Kibana Kibana 'Dashboard' not saving changes

What is Kibana Kibana 'Dashboard' not saving changes

Understanding Kibana

Kibana is a powerful data visualization and exploration tool used primarily for log and time-series analytics. It is part of the Elastic Stack, which includes Elasticsearch, Logstash, and Beats. Kibana allows users to create visualizations and dashboards to analyze data stored in Elasticsearch.

Identifying the Symptom

One common issue users encounter is that changes made to a Kibana dashboard are not being saved. This can be frustrating, especially when significant time has been spent customizing dashboards to meet specific needs.

What You Observe

When attempting to save changes to a dashboard, users may notice that the changes do not persist after refreshing the page or logging back into Kibana. There may be no error message, or a generic error message may appear, indicating a failure to save.

Exploring the Issue

The inability to save changes in Kibana dashboards can often be attributed to insufficient permissions or server-related issues. Kibana relies on Elasticsearch for storing dashboard configurations, so any issues with Elasticsearch can also affect Kibana's ability to save changes.

Permissions

Users may not have the necessary permissions to save changes. Kibana permissions are managed through roles in Elasticsearch, and users must have the appropriate roles assigned to them.

Server Issues

Server issues, such as Elasticsearch being down or experiencing high load, can prevent Kibana from saving changes. It's crucial to ensure that the Elasticsearch server is running smoothly.

Steps to Fix the Issue

Here are the steps you can take to resolve the issue of Kibana not saving dashboard changes:

Step 1: Check User Permissions

Log into the Elasticsearch Management Console. Navigate to the 'Roles' section and verify that the user has the necessary roles to save changes in Kibana. Ensure that the roles include permissions for 'read', 'write', and 'manage' on the relevant indices.

Step 2: Verify Elasticsearch Status

Check the status of your Elasticsearch cluster by navigating to Cluster Health API. Ensure that the cluster status is 'green' or 'yellow'. A 'red' status indicates issues that need to be resolved. Use the command curl -X GET "localhost:9200/_cluster/health?pretty" to check the cluster health.

Step 3: Review Kibana Logs

Access Kibana logs to identify any errors or warnings that might indicate the root cause of the issue. Logs are typically located in the /var/log/kibana/ directory on Linux systems.

Conclusion

By ensuring that users have the correct permissions and that the Elasticsearch server is functioning correctly, you can resolve the issue of Kibana dashboards not saving changes. For further assistance, refer to the Kibana Documentation or reach out to the Kibana Community Forum.