--- title: "Creating Stack Maps" slug: "creating-stack-maps" updated: 2025-09-18T21:10:32Z published: 2025-09-18T21:10:32Z --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.catchpoint.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Creating Stack Maps ## Creating/Editing a Stack Map 1. In the main Dashboard screen, click New Dashboard at the upper left. This displays the Dashboards list. - To edit an existing Stack Map, locate the desired Stack Map in the tree and click it, then click **Edit** at the upper right, and proceed to the remaining sections in this guide -or- - To create a new Stack Map, click the **New Stack Map** button at the bottom, then proceed to step 2 2. Input a **Name** for this Stack Map 3. Input the primary URL of your service that you will be mapping. (This URL must match the URL configured in at least one of your existing tests.) 4. Click **Search Tests** 5. Select one or more of the resulting tests, which will be associated with the primary domain service. 6. Click **Create Map** The system generates your initial Stack Map and adds any discovered services associated with the tests you selected in step 6. You will also notice that some standard [Layers](/v1/docs/stack-map#layers) are automatically added to the Stack Map. At this point the Stack map is minimally configured and can be saved. In most cases you will want to perform some of the steps in the following sections to complete your stack map. ## Adding Services During the initial Stack Map creation, Catchpoint will detect services related to the primary URL you have specified. You can add more services to your Stack Map using any of the methods below: ### Library/System Services 1. Select an existing Service from the services blade on the left and drag it to the desired location within the Stack Map. Existing Services are grouped into **Custom Services** - those defined by the user and stored in the [Library](/v1/docs/services-library) - and **System Services** - those pre-defined by Catchpoint. ### Discovery 1. Select **Discovery** in the menu on the left 2. Click **Select Tests** 3. Select the Tests related to the services that you want to add, then click **Select**. Any services related to your selected tests will be displayed under **Suggested Services**. 4. Click and drag the desired services to the desired locations within the Stack Map ### Create Service 1. Click **Create Service** in the menu on the left 2. Input a **Name** and optionally a **Description** for the new service. 3. Select an existing **Category** for this service or click **Create Category** to set up a new one. 4. To associate incidents from [Internet Sonar](/v1/docs/internet-sonar) with this service, input the desired Internet Sonar service in the **Linked Sonar Data** field. 5. Optionally specify the URL of a logo image file representing this service. 6. Add one or more **Service Criteria**. The service criteria are used by Catchpoint to identify which requests in associated tests should be associated with this service in your stack map, based on IP addresses, ASNs, or hostnames. a. Select whether the criteria should cause a request to be Included or Excluded for this service. b. Select whether this service criterion will be **IP or CIDR**, **ASN**, **Hosts (literal)**, **Hosts (regex)**, **URL Fragment**, or **URL**. c. Input the desired value. d. Use the **Add Criteria** button and repeat these steps to add as many additional criteria as needed. 7. Under **Data Association**, click **Add Tests** and then select one or more tests that will supply data for this service. 8. When finished, click **Save** 9. Once created, the new Service is added to the Library and can be added to the Stack Map from the Custom Services list. ## Adding Layers You can add more Layers to your Stack Map to visually organize your services and filter their data and alerts. 1. Click **Add Layer** at the top of the Stack Map. 2. Input a name for the Layer. 3. Click and drag the four arrows icon at the upper left corner of the layer to position the layer wherever you want within the Stack Map 4. To set a custom color for this Layer, click the three dot button and select **Layer Color**, then select the desired color. 5. Drag services into the layer from elsewhere on the Stack Map, or from the Services Blade on the left. ## Adding Service Associations Service Associations are the arrows connecting Services within your Stack Map, indicating how data flows within your system. Service Associations are simply a visual aid, and do not impact Stack Map behavior. 1. Click on a service that you want to associate with another service, and select **Service Associations**. 2. Under **Inbound**, select the boxes next to all services that send data or make requests to this service. 3. Under **Outbound**, select the boxes next to all services that this service sends data or makes requests to. 4. Once all desired associations are selected, click **Select** ## Recommendations Catchpoint automatically generates recommendations to help you ensure thorough monitoring the applications and dependencies in your stack. When you create a new Stack Map, or click Edit on an existing Stack map, these recommendations are available by clicking **Recommendations** in the toolbar at the upper left. ![Stack Map Recommendations.png](https://cdn.document360.io/cb4af8f9-6751-4fd2-b39c-07aae832badb/Images/Documentation/Stack%20Map%20Recommendations.png) There are three types of recommendations that may be provided: - **Existing Tests** If an existing test covers one of the services in your Stack Map, it will be listed and you can add it to the Stack Map by clicking **Add Test**. - **Sonar Services** If your stack map includes any public services that are monitored by Catchpoint [Internet Sonar](/v1/docs/internet-sonar), each service will be listed with a button to add it to the Stack Map. If you haven't already purchased that particular service in Internet Sonar, its monthly cost in points will be listed on the button. - **New Tests** If a service on your stack map is not yet being tested in Catchpoint, a recommended test will be listed here. Tou can click **Create Test** to quickly set it up, and the resulting test will be pre-configured with recommended settings and alerts.