--- title: "Introduction to Active Console" description: "" url: "https://docs.itrsgroup.com/docs/geneos/7.11.0/visualization/active-console/intro-to-active-console/index.html" --- ## Overview Active Console is one of the major software components in the Geneos architecture that includes the Gateway and Netprobe. It is a standalone Java and C++ application that allows you to connect to and view the contents of Geneos Gateways. Active Console has a front graphical user interface (GUI) that can present real-time monitoring and allow control functionality, such as alerts, commands, and rules. ## Basic Active Console interface When you use the Active Console, you see the following components and dockables: ![Active Console default user interface](https://docscdn.itrsgroup.com/geneos/images/active-console/ac-basic-user-interface.png) - [Menu bar](https://docs.itrsgroup.com/docs/geneos/7.11.0/visualization/active-console/intro-to-active-console/index.html#menu-bar) - [Toolbar](https://docs.itrsgroup.com/docs/geneos/7.11.0/visualization/active-console/intro-to-active-console/index.html#toolbar) - [State Tree dockable](https://docs.itrsgroup.com/docs/geneos/7.11.0/visualization/active-console/intro-to-active-console/index.html#state-tree-dockable) - [Gateways dockable](https://docs.itrsgroup.com/docs/geneos/7.11.0/visualization/active-console/intro-to-active-console/index.html#gateways-dockable) - [Metrics dockable](https://docs.itrsgroup.com/docs/geneos/7.11.0/visualization/active-console/intro-to-active-console/index.html#metrics-dockable) To know more about the basic interface of Active Console, see [Quickstart Guide](https://docs.itrsgroup.com/docs/geneos/7.11.0/visualization/active-console/quickstart-guide/index.html). ### Menu bar The **Menu** bar contains the **File**, **View**, **Tools**, and **Help** buttons. These allows you to: - Create, open, and save a workspace. - Import a component exported from source files. - View the other list of dockables, such as **Commands**, **Event Tickers**, Netprobe, and **Output** dockable. - Open the Active Dashboard. See [Introduction to Active Dashboard](/visualization/active-console/../active-dashboard/intro-to-active-dashboard/). - Create a quick metrics overview. - Access the Geneos online documentation. - Create a diagnostics file. - View the Get Started with Active Console. The first time you open the Active Console, it prompts the **Get Started with Active Console** screen. The Active Console onboarding screen gives you an overview of the basic features that you can use within the Active Console workspace. ![](https://docscdn.itrsgroup.com/geneos/images/active-console/ac-onboarding-screen.png) To disable the onboarding screen on the next startup, tick the **Do not show at startup** check box at the bottom of the screen. **Note** You may encounter a screen display issue when the application prompts the **Get Started with Active Console** onboarding screen on a Macbook, and intermittently on Windows. To fix this issue, it is recommended to adjust the display resolution setting to `1600 x 900`. For Ubuntu 18.04 and iMac on Darwin\_64, this issue does not persist. ### Toolbar The **Toolbar** contains the commonly used functions: - **Save the workspace** ![](https://docscdn.itrsgroup.com/geneos/images/Icons/save16x16.png "icon") - **Workspace History** ![](https://docscdn.itrsgroup.com/geneos/images/Icons/workspace16x16.png "icon") - **State Tree** ![](https://docscdn.itrsgroup.com/geneos/images/Icons/toggleStateTreeMode16x16.png "icon") - **Configure Gateway** ![](https://docscdn.itrsgroup.com/geneos/images/Icons/gatewaySetupEditor16x16x.png "icon") - **Metrics Overview** ![](https://docscdn.itrsgroup.com/geneos/images/Icons/metricOverviewWizard22x22.png "icon") - **Workspace Settings** ![](https://docscdn.itrsgroup.com/geneos/images/Icons/settings22x22.png "icon") - **Reporting Tool** ![](https://docscdn.itrsgroup.com/geneos/images/Icons/reporting16x16.png "icon") - **Notifier** ![](https://docscdn.itrsgroup.com/geneos/images/Icons/notify22x22.png "icon") ### State Tree dockable The State Tree shows the content of all Gateways connected to Active Console. It can be displayed either in Logical mode or Physical mode. ![](https://docscdn.itrsgroup.com/geneos/images/active-console/ac-state-tree-default.png) - **Logical mode** — managed entity-centric that refers to the components in your monitored environment. - **Physical mode** — Gateway-centric that uses the Gateway names or attributes to display data in State Tree. An alternative option is available to organise your entities based on the specified attributes you want to set. To customise the State Tree view, go to **Workspace settings > General > Viewpath**. For more information, see [State Tree Dockable](https://docs.itrsgroup.com/docs/geneos/7.11.0/visualization/active-console/view-customization/state-tree-dockable/index.html). ### Gateways dockable The Gateways dockable displays a list of the Gateways that are currently configured for the connected Active Console. ![](https://docscdn.itrsgroup.com/geneos/images/active-console/ac-gateways-dockable-connection.png) For more information, see [Gateways Dockable and Connections](https://docs.itrsgroup.com/docs/geneos/7.11.0/visualization/active-console/view-customization/gateways-dockable/index.html#gateways-dockable-and-connections). ### Metrics dockable The Metrics dockable contains a number of metrics views. It consists of two main components that are called **View Selector** and **Metrics Table**. - **View Selector** — contains a list of metrics tables based on your Gateway configurations. - **Metrics Table** — shows the dataview of the selected metric component. Here is an example of an Active Console with multiple Gateway connections, State Tree, metrics tables, and a metrics dataview: ![Active Console basic dataview](https://docscdn.itrsgroup.com/geneos/images/active-console/ac-intro-basic-dataview.png) For more information, see [Metrics Dockable](https://docs.itrsgroup.com/docs/geneos/7.11.0/visualization/active-console/view-customization/metrics-dockable/index.html). ## Further reading Now that you have you a basic understanding on how the interface of Active Console looks like, you may want to view the other topics to get started: - [Quickstart Guide](https://docs.itrsgroup.com/docs/geneos/7.11.0/visualization/active-console/quickstart-guide/index.html) - [System Requirements](https://docs.itrsgroup.com/docs/geneos/7.11.0/visualization/active-console/system-requirements/index.html) - [Download and Setup](https://docs.itrsgroup.com/docs/geneos/7.11.0/visualization/active-console/download-and-setup/index.html)