Metrics and dashboards in GCP - Commands & Configuration

Introduction

When you run applications or services, you want to know how well they are working. Metrics and dashboards help you see important numbers and trends in one place so you can fix problems quickly.

When you want to watch how much CPU or memory your app uses over time

When you need to check if your website is responding fast or slow

When you want to get alerts if something goes wrong with your cloud resources

When you want to share performance data with your team in an easy-to-understand view

When you want to compare usage patterns between different time periods

Config File - dashboard.json

dashboard.json

{
  "displayName": "My App Metrics Dashboard",
  "gridLayout": {
    "columns": 2,
    "widgets": [
      {
        "title": "CPU Usage",
        "xyChart": {
          "dataSets": [
            {
              "timeSeriesQuery": {
                "timeSeriesFilter": {
                  "filter": "metric.type=\"compute.googleapis.com/instance/cpu/utilization\"",
                  "aggregation": {
                    "alignmentPeriod": "60s",
                    "perSeriesAligner": "ALIGN_MEAN"
                  }
                }
              }
            }
          ],
          "timeshiftDuration": "0s",
          "yAxis": {
            "label": "CPU Utilization",
            "scale": "LINEAR"
          }
        }
      },
      {
        "title": "Memory Usage",
        "xyChart": {
          "dataSets": [
            {
              "timeSeriesQuery": {
                "timeSeriesFilter": {
                  "filter": "metric.type=\"agent.googleapis.com/memory/usage\"",
                  "aggregation": {
                    "alignmentPeriod": "60s",
                    "perSeriesAligner": "ALIGN_MEAN"
                  }
                }
              }
            }
          ],
          "timeshiftDuration": "0s",
          "yAxis": {
            "label": "Memory Usage",
            "scale": "LINEAR"
          }
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}

This JSON file defines a Google Cloud Monitoring dashboard named "My App Metrics Dashboard".

It has a grid layout with 2 columns and 2 widgets.

The first widget shows CPU usage over time using the metric compute.googleapis.com/instance/cpu/utilization.

The second widget shows memory usage over time using the metric agent.googleapis.com/memory/usage.

Both charts show average values aligned every 60 seconds.

Commands

This command creates a new dashboard in Google Cloud Monitoring using the JSON configuration file. It sets up the widgets to show CPU and memory usage metrics.

Terminal

gcloud monitoring dashboards create --config-from-file=dashboard.json

Expected Output

Created dashboard: projects/my-project/dashboards/abc12345-6789-0123-4567-89abcdef0123

→

--config-from-file - Specifies the JSON file that contains the dashboard configuration

This command lists all dashboards in your Google Cloud project so you can verify that your new dashboard was created.

Terminal

gcloud monitoring dashboards list

Expected Output

NAME                                    DISPLAY NAME           

projects/my-project/dashboards/abc12345-6789-0123-4567-89abcdef0123  My App Metrics Dashboard

This command shows detailed information about the dashboard you created, including its widgets and metrics.

Terminal

gcloud monitoring dashboards describe abc12345-6789-0123-4567-89abcdef0123

Expected Output

name: projects/my-project/dashboards/abc12345-6789-0123-4567-89abcdef0123

displayName: My App Metrics Dashboard

gridLayout:

  columns: 2

  widgets:

  - title: CPU Usage

    xyChart:

      dataSets:

      - timeSeriesQuery:

          timeSeriesFilter:

            filter: 'metric.type="compute.googleapis.com/instance/cpu/utilization"'

            aggregation:

              alignmentPeriod: 60s

              perSeriesAligner: ALIGN_MEAN

      yAxis:

        label: CPU Utilization

        scale: LINEAR

  - title: Memory Usage

    xyChart:

      dataSets:

      - timeSeriesQuery:

          timeSeriesFilter:

            filter: 'metric.type="agent.googleapis.com/memory/usage"'

            aggregation:

              alignmentPeriod: 60s

              perSeriesAligner: ALIGN_MEAN

      yAxis:

        label: Memory Usage

        scale: LINEAR

Key Concept

If you remember nothing else from this pattern, remember: dashboards collect and show important metrics visually so you can quickly understand your system's health.

Common Mistakes

Using incorrect metric type names in the dashboard JSON

The dashboard will not show any data because it cannot find the metrics.

Always use exact metric type names from Google Cloud Monitoring documentation or metric explorer.

Not specifying the alignment period in aggregation

Metrics may appear noisy or inconsistent because data points are not aligned properly.

Set a reasonable alignment period like 60 seconds to smooth data for better visualization.

Forgetting to verify dashboard creation with 'gcloud monitoring dashboards list'

You might think the dashboard was created but it was not, leading to confusion.

Always list dashboards after creation to confirm success.

Summary

Create a dashboard JSON file defining widgets and metrics to monitor.

Use 'gcloud monitoring dashboards create' to deploy the dashboard to Google Cloud.

Verify the dashboard exists and inspect its details with 'gcloud monitoring dashboards list' and 'describe'.