Company
Date Published
Author
Lauren Johnson
Word count
740
Language
English
Hacker News points
None

Summary

At the Cisco Live event, a premier annual gathering in the networking industry, Jason Davis and his team used Grafana dashboards to effectively visualize and monitor real-time data for 28,000 attendees, showcasing metrics like CPU usage, signal strength, and Internet traffic in engaging formats. The event required a robust IT infrastructure with 2,300 wireless access points and 650 network switches to ensure seamless connectivity across multiple venues. Upgrading from Grafana 6.1 to 8.4 for the 2022 event, the team utilized new visualizations and features, such as ’90s retro LED bar graphs and radar graphs, to create impactful dashboards that appealed to both technical and non-technical audiences. These dashboards included playful visualizations, like comparing Internet data to Marvel movie volumes, making complex data accessible and entertaining. By migrating to Grafana Cloud and leveraging duplicate data pushes, Davis's team explored the potential of cloud-based management for future events, continuing to enhance the attendee experience with innovative and dynamic visual displays.