if a data source has failed. On the Settings page any data sources that have failed are shown with a red indicator.
More info will expand to show you more of the message about the issue.
- Help article will take you to the data source article.
- Contact Support will open the Submit a support ticket page.