Exporting and Publishing Reports : Report Export Service
  
Report Export Service
The Report Export Service provides the ability to export selected NetIM reports at scheduled intervals. The Report Export Service exports reports to a directory (on a local or mapped drive) on the NetIM host. In addition, the Report Export Service can publish reports to a Riverbed Report Server.
This section includes the following topics:
Report Export Service configuration properties
Viewing and navigating exported reports
Also see Report Export Service.
Report Export Service configuration properties
Report Export Service properties are divided into the following categories:
General Properties
Report Export Service Batch Configurations
General Properties
The properties for the Report Export Service are listed in the following table.
 
Service property
Description
active
Controls whether the Report Export Service is active.
Export to directory
Points to the output file directory where exported reports are written each time the Report Export Service runs. This must be a local or mapped drive on the NetIM host machine. The default value for this directory is <temp dir>\Reports.
Regardless of the Archive action the Report Export Service creates a time-stamped folder in this directory for each active batch configuration each time it runs.
Archive directory
Points to the output file directory where Report Export Service copies exported reports to archive them. The default is <temp dir>\Reports\archive.
When Archive action is configured to a value other than “none,” the Report Export Service makes a copy of each exported batch of reports and stores it in the Archive directory.
Archive action
Controls whether the Report Export Service puts a copy of exported reports in the Archive directory, deletes previously exported reports from the Export to directory, or neither.
Options are:
none—Reports are only written to a time-stamped subdirectory in the Export to directory.
Archive the reports—Reports are written to a time-stamped subdirectory in the Export to directory and archived. During archiving, Report Export Service makes a copy of the time-stamped subdirectory and writes it to the Archive directory.
Delete reports older than a week—Reports are written to a time-stamped subdirectory in the Export to directory. Subdirectories in the Export to directory with a timestamp older than 7 days are deleted.
Delete reports older than a month—Reports are written to a time-stamped subdirectory in the Export to directory. Subdirectories in the Export to directory with a timestamp older than 30 days are deleted.
When the archive action is configured to delete reports, reports are exported but not archived and reports older than the specified time frame are deleted from the Export to directory.
Report Export Service Batch Configurations
The Report Export Service Batch Configurations property tree contains one or more export batch configurations. See Report Export Service Batch Configurations for property descriptions.
Report Export Service Batch Configurations
The properties in the Report Export Service Batch Configurations property tree are listed in this table.
Service property
Description
Export Batch Config N
active
Controls whether the export batch configuration is active.
If you set this to “no,” it disables the export/publication of reports for the export batch; however, the specified Archive action still occurs.
Report Export Configuration
The Report Export Configuration contains the following properties:
Report Set Definition—Defines which reports are exported. See Report Set Properties.
Format Properties—Controls the format of exported reports. See Format Properties.
Report Server Selection—Controls whether reports are published to an Riverbed Report Server. See Report Server Selection.
Group Selection—Controls whether all reports are exported or only those reports that are group-based. See Group Selection.
Report Set Properties
The properties that define the report set to be exported/published are listed in the following table.
Service property
Description
Publish Reports as
Provides a label for the exported/published reports.
Selected Reports
Controls which reports are included when the Report Export Service exports/publishes. The Available reports list contains a list of reports that are available. The Selected list contains a list of reports that are currently selected for export/publication.
A default set of reports is in the Selected reports list. Move a report from one list to the other by selecting a report name and clicking the single arrow button. Move all reports from one list to the other use the double arrow button.
Export Drill Down Reports
Many reports provide drill-down links to more detailed or related reports. This property controls whether drill-down reports are exported/published with the parent report. This property has an impact only when the Select Export Format supports links. The export formats that support linking are: html, pdf, and doc.
When the export of drill-down reports is enabled, the parent report contains a link to the drill-down to preserve the relationship between the reports.
Format Properties
Service property
Description
Select Template
Controls the template for exported/published reports. NetIM has a predefined Default Template that is selected by default. If you want to specify a custom template, you must first create it.
See Report Export Service to learn how to create a custom template.
Repeat Key Columns
Controls whether data values are printed in each cell of a key column or whether the cells are empty until populated with a new value.
Select Export Format
Controls the file format for exported/published reports. Available options are: txt, pdf, html, and doc. When the export format is set to “txt,” the field delimiter in defined using the Choose Delimiter property.
When pdf, html, or doc is selected as the export format, the Report Export Service generates an html index page to facilitate navigation of exported reports. See Viewing and navigating exported reports.
Select Filter
Controls whether a filter is applied. Filters are configured in the Filter Management tab of the web console Management page.
Choose Delimiter
Defines the field delimiter for exported/published text files. This property only applies when the Select Export Format is set to “txt.”
Group Selection
Keep “All” in the selected groups list if you want to export/publish both reports that can be grouped and those that cannot.
Service Property
Description
Select Group(s)
Controls whether all devices are included in the exported/published reports or only the devices in the specified user-defined device group. When a user-defined group is in the selected reports list, only reports that can be grouped are exported/published for that device group.
By default the selected group list contains “All” meaning that all devices are included in the export/publication. If you want to export/publish reports in the Selected Reports list populated with device data for all devices plus reports that can be grouped for one or more user-defined device groups, the Selected group list should contain “All” and the names of the user-defined device groups. A separate set of reports is exported/published for each group.
When the selected groups list contains only user-defined device groups, only reports that can be grouped are exported/published. Reports in the Selected Reports list that cannot be grouped are skipped during export/publication.
The selected group list must contain one or more group names in order for reports to be published/exported for the batch. When this list is empty, no reports are exported/published.
Report Server Selection
Service Property
Description
Select Report Server(s)
Controls whether reports are published to one or more Riverbed Report Servers. The Report Export Service will attempt to publish the batch of reports to the Report Server(s) in the selected Report Servers list. The Available listReport Servers that are defined in the NetIM General Properties.
To publish to a Report Server, you must first add it to the Available Report Server configuration for the NetIM and define required properties for it. Report Server properties are defined in the General Properties for the NetIM. See Report Export Service for the complete workflow for configuring NetIM to export to a Riverbed Report Server.
Configure Report Export Service to export/publish reports
Perform the following procedure to configure Report Export Service to export reports and publish reports to an Riverbed Report Server.
To configure Report Export Service
1. Log in as a user with administrative privilege.
2. Choose Administration > Advanced Management, and select the Schedule Chains tab.
3. Expand the chain that you want to configure, and select Network Data Export.
4. Make sure Report Export Service is active and expand settings.
5. Ensure that the active property is set to “yes.”
6. Set the archive action to meet your needs. See General Properties for more information.
7. Define an Export Batch Config. See Report Export Service Batch Configurations for property descriptions.
Expand Report Export Service Batch Configurations then expand an Export Batch Config.
Set the active property to “yes.”
Click Report Export Configuration.
The Report Configuration window appears.
Define the Report Set properties. See Report Set Properties
Define Format properties. See Format Properties
(Optional) Select a group. In the default configuration, “All” is in the selected group list meaning that device data for all devices in the database is included in the exported/published reports and both reports that can be grouped and reports that cannot be grouped are exported/published.
When a user-defined device group is in the selected group list, only reports that can be grouped are exported for that group.
(Optional) Move a Report Server to the Selected Report Server(s) list. This is only one step in the workflow for publishing to a Report Server. See Report Export Service for instructions on configuring NetIM to export to a Riverbed Report Server.
If you want to publish reports to a Report Server, you must move a Report Server from the Available list to the Selected list. If you only want to export reports to a local or mapped drive, make sure the Selected Report Server(s) list is empty.
Click OK in the Report Configuration window to temporarily save your changes and dismiss the window.
8. Click OK in the Advanced Management window to save the changes to the Report Export Service configuration.
 
Multiple export batch configurations can be configured in the Report Export Service. The following procedure provides instructions for adding an Export Batch Config.
To add an Export Batch Config to the Report Export Service Batch Configurations
1. Log in as a user with administrative privilege.
2. Choose Administration > Advanced Management, and select the Schedule Chains tab.
3. Expand the chain that you want to configure, and select Network Data Export.
4. Make sure Report Export Service is active and expand settings. The Report Export Service properties display.
5. Expand the Report Export Service Batch Configurations property tree.
6. Create a new sibling of an Export Batch Config in the Report Export Service Batch Configurations list.
Select the property edit handle for an Export Batch Config, and then select New Sibling from the property edit menu.
All new siblings are created at the bottom of the property tree.
Click OK at the bottom of the Management page to save the change.
7. (Optional) Rename the Export Batch Config.
Select the property edit handle for the newly created sibling, and then select Edit Name from the property edit menu.
Type the new name in the Edit Name dialog, and then click OK to close the dialog.
Click OK at the bottom of the Advanced Management window to save the change.
8. Configure the properties for the Export Batch Config Report Server.
 
Viewing and navigating exported reports
Each time the Report Export Service runs, a time-stamped subdirectory is created in the export directory. In that time-stamped subdirectory, a folder is created for each active export batch config and within it is a folder for each group included in the export batch config. The Report Export Service generates and exports an HTML-formatted index page (index.html) for each group. This index page organizes and facilitates navigation of exported reports. Open the index page in your web browser to gain easy access to all of the reports that were selected for export in the export batch.
The location of the index.html file for each export batch config is written to the adapter statistics. You can copy and paste the URL from the adapter statistics to your web browser.
Although an index page is exported for each group in the export batch config, each exported index page provides the ability view the exported reports for any of the groups included in that export batch config.
When the export of drill-down reports is enabled and the export format is pdf, html, or doc, exported parent reports contain links to drill-down reports. Underlined text in a report indicates a link to a drill‑down report.