Reports on long-term data are important instruments for the planning and analysis within a company. They are indispensable for the verification of service level compliance and serve as basis for usage-based cost allocation. The automated creation and high informative value of reports as well as a central administration are prerequisites for reliable system reporting.

The theGuard! NetworkManager Reporting Console gives users a central interface that combines all of these characteristics. The CMDB of theGuard! ServiceCenter serves as a data basis.

Different output formats

The theGuard! NetworkManager Reporting Console automates the creation of high-quality and well-structured reports in any format. In addition to the PDF standard, the following output formats are supported:
- CSV
- HTML
- Tif
- XML.

This freedom allows users to deal more flexibly with collected data. It can, for example, be further processed for presentation purposes using Excel functions or, as an XML file, form the general interface for any type of target resource.
 

Figure: Typical report; documents, among other things, the occurrence of errors on the port caused by collisions

Standardization of reporting

In order to automate and facilitate operation, the system includes, depending on the type of information, different preconfigured report types such as:
- Performance
- Availability
- Response times
- Netflow (*only available with theGuard! NetflowModul)

The reports from different periods are made comparable by standardizing one type of information.

Figure: Examples from a Netflow analysis; right hand side: interface traffic; left hand side: application statistics

Individual design

In order to advance the recognizability and acceptance of reports within companies, users can easily create, manage and assign individual report designs.

 

 
Figure: Example for the customization of the report design

Centralized reporting management

The entire administration of the Reporting Console and the generation of reports are carried out in a flexible manner using the central Web GUI. This is done within the context of the current data. Any filter options that were set are taken into account. Alternatively, this task can also be automated. In the latter case, the desired report for the active selection is generated at set times, regulated by a scheduler.

The result is a document in the desired format containing information displayed both in tabular and in graphical form. If desired, these reports can also be automatically sent to e-mail recipients or groups.

theGuard! NetworkManager uses the latest Microsoft Reporting Services technology to ensure optimum performance when processing reports.

• theGuard! NetworkManager Advanced or higher
• Internet Explorer 6.x or higher
• screen resolution 1280x1024 or higher