Reports

Reports allow running a query against the tracing data that is collected by Operations Dashboard and get the results as a Microsoft® Excel file by email or by downloading the file from Operations Dashboard Web Console. The Web Console includes several reports that are automatically generated.

In order to allow Operations Dashboard to send emails or invoke a Web Service, SMTP system parameters should be configured.
More settings are available in Reports & alerts system parameters page.

Reports list

The Reports page lists all the available reports and allows to create new reports, or to execute, edit, delete and duplicate existing reports.

Figure 1. Reports list

Reports list

Adding and editing reports

Click on Add new report to add a new report, or click Edit in an existing report row to edit an existing report. For preloaded reports, editing certain fields, such as the report query, is not allowed. It is recommended that you duplicate the preloaded report (by clicking Duplicate in an existing report row) and then edit the duplicate report.

General attributes

Figure 2. General attributes

General attributes

Table 1. General attributes

Attribute Description
Name A unique name for the report.
Description A more detailed description of the report.
API reference A unique identifier (FFU, not currently used).
Cron scheduling expression Used for scheduling the report. See below for more details.
Email recipients Zero or more email addresses that will receive the results of the report by email in case of a successful execution.

Scheduling

The Cron scheduling expression field is used for specifying when the report should be executed automatically. Leave this field empty to disable automatic scheduling.

The scheduling expression format is: second minute hour day month weekday year. Each value (except for the seconds) accepts * (an asterisk) for specifying “All”.

Click the three dots button to open a wizard for generating common expressions.

Figure 3. Scheduling wizard

Scheduling wizard

Table 2. A few examples of valid Cron scheduling expressions

Expression Description
0 30 16 * * * * Every day at 16:30
0 0 0 * 11 * 2020 At midnight, every day of November 2020.
0 */15 * 10 * * * Every 15 minutes, on every 10th of the month
0 15 */12 * * 2 * Every 12 hours, at minute 15 (e.g. 00:15, 12:15) , only on Tuesdays.

Query attributes

The Query section contains attributes of the actual query that should be executed against the tracing data that is collected by Operations Dashboard.

Figure 4. Query attributes

Query attributes

Table 3. Query attributes

Attribute Description
Index set Which Elasticsearch index set to query.
Document type Which Elasticsearch document type to query.
Query An Elasticsearch JSON query.
Parameters A JSON string containing key-value pairs to replace placeholders in the query. For example, you may use the placeholder $minElapsedTime in the query, and then enter {"minElapsedTime":"100"} in the parameters field. The value will be replaced during the query execution.
Column headers A JSON string containing key-value pairs to replace technical column names in the output with human-readable names. For example, if the query returns the field SyslogTimeInMil, you may use {"SyslogTimeInMil":"Time"} to set the header of this field to “Time”.

Filters

The filters section is used to specify which filters will be applied to the query during its execution.

Figure 5. Filters

Filters

Table 4. Filters

Field Description
Preset filters Specify default filters that will be applied to the report. For example: Appliance name=prod1.
Adjustable filters before execution Specify which of the filters that were specified in the Preset filters field can be altered by the user when the report is manually executed via the report execution page (discussed below). Filters that are not specified here are “locked” and cannot be changed before execution.

Executing reports

There are two ways to execute reports:

  • Scheduled reports will be automatically executed according to their specified schedule. Refer to the preceding section, "Scheduling".

  • Any report can also be executed manually.

Manually executing a report

To manually execute a report, click on Execute in an existing report row in the reports list page. The Execute report page will be displayed.

Figure 6. Execute report

Execute report

Table 5. Execute report attributes

Attribute Description
Email recipients Zero or more email addresses that will receive the results of the report by email in case of a successful execution.
Adjustable filters Allows changing filters that were set in the report definition and will be applied to the report. Refer to the preceding section, "Filters".

Reports results

The report’s results file will be sent to recipients by email and can also be downloaded from the Reports history page, which shows all recent report executions, both scheduled and manually executed reports.

Figure 7. Reports history

Reports history

The list includes the name of the report, the email recipients (if any), the executing user or “Scheduler” if the report was scheduled automatically, the status (such as OK, Executing and Error), and a Download button to download the results file.