What HomeStart is displaying

Prometheus collects measurements from small exporter services running on your computers. HomeStart reads those measurements from Prometheus and presents them as cards, charts and alerts. HomeStart does not measure the computers directly, so Prometheus and the exporter must both be running.

Each computer in the menu is a Prometheus target. Selecting a computer changes every compatible card and chart to that target.

Start with the three main controls

  1. Choose the computer menu and select the machine you want to inspect.
  2. Choose the sliders button to decide which cards appear.
  3. Choose Manage systems when you need to add, rename, disable or remove a machine.

A useful everyday dashboard

  1. Show CPU usage to spot sustained processor pressure.
  2. Show Memory usage to identify machines approaching their available RAM.
  3. Show Disk usage so a nearly full system cannot surprise you.
  4. Show Network in and Network out to recognise unusual transfers or a quiet service.
  5. Keep Healthy targets and Firing alerts visible to see collection or alert problems.

Compact and Detailed views

Compact view is designed for a normal dashboard page and shows the latest values with less space. Detailed view adds history, system information and larger visual cards; it works best when the widget is wide or full page. Changing the view does not change what Prometheus collects.

How to read a chart

Good to know
  • A brief spike is often normal. Investigate a value that remains high across several refreshes.
  • Compare related figures: high CPU with low network traffic suggests a different problem from high CPU with heavy network traffic.
  • Use the time range to distinguish a momentary event from a repeating pattern.
  • A blank card normally means that exporter does not provide that metric—not that the whole computer is offline.

Refresh and naming

Live values refresh automatically. Prometheus also refreshes its target list in the background, so a newly added or renamed computer can take approximately 15–30 seconds to appear everywhere. The friendly name saved in Manage systems is the name used in HomeStart’s computer menu.

If a computer shows no data

  1. Open Manage systems and confirm the machine is enabled.
  2. Use Test to check that the exporter address responds.
  3. Confirm Prometheus itself is connected in the Infrastructure Connections widget.
  4. Wait for one collection interval and refresh the widget.
  5. Open the troubleshooting guide if the target remains unavailable.