Kibana dashboards provide analytics and visualization with performance enhancements, enabling better decision-making and an improved understanding of your data. It’s easy to install, configure, and maintain, and it provides superior performance in rendering visualizations. As a free open-source plugin, it allows you to visualize data in Elasticsearch (a distributed, open-source search and analytics engine for all types of data) as well as navigate the entire Elastic Stack (the core Elastic products: Elasticsearch, Kibana, Beats, and Logstash). Since its development in 2013, Kibana has grown to become the window into the Elastic Stack itself, offering a portal for users and organizations.
When considering Kibana, evaluate the areas below:
- Performance – Consider your data sets: how many are there? What types of data? Are data fields high in cardinality? Are you loading minimal amounts of JavaScript code in the browser? Do you tend to make a lot of requests to the server?
- Accessibility – Consider what type of access your users need. Are there any disability needs that need to be met? Kibana invests heavily in making their products accessible to all
- Localizations – Consider what your localized needs are for languages. Kibana can translate data to match localized needs like language
- Conventions – Consider the change to developers skills to understand the new conventions in the Typescript language for Kibana/Elasticsearch
- Backward Compatibility – Consider the compatibility of the development of key plugins with your system for minor to major upgrades?
- Routing, Navigation and URL – Decide what available tools you would like your developers to use for building the routing and browser navigation experience
- Testing and Stability – Make note of Unit Testing Frameworks, Stability, and Typescript
Determine your reporting strategy for your organization:
- How complex are the reporting needs of your organization?
- How many users need access to reporting?
- How complex is the security setup required for your reporting?
- How much data is required for your reporting?
- What KPI’s are you looking to find?
What type of internal resources/support will be utilized when implementing this solution?
- Will your company have resource(s) to dedicate to the implementation?
- Will your company have resource(s) to utilize for the support/ maintenance of the implemented solution?
Utilize Watcher UI for automated notifications:
- UI of Kibana that creates and edits alerts based on thresholds in the reporting
By keeping these considerations and best practices in mind as you begin your Kibana implementation journey, you’ll be able to set your project up for success. Kibana implementation instructions are not as easy and straightforward as promoted: Utilize experienced contractorsーthe learning curve is steep. Our team of consultants is ready to assist with your Kibana implementation. Check out the Kibana service area page of our website here for more information, or reach out to [email protected] for questions.
