# Overview of the Performance Insights dashboard
The dashboard is the easiest way to interact with Performance Insights. The following example shows the dashboard for a PostgreSQL DB instance.
![\[Filter metrics\]](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/UserGuide/images/perf_insights_0b.png)
**Topics**
+ [Time range filter](#USER_PerfInsights.UsingDashboard.Components.time-range)
+ [Counter metrics chart](#USER_PerfInsights.UsingDashboard.Components.Countermetrics)
+ [Database load chart](#USER_PerfInsights.UsingDashboard.Components.AvgActiveSessions)
+ [Top dimensions table](#USER_PerfInsights.UsingDashboard.Components.AvgActiveSessions.TopLoadItemsTable)
## Time range filter
By default, the Performance Insights dashboard shows DB load for the last hour. You can adjust this range to be as short as 5 minutes or as long as 2 years. You can also select a custom relative range.
![\[Performance Insights relative time\]](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/UserGuide/images/perf-insights-relative-time.png)
You can select an absolute range with a beginning and ending date and time. The following example shows the time range beginning at midnight on 9/25/24 and ending at 11:59 PM on 9/28/24.
![\[Performance Insights absolute time\]](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/UserGuide/images/perf-insights-absolute-time.png)
By default, the time zone for the Performance Insights dashboard is Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). You can also choose the local time zone.
![\[Select the local time zone for your Performance Insights dashboard\]](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/UserGuide/images/perf-insights-local-time-zone.png)
## Counter metrics chart
With counter metrics, you can customize the Performance Insights dashboard to include up to 10 additional graphs. These graphs show a selection of dozens of operating system and database performance metrics. You can correlate this information with DB load to help identify and analyze performance problems.
The **Counter metrics** chart displays data for performance counters. The default metrics depend on the DB engine:
+ MySQL and MariaDB – `db.SQL.Innodb_rows_read.avg`
+ Oracle – `db.User.user calls.avg`
+ Microsoft SQL Server – `db.Databases.Active Transactions(_Total).avg`
+ PostgreSQL – `db.Transactions.xact_commit.avg`
![\[Counter metrics\]](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/UserGuide/images/oracle_perf_insights_counters.png)
To change the performance counters, choose **Manage Metrics**. You can select multiple **OS metrics** or **Database metrics**, as shown in the following screenshot. To see details for any metric, hover over the metric name.
![\[Filter metrics\]](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/UserGuide/images/perf_insights_select_metrics.png)
For descriptions of the counter metrics that you can add for each DB engine, see [Performance Insights counter metrics](USER_PerfInsights_Counters.md).
## Database load chart
The **Database load** chart shows how the database activity compares to DB instance capacity as represented by the **Max vCPU** line. By default, the stacked line chart represents DB load as average active sessions per unit of time. The DB load is sliced (grouped) by wait states.
![\[Database load\]](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/UserGuide/images/perf_insights_2.png)
### DB load sliced by dimensions
You can choose to display load as active sessions grouped by any supported dimensions. The following table shows which dimensions are supported for the different engines.
| Dimension | Oracle | SQL Server | PostgreSQL | MySQL |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Host | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| SQL | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| User | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Waits | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Plans | Yes | No | No | No |
| Application | No | No | Yes | No |
| Database | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Session type | No | No | Yes | No |
The following image shows the dimensions for a PostgreSQL DB instance.
![\[Filter metrics\]](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/UserGuide/images/perf_insights_2b.png)
### DB load details for a dimension item
To see details about a DB load item within a dimension, hover over the item name. The following image shows details for a SQL statement.
![\[Database load item details\]](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/UserGuide/images/perf_insights_2c.png)
To see details for any item for the selected time period in the legend, hover over that item.
![\[Time period details for DB load\]](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/UserGuide/images/perf_insights_3.png)
## Top dimensions table
The Top dimensions table slices DB load by different dimensions. A dimension is a category or "slice by" for different characteristics of DB load. If the dimension is SQL, **Top SQL** shows the SQL statements that contribute the most to DB load.
![\[Top N dimensions\]](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/UserGuide/images/perf_insights_4c.png)
Choose any of the following dimension tabs.
| Tab | Description | Supported engines |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Top SQL | The SQL statements that are currently running | All |
| Top waits | The event for which the database backend is waiting | All |
| Top hosts | The host name of the connected client | All |
| Top users | The user logged in to the database | All |
| Top databases | The name of the database to which the client is connected | PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, and SQL Server only |
| Top applications | The name of the application that is connected to the database | PostgreSQL and SQL Server only |
| Top session types | The type of the current session | PostgreSQL only |
To learn how to analyze queries by using the **Top SQL** tab, see [Overview of the Top SQL tab](USER_PerfInsights.UsingDashboard.AnalyzeDBLoad.AdditionalMetrics.md#USER_PerfInsights.UsingDashboard.Components.AvgActiveSessions.TopLoadItemsTable.TopSQL).