Alerts Summary Report

The Alerts Summary report offers a summary of all the alerts that were generated by the eG manager during a configured period of time in the past. By summarizing and categorizing alerts over time, alert generation patterns can be identified and the root cause of such alert patterns can be rectified with ease! This report further helps administrators in improving incident responses as well as making informed decisions.

To generate this report, do the following:

  1. Select the Alerts Summary option from the Executive Reports node of the REPORTS BY FUNCTION tree.

  2. Figure 1 then appears.

    Generating History of Alarms Report

    Figure 1 : Generating the Alerts Summary report

  3. You can build filter conditions using Figure 1 so that, you can selectively view the summary of alerts in the target environment. The first step towards building these filter conditions is selecting a basis for the filter. This can be achieved by picking an option from the Analyze by list. The options available here are as follows:

    • Component: This is the default selection in the Analyze by list. This implies that by default, this report is generated for all managed components in the environment.

    • Zone: Selecting this option from the Analyze by list will invoke a Zone list. Select a particular zone from this list, if you want to view the summary of alerts related to that zone. An Include Subzones flag also appears. By setting this flag to Yes, you can make sure that the summary of alerts report also includes those alerts that are associated with the sub-zones of the chosen zone.

    • Segment: If this option is chosen from the Analyze by list, a Segment list will additionally appear. In order to view the summary of alerts pertaining to a specific segment, pick a segment from the Segment list.

    • Service: If this option is chosen from the Analyze by list, a Service list will additionally appear. In order to view the summary of alerts pertaining to a specific service, pick a service from the Service list.

  4. Next, you will find that the Group by section offers four check boxes. You can select any/few/all the available check boxes depending upon your reporting needs. For instance, to view the number of alerts that were generated for every component in the target environment or in the selected zone, service, or segment during a particular period, use the Component option from the Group by section. By default, the Component option is chosen.

  5. Specify the report Timeline. You can either provide a fixed time line such as 1 hour, 2 days, etc., or select the Any option from the list to provide a From and To date/time for report generation.

    Note:

    For every user registered with the eG Enterprise system, the administrator can indicate the maximum timeline for which that user can generate a report. Once the maximum timeline is set for a user, then, whenever that user logs into eG Reporter and attempts to generate a report, the Timeline list box in the report page will display options according to the maximum timeline setting of that user. For instance, if a user can generate a report for a maximum period of 3 days only, then 3 days will be the highest option displayed in the Timeline list - i.e., 3 days will be the last option in the fixed Timeline list. Similarly, if the user chooses the Any option from the Timeline list and proceeds to provide a start date and end date for report generation using the From and To specifications, eG Enterprise will first check if the user's Timeline specification conforms to his/her maximum timeline setting. If not, report generation will fail. For instance, for a user who is allowed to generate reports spanning over a maximum period of 3 days only, the difference between the From and To dates should never be over 3 days. If it is, then, upon clicking the Run Report button a message box will appear, prompting the user to change the From and To specification.

  6. By default, the Chosen Period option is chosen from the Filter By Start Time list indicating that the report generated will list only those alerts that were raised during the time period chosen from the Timeline list. However, if you wish to view the alerts that were already open in the chosen Timeline, then, pick the Any Period option from this list.

  7. By default, the Show Details flag is set to No indicating that this report will not provide the details of the alerts generated in the target environment by default. However, if you wish to obtain a detailed analysis of the alerts generated in the target environment in the generated report, then, set this flag to Yes.

  8. In large environments, reports generated using months of data can take a long time to complete. Administrators now have the option of generating reports on-line or in the background. When a report is scheduled for background generation, administrators can proceed with their other monitoring, diagnosis, and reporting tasks, while the eG manager is processing the report. This saves the administrator valuable time. To schedule background processing of a report, you can either select the Background Save - PDF option or the Background Save - CSV option from the Report Generation list. In this case, a Report Name text box will appear, where you would have to provide the name with which the report is to be saved in the background. To process reports in the foreground, select the Foreground Generation - HTML option from this list.

    Note:

    • The Report Generation list will appear only if the EnableBackgroundReport flag in the [BACKGROUND_PROCESS] section of the eg_report.ini file (in the [EG_INSTALL_DIR]\manager\config directory) is set to Yes.
    • The default selection in the Report Generation list will change according to the Timeline specified for the report. If the Timeline set is greater than or equal to the number of days specified against the MinDurationForReport parameter in the [BACKGROUND_PROCESS] section of the eg_report.ini file, then the default selection in the Report Generation list will be Background Save - PDF. On the other hand, if the Timeline set for the report is lesser than the value of the MinDurationForReport parameter, then the default selection in the Report Generation list will be Foreground. This is because, the MinDurationForReport setting governs when reports are to be processed in the background. By default, this parameter is set to 2 weeks - this indicates that by default, reports with a timeline of 2 weeks and above will be processed in the background.

  9. Finally, click the Run Report button to generate the report. Figure 2 then appears.

    Figure 2 : The Alerts Summary report

  10. The generated report contains the following sections:

    • An Alerts Summary section (see Figure 2) consists of bar graph that provides a single glance view on the count of alerts that were raised in the chosen time period for each component / component type / test / alert severity (based on the option chosen from the Group by section in Figure 1) in the target environment. Using this section, administrators can easily figure out the component / component type / test / alert severity for which maximum alerts were raised in the target environment.

    • Using the Alerts Trend bar graph (see Figure 2) you can easily view a break up of the count of alerts (based on priority) that were raised in the chosen time period. This will help in identifying the hour/day during which maximum alerts were generated.

    • For each name of the component / component type / test or the severity, the Summary of All Alerts section reveals the count of alerts raised over a period of time and the percentage of alerts raised for the chosen period. This section helps administrators figure out the component / component type / test for which maximum percentage of alerts were raised. Also, administrators can easily identify the severity with which maximum number of alerts were raised. Clicking on a value in the ALERTS column will lead you to the History of Alerts Report using which you can view a detailed analysis of alerts generated for the chosen component.

  11. If the Show Details flag is set to Yes, then, the generated report consists of an additional Details of Alerts section. This section provides the details pertaining to every alert (see Figure 3) such as the start time, duration, name of the component, component type, test, and the service (if any) that is impacted by the issue over the chosen period of time. Every row of alert information will be accompanied by a colored indicator that indicates the corresponding alert priority. Critical alerts will be of the color red, major alerts will be in orange, and the minor ones are displayed in yellow. An alert with the Duration set to Current denotes a problem that has still not been fixed.

    Figure 3 : The Details of Alerts section in the generated report

  12. Typically whenever an alarm is raised for the problems at the host-level of a component, the History of Alerts page automatically sets the Component type to Host system, even if the component affected is say, an Oracle Database server or a Web server. From this alert information, users cannot determine the exact Component type of the affected component. Moreover, help desk personnel may prefer to view the operating system of the problem host as part of the alarm information displayed in the History of Alerts page, as such an information will greatly simplify the troubleshooting process. To make sure that the History of alerts page enables help desk to easily understand, interpret, and solve problems affecting a host's performance, you can optionally configure the eG Enterprise system to display the actual Component type, Host system, or the affected Operating system for host-level alerts in the History of alerts page. To enable this capability, do the following:

    • Edit the eg_ui.ini flag in the <EG_INSTALL_DIR>\manager\config directory

    • In the [HOST_SYSTEM] section of this file, set the Show_HostSystem flag to any one of the following values mentioned below:

      • Set the Show_HostSystem flag to HostSystem if you want the component type to be displayed as Host system for the host-level alerts;
      • Set the Show_HostSystem flag to CompType if you want to display the affected component; This is the default setting that is provided;
      • Set the Show_HostSystem flag to OS if you want to display the operating system of the host;

    • Finally, save the file.

      Note:

      This configuration affects the current alerts window, email/SMS alerts, and SNMP traps as well.

  13. The Next page, Previous page, Last page and First page buttons, and the Page text box are provided to enable you to easily browse the alert information that runs across pages.

  14. To save you the trouble of scrolling up the report every time you want to relook at the report criteria, eG Reporter now includes a separate section with a summary of your specifications. Clicking the Expand button in this section expands your report criteria so that you can alter your specification at any point of time. 
  15. To hide the expanded report criteria, simply click on the Hide button.
  16. On the other hand, if the Background Save - PDF option is chosen from the Report Generation list, then clicking on the Run Report button will not generate the report and display it in this page for your benefit. Instead, a message indicating that the report is being processed in the background will appear. This will be accompanied by a link that will lead you to the page that lists all the reports that are being processed in the background, and their current status. If background report generation fails for a report, you can regenerate that report using this page, or can even delete that report if need be. On the other hand, if background processing successfully completes for your report, then, you can view a PDF of the report by clicking on the icon in that page.