2.4.3.1 Data Export Overview

The Data Export page can be accessed from Administration, and then Remote Servers, and then Data Export under the main menu.

This feature allows you to create jobs to regularly transfer files or entire directories out of the file management area to a remote server using rsync.

• You can schedule up to 5 jobs to run per site (NO or SO)
• Each job can select one or more file management area subdirectories to include in the job.
• Each job can have its own schedule.
• Jobs can be tracked using the active tasks screen under status and manage. User defined tasks name can be applied for easy tracking. See Tasks for more information.

Note:

You are not limited to one remote server. Up to 5 different remote servers may be utilized.

Data Export pulls from files located in the file management area. Various automated and manual processes use the file management area to store files. These include the following types:

• Active Alarms (export task). See Export Active Alarms.
• Alarm and Event History (export task). See Exporting Alarm and Event History.
• Security Log (export task). See Exporting Security Log Files.
• KPIs (export task). See Exporting KPIs.
• Measurement Reports (export task). See Exporting Measurements Reports.
• Backups (depending on the application, this may include provisioning and configuration data).

Types designated as export tasks are scheduled by the user using forms accessed from the applicable page. It is important to understand that when you are scheduling an export task from one of these forms, you are not scheduling an export job to the remote server. You are scheduling an export task to the file management area. See Files for more information.

Files to be selected for export jobs are sourced from the file management area. Within the file management area, only files in the export and backup directories are eligible for export. Selecting the scope of files to be exported is accomplished by defining a directory path, starting with the export or backup directories, and using wildcards to include a desired range of files. A simple search using your favorite search engine explains wildcards and how to use them.

As the names infer, the backup directory hosts the backup files and the export directory hosts various performance indicators and log files generated by export tasks. See File Name Formats APDE for a description of directory structure and file name formats. For a practical view of files on your system, navigate from the GUI main menu to the Status & Manage, and then Files page and browse the various entries presented under each of the host tabs (this assumes some export tasks have already been executed).

Table 2-52 presents some examples when defining files to be transferred. Some of these examples may not be practical but convey a point.

Table 2-52 Data Export Examples

Files to Transfer	Description
export/*	Default value. Includes all subdirectories and files from the export directory.
backup/*	Includes all subdirectories and files from the backup directory.
export/*,/backup/*	Includes all subdirectories and files from both the backup and export directories.
export/<hostname>/*	Includes all export subdirectories and files from the specified host.
export/<hostname>/Events/*	Includes all events files from the specified host.
export/*/Events/*	Includes all events files from all hosts.
export/<hostname>/Events/*/*2016??01*	Includes all events files from the specified host and all network elements that occurred on the first day of each month in the year 2016 (The date segment is part of the file naming convention).
export/<hostname>/Alarms/*	Includes all alarm files from the specified host.
export/<hostname>/KPI/*	Includes all KPI files from the specified host.
export/<hostname>/Measurements/*	Includes all Measurements files from the specified host.
export/<hostname>/Seculog/*	Includes all Security Log files from the specified host.

When configuring an export job, the typical scheduling mechanisms are available. These include Upload Frequency, Minute, Time of Day, and Day of Week. The minimum export frequency is 15 minutes with the other options being hourly, daily, and weekly. Depending on what upload frequency is selected, some scheduling choices may become inactive and the buttons or lists are grayed out. For example, if you were to select a frequency of daily, only the Time of Day list would be active. The minute list and the Day of Week buttons would be inactive and grayed out. See Data Export elements for information on the scheduling options.

File synchronization is managed using rsync. Depending on the OS and implementation of the remote server, it may be required to define the path to the rsync binary on the remote server. This is not common but an option is available to do that. Otherwise, this can be left blank. See Data Export elements for more information.

Several file compression choices are available, these include gzip, bzip2, and none. By default gzip is used. Based on scheduling, the compressed files are temporarily created on the local host once they are transferred to the remote server. The file compression choices can be made from the General Options form. See General Options Elements.