Manual Index

Additional resources can be found in the How To... Guide.

5. Reports:  Selection

When you select the  "Reports" menu option on the 'Home' menu toolbar the DesktopProfile reports menu toolbar is displayed (see Fig 5.1 below). Entering the Reports menu does not require the configuration password for access. The reporting options are available for all users. There are two types of reports available, namely GUI reports and HTML reports. GUI reports deliver the results directly into the desktop user interface. HTML reports deliver the results into a browser window only. The advantage of GUI reports is that they can be manipulated by the DesktopProfile toolset.

Fig 5.1 Reports tool bar menu

5.1 Reports: Dataset Selection and Grid View

The Grid View is a GUI report option. When you select the Grid View menu option on the 'Reports' menu toolbar DesktopProfile displays the "Load Data" dialog (see Fig 5.2 below). This dialog is always displayed when the user selects an option that requires data to be retrieved from the server.

Fig. 5.2 The Load data dialog box  

Period	Choose predefined report times for the report
Summarize by	Choose predefined granulation summaries
Slider control	Drag the two ends to select the start and stop time
Continue into live session	Click to request that the reports be continuously updated with real-time data

The Load Data dialog box is presented to the user on the initiation of the report request as the user must choose the time period and granulation for the report to be produced. 

TIP: You may slide either of the two diamonds above the 'Continue into live session' to select a user defined time period.

Any and all subsequent requests for data will present the Select Data dialog (see Fig 5.3 below) first. This dialog allows the user to choose an existing selection of data by clicking on a line item (referred to as a dataset) to highlight it and clicking 'OK'. If the user wants to choose a new time period or granulation of data, this is achieved by clicking the "New" button which then returns the 'Load Data' dialog (Fig 5.2 above). The user may have as many data selections open as needed. 

Note: Clicking the "Continue into live session" check box will cause the dataset to be updated in real-time. As new data is gathered it will be sent to the users desktop. 

Fig 5.3 The Select Data dialog

Once the data is selected, either by selecting an existing dataset or creating a new dataset, the Grid View (like a spreadsheet) is presented to the user (sSee Fig 5.4 below).

Fig 5.4 The Grid Report View

The Grid Report View provides access to all tests and data that were running during the selected time period. There are four reported elements to filter the data: by Test, by Time, by Host/Device and by Metric. As the report view is two dimensional, the Grid Report allows the user to first select the initial data filter by choosing any two selections using the drop list boxes at the top of the grid view,  which leaves the remaining two data elements to form the body of the report. For the example in Fig 5.4 above, the filter selections are Test->Availability and Host->195.167.164.9, leaving the report body to display Time versus Metric. 

The X/Y tick box simply switches the X and Y axis around and the font size box is used to change the font size if desired.

Special Note: As DesktopProfile delivers its reports using a GUI interface through the browser, the user may open as many views and datasets as desired.

5.2 Reports: System Reports

The DesktopProfile System Reports are HTML based reports and because of this, System Reports can only be used with Packet Loss and Latency data. In other words the Ping test.

When you select the HTML System Reports menu option a browser window is opened and the System Reports selection page is displayed (see Fig 5.5 below). 

Fig 5.5 System reports browser reports

The user simply selects the report type from the "Report" drop list box (e.g. Overall Systems) and the desired Test name from the "Test" list box. Because the System Reports only work with Packet Loss and Latency data elements the "Test" selection box will only list the ping generated tests that are running. All other tests will not be shown. These are made available in Custom Reports. Selecting a System Report brings up a browser table report (see Fig 5.5.1 to 5.5.3 below).

Fig 5.5.1 Browser System Report Snapshot

Fig 5.5.2 Browser System Report Packet Loss

Fig 5.5.3 Browser System Report Latency
 

The "System Monitor" button in the main System reports selection browser window brings up the browser based System Monitor view (see Fig 5.6 below).

Fig. 5.6 Browser based System Monitor 

The Systems Monitor resembles something akin to an EKG monitor, but in this case a 'flat line' is good. The 'health' of each connection is represented as follows: 

• At regular intervals, the system checks to determine whether or not the last ten packets sent to each host have been successfully returned. 

• If more than zero but less than five packets have been lost, the host name is highlighted with a yellow background. 

• If five or more packets have been lost, the host name is highlighted with a red background. 

You can click on the host name to get a more detailed picture of current performance (see Fig 5.7 below).

Any packet loss is also represented in the little rectangular window adjacent to each host name by a vertical red bar. Latency is also tracked in this window, represented by a vertical black bar. A black bar that spans the entire height of the window represents latency of 5 seconds or more. On a 800 x 600 pixel screen, latency below 334 milliseconds is represented by a black bar 1 pixel high. Successive measurements within this range will thus produce a flat black line along the bottom of the rectangular window.


Fig 5.7 System Monitor browser plots

DesktopProfile provides the ability to click on an IP address in the System Reports or System Monitor view to 'drill down' on any host listed in either a Status Snapshot or a Report to gain more detailed information. In both cases, the IP address is a 'hot link' to a detailed graph depicting latency and packet loss for that host. By default, host graphs display live data. You are able to monitor packet loss and latency information in real time. However, you may optionally choose to plot historical data by clicking the "Plot Historical Data" button below the viewing image.

Pressing the left mouse button and dragging across the graph provides popup information about a specific time interval (Fig 5.8). Pressing the left mouse button and dragging to the left or right on the time axis at the bottom of the chart causes the time intervals to expand or contract.
 

Fig 5.8: Changing Time Summarization

5.3 Reports: Custom Reports

The DesktopProfile Custom Reports are HTML based reports delivered using the browser. When you select the HTML Custom Reports menu option on the 'Reports' menu toolbar DesktopProfile displays the HTML Custom Reports dialog (see Fig 5.9 below). Reports already defined appear in the main panel window. 

Fig 5.9 HTML Custom reports definition dialog

Custom HTML Reports can be defined for any data source being collected by DesktopProfile and the Custom Reports dialog is used to add a new custom report or to edit an existing custom report. To add a new report, the user clicks the "New..." button to display the Edit Report dialog (see Fig. 5.10 below.)  In addition to a wide range of tailoring options, this dialog allows the user to define the four main components of the report. These are the time period (Time Span)  for the data, the granulation of the data (Interval),  the specific data elements of interest (Metrics and Variables) and the specific devices/hosts where the data was collected from (Hosts). Note the Quick Help panel provides the user with "tool tip" help descriptions for each field.


Fig 5.10 Custom reports definition dialog

Time Span	Pre-set time spans can either be chosen from the drop list box,e.g. Last Hour, Last Day or a user specific time period can be selected by sliding the time selection slider bar
Interval	Selects the desired granulation for the data extraction, e.g. 1 min, 10 min, 1 hour
Plugin	Selects the test type (e.g. HTTP, Ping)
Test	Selects the specific test
Hosts	If the test has been scheduled to collect data from more than one device/host then you can select which should be included
Variables	Selects the individual data elements e.g. latency, packet loss
Include Detail	Provides average values by time interval, in addition to the summary data
Include T.O.D	Provides average values by time of day, in addition to summary data
Group by Host	Group detail and/or time of day data by host instead of by metric
Filter Expression	Enter a filter expression using metric name(s), 'and', 'or' '>', '<' and '='. (E.g. Latency >= 300)
Report Name	User specified name for this report
Export Format	If a file output (rather than and HTML report) is desired this selects the format type (e.g. CSV, XML).
Run Report	Clicking this button runs the report immediately
Users...	Clicking this button allows a security user code and password to be defined for the report
Advanced Setup...	Clicking this button allows a number of predefinitions such as email to be defined
Schedule...	Clicking this button brings up the schedule definition dialog (see Fig. 5.11 below)
Remove from schedule	Selecting this option removes the edited report from the schedule when the 'ok' button is clicked
OK	Clicking this completes the dialog

The Edit Schedule dialog is displayed (see Fig 5.11 below) when the "Edit" or "New" scheduled button is clicked from any dialog that displays the 'Schedule' report/export option.

Fig 5.11 the Edit Schedule dialog

5.4  Enterprise View Report

The Enterprise View is a GUI report option. When you select the Enterprise View menu option on the 'Reports' menu toolbar DesktopProfile displays the "Load data" dialog (see Fig 5.2 documented above). The Load Data dialog is always displayed when the user selects an option that requires data to be retrieved from the server.

Once the dataset is selected, the Enterprise View is presented to the user. See Fig 5.12 below.

Fig 5.12

The purpose of the Enterprise View is to provide an instant view of all the metrics being measured in the Enterprise. The scroll bar at the top allows the user to scroll the view through the selected time window. The time for the data presented is reported directly below the scroll bar. Clicking the left mouse button on a cell presents the cell metric details in a popup window (see fig 5.12.1 below). Clicking the right mouse button on a cell presents a context menu of available options. The more measures being recorded the smaller the cell size. The user may also create a zoom view of a section by left clicking and dragging the mouse across the desired cells.

Fig 5.12.1

5.5  Export Items Report

The Export Items Report is a GUI report option which allows the user to extract DesktopProfile data into an external file. Three formats are supported, text, CSV, and XML. When you select the Export menu option on the 'Reports' menu toolbar DesktopProfile displays the "Export Items" dialog (see Fig 5.13 below).

Fig 5.13

An Export Items Report can be defined for any data source being collected by DesktopProfile and is used to add a new Export Report or to edit an existing Export Report. To add a new report, the user clicks the "New..." button to display the "Edit Report" dialog (see Fig. 5.14 below.)  In addition to a wide range of tailoring options, this dialog allows the user to define the four main components of the report which include the time period (Period) for the data, the granulation of the data (Summarize by),  the export format and the file name to store the exported data. Note the Quick Help panel provides the user with "tool tip" help descriptions for each field.

Fig 5.14

 

Period	Pre set Time Spans can either be chosen from the drop list box (e.g. Last Hour, Last Day) or a user specific time period can be selected by sliding the time selection slider bar
Summarized by	Selects the desired granulation for the data extraction, e.g. 1 min, 10 min, 1 hour
Export/Output Format	Selects the export format required, Text, CSV, or XML
Filename	Enter the export file title
Test/Metric/Host	Selects from the three field list boxes the required test, the metrics names and the IP devices
Export	Click the Export button if you want to run the export immediately
Users...	Click the Users... button if you want to specify the user name valid for this export. This requires DesktopProfile HTTP engine to be used as the Web Server otherwise it is ignored.
Advanced Setup...	Displays a global settings dialog for email and web server settings
Schedule...	Displays a dialog of scheduled times for the user to select from or add a new one to (see Fig. 5.11 above)
Remove from schedule	Selecting this option removes the edited report from the schedule when the 'ok' button is clicked

5.6  Indicator View Report

The Indicator View Report is a GUI report option. The Indicator View is a powerful and flexible, user assembled, real-time indicator panel where the user decides what indicator lights are present in the view and the metrics that represent the different indicator lights. An indictor light can support any number of metrics.  For example, you could place the latency for all measured Web pages in a single indicator light or more importantly you could assemble all the metrics that represent the critical end-to-end path for a particular business application starting with the database and ending at the desktop. The Indicator View is a real-time view only and does not report historic data. When you select the Indicator View menu option on the 'Reports' menu toolbar DesktopProfile displays the "Add New Indicator Block" dialog (see Fig 5.15.1 below).

Fig 5.15.1

Indicator Type	Select the indicator icon to form the group image from the drop down list box. The indicator icon presents a series of shapes and images to further aid the view. Note the indicator panel can support many indicator groups to represent different aspects of the business enterprise. See fig 5.16 below as an example.
Rows/Columns	These options set the size of the overall indicator object. Enter the number of rows and columns desired.
Update Interval	Select the time interval to update the indicator lights. The smallest interval is one minute. Note if you select an interval that is smaller than the collection rate then the indicator will only change status when the data is collected.
Indicator Block Name	Enter the title of the indicator block.
Indicator Block information	Enter description for the indicator block. This further clarifies the purpose of the indicator for inquiries.
Add to another block	Select this option to add the indicator group to an existing indicator group. This allows the user to have a single indicator light which may represent an entire computer center but then allow drill down for details. This option is only displayed when at least one block has been defined within the view.
Parent block name/Parent Indicator Name	Select the indicator block group and the specific indicator icon that is to be the "parent" for this "child" indicator.
OK/Cancel buttons	Click OK to create the indicator view or Cancel to abort.

Once the Indicator Block has been created, individual metrics can be assigned to each row/column indicator. To assign a metric to a specific row/column cell, right click on the desired indicator cell to bring up the floating menu. Select "Asign/edit indicator metric" from the menu to open the Select Metric dialog box (see Fig 5.15.2 below). Many other configuration, analysis and plotting options are also available through the Indicator View floating menu. Once all the indicator cells have been configured, the indicator images will be updated with live data as shown in Fig 5.16. Indicator cells that have not been defined will be displayed in blue. Indicator cells that have been configured, but have not received a data block, will be displayed in white.

Fig 5.15.2

Fig 5.16

The indicator panel above shows three different groups representing London, Atlanta and Sydney. One of the important features of the indicator view is the ability to navigate quickly to an offending metric. In high level views a red indicator shows that one or more measures are in the critical status. Simply double clicking the left mouse button displays a tree structure dialog to navigate any nested group indicator and/or metric (see Fig 5.17 below).

Fig 5.17

5.7 Table View

The Table View Report is a GUI report option and is very similar. When you select the Table View menu option, DesktopProfile displays the "Load Data" dialog (see Fig 5.2 documented above). The report generated is a spreadsheet type view with columns and rows and provides some filter selection list boxes to allow the user to tailor what appears in the view (see Fig 5.18 below).

Fig 5.18

In the example above the X/Y axis have been selected as Time and Host, and the view parameters have been selected as Latency for the HTTP test titled "Web Server Response."

5.8 Map View

The Map View Report is a GUI report option and is very similar to the Indicator View except that it provides a map as a background to provide location information. The Map View provides a series of maps for the back drop on which to assemble the indicator lights. The Map View is simpler than the Indicator View as it only allows single nested indictors (see Fig 5.19 below).

Fig 5.19

Indicators are added by clicking the right mouse button and selecting "Add Indicator."  Initially indicators are locked on the map. Right mouse clicking on an indicator allows the indicator to be unlocked so it can be dragged to the desired location.

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