diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/monitoring/components/dashboard.vue b/app/assets/javascripts/monitoring/components/dashboard.vue
index 00547abd7bc..33f6afc9c2d 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/monitoring/components/dashboard.vue
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/monitoring/components/dashboard.vue
@@ -1,16 +1,17 @@
 <script>
-import { GlDropdown, GlDropdownItem } from '@gitlab/ui';
+import { GlDropdown, GlDropdownItem, GlLink } from '@gitlab/ui';
 import _ from 'underscore';
 import { s__ } from '~/locale';
 import Icon from '~/vue_shared/components/icon.vue';
 import '~/vue_shared/mixins/is_ee';
+import { getParameterValues } from '~/lib/utils/url_utility';
 import Flash from '../../flash';
 import MonitoringService from '../services/monitoring_service';
 import MonitorAreaChart from './charts/area.vue';
 import GraphGroup from './graph_group.vue';
 import EmptyState from './empty_state.vue';
 import MonitoringStore from '../stores/monitoring_store';
-import { timeWindows } from '../constants';
+import { timeWindows, timeWindowsKeyNames } from '../constants';
 import { getTimeDiff } from '../utils';
 
 const sidebarAnimationDuration = 150;
@@ -24,6 +25,7 @@ export default {
     Icon,
     GlDropdown,
     GlDropdownItem,
+    GlLink,
   },
 
   props: {
@@ -102,6 +104,7 @@ export default {
       showEmptyState: true,
       elWidth: 0,
       selectedTimeWindow: '',
+      selectedTimeWindowKey: '',
     };
   },
   created() {
@@ -110,9 +113,16 @@ export default {
       deploymentEndpoint: this.deploymentEndpoint,
       environmentsEndpoint: this.environmentsEndpoint,
     });
-
     this.timeWindows = timeWindows;
-    this.selectedTimeWindow = this.timeWindows.eightHours;
+    this.selectedTimeWindowKey =
+      _.escape(getParameterValues('time_window')[0]) || timeWindowsKeyNames.eightHours;
+
+    // Set default time window if the selectedTimeWindowKey is bogus
+    if (!Object.keys(this.timeWindows).includes(this.selectedTimeWindowKey)) {
+      this.selectedTimeWindowKey = timeWindowsKeyNames.eightHours;
+    }
+
+    this.selectedTimeWindow = this.timeWindows[this.selectedTimeWindowKey];
   },
   beforeDestroy() {
     if (sidebarMutationObserver) {
@@ -120,9 +130,10 @@ export default {
     }
   },
   mounted() {
+    const startEndWindow = getTimeDiff(this.timeWindows[this.selectedTimeWindowKey]);
     this.servicePromises = [
       this.service
-        .getGraphsData()
+        .getGraphsData(startEndWindow)
         .then(data => this.store.storeMetrics(data))
         .catch(() => Flash(s__('Metrics|There was an error while retrieving metrics'))),
       this.service
@@ -176,22 +187,6 @@ export default {
           this.state = 'unableToConnect';
         });
     },
-    getGraphsDataWithTime(timeFrame) {
-      this.state = 'loading';
-      this.showEmptyState = true;
-      this.service
-        .getGraphsData(getTimeDiff(this.timeWindows[timeFrame]))
-        .then(data => {
-          this.store.storeMetrics(data);
-          this.selectedTimeWindow = this.timeWindows[timeFrame];
-        })
-        .catch(() => {
-          Flash(s__('Metrics|Not enough data to display'));
-        })
-        .finally(() => {
-          this.showEmptyState = false;
-        });
-    },
     onSidebarMutation() {
       setTimeout(() => {
         this.elWidth = this.$el.clientWidth;
@@ -200,6 +195,9 @@ export default {
     activeTimeWindow(key) {
       return this.timeWindows[key] === this.selectedTimeWindow;
     },
+    setTimeWindowParameter(key) {
+      return `?time_window=${key}`;
+    },
   },
 };
 </script>
@@ -239,8 +237,7 @@ export default {
             v-for="(value, key) in timeWindows"
             :key="key"
             :active="activeTimeWindow(key)"
-            @click="getGraphsDataWithTime(key)"
-            >{{ value }}</gl-dropdown-item
+            ><gl-link :href="setTimeWindowParameter(key)">{{ value }}</gl-link></gl-dropdown-item
           >
         </gl-dropdown>
       </div>
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/monitoring/constants.js b/app/assets/javascripts/monitoring/constants.js
index e97320fd682..26f1bf3f68d 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/monitoring/constants.js
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/monitoring/constants.js
@@ -18,3 +18,12 @@ export const timeWindows = {
   threeDays: __('3 days'),
   oneWeek: __('1 week'),
 };
+
+export const timeWindowsKeyNames = {
+  thirtyMinutes: 'thirtyMinutes',
+  threeHours: 'threeHours',
+  eightHours: 'eightHours',
+  oneDay: 'oneDay',
+  threeDays: 'threeDays',
+  oneWeek: 'oneWeek',
+};
diff --git a/locale/gitlab.pot b/locale/gitlab.pot
index 0ac7282baac..ccf9725e3ff 100644
--- a/locale/gitlab.pot
+++ b/locale/gitlab.pot
@@ -5878,9 +5878,6 @@ msgstr ""
 msgid "Metrics|No deployed environments"
 msgstr ""
 
-msgid "Metrics|Not enough data to display"
-msgstr ""
-
 msgid "Metrics|Show last"
 msgstr ""
 
diff --git a/spec/javascripts/monitoring/dashboard_spec.js b/spec/javascripts/monitoring/dashboard_spec.js
index 16dc0084a10..5c28840d3a4 100644
--- a/spec/javascripts/monitoring/dashboard_spec.js
+++ b/spec/javascripts/monitoring/dashboard_spec.js
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import Vue from 'vue';
 import MockAdapter from 'axios-mock-adapter';
 import Dashboard from '~/monitoring/components/dashboard.vue';
-import { timeWindows } from '~/monitoring/constants';
+import { timeWindows, timeWindowsKeyNames } from '~/monitoring/constants';
 import axios from '~/lib/utils/axios_utils';
 import { metricsGroupsAPIResponse, mockApiEndpoint, environmentData } from './mock_data';
 
@@ -248,6 +248,41 @@ describe('Dashboard', () => {
         done();
       });
     });
+
+    it('shows a specific time window selected from the url params', done => {
+      spyOnDependency(Dashboard, 'getParameterValues').and.returnValue(['thirtyMinutes']);
+
+      const component = new DashboardComponent({
+        el: document.querySelector('.prometheus-graphs'),
+        propsData: { ...propsData, hasMetrics: true, showTimeWindowDropdown: true },
+      });
+
+      setTimeout(() => {
+        const selectedTimeWindow = component.$el.querySelector(
+          '.js-time-window-dropdown [active="true"]',
+        );
+
+        expect(selectedTimeWindow.textContent.trim()).toEqual('30 minutes');
+        done();
+      });
+    });
+
+    it('defaults to the eight hours time window for non valid url parameters', done => {
+      spyOnDependency(Dashboard, 'getParameterValues').and.returnValue([
+        '<script>alert("XSS")</script>',
+      ]);
+
+      const component = new DashboardComponent({
+        el: document.querySelector('.prometheus-graphs'),
+        propsData: { ...propsData, hasMetrics: true, showTimeWindowDropdown: true },
+      });
+
+      Vue.nextTick(() => {
+        expect(component.selectedTimeWindowKey).toEqual(timeWindowsKeyNames.eightHours);
+
+        done();
+      });
+    });
   });
 
   describe('when the window resizes', () => {