Sentinel 3 for Mac: A Detailed Operation Guide

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Sentinel 3 is an advanced data monitoring and analysis software designed specifically for macOS. Through its intuitive visual interface, powerful data processing engine, and flexible alert system, it helps users monitor system performance, network traffic, application logs, and various custom data sources in real time. This guide will provide a detailed introduction to its core interface, complete workflow, operation tips, and solutions to common problems.

I. Detailed Explanation of the Software’s Core Interface and Workspace

After launching Sentinel 3, the main interface is divided into five core areas:

• Top Menu Bar and Toolbar: Provides File, Edit, View, Dashboard, Alerts, Tools, and Help menus. The toolbar includes commonly used buttons such as quick dashboard creation, adding data sources, and starting/pausing monitoring.
• Left Navigation Panel: Displays main modules such as “Dashboards,” “Data Sources,” “Alert Rules,” “Query History,” and “System Settings” in a tree structure.
• Central Canvas/Workspace: This is the core visual editing and display area. In “Edit” mode, you can drag and configure various visualization components (such as charts, tables, and metric cards); in “View” mode, it displays monitoring data in real time.
• Right-side Properties Panel: When a visualization component in the workspace is selected, this panel dynamically displays its detailed configuration options, including data binding, style settings (color, font, size), and interaction behavior.
• Bottom Status Bar and Log Window: The status bar shows the current data update time and system status (such as “Monitoring” or “Paused”). The expandable log window displays data query details, error messages, or alert trigger records.

II. Complete Workflow from Creating a Project to Exporting

1. Create or Open a Project

Step 1: Create a New Project

• Method: Click the menu bar File → New Project, or use the shortcut Command + N.
• Location: After the operation, the system will prompt you to name the project and choose a save path.

Step 2: Open an Existing Project

• Method: Click the menu bar File → Open..., or use the shortcut Command + O.
• Location: In the file selection dialog, navigate to the saved Sentinel 3 project file (usually with the .s3p or .sentinel extension).

2. Configure Data Sources

Step 1: Add a Data Source

• Method: In the left navigation panel, click “Data Sources”, then click the “+” button in the toolbar, or right-click the data source list and select “Add Data Source”.
• Location: In the pop-up data source type list, select options such as “System Performance (macOS)”, “CSV File”, “Database (ODBC)”, or “API Endpoint”.

Step 2: Configure Connection Parameters

• Based on the selected data source type, fill in the required information in the right-side properties panel, such as file path, server address, authentication key, etc. After completing the configuration, click “Test Connection” to verify, and finally click “Save”.

3. Build a Dashboard

Step 1: Create a New Dashboard

• Method: Right-click “Dashboard” in the left navigation panel and select “New Dashboard”, or use the shortcut Command + D.

Step 2: Add Visualization Components

• Method: From the “Components” library in the toolbar, drag the desired chart type (such as line chart, bar chart, pie chart, numeric metric) onto the central canvas.
• Location: After dragging and dropping, the component will appear on the canvas, and the right-side properties panel will automatically switch to the configuration page for that component.

Step 3: Bind Data and Configure

• In the “Data” tab of the right-side properties panel, select the configured data source from the drop-down menu.
• In the “Query” area, use the built-in query editor or SQL statements to define the data fields, filter conditions, and aggregation methods (such as average, sum) to be displayed.
• Switch to the “Style” tab to adjust the component’s visual attributes such as color, title, axes, and legend.

4. Set Up Alert Rules

Step 1: Create an Alert

• Method: In the left navigation panel, click “Alert Rules,” then click the “+” button.

Step 2: Define Trigger Conditions

• On the creation screen, select the associated data source and specific metric (e.g., CPU usage).
• Set the condition (e.g., “when CPU usage > 90% for 5 minutes”).
• Configure notification methods, such as in-app notifications, system notifications, or email (SMTP must be configured in system settings in advance).

5. Monitoring and Interaction

Step 1: Start Real-Time Monitoring

• Method: Click the “Play” button (triangle icon) in the toolbar or press Command + R to start streaming data.
• Click the “Pause” button (square icon) or press Command + R again to stop.

Step 2: Interact with the Dashboard

• In view mode, you can click data points on charts to drill down, use the time selector (usually located in the upper-right corner of the canvas) to adjust the time range being viewed, or hover over components to see detailed data tooltips.

6. Export and Share Results

Step 1: Export Dashboard Views

• Method: Make sure you are in “View” mode, then click the menu bar File → Export As....
• Location and format: You can choose to export as “PNG image” (static snapshot), “PDF report” (multi-page document), or “JSON data” (raw data). After choosing a path, click Save.

Step 2: Save the project

• Click the menu bar File → Save or press Command + S to save the current project file so you can reopen and edit it later.

III. Advanced Tips for Common Features

• Multi-source correlated queries: In the chart’s data query configuration, you can use the “Join” feature to merge data from different data sources into a single view through a common field (such as a timestamp or ID).
• Template variables and dynamic filtering: In the dashboard settings, create “template variables” (such as a drop-down menu for selecting a server name), then reference the variable in each component’s query (in the format {{variable_name}}) to enable global dynamic filtering.
• Custom scripts for data processing: For data sources that support scripts (such as certain APIs), you can write short JavaScript or Python scripts in the query editor to perform real-time transformation and calculation on the raw data retrieved.
• Keyboard Navigation and Quick Editing: In canvas editing mode, use the Tab key to quickly switch focus between different components. After selecting a component, press the Return key directly to quickly enter its title editing state.

IV. Common Problems and Solutions