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Sun Management Center 3.0 Performance Reporting Manager User's Guide

Chapter 4 Custom Reports

This chapter discusses the following topics:

Custom Reports Overview

Performance Reporting Manager enables you to create your own custom reports. You use one of the report templates provided to create custom reports. The correct template is displayed automatically for you, depending upon the report request type selected from the menu. The report templates contain similar options, but there are differences between them. For more information about the fields contained in the report templates, see Custom Report Templates.

Unlike a standard report in which the report output format is predefined, you can specify the output format when creating a custom report. The possible output options are a table, a line graph, a bar chart, or a pie chart. At the time you complete the report template, you are offered only the valid output options for the type of report request you are creating. For more information about report format options, see Report Output Format Options.

Before creating a custom report, you should be familiar with how Performance Reporting Manager collects the data that is polled for reports. For more information, see Data Collection.

Adding a New Category or Subcategory

You can add a new category and subcategory to the report hierarchy. You can then place your custom reports under a category and subcategory you create. Or, you can choose to place the reports under one of the predefined categories. For more information about the predefined options, see Categories and Subcategories.

New categories are added to the bottom of the list in the hierarchy view. Each new subcategory is added to the bottom of its corresponding category.

To Create a New Category

  1. Start Report Manager

    For the detailed steps, see To Start Report Manager.

  2. From the File menu, choose New, then select Category.

    The Create Category dialog box appears. It contains two text fields.

  3. Type the new category name in the Name field.

  4. (Optional) Type the description of the category in the Description field.

  5. Click OK to finish adding the category to the hierarchy view.

    When the category name is selected, the name and description appear in the Report Category summary in the right pane.

To Create a New Subcategory

  1. Start Report Manager.

    For the detailed steps, see To Start Report Manager.

  2. From the File menu, choose New, then select Subcategory.

    The Create Subcategory dialog box appears. It contains two text fields.

  3. Select the desired Category from the drop-down menu.

  4. Type the new subcategory name in the Name field.

  5. (Optional) Add a description of the subcategory in the Description field.

    The new subcategory name will appear at the second level in the hierarchy view, beneath the category name.

  6. Click OK to finishing adding the subcategory.

    When the subcategory name is selected, the name and description appear in the Report Subcategory summary in the right pane.

Custom Report Templates

A report template guides you through the choices when creating your own custom report. The report fields displayed are predefined in the report template according to the type of report you want. A saved report template containing the options you selected for your custom report is called a report request. All custom report requests are based on one of the report templates that are included with Performance Reporting Manager.

Small differences exist between the report templates, depending upon the type of request you want to create: a custom performance report or a custom system configuration report. Performance reports are based on properties that yield numerical results and that change over time. The data returned can be plotted over time in a graph, for example. This graph can then be used to determine trends in performance of the machines. The system configuration reports provide data regarding the details of the hardware and software configuration of the host.

When you choose a report request from the File menu in Report Manager, a report template is automatically launched in a dialog box. The template displayed depends upon the type of report request you choose. The following report templates are available:

The fields possible in a report template are described below. They are grouped according to those that can be found in both types of reports, those that are found only in performance reports, and those that are found only in system configuration reports.

Common Custom Report Fields

Many fields in the report template can be found in either a custom performance template or a custom system configuration template. You build all your custom report requests by completing the fields in the report template. Your selections define the nature and scope of the report. Not all fields will be found in every report template. The template automatically launched after your selection from the File menu in Report Manager determines what fields are displayed. The fields that can be common to both performance and system configuration reports are:

Category

Select the desired category from the Category drop-down menu. New categories you create also appear in the drop-down menu. This field determines where in the hierarchy view the saved report request appears.

Subcategory

The Subcategory field is optional. Select the desired subcategory from the drop-down menu. New subcategories you create also appear in the drop-down menu. If used, the report request appears under the subcategory in the hierarchy view.

Report Request

Provide the name of the report request. This name appears as the title in the report request. The name also appears both in the report summary and the hierarchy views in Report Manager.

Report Title

The Report Title field is optional. This field provides a description of the report that then appears as the title. This description appears in the report summary of Report Manager. The report summary is displayed when the name of the report is selected in the hierarchy view.

Data Properties

Select the data properties to be included in the report in the Data Properties field. Click Edit to make your selections from the Property Chooser dialog box. There are some differences between the Property Chooser dialog box that is displayed in the performance or system configuration report templates. The correct dialog box automatically launches for you. Only the data properties currently being logged on the hosts will return data. For more information, see Data Properties.

Selected Hosts

Specify the hosts and corresponding port that you want to include in the report. Only agent machines that are linked to the server context will return data. If no port is specified for a host, the default port 161 is assigned. The choices are:

Output Mode

Choose the desired format of the report from the Output Mode drop-down menu. The available options given depend on the type of report request you are creating. The possible options are:

For more information about the report formats available, see Report Output Format Options.

Customize

The Customize field is optional. You can further customize the look of a graph report through the Customize dialog box. This option is available for Line Graph or Bar Chart report formats only. For more information, see Customizing the Appearance of Reports.

Performance Report Fields

There are three report fields that are found only in a performance report template. These report fields are:

The other fields possible for this type of report are as described in Common Custom Report Fields.

Function

The Function field controls the type of data that appears in the report. Select the type of data you want from the drop-down menu . For more information about how data is collected, see Data Collection. The choices are:

Time Range

The time the report spans is selected here. The choices for a time range are:

Graph Orientation

If you selected Line Graph or Bar Chart as the output mode, you must choose the desired orientation of the graphs in the report. The options are:

Custom System Configuration Report Fields

The report template for creating a custom system configuration report has two fields that are only found in this type of report.

The other fields possible for this type of report are as described in Common Custom Report Fields.

Level of Detail

Use the Level of Detail field to determine the amount of detail wanted in the report. Accept either the default, Detailed, or select Summary. If you select Summary, the following information is returned:

Filter

The Filter field is optional. Click Set Filter to select the desired filter options from the Filter dialog box. Use the drop-down menus to build an expression that creates the report filter wanted. The filtering options are case sensitive. For more information, see Filtering Reports.

Creating or Modifying a Report Request

You can create your own custom report request by one of the following methods:

Once a custom report request is saved after using either option, you can later make changes by using the Modify dialog box. You cannot modify a standard report request directly, as the report options are predefined and cannot be changed.

To Create a New Report Request by Modifying a Standard Report Request

  1. Start Report Manager.

    For more information, see To Start Report Manager.

  2. Select the name of the standard report request from the hierarchy view.

  3. From the Edit menu, choose Copy.

  4. Select the category or subcategory name from the hierarchy view under which you want the new report icon to appear.

  5. From the Edit menu, choose Paste.

    The copied report icon appears at the bottom of the selected category or subcategory. The name of the report is “Untitled” followed by a number.

  6. From the Edit menu, choose Modify.

    A report request dialog box appears with the options of the original standard report already completed.

  7. Type the new name of the report request in the Report Request field.

  8. Make the desired changes to the report option. Click OK to save your changes.

    The new report name replaces “Untitled” in the hierarchy view.

To Create a New Report Request

  1. Start Report Manager.

    For the detailed steps, see To Start Report Manager.

  2. From the File menu, choose New, then select the desired report request type.

    The report template specific to the type of report that you selected opens.

  3. Complete the fields of the report template.

    For more information about the report template options, see Custom Report Templates.

  4. (Optional) Click Preview to see a preview of the report.

    A preview of the report output is displayed in a new window. The data that has already been collected is used for a report preview.

  5. Click OK to save the report request.

    The report request is now saved. The title of the report request appears, with the corresponding report format icon, in the hierarchy view under the category and subcategory selected. This report request is available until it is deleted.

To Modify a Report Request

  1. Start Report Manager.

    For the detailed steps, see To Start Report Manager.

  2. Select the name of the report request you want to modify.

  3. From the Edit menu, choose Modify.

    The Modify dialog box opens. The fields contain the current values for Data Properties, Time Range, Filter, and Selected Hosts.

  4. Make your changes to the fields.

  5. Click OK to save your changes to the report request.

The following figure is a sample of a New Performance Report Request template.

Figure 4–1 Sample New Performance Report Request Template Showing Fields Completed

Dialog box titled New Performance Report Request. The context describes the graphic.

Data Properties

The ability to log data is included with the Sun Management Center 3.0 base product. Performance Reporting Manager uses this logged data in the reports. Only data that is logged to the circular history.log file on the agent machine is collected for reporting purposes. Data cannot be included in any report until logging of the data property is first enabled. Certain data properties are automatically logged for you. If a property is not being logged, you will not receive any data for that property until logging is first enabled.

You can use the Data Availability option to determine if a property is already being logged on the machine. To either enable or disable the logging of a data property, you can use the history logging capability of Sun Management Center 3.0 or use the group logging task. For more information about history logging, see Sun Management Center 3.0 User's Guide. For more information about the group logging task, see Group Logging

If you receive a No Data Found error message when running a report, first check to see if the data property is being logged on the agent machine specified in your report.

Data Availability

Only those data properties that are being logged on the agent machine can return data for reports. The Data Availability dialog box enables you to check what properties are currently being logged. The information is updated every hour. If you have just installed Performance Reporting Manager, the data might take an hour to first appear in the Data Availability dialog box.

Note –

The data properties being logged are used for performance reports only.

To See the Properties Being Logged

  1. From the Report Manager file menu, choose Data, and then select Data Availability.

    The Data Availability dialog box opens. All agent machines for which data was collected in the last hour appear in the Hosts Collecting Data drop-down menu.

  2. Select the desired host name from the drop-down menu.

    The table expands to list all the data properties collected for that host. You can resize the columns by dragging the cell borders in the column title. You can sort the table by double-clicking the column headings.

  3. Click Close to dismiss the dialog box.

The following figure shows a sample of the Data Availability dialog box. A note at the bottom of the dialog box reminds you that data in this table refreshes within an hour.

Figure 4–2 Sample of Data Availability Dialog Box with Data Properties Showing

Dialog box titled Data Availability. The context describes the graphic.

Data Properties Selection

When creating your custom report request, the report template requires that you select the data properties to include in the report.

The addition of certain properties requires that you provide an entry for either the module instance or property instance, or both. The module instance is needed only for multi-instance modules. Examples of a multi-instance module includes File Monitoring or Directory Monitoring. Each instance can be used for monitoring a different file or directory. The property instance typically refers to an instance name given to the property being logged. For example, in a machine with four CPUs, the CPUs can be numbered 0, 1, 2, and 3. If you are only interested in the performance of CPU number 3, you specify 3 as the property instance for the CPU property included in the report. You specify All as the property instance when you want a report that includes all instances that exist for the host. For more information, see Sun Management Center 3.0 User's Guide.

To Add Data Properties

  1. From the Data Properties field in the New Report Request template, click Edit.

    The Property Chooser dialog box appears. It contains two panes. The left pane is titled Properties to Choose From. The right pane is titled Selected Properties.

  2. Expand the hierarchy view in the left pane by clicking the key symbols.

    The data properties are located at the third level of the hierarchy.

  3. Select the desired property, and click Add.

    The property moves to the right pane. If required, the Module Instance or Specific Property Index fields become active in the lower left-hand corner of the dialog box.

  4. (Optional) Provide the Module Instance and Specific Property Index in their respective text fields.

    If module is a multiple instance module, provide the module instance wanted.

  5. When you finish adding all desired properties, click OK.

    The Property Chooser dialog box closes. Continue completing the report template.

The figure below shows a sample of the Property Chooser dialog box for performance reports.

Figure 4–3 Sample of the Property Chooser Dialog Box for a Performance Report Request

Dialog box titled Select Data Properties for Performance Report Request. The context describes the graphic.

Group Logging

When you want to log the same data properties on a group of agent machines, you can use the Group Operation features of the Premier Management Applications add-on to Sun Management Center 3.0. Instead of adding the same set of data properties to be logged on each machine individually, you can save time with the group logging feature. For more information about all the Group Operation features, see Sun Management Center 3.0 User's Guide.

To Add Data Properties to a Group Task

  1. From the Sun Management Center 3.0 Main Console File menu, choose Tools, then select Group Operation.

    The Group Operation dialog box appears.

  2. From the File menu, choose New, and then choose Task.

    The Create/Edit Tasks dialog box appears.

  3. Create a new group task by typing the task name in the text field, and then pressing Return.

    If needed, for more information see Sun Management Center 3.0 User's Guide.

  4. From the Type drop-down list, select Data Logging.

  5. Click Add Properties.

    The Property Chooser dialog box appears.

  6. From the hierarchy view in the left panel, select the data properties one at a time, and click Add after each one.

    The data properties are contained in the third-level in the hierarchy. Each data property added moves to the right pane.

  7. Click OK when done.

    The data properties are added to the group task.

  8. From the Create/Edit Task dialog box, select the data property.

    If you added more than one data property to the group task, you must do this one at a time.

  9. Click Logging Setting.

    The Property Logging Setting dialog box launches.

  10. If the box next to Logging does not have a check mark, add one.

    Logging for the data property is now enabled.

  11. Type the desired time interval, in seconds, in the Interval text field.

    The default is 300 seconds. The data property is logged at the interval specified.

  12. Click OK to save the task and close the dialog box.

To Run a Group Task

  1. From the Sun Management Center 3.0 Main Console File menu, choose Tools, then select Group Operation.

    The Group Operation dialog box appears.

  2. Launch the Create/Edit Groups dialog box.

  3. From the dialog box, select objects from the domain.

  4. From the Sun Management Center 3.0 Main Console, select the names of the servers, and then click Update.

    You can select the server names either by using Shift+Click, or by drawing a lasso around each individually, or as a consecutive group.

  5. Click OK to save the server names.

  6. From the Group Operations window, type the Name, then select the group name from the drop-down list.

    The group name is the one you provided when you created the group task.

  7. Select the group task name from the drop-down list.

    The group task name is the one you provided when you created the group task.

  8. Click the Save/Run icon from the menu.

    This is the last icon on the menu. Logging of the data properties chosen earlier starts.

Filtering Reports

You can further modify the type of information that your custom report contains by using the Filter dialog box. The Filter dialog box is an option contained in some of the report templates and is used when creating a custom system configuration report request.

The Filter dialog box contains several drop-down menus and text fields that are used to build an expression. This expression defines the report parameters to include the filter criteria wanted. The expression operators provided are common to the C programming language. Filter options are case sensitive.

For example, you can create a custom system configuration report request for a report that contains data only on machines that are running the Solaris 7 or Solaris 8 operating environments. To do this, you would create the following expression using the Filter dialog box:


Operating System = SunOS 5.7
OR
Operating System = SunOS 5.8

As another example, you can create a custom system configuration report request for a report that includes only the machines that have the SyMON packages installed. To do this, you would create the following expression:


Category contains SyMON

In order to include only those machines that have the Sun Management Center 3.0 SyMon packages installed, you can modify the above example this way:


Category contains SyMON AND Version contains 3.0

Customizing the Appearance of Reports

Some custom report templates have an option that enables you to customize the appearance of your Line Graph, Bar Chart, and Pie Chart reports. You can either add these customizing features when you are initially creating the report request, or you can later modify the report request to include the desired appearance customization.

After you click the Customize button in the report template, the Customize Graph dialog box appears. The dialog box contains the following three tabs, from which you can specify these appearance changes:

Note –

Some of the options in the Customize Graph dialog box are not available for Pie Chart reports.

Once you have finished selecting all the customizing options, click OK to dismiss the dialog box. You must also click OK from the report template for these options to be saved to the report request.

Composite Report Requests

Performance Reporting Manager enables you to combine two or more existing report requests to create a new report request. The resulting report request is called a composite report request. To create a composite report request, you can use existing standard or custom report requests, or a combination of both types. A composite report request combines the options of the report requests used. You specify a new name for the composite report request, and then the report is identified in the hierarchy view under the category and subcategory selected.

If the host name is not defined in any report request, you cannot select that request to become part of a composite report request. For example, you cannot select any report request for which the option Add Hosts at Runtime was specified.

You cannot delete or rename any existing standard or custom report request once it is referenced by a composite report request, unless you first delete the composite report request.

To Create a Composite Report Request

  1. From the Report Manager File menu, choose New, then select Composite Request Request.

    The Composite Report Request dialog box opens.

  2. Select the desired category and subcategory from the drop-down menus, and type a name for the report in the Name field.

  3. Select the desired reports from the left pane. Use the Add button to move the reports to the right pane that is titled Selected Report Requests.

    Use the Remove button if you select a report you do not want. The Remove All button will clear all selections from the right pane.

  4. (Optional) Click Preview to see a preview of the report.

    A preview of the report output is displayed in a new window. The data that has already been collected is used for a preview of a report request.

  5. Click OK to save the report request.

    The composite report request is now saved. The title of the composite report request appears in the hierarchy view under the category and subcategory selected. This report is available until it is deleted.