Exporting and Publishing Reports
NetIM allows you to export reports two ways, by saving generated reports on your system as CSV files and by configuring a template that tells NetIM what reports you want exported to the output file directory and in what format.
The following sections explain how to export reports in more detail:
Manually exporting a generated report
You can print reports, but you must first export them. You can publish reports to Report Server at regular intervals. For details, see
Report Export Service.1. Choose More > Generate Reports.
2. Right-click the report you want to export.
3. Choose a file format for the exported report.
Publishing reports to Riverbed Report Server
Perform these actions to publish reports from NetIM to a Riverbed Report Server. The Riverbed Report Server must be running when the NetIM Report Export Service runs. If it is not, NetIM reports will not be published.
Configure available Report Servers on NetIM
The Report Server(s) to which the NetIM can publish reports are defined globally. After a Report Server is configured in the Available Report Servers list, you can manually publish reports to it from the Reports screen or configure the Report Export Service to perform the automated export of selected reports. After you add a Report Server to the Available Report Servers list, it will display in the list of Report Servers available for selection in the properties for the Report Export Service. It will also be available for selection in the Export to Report Servers dialog when you select Export to Report Server in the Reports screen.
To access Report Server configuration properties
1. Log in as a user with administrative privilege.
2. Choose Administration > Advanced Management. The Advanced Management screen appears.
3. Select the General Properties tab.
4. Select Report Servers. The Available Report Servers property tree is shown in the right frame.
5. Expand the Available Report Servers property tree. The list of Available Report Servers is displayed.
The available Report Servers are configured for NetIM in the General Properties tab of the Management Page. After you add a Report Server to the Available Report Servers list, you can configure the Report Export Service to export reports to that Report Server.
The Available Report Servers properties are listed in the following table.
Service Property | Description |
ReportServerN |
Protocol | Specifies the protocol for the Report Server—http or https. The default setting is http. Change the protocol setting if the Report Server has been configured for secure operation (https). |
Host | Specifies the Report Server host. You must enter the fully qualified domain name or IP address of the Report Server host, even if it is the NetIM host. |
Directory | Specifies the path portion of the Report Server URL. The default is /rs/. Do not modify this property. |
Port Number | Specifies the port number on which Report Server runs. The default ports are: • http—9090 • https—8443 |
Username
Password | Specifies login credentials for the Report Server. This must be a valid user account configured on the Report Server. If you do not already have an account, ask the Report Server administrator to create one for you. |
The Available Report Servers list contains a list of Report Servers to which NetIM can publish reports. Reports can be manually published from the Reports screen or the Report Export Service can be configured to publish reports on a regular basis. The following procedure provides instructions for configuring the access information for a Report Server so that NetIM can then be publish reports to it.
To configure available Report Servers on NetIM
1. Collect required information from the Report Server administrator that you will need to configure the following properties.
– Protocol
– Host
– Port
– Login credentials—username and password
2. Verify that you can access the Report Server from the NetIM host.
Perform the following steps from the NetIM host.
– Open a browser window.
– Enter the URL for the Report Server using the information you obtained in step one.
The URL for the Report Server is:
<protocol>://<host>:<port>/rs
The Report Server login page displays.
If the login page does not display, verify that you have network access to the Report Server host on the port on which it runs and work with your network administrator as needed to resolve network issues. If you have verified that you have network access, work with the Report Server administrator to ensure that you have the correct settings for the Report Server. Do not continue until you can successfully reach the Report Server login page from the NetIM host.
3. Verify that you can log in to the Report Server using the login credentials from step one.
You have successfully verified the login and you are ready to proceed with configuration of the available Report Server.
Do not continue until you have successfully logged into the Report Server using the account you will use to configure the Available Report Server properties in NetIM.
4. Access Report Server properties.
5. Expand a Report Server in the list to display the Report Server properties.
6. Configure the Report Server properties using the values that you verified earlier in this procedure.
7. Click OK to save your changes.
Multiple Report Servers can be configured in the Available Report Servers list. Perform the following procedure to add a Report Server.
To add a Report Server
1. Access Report Server properties.
2. Create a new sibling of a Report Server in the Available Report Servers list.
– Select the property edit handle for a Report Server, and then select New Sibling from the property edit menu.
All new siblings are created at the bottom of the property tree.
– Click OK to save the change.
3. (Optional) Rename the Report Server to something meaningful.
– Select the property edit handle for the newly created sibling, and then select Edit Name from the property edit menu.
– Type the new name in the Edit Name dialog, and then click OK to close the dialog.
– Click OK to save the change.
4. Configure the required properties for the new Report Server.
Prepare NetIM to publish to a secure Report Server
A secure Report Server is one that has been configured to run HTTPS. For NetIM to publish reports to a secure Report Server, the Report Server public certificate must be present in the NetIM trust store. The following procedures show you how to prepare NetIM to publish reports to a secure Report Server.
To prepare NetIM to publish to a secure Report Server
1. Export the public certificate from the Report Server to a file.
– Open a command prompt on the Report Server host and change directories to the following directory: <Report Server_install_dir>\jakarta\bin\scripts
– Export the Report Server public certificate.
Run the appropriate command based on certificate type:
– If Report Server uses a self-signed certificate, then use the following command:
https_setup.bat /format rfc /export_cert servercert
– If Report Server uses a CA signed certificate, then use the following command:
https_setup.bat /format rfc /export_cert cacert
The certificate exports to a file in the Report Server security directory. The command output provides the location of the file.
2. Copy the Report Server public certificate file (*.der) generated in step one from the Report Server host to the security directory for the NetIM software on the NetIM host. The default location of the security directory is: <install_dir>\security. For example, C:\Riverbed\security.
3. Import the Report Server public certificate file to the NetIM trust store.
– Open a command prompt on the NetIM host and navigate to the NetIM release directory. For example, C:\Riverbed\VNEServerVNDServer\<version_build>.
– Import the Report Server public certificate.
Run the appropriate command based on the Report Server certificate type:
– If Report Server uses a self-signed certificate, then use the following command:
app.bat /keytool “import -alias rscert -file <cert>”
where <cert> is the full path and filename of the Report Server public certificate that you copied to the NetIM host in step two.
Example:
app.bat /keytool “import -alias rscert -file C:\Riverbed\security\rscert.der”
If Report Server uses a CA signed certificate, then use the app.bat /keytool importcacert command.
Test publication of reports to Report Server
Perform the following procedure to test the export of reports to Report Server. The Report Server service must be running on the selected Report Server host for NetIM to successfully publish reports to it.
To test publication of reports to Report Server
1. Choose Administration > Adapters/Service Status and manually run Report Export Service.
2. Wait for the Report Export Service to finish.
3. Examine NetIM adapter statistics to determine if the Report Export Service exported the expected number of reports.
The number of exported reports may exceed the number of reports that you selected for export if the export of drill down reports is enabled.
4. Log in to the Report Server and verify that the batch of reports are available on the Report Server. If the batch of reports is not available, verify that the Report Server service was up and running on the Report Server host when the NetIM Report Export Service ran. If so, troubleshoot communication between the NetIM and the Report Server. See
Test publication of reports to Report Server. Contact technical support for assistance if needed.
5. Browse through the batch of published reports on the Report Server and ensure that all of the reports that you want to publish are included and the format meets your needs. Go to Report Export Service properties and adjust the properties for the batch export as needed. See
Report Export Service Batch Configurations.
The nameService properties for the Export Service are listed in the following table:
Service property | Description |
nameService | TBD. |
registerWithNameService | TBD. Default is true. |
vneServiceName | TBD. Read only. Default is VNEService. |
exportServerName | TBD. Read only. Default is VNEExportServer. |
orbInitRefNS | TBD. Read only. Default is corbaloc:iiop:localhost:900/NameService |
Report Export Service
The Report Export Service provides the ability to export selected NetIM reports at scheduled intervals. The Report Export Service exports reports to a directory (on a local or mapped drive) on the NetIM host. In addition, the Report Export Service can publish reports to a Riverbed Report Server.
This section includes the following topics:
Report Export Service configuration properties
Report Export Service properties are divided into the following categories:
General Properties
The properties for the Report Export Service are listed in the following table.
Service property | Description |
active | Controls whether the Report Export Service is active. |
Export to directory | Points to the output file directory where exported reports are written each time the Report Export Service runs. This must be a local or mapped drive on the NetIM host machine. The default value for this directory is <temp dir>\Reports. Regardless of the
Archive action the Report Export Service creates a time-stamped folder in this directory for each active batch configuration each time it runs. |
Archive directory | Points to the output file directory where Report Export Service copies exported reports to archive them. The default is <temp dir>\Reports\archive. When
Archive action is configured to a value other than “none,” the Report Export Service makes a copy of each exported batch of reports and stores it in the
Archive directory. |
Archive action | Controls whether the Report Export Service puts a copy of exported reports in the
Archive directory, deletes previously exported reports from the
Export to directory, or neither. Options are: • Archive the reports—Reports are written to a time-stamped subdirectory in the
Export to directory and archived. During archiving, Report Export Service makes a copy of the time-stamped subdirectory and writes it to the
Archive directory. • Delete reports older than a week—Reports are written to a time-stamped subdirectory in the
Export to directory. Subdirectories in the
Export to directory with a timestamp older than 7 days are deleted. • Delete reports older than a month—Reports are written to a time-stamped subdirectory in the
Export to directory. Subdirectories in the
Export to directory with a timestamp older than 30 days are deleted. When the archive action is configured to delete reports, reports are exported but not archived and reports older than the specified time frame are deleted from the
Export to directory. |
Report Export Service Batch Configurations | The Report Export Service Batch Configurations property tree contains one or more export batch configurations . See
Report Export Service Batch Configurations for property descriptions. |
Report Export Service Batch Configurations
The properties in the Report Export Service Batch Configurations property tree are listed in this table.
Service property | Description |
Export Batch Config N |
active | Controls whether the export batch configuration is active. If you set this to “no,” it disables the export/publication of reports for the export batch; however, the specified
Archive action still occurs. |
Report Export Configuration | The Report Export Configuration contains the following properties: Report Set Definition—Defines which reports are exported. See
Report Set Properties.Format Properties—Controls the format of exported reports. See
Format Properties. Report Server Selection—Controls whether reports are published to an Riverbed Report Server. See
Report Server Selection. Group Selection—Controls whether all reports are exported or only those reports that are group-based. See
Group Selection. |
Report Set Properties
The properties that define the report set to be exported/published are listed in the table below.
Service property | Description |
Publish Reports as | Provides a label for the exported/published reports. |
Selected Reports | Controls which reports are included when the Report Export Service exports/publishes. The Available reports list contains a list of reports that are available. The Selected list contains a list of reports that are currently selected for export/publication. A default set of reports is in the Selected reports list. Move a report from one list to the other by selecting a report name and clicking the single arrow button. Move all reports from one list to the other use the double arrow button. |
Export Drill Down Reports | Many reports provide drill-down links to more detailed or related reports. This property controls whether drill-down reports are exported/published with the parent report. This property has an impact only when the
Select Export Format supports links. The export formats that support linking are: html, pdf, and doc. When the export of drill-down reports is enabled, the parent report contains a link to the drill-down to preserve the relationship between the reports. |
Format Properties
Service property | Description |
Select Template | Controls the template for exported/published reports. NetIM has a predefined Default Template that is selected by default. If you want to specify a custom template, you must first create it. See
Publishing reports to Riverbed Report Server to learn how to create a custom template. |
Repeat Key Columns | Controls whether data values are printed in each cell of a key column or whether the cells are empty until populated with a new value. |
Select Export Format | Controls the file format for exported/published reports. Available options are: txt, pdf, html, and doc. When the export format is set to “txt,” the field delimiter in defined using the
Choose Delimiter property. When pdf, html, or doc is selected as the export format, the Report Export Service generates an html index page to facilitate navigation of exported reports. See
Viewing and navigating exported reports. |
Select Filter | Controls whether a filter is applied. Filters are configured in the Filter Management tab of the web console Management page. |
Choose Delimiter | Defines the field delimiter for exported/published text files. This property only applies when the
Select Export Format is set to “txt.” |
Group Selection
Keep “All” in the selected groups list if you want to export/publish both reports that can be grouped and those that cannot.
Service Property | Description |
Select Group(s) | Controls whether all devices are included in the exported/published reports or only the devices in the specified user-defined device group. When a user-defined group is in the selected reports list, only reports that can be grouped are exported/published for that device group. By default the selected group list contains “All” meaning that all devices are included in the export/publication. If you want to export/publish reports in the
Selected Reports list populated with device data for all devices plus reports that can be grouped for one or more user-defined device groups, the Selected group list should contain “All” and the names of the user-defined device groups. A separate set of reports is exported/published for each group. When the selected groups list contains only user-defined device groups, only reports that can be grouped are exported/published. Reports in the
Selected Reports list that cannot be grouped are skipped during export/publication. The selected group list must contain one or more group names in order for reports to be published/exported for the batch. When this list is empty, no reports are exported/published. |
Report Server Selection
Service Property | Description |
Select Report Server(s) | Controls whether reports are published to one or more Riverbed Report Servers. The Report Export Service will attempt to publish the batch of reports to the Report Server(s) in the selected Report Servers list. The Available listReport Servers that are defined in the NetIM General Properties. To publish to a Report Server, you must first add it to the Available Report Server configuration for the NetIM and define required properties for it. Report Server properties are defined in the General Properties for the NetIM. See
Publishing reports to Riverbed Report Server for the complete workflow for configuring NetIM to export to a Riverbed Report Server. |
Configure Report Export Service to export/publish reports
Perform the following procedure to configure Report Export Service to export reports and publish reports to an Riverbed Report Server.
To configure Report Export Service
1. Log in as a user with administrative privilege.
2. Choose Administration > Advanced Management, and select the Schedule Chains tab.
3. Expand the chain that you want to configure, and select Network Data Export.
4. Make sure Report Export Service is active and expand settings.
5. Ensure that the active property is set to “yes.”
6. Set the archive action to meet your needs. See
General Properties for more information.
– Expand Report Export Service Batch Configurations then expand an Export Batch Config.
– Set the active property to “yes.”
– Click Report Export Configuration.
The Report Configuration window appears.
– (Optional) Select a group. In the default configuration, “All” is in the selected group list meaning that device data for all devices in the database is included in the exported/published reports and both reports that can be grouped and reports that cannot be grouped are exported/published.
When a user-defined device group is in the selected group list, only reports that can be grouped are exported for that group.
– (Optional) Move a Report Server to the Selected Report Server(s) list. This is only one step in the workflow for publishing to a Report Server. See
Publishing reports to Riverbed Report Server for instructions on configuring NetIM to export to a Riverbed Report Server.
If you want to publish reports to a Report Server, you must move a Report Server from the Available list to the Selected list. If you only want to export reports to a local or mapped drive, make sure the Selected Report Server(s) list is empty.
– Click OK in the Report Configuration window to temporarily save your changes and dismiss the window.
8. Click OK in the Advanced Management window to save the changes to the Report Export Service configuration.
Multiple export batch configurations can be configured in the Report Export Service. The following procedure provides instructions for adding an Export Batch Config.
To add an Export Batch Config to the Report Export Service Batch Configurations
1. Log in as a user with administrative privilege.
2. Choose Administration > Advanced Management, and select the Schedule Chains tab.
3. Expand the chain that you want to configure, and select Network Data Export.
4. Make sure Report Export Service is active and expand settings. The Report Export Service properties display.
5. Expand the Report Export Service Batch Configurations property tree.
6. Create a new sibling of an Export Batch Config in the Report Export Service Batch Configurations list.
– Select the property edit handle for an Export Batch Config, and then select New Sibling from the property edit menu.
All new siblings are created at the bottom of the property tree.
– Click OK at the bottom of the Management page to save the change.
7. (Optional) Rename the Export Batch Config.
– Select the property edit handle for the newly created sibling, and then select Edit Name from the property edit menu.
– Type the new name in the Edit Name dialog, and then click OK to close the dialog.
– Click OK at the bottom of the Advanced Management window to save the change.
8. Configure the properties for the Export Batch Config Report Server.
Viewing and navigating exported reports
Each time the Report Export Service runs, a time-stamped subdirectory is created in the export directory. In that time-stamped subdirectory, a folder is created for each active export batch config and within it is a folder for each group included in the export batch config. The Report Export Service generates and exports an HTML-formatted index page (index.html) for each group. This index page organizes and facilitates navigation of exported reports. Open the index page in your web browser to gain easy access to all of the reports that were selected for export in the export batch.
The location of the index.html file for each export batch config is written to the adapter statistics. You can copy and paste the URL from the adapter statistics to your web browser.
Although an index page is exported for each group in the export batch config, each exported index page provides the ability view the exported reports for any of the groups included in that export batch config.
When the export of drill-down reports is enabled and the export format is pdf, html, or doc, exported parent reports contain links to drill-down reports. Underlined text in a report indicates a link to a drill‑down report.
Validation Report Export Service
The Validation Report Export Service exports a subset of NetIM reports called validation reports. These exported validation reports can be used in analysis software to assist in determining network model completeness. See
Exported validation reports to learn more about the reports exported by the Validation Report Export Service.
You must run the Validation Report Export Service if you want to use the Model Completeness Report feature in analysis software.
This section includes the following topics:
Configuration properties for Validation Report Export Service
This section describes the properties for the Validation Report Export Service.
Many of the properties for the Validation Report Export Service are read-only. The only properties that you can configure are
• Output file directory
• Max number of timestamped archive subdirectories
The Validation Report Export Service properties are listed in the following table.
Service property | Description |
Report selection | This property is read-only. The set of reports included in the export is defined in the
report list > Troubleshooting property tree. |
report list > Troubleshooting | This property tree is read-only. The reports that are exported are described in
Exported validation reports. |
Output file directory | Points to the top level directory where exported validation reports are written. The default is <temp dir>\Reports_Validation. |
Export file format | This property is read-only. The file format for exported validation reports is csv. |
Max number of timestamped archive subdirectories | Controls the maximum number of subdirectories in the output file directory. When the “max number of timestamped archive subdirectories” is reached, the previously exported subfolders are overwritten, starting with the oldest. The default is 2. |
Exported validation reports
Validation reports are provided to assist in determining which CLI data contribute to device data in the NetIM database. The validation reports are also helpful in determining when data may be missing, resulting in an incorrect or incomplete topology.
The following validation reports are exported when you run the Validation Report Export Service:
Neighbors Not Found in Model
The Neighbors Not Found in Model Report provides a list of devices that are referenced as neighbor nodes in the neighbor discovery protocol (CDP, EDP, and so on) configuration of one or more devices in the NetIM database. When a neighbor device is missing, it may indicate that the network data is incomplete and/or the topology inferred by NetIM will not be fully connected.
Invalid Files
An invalid file does not contribute data to the NetIM database. The Invalid Files report provides a list of the invalid files for each CLI Data Import adapter for the most recent import cycle and the reason why the file was deemed invalid. Select the name of a file (shown in blue text in the “File Name” column) to open and examine that file in a file viewer.
Device File Archive Imports
The Device File Archive Imports report provides access to a list of the CLI data files that were successfully imported and contribute to the network data for each device in the NetIM database. When you open the report you are presented with a list of devices. When you select a node name (shown in blue text in the “Node Name” column), you open a detailed version of the report that provides information about the imported CLI data for this device.
The Device File Archive Imports indicates the following:
• If and when a certain type of data was imported for this device.
– CLI data types that are not listed in the Device File Archive Imports Detail report are not contributing to the device data in NetIM.
The age of device data.
– In other words the last time data was imported for this node and when it last refreshed. For each CLI data type, this can be deduced from the Last Full Import Iteration or the Most Recent Optimized Iteration column, whichever is later. For the entire device, this can be deduced from the Last Full Import Iteration or the Most Recent Optimized Iteration column across the entire report, whichever is later.
Unsupported Command Logs
The Unsupported Command Logs report provides access to the commands that were ignored by the CLI Data Import adapter when it imported a CLI data file (.cfg, .interface, .cdp, and so on).
The information in the file viewer is a list of the lines from the input file that do not contribute to the data in the NetIM database.
If there are commands in the unsupported commands log file that you believe would be useful to import and represent in the NetIM database, you can request that it be supported in a future version of NetIM by contacting technical support and providing the following: the device vendor, model, and operating system, the specific command that was ignored and an example file containing the command output.
Device Collection Configuration Discrepancies
The Device Collection Configuration Discrepancies report can be used to determine the following:
• Certain data defined in a device driver is not being collected
• Certain data defined in a device driver is collected but not imported
The Collection Recommended column is selected when collection is enabled by default for a device driver.
The Collection Enabled column indicates whether collection is currently enabled for that device driver.
The Corresponding Import Adapter Active column indicates whether the CLI Data import adapter for that data type is currently active in the adapter schedule.
If collection of a CLI data type is recommended for a particular device driver but it is not currently enabled, NetIM may be missing data that is needed to correctly represent devices that have been assigned that device driver. If collection is enabled, but the corresponding import adapter is not active, data is being collected but not imported. Again, NetIM may be missing data.
Scheduling reports for export
The Report Export Configurations Page allows you to select reports you want to be produced as part of the NetIM model refresh process. The selected reports can be run against all devices or just the devices in the groups you select, and then they are exported to the directory specified in the Configure > All Settings > Customize > General Settings page
To configure reports for export
1. Log in to the UI as admin.
2. Choose Configure > All Settings > Configure > Report Export Configurations.
3. To create a new export report configuration, click the icon in the upper-left corner of the page.
4. Add the following information to the Details screen to configure a report export configuration,:
– Name—Provide a name for the export rule
– Active—Determine if you want the export rule to be Active. The default is No.
– Repeat Key Columns—Determine if you want key columns in reports repeated. The default is No,
– Export File Format—Select an export format (pdf, html, text, doc) from the pull-down menu. The default is pdf.
– Delimiter—Select the delimiter (space, comma, tab) from the pull-down menu. The default is comma.
– Scope/Mode—Select All Elements or Selected Groups. The default is All Elements. If you select Selected Groups you choose the groups from a pull-down menu.
– Content/Selected Reports—Click the add button to select reports to export.
Select the report to export from the drop-down list.
You can select multiple reports for export by clicking the add button again.
5. (Optional) If you select to export a Performance Report, you are presented with additional options.
6. When you are satisfied with your choices, click Submit to create the configuration.
If set to Active, the reports you selected will be created and exported in the file format you selected to the directory specified in the General Settings page, as explained in
Publishing reports to Riverbed Report Server.
You can edit or delete an export report configuration by clicking the appropriate icon in the Action column.
Related topics