Visual SRM Student Resource Guide

Copyright © 2005 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

VisualSRM Introduction - 1

© 2005 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

VisualSRM IntroductionVisualSRM Introduction

Welcome to Visual SRM Introduction.

The AUDIO portion of this course is supplemental to the material and is not a replacement for the student notes accompanying this course.

EMC recommends downloading the Student Resource Guide from the Supporting Materials tab, and reading the notes in their entirety.Copyright © 2005 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. These materials may not be copied without EMC's written consent. Use, copying, and distribution of any EMC software described in this publication requires an applicable software license.THE INFORMATION IN THIS PUBLICATION IS PROVIDED “AS IS”. EMC CORPORATION MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND WITH RESPECT TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS PUBLICATION, AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.Celerra, CLARalert, CLARiiON, Connectrix, Dantz, Documentum, EMC, EMC2, HighRoad, Legato, Navisphere, PowerPath, ResourcePak, SnapView/IP, SRDF, Symmetrix, TimeFinder, VisualSAN, “where information lives” are registered trademarks. Access Logix, AutoAdvice, Automated Resource Manager, AutoSwap, AVALONidm, C-Clip, Celerra Replicator, Centera, CentraStar, CLARevent, CopyCross, CopyPoint, DatabaseXtender, Direct Matrix, Direct Matrix Architecture, EDM, E-Lab, EMC Automated Networked Storage, EMC ControlCenter, EMC Developers Program, EMC OnCourse, EMC Proven, EMC Snap, Enginuity, FarPoint, FLARE, GeoSpan, InfoMover, MirrorView, NetWin, OnAlert, OpenScale, Powerlink, PowerVolume, RepliCare, SafeLine, SAN Architect, SAN Copy, SAN Manager, SDMS, SnapSure, SnapView, StorageScope, SupportMate, SymmAPI, SymmEnabler, Symmetrix DMX, Universal Data Tone, VisualSRM are trademarks of EMC Corporation. All other trademarks used herein are the property of their respective owners. All other trademarks used herein are the property of their respective owners.



© 2005 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. VisualSRM Introduction - 2

Course ObjectivesAfter completing this course, you will be able to:

Identify some of the top problems of growing IT departments and relate VisualSRM features that help solve those problemsDescribe the architectural components of VisualSRM, determine the hardware requirements for installation and identify the software packaging and licensingUnderstand the use of the Getting Started Wizard and other Wizards to make initial configuration settings for VisualSRMArticulate how resources (Systems, Databases and Mail servers) are added to VisualSRM and explain resource scan policiesDiscuss the use of the Dashboard, Event Alerts, Intelligent Actions, Task Lists, and Thresholds in VisualSRMDiscuss the Reporting features of VisualSRM

Please note that even though the module is titled VisualSRM Introduction, the contents of this module are applicable to EMC ControlCenter StorageScope FLR as well. EMC VisualSRM and EMC ControlCenter StorageScope FLR are identical products, the only difference between the two products is branding and licensing.

Please take a moment to review the course objectives as outlined on this slide.




Lesson 1: VisualSRM and IT Needs

After completing this lesson, you will be able to:

Identify some of the top problems of growing IT departments

Relate VisualSRM features that help solve those problems

Please take a moment to review the objectives for this lesson.




Common Storage (In) Efficiency StatisticsUtilization – 51% of open system data is unnecessary, duplicate, or non-business

related– 68% of data has not been accessed for 90 days or more

Source: SNIA/Source Consulting

Availability and Capacity Planning– 47% of open systems capacity is available, but in the wrong place– 55% of unplanned server outages occur from out-of-control disk

space consumption Source: Strategic Research Corporation

Management– 60% improvement in management efficiency is needed every year

for storage managers to keep up with storage growth Source: IDC

According to Strategic Research Corporation (2001), 47% of open systems capacity is still in the wrong place, while the majority (55%) of unplanned server outages occurs from disk space issues.

Per IDC (2002), management efficiency needs to grow by 60% year-to-year just to keep up with the storage growth!

According to SNIA/Source Consulting (July 2001), with so much storage and so little time to do manual analysis of what is on storage environments, 51% of current storage use is stale data, non-business related data, and duplicate data, and 68% of data has not been accessed for 90 days or more.

This impacts the costs of management in direct and indirect ways. Direct costs include outages of mission-critical applications due to lack of space. Indirect costs include the number of backup tapes and time it takes to backup non-critical data.




Storage Management Challenges

Amount of data (50-100%)

Storage Management Costs (3-5x)

Budget and IT Staff cuts

Value of data

$$

Time

Need to do more with less

Adding to the storage management challenges are the increased value and expense of data. As an organization grows, it comes to depend more and more on its databases and files. At the same time, the constant growth of these resources continuously increases the cost of maintaining them.

In recent times, reductions in staff and budget have forced IT staffs to do more with less and less human oversight. Tools that automate data monitoring and management are needed to fill the gap.




Improve availabilityWhat data is at risk?

Reduce manual tasksHow do I automate?

Increase utilizationWhat do I have?


Major IT Pain Points

VisualSRM is designed to address three important IT pain points:

How do I increase utilization? The challenge is to continue to provide the same or better service levels with fewer financial and people resources. Consolidating systems is a common way to reduce costs in the data center, often with the implementation of a new SAN or NAS.

How do I improve availability? Still today, the number 1 reason for application downtime in the mid-tier is that an application runs out of storage space, either within a database or on a storage volume. VisualSRM can assist the Storage Administrator with trend analysis, alerts, and thresholds, not only at the volume level, but also within Exchange, Oracle, SQLServer, and Sybase databases.

How do I reduce manual tasks? This is a growing challenge for IT today. Most System Administrators either wait for a volume to get to the critical point and take manual steps at performing housekeeping tasks or have written unique scripts for each system that they are responsible for. More scripts mean more maintenance and tend to increase the challenges. VisualSRM addresses this issue by helping IT replace manual tasks, scripts, and bat files with automated polices that keep up with the changing needs of the environment.




Availability problemsWhat data is at risk? What data isn’t backed up? Where are bottlenecks?

Manual or script problemsDo I do the housekeeping by scripts? How do I maintain the scripts? How do I update the scripts when the changes occur?

Utilization problemsWho owns what data?How much is duplicate or stale?How old is your data?How much is non-business related?

Questions You Face Daily


VisualSRM is designed to answer common questions such as:

Who owns the data and how much does that person or department have?

How much data is duplicate or stale?

Can I run a report and see all my data that hasn’t even been accessed in the past six months or a year?

How much space is used by non-business related data: MP3s, AVI files, etc.?

What data is at risk? For example, what data hasn’t been backed up?

How much data do I have? How many days are left before I run out of space?

How will my service levels be impacted?

Do I perform the file maintenance tasks manually or do I automate with scripts?

If I use scripts, how do I deploy them? What will be different in the script for each flavor of the operating system or difference in the configuration?




Solutions to Utilization ProblemsComprehensive reports that provide summary and file-level detail

Snapshots in the user interface provide a quick view of your filesystems, mail servers, and databases

Report utilization by:– Type: Multimedia files, Log files,

System files, etc.– Owner: file, mailbox, tablespace– Date: folders, files not accessed

in X days– Duplicate files

VisualSRM provides solutions to utilization problems by gathering file-level details on filesystems, table-level details on databases, and message-level details on mail servers. Data can be presented in Snapshots directly in the user interface, or in detailed, user-customizable reports. Tabular data can be displayed to examine the latest configuration, or trend charts can show growth over time.

Filters can be used to customize reports to focus on what is consuming the storage, for example:Show storage consumed by Multimedia files, Log files, System files, or other type categoriesShow storage consumed by Owner—particularly useful in user foldersLocate folders and files not accessed in a certain amount of days− These are potential candidates for automatic compression or for moving to lower

performance storageLocate duplicate files (same name and byte count)




Solutions to Availability ProblemsThresholds warn you when you approach dangerous utilization levels

Intelligent Actions automatically triggers when thresholds are breached

Reports show what files are at risk due to failed backups

VisualSRM provides solutions to availability problems by tracking the total and used sizes of filesystem, database, and mail server storage. Reports and snapshots easily show which resources are nearing their limits. Thresholds can be set to fire alerts when utilization levels are approaching dangerous levels. Intelligent Actions can be linked to thresholds to take corrective action.




Solutions to Automation ProblemsAutomate housekeeping tasks with Intelligent ActionsCreate best practice policies to maintain healthy storage– Compress files not accessed in

X days– Move less active files from high-

performance to low-performance storage

Become operating system and storage-agnostic with Intelligent Actions

VisualSRM provides solutions to automation problems by acting on the files it monitors. Actions can be created to compress files not accessed in a given number of days, move files to lower performance storage, or execute a number of other activities. Each action can be designated for any monitored server using any type of storage—the local agents interpret the commands and translate them into OS-specific tasks. The administrator can implement a single policy across all systems in a heterogeneous environment.




• None

Home-Grown“SRM”

• Home-grown– Scripts – Batch files – Spreadsheets

• Multiple versions of scripts for each platform

• Rudimentary reporting

• Command line interface (CLI)

• Minimum, if any

First-GenerationSRM

• Passive software tools

– Monitoring – Notification – Reporting

• Advanced reporting • Centralized server

and data repository • Graphical user

interface

The Evolution of Storage Resource Management

TheBusinessProcess

The Tools

TheTechnology

• Policy and best-practices implementation

– Application and filesystem policies

– Continuous, automated management

• Proactive software solutions– Mission-critical application

support – Policy-driven storage

management – Automated corrective actions – Automated reporting – Multi-level thresholds with action

• API, bi-directional integration• Uniform heterogeneous

platform support

EMC VisualSRM EMC VisualSRM

The first column shows that the majority of the System Administrators are still in the mode of writing perl scripts or using clipboards to go around and manually collect data from systems. This is an inefficient process that provides summarized data at best. There is also the added expense of maintaining all those scripts on the different operating systems.

In the second column, you see that a number of SRM products in the last two years have come on the market that offer rudimentary reporting. The systems are limited in scope overall and offer simplified ways to export data to other management systems. Business Practices are minimal at best. The reports provide information that the administrator then needs to write additional scripts to do the necessary housekeeping.

In the third column, you can see that VisualSRM has set the standard that allows a user to not only develop policies with suggested actions, but to automatically produce task lists to guide the user through the appropriate steps in problem solving.

VisualSRM was also developed with integration in mind and includes a full API and CLI interface. Full integration with other data center systems is now possible.




Management Software: EMC VisualSRM

The Business ProcessPolicy and best-practices implementationApplications and filesystemsContinuous, automated management

The ToolsMission-critical support Policy-driven storage management Automated corrective actions Automated reporting Multi-level thresholds with action

The TechnologyWeb-based UIAPIs and bi-directional integration for backup, SAN management, and provisioningHeterogeneous platform support

Benefits• Easy to use and acquire• Proactive management• Comprehensive reporting• File-based policy• Intelligent functions and

automation• Increased asset utilization• Lower overall costs• Application coordinated• Simple, reliable, and

repeatable processes• Improved staff productivity

Proactive Storage Resource Management

VisualSRM provides an automated tool for implementing best practices on your storage infrastructure that is easy to use, provides summary and file-level detail, and supports all the major UNIX and Windows platforms.

VisualSRM includes a full suite of reports that provide summary, file-level detail, and chargeback reporting for your filesystems, mail servers, and database servers. VisualSRM also provides for bi-directional integration though its API.




Lesson Summary

Key points covered in this lesson:

IT department problems

VisualSRM solutions

These are the key points covered in this lesson. Please take a moment to review them.




Lesson 2: Architecture and Requirements


Describe the architectural components of VisualSRM

Determine the hardware requirements for installation

Identify the software packaging and licensing

These are the objectives for this lesson. Please take a moment to review them.




Management Server

VisualSRM ConsoleVisualSRM ServerMicrosoft IISVisualSRM API (opt)

Windows Server

Browser

Internet Explorer

Database Repository

SQL Server/MSDEOracle

Any platform supported by database

Agent

WindowsSolarisAIXHP-UXRed HatNovell

Cluster Agent

Windows 2000

VisualSRM Alerter

User Interface Management Tier Agent Tier

EMC VisualSRM Architecture

VisualSRM is a multi-tiered client/server application.User Interface Tier: The User Interface tier provides browser-based (Microsoft Internet Explorer) access to the VisualSRM management system tier. The user interface allows you to view reports and administer policies, agents, and intelligent actions. The VisualSRM Alerter tool can be installed if the user wants to receive pop-up alerts.Management Tier: The Management tier has two major components: the Management Server and the Database.

The Management Server includes the Console, the Server, and the Web server. The Console provides a central location for management and control of agents, policies, and reports. The Server provides services to manage agents and policies, and also processes data from policies that agents execute. The Web server, Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS), services HTTP requests between the management system tier and the user interface tier.Database - The database (SQL Server/MSDE or Oracle) stores current and historical information about all managed resources (for example, hosts, databases, Exchange Servers). The database may be installed on a separate host from the management system.The VisualSRM API can be installed on the Management Server, if needed. The API is a DLL (Dynamic Link Library) containing routines that a programmer might use to design an alternate VisualSRM interface. The routines can be used to query data and manage actions from a compiled program.

Managed Node Tier: The Managed Node tier consists of one or more managed nodes. A VisualSRM agent resides on each node to start and stop scans and to run intelligent actions. The agent scans managed objects such as files, databases, mailboxes, volumes, and directories, then transmits scan results to the management system tier.




API library and COM interface for integrating custom software with VisualSRM and includes sample application (optional component)

C/COM API Library

Installed on Microsoft cluster resourcesEMC VisualSRM Agent for MSCS

Displays pop-up alerts when events occur (Windows only, must be installed and enabled)

EMC VisualSRM Alerter

Monitors, collects, transmits file system and threshold data to Server

EMC VisualSRM Agent

Manages agent, resources, and policy schedulesEMC VisualSRM Server & Console

DescriptionComponent

VisualSRM Components

The following lists the components that you can install on your server:VisualSRM Console/Primary Server (Management System)VisualSRM Server & Console−VisualSRM Agent−VisualSRM Alerter−Optional Components:

EMC VisualSRM Agent for MSCS – only for cluster resourcesC/COM API Library

VisualSRM Agent (Managed Node)−VisualSRM Agent−Optional Components:

VisualSRM Alerter (if you want pop-ups in Windows)

Install C/COM API Library whether or not it is used. To add it later would require uninstalling/reinstalling VisualSRM.

There are three basic installation steps:Primary ServerDatabase configurationAgent Installations – Push install (remote agent installation) from the Primary Server, or Local install from the CD on the managed node. UNIX agent push install requires Secure Shell (SSH) on the UNIX host.




EMC VisualSRM SupportVisualSRM Management SystemWindows Server or Advanced ServerMicrosoft IIS (required)MDAC (required)VisualSRM AgentWindowsWindows Microsoft Cluster ServiceAIXSolarisHP-UXRed Hat LinuxNovell NetWare

VisualSRM Repository DatabaseSQL Server / MSDE OracleVisualSRM Resource ComponentsExchangeSQL Server / MSDEOracleSybaseSupported Web BrowsersMicrosoft Internet ExplorerAdditional RequirementsCrystal Reports (optional for customizing report templates)

See: EMC VisualSRM Support Matrix for latest versions

The VisualSRM Management System has to be a supported Windows Server; Microsoft IIS and MDAC components are required.

Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle can be used as the EMC VisualSRM Database Repository. VisualSRM Agents can be deployed on Windows, AIX, Solaris, HP-UX, Red Had Linux and Novell NetWare systems. VisualSRM can report on SQL Server, Oracle, Sybase databases and Microsoft Exchange Mail Servers. Microsoft Internet Explorer is the only supported web browser. Crystal Reports can be used to create custom reports which can be published via VisualSRM.

For exact versions, please see the EMC VisualSRM Support Matrix.




VisualSRM/StorageScope FLR – Software Bundles

Database Exchange StandardDatabase Repository:

SQL Server/MSDE ● ● ● ●Database Repository:

Oracle ● ●Agents: Windows (incl.

MSCS), Linux, Novell ● ● ● ●Agents: Solaris, AIX,

HP-UX ● ●Apps: SQL Server,

Exchange ● ● ●Apps: Oracle, Sybase ● ●

VisualSRM Edition Storage-Scope FLR

The Standard Edition is the entry level package designed for Intel platforms only: Windows, Linux, and Netware. Complete file-level scanning and reporting is included, but no database or mail server applications can be monitored.

The Exchange Edition is designed to appeal to the majority of Microsoft Windows-centric mid-tier companies. In addition to file-level monitoring, Exchange and SQL Server applications can be monitored.

The Database Edition is designed to appeal to the larger mid-tier companies that have a mix of Windows and UNIX servers, Database applications, and Exchange server. All of the product capabilities are available in the Database Edition.

Upgrading VisualSRM editions can be done by simply adding a new license key. No re-installation is needed.

StorageScope File Level Reporter is identical to VisualSRM Database Edition except for branding and licensing differences. This variant is installed in ControlCenter environments, while the stand-alone VisualSRM product is typically targeted toward Navisphere environments.




VisualSRM/StorageScope FLR – LicensingVisualSRM– Licensed by MAC address– Licensed by capacity

Total potential capacity1 TB increments

– Applications (database, mail) need to be licensed by bundle– Non-disruptive license upgrades

No cost “Try and Buy” License– Equivalent to Database Edition, 350 GB capacity, expires after 30

daysStorageScope FLR– Not tied to MAC address—Can be used on any host– Not limited by capacity (performance limits still apply)– Equivalent to Database Edition license

Valid License file is required for the installation of VisualSRM or StorageScope FLR

http://license.emc.com

[email protected]

VisualSRM licenses are tied to the MAC, or network card address of the VisualSRM Management server. This means a customer is allowed to install the VisualSRM Console and Server on only one host at their site. If the MAC card is replaced, or the software moved to another server, a new license file must be re-created.Before installation, use the LicenseLink URL above to generate a license file. You will need the MAC address and the transaction code shown on your software registration card. The code will be checked against the sales database to verify the software bundle and other limits.The VisualSRM license is limited by total capacity of the scanned resources. If you purchased 10 TB of capacity to start, you can add filesystems, databases, and mail servers to scan until the total size reaches 10 TB. If you add resources that push the capacity over the limit, the license will become invalid, and automated processing (scans, report jobs, intelligent actions, etc.) will stop across the whole system. Remove some scanned resources or purchase additional capacity to resume normal operations. Changes to licenses can be done without stopping any part of the software.The license limitations are re-checked at the following times:

When the server service is started At the beginning of each day (around 12:00 AM)When new features (licenses) are addedWhen you click the Refresh button on the Settings Licenses page

A “Try and Buy” license is available at no cost which is equivalent to the Database Edition of VisualSRM. All of the software capabilities are enabled, but the scanned capacity is limited to only 350 GB. The license will also expire after 30 days.The StorageScope FLR product is not limited in the same way. It is not tied to a MAC address or limited by capacity.




Planning and Design Considerations

What Resources Do I Want to Manage/Report on?– Filesystems, Databases, Mail Servers, Microsoft Clusters

How Big Is The VisualSRM Implementation Going To Be?– Capacity, Growth rate, Type of Applications – Number of files/directories, database instances, mailboxes, agents,

Volumes/file systems– Average file sizes, Locations

In planning for a VisualSRM implementation, consider what resources you’re going to manage using VisualSRM.

Consider the following in your planning: capacity, growth rate, applications, number of files/directories, database instances, mailboxes, agents, volumes/filesystems, and locations.

The main consideration is really how many files & folders do you have – this will help you in figuring how to scale VisualSRM and whether or not the hardware requirements are going to meet your needs.Often, you will not be able to tell you how many files & folders you have, so you will have to make some educated guesses based on capacity and types of applications being used in environment.

What is the compelling reason for using VisualSRM? What are you looking to get out of the product? This will help if you are conducting trials and/or evaluations.




Planning and Design Considerations …

Supported Versions– Always check EMC VisualSRM Support Matrix

Management Server and Repository configuration– Minimum CPU, Memory, and Database needed– Depends on number of scanned objects

Repository and Agent disk space sizing– Depends on number of scanned objects

Use EMC VisualSRM Performance and Scalability Guidelines to help design the deployment

Always check the EMC VisualSRM Support Matrix to ensure that the objects that you want to report on are Supported. The choice of the Management Server and the Database is dependent on the number of objects that are to be scanned by VisualSRM. The disk space required by the Repository and on the Agent hosts also depends on the number of scanned objects.

Use the EMC VisualSRM Performance and Scalability Guidelines to help design the deployment.




Lesson Summary


VisualSRM Components

VisualSRM Hardware requirements

VisualSRM Packaging and licensing

VisualSRM Planning and Design Considerations





Lesson 3: Usage and Features – Part 1


Understand the use of the Getting Started Wizard and other Wizards to make initial configuration settings for VisualSRM

Articulate how resources (Systems, Databases and Mail servers) are added to VisualSRM

Explain the setup and use of resource scan policies

Discuss the use of the Dashboard, Event Alerts, Intelligent Actions, Task Lists and Thresholds





Configuration – Getting Started …

The Getting Started Wizard is a good starting point for configuring the various aspects of VisualSRM. This wizard guides the user through the various settings relevant to the features and functions of VisualSRM.




Settings Wizard

1

2

Applicable when Oracle is used as the VisualSRM Database

The Getting Started Wizard allows one to:Configure EMC VisualSRM – this is used for specifying things such as SNMP settings, Trend settings etc.Install and configure new or existing systems – this is used to Push agents to new systems (configure new system), setup file scan/threshold policies for existing systems or existing file groupsCreate a new alert group – this is used to create groups of users to receive e-mail notification, SNMP traps, and send pop-ups to group members via the EMC VisualSRM Alerter feature

When configuring EMC VisualSRM, the possible settings are:License settings – to add your license file or to add a token (update) to your current licenseAlert settings – to configure alert recipients and alert groups Mail settings – to allow the e-mail server to send alerts to user groupsSNMP settings – to allow SNMP traps to alert user groupsTrend settings – to customize data that you want to trend over time, as well as purging of old dataEvent log settings – to specify event retention and purging of old events Security settings – to set user authentication to access VisualSRM Console (No Authentication, Active Directory Authentication, or EMC VisualSRM Authentication) Database Performance settings – to tune the VisualSRM database performance – Only applicable when using Oracle as the VisualSRM Database




Trend Settings

1

2

An example of Trend settings is shown in the slide. We have set the purge of trend data after two weeks and the time to trend at 3:00 AM. The types of data on which trending can be performed is shown in the panel marked (2).




Security Settings – User Authentication

Security settings are used to specify the user authentication mode for VisualSRM.

EMC VisualSRM Authentication - User names and passwords will be stored and authenticated within the VisualSRM software.

Active Directory Authentication - User names and passwords will be stored and authenticated by Windows Active Directory. Any logins to the VisualSRM interface are authenticated with the underlying Windows security. Profiles of any users that log in will be stored under Console user profiles, but passwords or login roles can not be changed there—use regular Windows tools to maintain the accounts.

No Authentication - No login or password is demanded when logging in. Any access to the user interface is administrative. This method is not recommended.

With either VisualSRM or Active Directory Authentication, VisualSRM allows you to have two classes of users:

Administrator – All privilegesReport Viewer – Privilege to view exported reports only




Dashboard

One of the most useful features of the VisualSRM console is the Dashboard. It can contain snapshots of charts, tables, and other customizable content that is relevant to the users’organization. The Dashboard can be customized to display the most important data at a glance.

Some of the available snapshots include:Resource allocation snapshots which give an administrator a quick way to identify the places most likely to run out of storage. Largest tables, mailboxes, folders, or files can be displayed. Volume utilization (free space and utilized space) snapshots are also available.VisualSRM scheduling snapshots, showing policy schedules in list or calendar format. An administrator can use these views to verify that the many scheduled tasks do not interfere with each other, or interfere with other business activity.Status snapshots show the status of agents and currently running policies, as well as displaying recent error conditions.




Dashboard Customization

There are several predefined snapshots that can be added to the Dashboard. Snapshots present information and links that are relevant to console main pages. An administrator can use the Dashboard Customization dialog (displayed above) to add, remove, or position the snapshots to one of three display columns on the Dashboard page.




Snapshots

In addition to the several built-in snapshots available, users can create their own – for example, by generating an SQL query against the VisualSRM database. The data can be presented in tabular format, or in a variety of pie, bar, or line charts. Snapshot data can be refreshed frequently to maintain the most up-to-date views, or infrequently to reduce the demands on the reporting components.




Managed Resources

The top level Resources pull down menu shows the types of resources that can be managed and reported on, by VisualSRM. These include Mail servers, Database servers, Systems (Hosts), and File groups. File groups can be created to generate Chargeback Summary reports.




Resources – Systems

When an agent is installed and started on a host (System), the host is automatically discovered and registered with VisualSRM. This provides information about the host name and Operating System, among other details. When performing a Push install of the agent to a host, one has the choice of creating a File scan policy for its local volumes. If a File scan policy is not created, the information obtained is limited to the system volumes level. Further details on files and folders will not be available until a File scan policy is created and run.




Resources – System Volumes

Drilling down into one of the Systems shows the System volumes available to this host. The colors of the bars are reflective of the Threshold policy that has been specified for these volumes.

Further drill down on one of the volumes will show all subfolders and files. A complete record of the contents of the filesystem, as it was at the time of the last scan, can be browsed via the system resource page.




Policies

The top level Policies pull down menu is shown in this slide. A number of policies relating to scans (Files, Mail servers, Database servers), Event alerts, Thresholds, Intelligent actions, and Task lists, can be created.




Policies – File Scan

1

2

Here is an example of a File scan. Note that the Scan type has been specified as drives, folders, and files. This indicates that the information down to the file level details will be collected and can be reported on by VisualSRM. The other choice for Scan type is to specify drives and folders only – this will not give details about the files under the folders and directories.

Another important feature of a File scan is the list of scanned resources. The resource list can be broad enough to collect information on every file on the system, or narrow-focused to only concentrate on selected folders. This allows a VisualSRM user to carefully choose the information included in a scan. If user data is the only data that needs to be reported on, the scan can be targeted only at the user folders, thereby the cost of needlessly scanning the system folders is eliminated.

Note: only File scan resources can be tailored in this way. Database and Mailbox scans have exactly one resource: the database or mail server. These types of scans always collect data on all of the database or mailbox resources, if enabled.

The schedule is another important feature of a file scan. Scans can be scheduled as often as four times a day, or as infrequently as once per month. Scans should be scheduled often enough to collect information needed for reporting. If reports are generated once per day, scans should be done once per day. Naturally, the scans should be performed before the reporting is done.




Resources – Database Servers

EMC VisualSRM for Databases provides the following capabilities:Centralized monitoring, browsing, and reporting for multiple databasesTrack database files and log sizes, utilization levels (allocated vs. consumed) and auto-extend statusTrack system and individual user storage consumptionWeekly growth rate by database instance




Resources – Database Servers

This example shows the Tablespaces and Data files utilization for a particular Oracle instance. The colors of the bars reflect the threshold policy that has been set for the tablespaces and data files. Red indicates that these files have exceeded the set threshold. Information about the Log and Archive files, as well as all the Tables in the database, can also be displayed by choosing the appropriate tab.




Database Servers – Add

The VisualSRM Agent does not collect information about Database servers until they are added as managed resources. Once added, the designated VisualSRM agent collects information about the database. The license to manage and collect information about the database servers is required.

Database servers can be added via the Resource Wizard.




Database Server – Scan Policy

The three types of database servers that can be managed are Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle Database Server, and Sybase Database Server. The resource wizard steps through the process of adding a database server as a managed resource, and concludes with the setting up of a database scan schedule. Note that distinct scan policies are required to manage each database server resource. In other words, one cannot have a universal scan policy for all managed databases.

Windows (2000 or 2003) VisualSRM Agent is required for managing MS SQL Server, Oracle and Sybase Databases.




Exchange Mail Server Resource

A Windows Agent having connectivity to the Exchange server is required

The VisualSRM Agent does not collect information about Exchange Mail servers until they are added as managed resources.Requirements for Exchange 5.5: The MAPI (Messaging Application Programming Interface) protocol must be chosen for version 5.5 of exchange. A user profile must be created in the Exchange software having the characteristics listed above. The profile can be created by an administrator using normal Exchange or Outlook tools.The MAPIProfile.exe tool can also be used to create an appropriate profile. MAPIProfile.exe is installed in the base VisualSRM software folder. Transfer the program to the Exchange server, run it, and provide the name of a new profile to create.In either case, when using a MAPI profile, the profile must exist before adding the Exchange resource in the Resources page.Requirements for Exchange 2000 or 2003: MAPI Profile or Active Directory protocols can be chosen for versions 2000 and later of Exchange. The Active Directory method uses ADSI (Active Directory Service Interface) to obtain information about the Exchange configuration, and Collaboration Data Objects (CDO) for Exchange Management for interface. An existing mailbox can be used for scanning, or new resources can be created by the Resource wizard.The slide illustrates the operation of the Resource wizard when choosing to use an existing Active Directory mailbox. An appropriate mailbox could also have been created by the wizard.If a MAPI profile was chosen as the method to scan the mail server, the profile would have to already exist.You will create and schedule a scan policy to work with the new mail server resource.




Mail Scan Settings

Mailbox scans– One mailbox scan for each mail server resource– Scan automatically created when adding a mail server resource

Message Aging settings

Collect data on messages in public folders

Appearance of the aged data information, shown in the mail resource view (shown two slides after this slide), is controlled in the mail scan settings.

The Mailbox scan can be setup to collect data on the Public Folder store of the Exchange server as well. Choosing this option will increase the scan time.

For Exchange, you now have the ability to define ranges for grouping age of messages, e.g. 0-100 days, 100-200 days, 200-300 days and 300+. The resource display and trend reports will reflect the settings made here.

If you change the Mail Age Groups settings, you have to run the scan again to update the database; otherwise, age range data will not be accurate. Changing these settings affects trend data.

There are no additional settings for Database scans. The scan name, the database resource scanned, and the schedule are the only configuration settings.




Mail Server Resources

Data Stores

Mail Server configuration

and trends

Volumes utilized by mail server

Mail server resources are found under the Resources menu. Server configuration and trend data is displayed under the Properties tab, just like other resources. “Drillable” objects include the Data stores, which can be used to investigate the mail recipients and their folders, and the Utilized volumes, which can be used to investigate the server data and log files. Each of these categories shows basic utilization—further drilling shows utilization by recipient, folder, or file.




Mail Recipients and Mailboxes

Mail Recipients

Recipient mailboxes

Message aging

The mail server resources page displays the objects scanned by a mailbox scan: mail recipients and their folders. The data size, number of messages, and number of attachments are displayed at each level.

A pie chart showing the allocated storage of this folder, subfolders, and elsewhere on the server is included in the Properties tab. This tab also shows the aging of the messages.




EventsEvents happen when:– Scans or jobs start, stop, or

encounter errors– Threshold settings are exceeded– Intelligent actions and Task lists

start, stop, or encounter errorsEvents have three severities:– Error– Warning– Information

Events are always recorded in the VisualSRM Event log, but users can be notified via:– Email– VisualSRM Alerter popup– SNMP traps

Events happen when nearly anything of interest happens in VisualSRM, including policy actions, threshold exceptions, and internal activity like intelligent actions and tasks list actions. Administrators can monitor events to determine if scan jobs are overlapping report jobs, if intelligent actions are acting as expected, or if any component encounters an error.

Events have three possible severities: Error, Warning, and Information. Severity levels are pre-defined for events related to the software such as policy activity. Severity levels can be set by the user for user-defined events like thresholds.

All events are recorded in the VisualSRM Event log, under the Dashboard page. Advanced notification via email, the VisualSRM Alerter program, and SNMP traps are available as well.

The Event log page under the Dashboard menu shows all events. The severity, time, resource (agent), and source (policy) are recorded for each. The display can be filtered by severity, resource, date, or keyword. At the bottom of the page (not shown) are links for removing one or all log entries, or for exporting the entries to a file in CSV, XML, or TSV (tab separated values) format. The log entries are stored as database records, so exporting them is the only way to extract them from the VisualSRM software.

The display above shows a file scan that failed because all paths were being scanned on a Windows host.

By default, events are permanently retained. The Event log settings wizard can be used to purge log entries by date.




Event Notification Process

Policy activity, error

Intelligent action, Task list activity, error

Threshold exceeded

Event

Filter: type of event, severity

Notify: Alert Group | Execute Task List

Event Alert Policy

Group members: Alert Recipients

Notification options: Alerter, Email, SNMP

Alert GroupFull Name

Windows login name

Email address

Alert Recipient

Event Log

As mentioned, any event is recorded in the VisualSRM Event log. Actively browsing the Event log might be the only event management needed for a small site.

Larger sites might need active notification. To do this, several connected VisualSRM components must be created and configured. An Event Alert policy must be set up to “catch”events of the desired type. Two filters are used to choose events: one that chooses the type of event (database scans, intelligent actions, etc.) and one that chooses the severity (error only, etc.). Once “caught,” two notification options are available: notify an alert group and/or execute a task list.

An alert group contains a list of alert recipients, and notification options. The alert recipients can be notified by email (using the email address of the recipient) or by using the VisualSRM Alerter (using the Windows login name of the recipient). An SNMP trap can also be sent to a management station also.

Alert recipients have to be created for inclusion in an alert group.




Event Alert Policies

Policy Filters

Notification settings: Alert Group and/or

Task List

Severity, date, keyword filters

Recent events “caught” by this

policy

The Event Alert page can be found under the Policies menu. In this slide, details of a specific Event Alert policy are shown. Here, the policy filters, notification settings, and filters can be added or edited.

The illustration shows that this policy is monitoring database scan policies from all sources, intelligent action policies from all sources, and two specific file scan policies. This does not necessarily mean that all possible events from these policies will be handled by this alert policy. Filters can be used to further restrict the events handled.

Any recent events seen by this policy will appear in the Recent events tab at the bottom of the display.




Intelligent Actions

An Intelligent Action (IA) Policy allows you to stage, compress, copy, delete, or move any files that you filter. A script can also be run against the filtered data.

The Intelligent Actions page can be reached from the Policies menu. New IAs can be created or existing IAs can be edited. The new IA editor will prompt the user to enter a name and the type of action that.

IAs can be run on demand or scheduled.

You are also given the option to run the policy in Automatic mode or in Interactive mode:When Interactive mode is selected a user has to click Confirm in the Console to confirm the action on selected objects before any action occurs. Optionally, you can select an alert group from the list, which means the alert group is notified when the policy is ready to be confirmed.In Automatic mode, VisualSRM is going to perform the action on the filtered files automatically with no user intervention.




Intelligent Action – Filters

After the Intelligent Action is created, you need to add filters so the policy can find the appropriate data.

The first filter is generally the system (resource) you are targeting. You can then add any combination of filters you want.

VisualSRM allows you to filter by:

Resource, File group, File name, Pathname, File type, File owner, File actual/allocated size, File creation/modification/access date or File attribute.

Boolean operators like “and”, “and not”, “or” and “or not” can be used to combine the various filters.




Task Lists

Task lists enable you to combine and schedule a number of policies into one. This makes scheduling easier and more efficient.

When creating a new Task List, the user has the option of specifying the group that should be alerted on completion of the tasks.




Task Lists

Policies that should be run have to be added to the Task List.

Any existing policy (File/Database/Mailbox Scan, Intelligent Action or Report Job) can be added as a task in the task list. One or more tasks can be added to a task list.

Task Lists can be scheduled via the Schedule tab. As with all other policies, you can schedule it to run up to 4 times a day on the days you choose.

Tips:When adding Intelligent Actions, make sure you add actions that are not in Interactive mode. When adding Intelligent Actions in Interactive mode, the task list is not going to complete as it will be waiting for a confirmation to continue after the files are selected. When scheduling Task Lists, make sure you do not schedule them to run at the same time you have other policies running. For example, if you add a file scan to your Task List that is already scheduled to run at 1:00 AM, and you schedule the Task List to run at 1:00 AM, you are going to receive errors.When creating a new Task List, check the box “Continue if task fails”. When this is checked, all policies after the one that failed will continue to run. For example, you have a policy that runs a file scan then runs a report job. If file scan fails and you have this box checked off, the report job is still going to run. In this instance, you would be reporting on old data because the file scan did not finish successfully.




Threshold Policies

A Threshold policy allows you to establish limits for resources or objects on resources at the disk, directory, and file group levels. You can include or exclude resources for each threshold policy, including subdirectories and objects within groups. Threshold policies can be defined to run a Task list, in addition to notifying users or user groups. In short, Threshold policies allow you to monitor the size of folders, database files and send alerts and warnings if thresholds levels have been breached.

If you have 100s of thresholds configured and they all have the short monitoring intervals, performance may be affected slightly.

Several other options need to be taken into consideration as well. Among these are:Include sub-folders in calculationAlert the owner of the folder if the threshold is reachedAlert the owner’s manager(s) if the threshold is reachedRun a task listThe message the user receives when the threshold is reached




Threshold Policies – Objects to be Monitored

Resources to be monitored have to be added to the Threshold Policy. There is no limit to the number of folders that can be added to the policy.




A Linked Policy Example

Threshold PolicyIs volume > 89% Full?

Run: Task List

Task ListRun: Report job

Run: Intelligent Action

Report jobReport filter: All files in volume not accessed in 90 days

Intelligent actionIA filter: All files in volume not accessed in 90 days[write list to TARGETS on host]

IA action: Run Host Script

Host ScriptFor each file in TARGETS

backup file, remove file

TARGETS

Automatically backup and delete files when volume becomes over-utilized

On Host

The example above graphically displays a set of VisualSRM policies linked together to perform a complex automated management task. The local administrators have written scripts that will backup select files to a tape device and then delete them to reduce volume (filesystem) utilization. To make management of the process more flexible and easy to maintain, VisualSRM policies are used to detect over-utilized volumes, identify and report on old files, and run the backup scripts.A Threshold Policy begins the process by monitoring the utilization of the volume. Agents report volume utilization data every 15 minutes in this example (interval is user-definable), so the policy will be triggered quickly after reaching the critical level. Here, the Threshold Policy is configured to run a Task List. It might also have been configured to send alerts to several users or groups of users.The Task List simply groups other policies. In this example, a Report Job and an Intelligent Action are executed by the Task List.The Report Job runs a report that identifies unused files that will be backed up. A filter is used to limit the report to show any file that has not been accessed in the last 90 days.The Intelligent Action creates a list of unused files to be backed up and writes it to a folder on the host. Filtering the Intelligent Action so that the list contains only files not accessed in the last 90 days will match the action with the report just generated. After creating the list, the Intelligent Action will run a script on the host itself.



Simple actions such as copying, moving, or removing files can be handled by Intelligent Actions without using a host-based script. Use these basic operations whenever possible, because they eliminate the need for writing and maintaining scripts on every managed host.The Host Script reads the list of files and performs the backup and removal steps. The script must be written and installed on each managed host—this is not handled by the VisualSRM software.The automated process in this example is benefited by using VisualSRM to monitor the threshold value and identify the files. A simple change to the Threshold Policy or the access date filters will change the automation all of the managed hosts. No changes in the individual scripts will be needed, since they are designed to rely on the decision making of the central VisualSRM system.




Lesson Summary


VisualSRM configuration settings

Dashboard and Snapshots

Adding Resources and setting up Scan policies

Event Alerts, Intelligent Actions, Task Lists and Thresholds





Lesson 4 – Usage and Features – Part 2


Discuss the Reporting features of VisualSRM

Identify the methods to run reports

Articulate the methodology and considerations to set up a Report Job





Reports

The Reports drop down menu of VisualSRM console has links to the Built-in Reports, Custom Reports, Exported Reports, Report Groups, and Report Jobs. We will discuss each of these in this section.

The Custom Reports page is empty to begin with. Users have the ability to customize the Built-in reports or create their own report definitions and add them to the Custom Reports page. The Built-in reports are all based on Crystal Reports Definition (*.rpt) files. The *.rpt file contains formatting controls and database queries used to generate and present the results. Most of the querying intelligence is stored in stored procedures within the database itself. These are SQL functions that contain many individual SQL queries and other actions.

Modifying the existing *.rpt files or creating new *.rpt files requires a Crystal Reports license.




Built-In Reports

The Built-in reports page displays all of the reports included with the software (there are 38 Built-in reports). The page shows the name and description of the report, and the last time it was successfully run. Click on a report name to run the report on demand against the current scan and trend data. A filter dialog will pop up displaying filters used to reduce the number of resources included in the report. After selecting any needed filters, click the Run Now button to launch the report.

Depending on the type of report and the number of resources in the database, report generation may take a long time. Be prepared for a significant delay when running file-level reports interactively. Use report jobs for more user-friendly report generation.




Report - Run Now

Reports can be run on demand, via the ‘Run now’ option, or can be scheduled via Report Jobs (discussed shortly).

Running a report interactively displays a filtering dialog, like the one shown above. All reports are configured with some number of filters that allow a certain amount of customization of the report. For instance, the Dormant Folders filter shown above is set to display folders on two of the five available systems that have not been accessed for 300 days. Later, the same user might run the Dormant Folders report again to view the folders between 5 GB and 10 GB in size (folder size means the sum of files within the folder and all subfolders) that have not been accessed in 90 days. Both of these different outcomes are available from the same report simply by filtering the report contents.




Report Filtering

Reports can be customized by filtering:– Servers, Mail servers, or Databases list– File groups list– File types list– Path list– Path depth list (0 is filesystem root)– Tablespaces list– Database total or used size (range)– Mailbox name (mail recipient)– Owners list– Date accessed, modified, or created (range)– File Size (range)– Days of trending data to include

Not all filters available with each

report

All reports have one or more filters that can be applied to reduce the number of resources included. The exact filters available are determined by the software for each report type—no single report has all of the filters listed above.

Most of the filters simply specify a subset of objects to report on by name or meta characteristic (date, size, owner, etc.). Details on some of the less obvious filters are given below.

File groups list. The File groups list filter is used primarily with the Chargeback Summary report. A filegroup is created in VisualSRM to group folder resources under a single name for assessing storage charges. An example is given in this lesson.

File types list. Pre-defined file types such as “multimedia” or “compressed” that identify files matching an extension list. You can edit existing type definitions and create new ones.

Path depth list. Sets the number of paths to report, starting with zero at the filesystem root. A path depth of 2 would specify paths of only 2 levels deep: C:\Program Files\EMC, but not C:\Program Files or C:\Program Files\EMC\VisualSRM.

Owners list. Use the format domain\user for Windows Domain users. Use a star to substitute for all names: *\user for user in any domain, domain\* for all users in the domain.

Days of trending data to include. Limits the number of days displayed in trend graphs.




Crystal Viewer Report Display

Export to Crystal Reports, MS Excel, MS Word, RTF, or PDF format

Object drill down

Page display for selected

objects

An interactively launched report is displayed in a browser window using the Crystal Viewer plug-in. An object drill-down pane appears at the left, making it easy to select specific objects from a report. The selected object is displayed in the main panel.

Crystal Viewer can be used to export the report to a local file in Crystal Reports, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word, Rich Text Format, or Adobe Acrobat format. It is not recommended to use this export feature if the report is more than 100 pages long. Use a report job to send the output directly to a file instead. Reports can be printed as well.




Report JobsGenerate reports during off-peak hours—users do not need to wait for a lengthy database query to read the reportSeveral output formats are available:– File: PDF, RTF, HTML, XML, CSV– Single Email address or the addresses contained in an Alert group– Send directly to a printer

Job Reports are posted to the Exported Reports page, which reporting users can viewReport jobs feature:– One or more reports to create– A scheduled time to run the reports– Aggregate filter—overrides default report filters

Generating reports on demand is useful when spot checking the environment or developing accurate filters, but this should not be the primary method for users to view reports. A report detailing millions of files will take a noticeable amount of time to run, delaying a user’s investigation. Remember, too, that the Crystal Viewer should not be used to export reports to files if they are greater than 100 pages long.

A better way to generate reports is to run them in a report job. The reports can be scheduled in one or more batch jobs to run at off-peak hours, “hiding” the long query times from the user. Reports generated from jobs can be saved to disk in a variety of formats, sent by email, or sent directly to a printer (extremely large reports should not be emailed or sent to a printer, of course).

If reports are saved to disk, their names are posted on the Exported Reports page. Both administrators and reporting users can view this page.

The three main parts of a report job (the report list, schedule, and aggregate filters) are discussed next.




Report Jobs Page

The Report Jobs page can be found under the Reports menu. Jobs can be created, removed, and edited here. Jobs can also be started on demand using the Start button.

The jobs shown above are installed with the software as “best practice” report sets. These jobs contain the reports that are used most often by VisualSRM users. New users can use them as templates or examples of report jobs. None are scheduled to run by default. Run them manually or edit the job to create a schedule if you want to use these report jobs.




Report Job - Add Reports, Output Type, and Schedule

Choose reports from Built-In or Custom reports

Can use Report groups

The Report Job Wizard guides the user through the process of setting up a Report Job. The wizard prompts the user to choose one or more reports to include in the job. Any report found on the Built-In or Custom reports pages can be used. Report groups can also be chosen. Report groups are simply lists of reports grouped together to make it easier to specify a large number of them in a report job. Maintain report groups in the Report groups page, under the Reports menu.

Select the output type for all of the reports in this job:Send them to a folder. The default folder is C:\Program Files\EMC\VisualSRM\Exports, but this can be edited in the dialog that appears after making this selection. A different folder can be specified for each job, if desired. No matter what folder is chosen, reports sent to folders are always linked in the Exported reports page.Reports can be stored in PDF, HTML, RTF, XML, or CSV format. Only one format can be chosen for all the files in the same job.Send them to a printer. The dialog that appears after making this selection will show a list of printers set up on the VisualSRM management system. File detail reports can be hundreds of pages long. Test reports by sending them to a file first to make sure they are not too large to be printed.Send them to e-mail accounts and/or alert groups. A list of email addresses can be entered in the dialog that appears after making this selection (separate multiple addresses by commas). Alternatively, a VisualSRM alert group can be specified. The reports will be emailed to the addresses of each user in the alert group.

A job schedule is the last thing to set up. The scheduling follows the same rules as scan job scheduling: up to 4 times per day, or as little as once a month.




Report Job - ConsiderationsReports sent to a folder overwrite older reports of the same nameExported reports page links only the most recent output of a particular report, regardless of what folder it was written toThe same report can be added to any number of jobsAvoid scheduling report jobs when scan data is being loaded– Impacts scan and reporting performance– In Direct Data Load mode, tables are inaccessible until scan

completesReports summarize scan and trend data—rarely useful to report more often than you scanAggregate Filters can be setup for Report Jobs –Aggregate filters override individual report filtersTypical daily sequence: Scan, Trend, Report

The report’s name is used to generate the file name when writing reports to files. Outputting the same report twice to the same folder causes the second output to overwrite the first. To get two different report jobs to create different versions of the same report (possibly with different filters), have the jobs write the outputs to different folders. Unfortunately, the Exported reports page will only link to the most recent version of a particular report, so reporting users will not have access to both versions.

It is especially important to avoid scheduling report jobs when scan data is being loaded, if at all possible. The performance for both tasks will degrade if they run at the same time, because each places heavy demands on the VisualSRM Server and backend database. Additionally, reporting during a scan is impossible in Direct Data Mode because tables are dropped and slowly rebuilt as the data is loaded.

Report Filters: There are two filtering options for report jobs. The first option is to set default filters in each report using the Remember these filters setting. When run in a job, each report will use these default settings. The other option is to use aggregate filters to override the default filter settings. If used, aggregate filters completely ignore the per report settings without actually changing them.

Report only as often as you scan, since a report only shows the most recent scan data. The typical daily sequence of data processing is: Scan, Trend, Report. None of these tasks should overlap. Use the Event log or Run Statistics page to check on the running time of each task.




Exported Reports

Report Viewer – View reports only

Administrator – All privileges

The Exported Reports page displays the reports that were run by Report Jobs. It is important to note that a report job may include many reports, and the links point to individual reports in the report job and not to the report job as a whole. The links in the Exported Reports only link to the most recent version of a particular report. Thus, if two different report jobs run the same report, the link will point to the output of the report job that was run last.

Users with the “Report Viewer” privilege only see this page of VisualSRM, and can only view the reports. VisualSRM users with administrator privileges can View, Edit, Remove, and Run reports. Administrators can also create new Report Jobs from the Exported Reports page.




Chargeback Summary Report

Report storage used by a department or organization

1. Create a File Group containing the folders owned by the department

2. Set a dollar/megabyte value for the File Group for local storage usage and offline storage usage

3. Run the Chargeback Summary report

The Chargeback Summary report is used for charging a department or organization for the storage it uses. A file group must be created for each department to be included in the report—files not contained in file groups cannot be included in the Chargeback Summary. EMC VisualSRM is capable of computing chargeback on Files which have been moved “Offline” by any Hierarchical Storage Management application. The file group contains the folders to be charged to this department and a dollar/megabyte price for local storage usage as well as offline storage usage. Specifying the offline price is optional. As with a file scan, any folder for which file scanning is performed can be included in a file group.




File Groups

The File Groups page is found under the Resources menu. A Chargeback fee has to be specified when a new File Group is created. After a file group is created, resources have to be added.

In this example, the Development group has been given two folder resources and will be charged a total of USD 0.50/MB for local storage and USD 0.25/MB for offline storage.

File groups also appear in the object browser when adding resources to a file scan. This makes it convenient to tailor file scans to just the charged data, omitting operating system files and other non-charged storage.




Chargeback Summary Report

The resulting Chargeback Summary report simply catalogs the amount of storage contained in and below the folder resources, multiplies the value by the price, and summarizes the cost for both local and offline storage.

The charge is based on the size of all files within the specified resource, not the size of the filesystem. Large, empty filesystems like the /home folders in the report above cost nothing. If you want to charge based on the storage allocated to a filesystem, database, or mail application, use reports that show the total size and multiply the cost by hand.




Database Space Usage Report

This is an example of a Database Space Usage Report.




Mail Server Message & Attachment by User

This is an example of a Mail Server Message and Attachment Summary by User report. Only a part of the report is show here.




Enterprise Storage Assessment Report

This is an example of an Enterprise Storage Assessment Report. Only the first page of the seven page report is shown.




Lesson Summary


Reports

Setting up Report Jobs

Examples of Reports





Course SummaryKey points covered in this course:

Problems of IT departments and VisualSRM features that help solve those problemsVisualSRM Architecture, hardware requirements for installation and software packaging and licensingConfiguring VisualSRMAdding resources (Systems, Databases and Mail servers) to VisualSRM and resource scan policiesUse of the Dashboard, Event Alerts, Intelligent Actions, Task Lists and Thresholds in VisualSRMReporting features of VisualSRM

These are the key points covered in this training. Please take a moment to review them.

This concludes the training. In order to receive credit for this course, please proceed to the Course Completion slide to update your transcript and access the Assessment.

Visual SRM Student Resource Guide

Documents

Transcript of Visual SRM Student Resource Guide