What is a Time Interval Configuration?
Your users are querying 2 years of logs when they only need the last 7 days. Searches are slow, compliance is at risk, and your support team gets calls they shouldn't need to handle.
A Time Interval Configuration solves this. It bundles one or more Time Intervals into a named policy—"Last 7 days", "Last 30 days", "Last 90 days"—and attaches that policy to a Log View. Users can only search within the allowed window.
- ✅ Faster searches – Users pick a sensible window from a dropdown instead of scanning years of data
- ✅ Compliance by design – Data older than the policy allows is not reachable from the Log View
- ✅ Role-appropriate access – Give auditors 90 days and business users 7 days with separate Log Views
- ✅ Self-service – Business users find today's events without calling an admin
The result: fast, governed, role-appropriate data access—without anyone calling an admin.
Animated walkthrough: what a configuration gives the user, a short list of fitting time ranges and no free date range.
- The Log View Contoso Orders: Order Desk uses the Time Interval Configuration Contoso: Order Desk ranges on its Search criteria tab.
- The Log View starts on the shortest range, the last 15 minutes.
- The user opens the time range: only the configuration's four ranges are offered, with no free date range.
- The user picks the last 2 hours and clicks Search. The result lists the orders received in the last 2 hours.
How It Fits Together
A Time Interval Configuration sits between your raw Time Intervals and your Log Views:
7-day window"] TIC2["fa:fa-chess-clock Support Team
30-day window"] TIC3["fa:fa-chess-clock Auditors
90-day window"] LV1["fa:fa-table-list Order Status Log View"] LV2["fa:fa-table-list Production Error Log View"] LV3["fa:fa-scale-balanced Compliance Log View"] TI1 --> TIC1 TI1 --> TIC2 TI2 --> TIC2 TI3 --> TIC3 TIC1 -.->|"restricts"| LV1 TIC2 -.->|"restricts"| LV2 TIC3 -.->|"restricts"| LV3 style TI1 fill:#2678BD,color:#fff style TI2 fill:#2678BD,color:#fff style TI3 fill:#2678BD,color:#fff style TIC1 fill:#E47528,color:#fff style TIC2 fill:#E47528,color:#fff style TIC3 fill:#E47528,color:#fff style LV1 fill:#3F827B,color:#fff style LV2 fill:#3F827B,color:#fff style LV3 fill:#3F827B,color:#fff
Reusable Time Intervals (blue) feed into named configurations (orange), which restrict what users can search in each Log View (teal). One Time Interval, such as 7 days, can appear in several configurations.
What It Is
A Time Interval Configuration is a named collection of Time Intervals that defines the allowed search windows for a Log View.
Info
Example: A configuration named "Support Team Access" contains three options: the last day, the last 7 days, and the last 30 days. When it is assigned to a Log View, users can pick one of those windows—nothing older is accessible.
| Property | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Name | A descriptive label for the policy | GDPR - 90 Day Limit |
| Description | Optional explanation of the policy | Personal data, 90 days max |
| Allow a Detailed Time Search in Log Views | When checked, users may enter a custom date and time range instead of one of the pre-defined Time Intervals; required for Non-Events Monitoring | ❌ Unchecked for strict limits |
| Time Intervals | One or more Time Intervals the user can choose from. There is no default setting: the Log View starts on the shortest | 7 days, 30 days, 90 days |
Besides Log Views, a Time Interval Configuration can make a User Notification recur, for example a weekly Maintenance Mode window. User Notifications accept only intervals of 1 day or longer.
How the limit is enforced
The limit belongs to the Log View, and Nodinite enforces it, not only offers it:
- Without Allow a Detailed Time Search in Log Views, the Log View offers only the configuration's ranges. The Web API also refuses a search without a Time Interval, or with one that isn't in the configuration, so users can't type a custom range, not even through the API.
- With the checkbox on, users can enter any date and time range, so the configuration no longer limits how far back they search.
Give each audience its own Log View with its own configuration to give different Roles different windows.
When to Use It
Assign a Time Interval Configuration to a Log View when that view is:
- Accessed by business users who need quick, relevant results without wading through years of history
- Subject to compliance rules (GDPR, HIPAA, SOX) that mandate access limits
- Experiencing performance issues from unbounded date range queries
- Shared by roles with different data retention needs
Why It Matters
| Situation | Without Configuration | With Time Interval Configuration |
|---|---|---|
| Performance | Users search 3 years of data, queries time out | Limited to 30 days—queries are fast |
| Compliance | Personal data is freely accessible indefinitely | Access beyond 90 days is blocked |
| Self-service | Business users call support to find today's orders | They pick the last day from a dropdown |
| Role-based access | Everyone sees the same unbounded window | Auditors get 90 days, business users get 7 days |
Who may open each Log View is decided by Roles; combine one Log View per audience with a matching configuration.
Real-World Example
Scenario: An order management team uses a Log View to check today's orders. Without a restriction, analysts accidentally search 6 months back—slow queries, irrelevant results, compliance risk.
Solution
- Create Time Intervals of 1 Day, 7 Days, and 30 Days (Quantity and Unit)
- Create a Time Interval Configuration: "Order Team Access" using those three intervals
- Assign "Order Team Access" to the "Order Status" Log View on its Search criteria tab (Time Interval Configuration setting)
Result: Analysts see a dropdown with three sensible options. The Log View lists them with the same labels as the Time Interval Configuration, such as Last 1 Day and Last 7 Days.
The time range dropdown of a Log View that uses the configuration Contoso: Order follow-up.
Queries run in seconds. No data older than 30 days is ever accessible from that view.
The Time Interval Configuration "Contoso: Order Desk ranges" selected for a Log View, with the quick access links above the dropdown.
Two quick access links sit above the dropdown, each marked with an external-link icon:
- The selected configuration's name (here Contoso: Order Desk ranges) opens that Time Interval Configuration, so you can check or change its Time Intervals without leaving the Log View.
- Add New opens a new Time Interval Configuration, see Add or manage a Time Interval Configuration.
Next Steps
Related Topics
- Time Interval — The individual time definitions used inside configurations
- Time Interval Configuration Overview — Manage the list
- Log Views — Where Time Interval Configurations are assigned
- User Notifications — Recurring notifications and maintenance windows
- Access Management — Control who can see what with role-based access
- Working with Log Views (Getting Started) — How business users search