Schedule Reports
It is a
good idea to schedule reports to be run at non-peak traffic hours since
generation of reports is a resource hungry process especially for large
interface numbers.
A Scheduler is configured to set the parameters for automating
the generation of reports. The parameters to be set for creating a
Scheduler are:
- Source - The Interfaces or IP Groups which are the
source of traffic.
- Interfaces - The list of interfaces who's
bandwidth utilization must be watched. One report will be generated for
each interface selected.
- IP Groups - The IP groups who's bandwidth
utilization must be watched. One report will be generated for each IP
Group created.
- Report Type - The type of report to be generated -
Consolidated or Custom ( custom report option not available under "IP
Groups")
- Report Generation Schedule - How and when the
report is to be generated (e.g.) daily,weekly,monthly,or only once
- Generate report on - This value
determines the time when report is to the generated
- Generate report for - This value
determines the start and the end time for the report
- Email Address - This is the address to which the
generated reports will be sent
Netflow Analyzer calculates the bandwidth utilization on the
specified interfaces / IP Groups every minute. Based on the schedule
opted for, reports are generated at various time intervals.The Schedule
Reports feature lets you Create new
Schedules and Delete existing ones. The
Scheduler List page lists all existing schedules , along with the
Schedule details,Status, Report types,and the Last Report Generated
time.
The various columns displayed in the Scheduler List page are
described in the table below:
Column |
Description |
Name |
The name of the Schedule when it was created. Click on
the Schedule's name to see more information about the schedule's
configuration. |
Schedule Details |
Information on when the schedule will run. |
Status |
By default all schedules are Enabled, which means they
are active. Click the icon to disable a schedule. When this is done,
reports will no longer be generated for that configuration. Click the icon to enable the schedule again. |
Report Type |
Whether it is a consolidated report are user-defined
Custom report |
Last Report Time |
This column lists the last time when this schedule was
run and a report created. |
Generated Reports
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Clicking on View
Reports it is possible to view all the previous reports that have been
generated. The number of reports that are stored is based on the user
definition in the Schedule Setting page. (By enabling the item "Enable
older reports to be accessed from UI" it is possible to retrieve even
older reports.) For Daily Schedule up to 90 reports can be stored. For
Weekly Schedule up to 104 reports can be stored. For Monthly Schedule
up to 60 reports can be stored.
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Operations on Schedule Reports
You can create new schedules or delete existing ones from the
Schedule List page.
Configuring a new Schedule
The steps to configure a Schedule are:
- Login to the NetFlow Analyzer client and click "Schedule
Reports" under "Admin Operations" in the left panel
- Click "Add" to add a new Schedule Profile
- Fill in the following details
Field |
Description |
Scheduler Name |
Enter a unique name to identify this scheduler. |
Description |
Enter descriptive information for this scheduler
profile to help other operators understand why it was created. |
Select Source |
By default all managed interfaces sending NetFlow
exports are selected. If you want this schedule configuration to apply
to certain interfaces only, click the Modify Selection
link. In the pop-up window, select the required devices and interfaces
and click Update to save your changes.
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By default all IP Groups are selected. If you want
this schedule configuration to apply to certain IP Groups only, click
the Modify Selection link. In the pop-up window,
select the required devices and IP Groups and click Update
to save your changes.
|
Report Type |
Select whether the reports that need to be
generated is consolidated or a customised one .The default setting is
Consolidated Report.To opt for Custom Report click on the radio button
in front of custom report.
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If you want a customised report then click on the
radio button in front of custom report. Opting for Custom
report lets you set criteria by using the "Add Criteria" option.Any
number of criterion can be set and the rule set to match all the
criteria or anyone.
|
Schedule Report Generation |
Select the report generation
frequency as one from : Daily, Weekly, Monthly and Only Once. Depending
on this the report will be generated at the appropriate time intervals.
|
Email Address to Send Reports |
Enter the email address to which the generated
reports have to be emailed. You can enter multiple email addresses
separated by a comma. |
- After setting the required parameters, click 'Save'
Custom Report :
Opting for custom report lets you set criteria on the basis
of which the report will be generated. By clicking on the "Add
Criteria" button one can set a matching condition on "Source
Address, Source Network, Source Nodes, Destination Address, Destination
Network, Destination Nodes and Application". To add more criteria click
on "Add Criteria" again. Having created all the
criterions you can decide whether to make the generated report to match
all of the criterions created or any of them.
Scheduling Report
Generation
The report generation schedule can be chosen from one of
the following:
- Daily - When you opt for "Daily" you have
the option to set the time at which the report should be generated.
Also, the report could be generated for the previous day or the last 24
hours. When the "Previous Day" option is opted the report is generated
for the time period from 00:00 hours to 23:59 hours of the previous
day. You have the option to narrow down this time period by using the
time filter -
. For instance if the maximum flow happens during your
working hours from 08:00 hours to 18:00 hours you can set it in the
window that pops up.
When you opt for the last 24 hours then the report is
generated for the flow in the intervening 24 hours (from the time at
which the report is to be generated today).
Exclude weekends:
When you choose the Exclude Weekend option with "Previous day", reports
will be generated on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
These will be reports pertaining to Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,
Thursday and Friday respectively.
When you choose the Exclude Weekend option with "Last 24 hours",
reports will be generated on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and
Friday.
- Weekly - When you opt for the "Weekly"
option, you have the option to specify the day and time at which the
report needs to be generated. The report could be generated for the
"Previous Week" or for the "Last 7 Days". By additionally opting for
the "Exclude Weekend" the report can be made to include only data
corresponding to monday through friday.
The previous week option would generate the report for the
time period Sunday 00:00 hours till Saturday 23:59 hours. When"Exclude
Weekends" is enabled the report will be generated for the time period
Monday 00:00 hours till Friday 23:59 hours.
The"Last 7 Days" option would generate the report for the
last 7 days from the time at which the report is to be generated.
Again, the exclude weekend option would generate for the last 7 days
with the data for the weekend (saturday,sunday) excluded. For instance
if the report is to be generated at Monday 10:00 am, with the rules set
as "last 7 days" and "Exclude weekend" enabled, then the report will be
generated for the time period last week's Monday 10:00 hours to Friday
23:59 hours and from this week Monday's 00:00 hours till 10:00 hours.
- Monthly - By opting for the "Monthly"
option you can set the date of the month along with the time at which
the report needs to be generated every month .The report could be
generated for the "Previous Month" or for the "Last 30 days". By
selecting "Exclude Weekends" the report can be made to include only
data corresponding to monday through friday.
When "Previous Month" option is enabled and the report
generation date is set to 5-th of every month at 10:00 hours, then the
report will be generated for the whole of last month ( first to the
last day of the month). When "Exclude weekend" option is enabled then
the generated report will exclude all the intervening weekends
(saturday & sunday).
When "Last 30 Days" option is enabled and the report
generation date is set to 5-th of every month at 10:00 hours, then the
report will be generated from last month's 5-th 10:00 hours till this
month 5-th's 10:00 hours. When"Exclude Weekend" option is enabled then
the generated report will exclude all the intervening weekends(saturday
& sunday).
- Only Once - If you wish to generate report
only once at a specified time you can do that by opting for "Only
Once". The date and time at which the report should be run can be
specified. The date & time can be altered by using the icon -
. The
report could be generated for the Previous Day, Last 24 Hours, Previous
Week, Last 7 Days, Previous Month, or Last 30 Days. When "Previous Day"
option is enabled then the button permits the setting of
working hours.
Customizing from address:
You can customize the "From Address" from the mail server
settings in settings.
A note on emailed reports:
A report is generated for each interface / IP Group - 50 such
reports are zipped in a single email and mailed. In case of more than
50 interface/ IP Groups selected the report will be sent in multiple
emails. The last generated reports for all schedules will be under the
folder NetFlow -> Reports.
Modifying Schedules
Select a schedule from the Schedule List and click on Modify
to modify the schedule.
Deleting Schedules
Select a schedule from the Schedule List and click on Delete
to delete the schedule. Once a schedule is deleted no longer reports
are generated at the stipulated intervals. Deleting a schedule also
deletes the corresponding folder.
Schedule
Settings
In addition, there is the Schedule Settings
link in the Schedule List Page. This link lets you set parameters that
could be applied across all the generated reports. The parameters
include:
- Host Name display in reports - This determines how
the host name is displayed in reports. It could be chosen as one of
- IpAddress ( or )
- DNS Name
- Graph Options (Report Type to be shown in reports)
- This determines how the data is to be shown in the
generated reports. This could be one of
- Utilization (in %) ( or )
- Speed (in bps)
- Report Mail-Attachment option - The format in
which the attachments are to be mailed. It could be one of
- Zipped file ( or )
- PDF - The number of PDF files to be sent in a mail is
to be specified. The number may range from 5 to 50 in increments of five
- Enable older reports to be accessed from UI
- Daily Schedules - the number of daily reports to be
stored ( it can take values of 7 / 30 / 60 / 90 )
- Weekly Schedules - the number of weekly reports to be
stored ( it can take values of 4 / 26 / 52 / 104 )
- Monthly Schedules - the number of monthly reports to be
stored ( it can take values of 12 / 36 / 60 )
Once the schedule settings have been configured, click on the
"Save" button to apply this settings from hereon. Also click on "Close"
button to close the window and proceed to the Schedule List page.
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