Dashboard configuration

The dashboard is configured when it starts up. Configuration includes frontend and OpenTelemetry Protocol (OTLP) addresses, the resource service endpoint, authentication, telemetry limits, and more.

When the dashboard is launched with the .NET Aspire app host project, it's automatically configured to display the app's resources and telemetry. Configuration is provided when launching the dashboard in standalone mode.

There are many ways to provide configuration:

• Command line arguments.
• Environment variables. The : delimiter should be replaced with double underscore (__) in environment variable names.
• Optional JSON configuration file. The DOTNET_DASHBOARD_CONFIG_FILE_PATH setting can be used to specify a JSON configuration file.

Consider the following example, which shows how to configure the dashboard when started from a Docker container:

docker run --rm -it -p 18888:18888 -p 4317:18889 -d --name aspire-dashboard \
    -e DASHBOARD__TELEMETRYLIMITS__MAXLOGCOUNT='1000' \
    -e DASHBOARD__TELEMETRYLIMITS__MAXTRACECOUNT='1000' \
    -e DASHBOARD__TELEMETRYLIMITS__MAXMETRICSCOUNT='1000' \
    mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/aspire-dashboard:8.2

docker run --rm -it -p 18888:18888 -p 4317:18889 -d --name aspire-dashboard `
    -e DASHBOARD__TELEMETRYLIMITS__MAXLOGCOUNT='1000' `
    -e DASHBOARD__TELEMETRYLIMITS__MAXTRACECOUNT='1000' `
    -e DASHBOARD__TELEMETRYLIMITS__MAXMETRICSCOUNT='1000' `
    mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/aspire-dashboard:8.2

Alternatively, these same values could be configured using a JSON configuration file that is specified using DOTNET_DASHBOARD_CONFIG_FILE_PATH:

{
  "Dashboard": {
    "TelemetryLimits": {
      "MaxLogCount": 1000,
      "MaxTraceCount": 1000,
      "MaxMetricsCount": 1000
    }
  }
}

Common configuration

Frontend authentication

The dashboard frontend endpoint authentication is configured with Dashboard:Frontend:AuthMode. The frontend can be secured with OpenID Connect (OIDC) or browser token authentication.

Browser token authentication works by the frontend asking for a token. The token can either be entered in the UI or provided as a query string value to the login page. For example, https://localhost:1234/login?t=TheToken. When the token is successfully authenticated an auth cookie is persisted to the browser, and the browser is redirected to the app.

OTLP authentication

The OTLP endpoint authentication is configured with Dashboard:Otlp:AuthMode. The OTLP endpoint can be secured with an API key or client certificate authentication.

API key authentication works by requiring each OTLP request to have a valid x-otlp-api-key header value. It must match either the primary or secondary key.

OTLP CORS

Cross-origin resource sharing (CORS) can be configured to allow browser apps to send telemetry to the dashboard.

By default, browser apps are restricted from making cross domain API calls. This impacts sending telemetry to the dashboard because the dashboard and the browser app are always on different domains. To configure CORS, use the Dashboard:Otlp:Cors section and specify the allowed origins and headers:

{
  "Dashboard": {
    "Otlp": {
      "Cors": {
        "AllowedOrigins": "http://localhost:5000,https://localhost:5001"
      }
    }
  }
}

Consider the following configuration options:

Resources

The dashboard connects to a resource service to load and display resource information. The client is configured in the dashboard for how to connect to the service.

The resource service client authentication is configured with Dashboard:ResourceServiceClient:AuthMode. The client can be configured to support API key or client certificate authentication.

Telemetry limits

Telemetry is stored in memory. To avoid excessive memory usage, the dashboard has limits on the count and size of stored telemetry. When a count limit is reached, new telemetry is added, and the oldest telemetry is removed. When a size limit is reached, data is truncated to the limit.

Telemetry limits have different scopes depending upon the telemetry type:

• MaxLogCount and MaxTraceCount are shared across resources. For example, a MaxLogCount value of 5,000 configures the dashboard to store up to 5,000 total log entries for all resources.
• MaxMetricsCount is per-resource. For example, a MaxMetricsCount value of 10,000 configures the dashboard to store up to 10,000 metrics data points per-resource.

Other

Next steps