Summary Tab
The Summary tab shows an object's high-level characteristics and summarizes the information that appears on the object's Monitor and Manage tabs.
Guidelines
General
- Provide a summary of the object's high-level characteristics--don't put all information about the object on the Summary tab.
- All information on the Summary tab must appear on another tab.
Key Information
- Use a 96 x 124 pixel graphic.
Exception: A virtual machine uses a 160 x 120 pixel thumbnail of the console screen.
- Include the object name in bold, followed by the key attributes, which include a label and a value. Left-align labels and end with a colon (:).
Metrics
The metrics on the Summary tab typically show resource use, but can also show compliance or health information.
- If the object provides resources, show the amount used, amount available, and amount of capacity.
- If the object consumes resources, provide usage metrics.
- Favor actionable metrics over non-actionable metrics.
Issues
Issues appear on the Summary tab when one or more issues require user attention.
The vSphere Web Client has the following types of issues.
- vCenter alarms
- Configuration issues
- Profile compliance issues
- Virtual machine issues
Portlets
- Include the following portlets in the Summary tab:
- Portlets that roll up information from the Monitor and Manage tabs. Ensure that these portlets link to their respective tabs.
- A Tags portlet that shows the tags assigned to the object.
- A Notes portlet that shows the metadata associated with the object.
- Provide a Related Objects portlet if the object has a one-to-one relationship with other objects. Link this portlet to the Related Objects tab, which shows the object's many-to-many and one-to-many relationships.
This portlet shows the one-to-one relationships for a virtual machine.
- When adding a portlet, remember the purpose of the Summary tab. If the portlet does not address what this object does in the datacenter and how well the object is doing its job, don't include the portlet on the Summary tab.
- Keep a portlet brief. Present high-level, important information and link to the details.
- Within a portlet, consider which form is best for presenting the information. When appropriate, show information visually.