Viewing Reports & Report Management

It would be too time consuming to manually graph the same data objects over and over again every time you wish to check on your system. For this reason, PrimeAlert Reporter lets you create custom-made reports. Each report can contain multiple graphs, and each graph can contain multiple functions. Once you've created a report, simply click view and all the graphs will be created for you automatically.

For your convenience, Reporter also comes bundled with several pre-designed, generic reports for performance, load, memory usage, disk usage, etc.

Viewing a Report

To view an existing report, first go to Reporter's table view within WebPortal. Next, select the category which contains the report (e.g. CPU, Disks, etc.) by clicking on the corresponding tab. The report you want should appear in the picklist of reports. Select that report, and click the View link. A new window will open containing the report. A sample report is shown in Figure 26.

Figure 26 - Viewing a Report

The report contains the report name at the top, and a set of links to the right: Zoom, Edit, Print, Refresh, and Help. Below this is the agent host name, IP address and operating system version, followed by the date the report was made. Finally there are one or more graphs.

The Zoom link allows you to change the time range of the plot. If you click on the link, a time range editor will appear. Here you can specify a time interval. When you click Apply, the report will be redrawn, using data from the new time interval. There will now be an Unzoom link next to Zoom. Clicking on this will redraw the report with the original time interval.

The Edit link will bring up an Edit Report window. The report will be redrawn should you make any changes.

The Print link will open an OS/browser dependent dialog box for printing the report. Clicking the Refresh link will redraw the report, using newer data if available. Help opens this page.

If you want to concentrate on one particular object in a graph, simply click on that graph to open the data view window for that object. If the graph plots more than one object, you will be asked which object you would like to view (Figure 27).

Figure 27 - Selecting An Object

Errors

If, for some reason, an error was encountered when Reporter tried to generate the report, an error message will appear at the bottom of the report (Figure 28).

Figure 28 - Error Generating Report

You can get more information by clicking on the details link:

Figure 29 - Error Details

This is the most common error, which occurs when you try to view a report that contains an object no longer being monitored by Reporter.

Adding a Report

To create your own report, click on the Add link above the list of reports in the table view. An Add Report window will appear, similar to the Edit Report window of Figure 32. When adding a report, the Report Name field is editable, and the lists for each graph are initially empty.

Next to the Report Name field is the Auto Update checkbox, and the Update Period field (which has a default value of 10). If you check this checkbox, the report will automatically refresh every 10 minutes. The update period must be an integer greater than or equal to one.

The Category field selects which tab the report will appear under in the table view. The Data Bin list lets you select which data bin you would like to graph. Note that the frequency of data sampling decreases as the size of the bin increases.

In the middle pane of the Add Report window, there are two pick lists for the number of graphs: one for rows, one for columns. The report can have 1-4 rows of graphs, and 1 or 2 columns of graphs. Use the list of Available Objects to add objects which Reporter is monitoring to the various graphs. For example, if you want to plot the maximum percent memory used in a given time period in graph 2, you would select percent memory used from the list of available objects, pick Maximum under Data Cascade Type, and click on the right arrow next to Graph 2:

Figure 30 - Adding An Object To A Graph

The object will now appear in the list under graph 2 (Figure 31). In a similar manner, you can remove objects from a graph. Just select the object from the list for that graph, and then click on the left arrow. The item will be removed from the list.

Figure 31 - Removing An Object From A Graph

Below the list of objects for each graph is a list of graph templates. Pick the template you would like to use for your graph. You can use the links to the right of the list to add, edit, duplicate or delete a graph template.

When you are finished adding objects to each graph, click the Apply button at the bottom of the window to create the report. The Cancel button closes the window without creating a new report, and the Help button brings up this page.

Editing a Report

Figure 32 - Report Edit Window

If you would like to change some of the settings of a report, select the report from the list of reports in the table view. Then click on the Edit link above the list. An Edit Report window (Figure 32) will open. This window is exactly the same as an Add Report window, with the exception that the report name cannot be changed, and all fields contain the current settings of the report you are editing.

Make whatever changes you desire, and then click the Apply button at the bottom of the page to save your changes. Note that you must be the owner (creator) of a report in order to successfully edit it. If you are not the owner, a window will appear informing you that you do not have permission to edit the file. You can then either cancel the action by clicking Cancel, or you can save this report as a new report by first entering a new report name and then clicking Apply.

Duplicating a Report

If you would like to create a new report similar to an existing report, you may want to use the duplicate feature. Simply select the existing report from the report list, and click on the Duplicate link. This will open an Add Report window with all fields initialized to the values from the existing report. Enter a new report name and make whatever changes you desire, and then click Apply to create the new report.

Deleting a Report

To delete a report, select the report name from the list of reports, and click on the Delete link. A window will appear asking you to confirm the deletion. Click Apply to delete the report, or Cancel to close the window without deleting it. Note that you must be the owner (creator) of a report in order to delete it. Generic reports cannot be deleted.