Extended Reporting

[robin850]

Has anyone started using this yet? What have you discovered? What works well, what works "different", what is missing?

We have several thousand PCs at dozens of locations around the planet, now its time to start getting some data from them.

I have a big Oracle database server at our headquarters (where over half the computers are) and i'm hoping this will work for holding all the reporting.

Wish me luck,

[RoadRunner]

Robin, anything to report? I'm getting ready to set this up for our enterprise, and am especially curious about traffic over WAN links.

[SBR]

A typical ExR XML-File is about 120kb. On every action (Install/Client start etc.) the client sends the information to the next Management Point.

But be aware of how many clients you have. At the moment with 5.7 SP2 you shouldn't have more than 2000 Clients on one Database-Server. And the DB-Server should have two processors and about 2 - 4 GB RAM.

Stefan

[RoadRunner]

Thanks for the info, Stefan. That should be a good starting point. Two follow-ups, if I may...

You said "On every action...", does this include each time the client polls it's local NI server to see if there are new projects?

And secondly, does the client send the information as it gets created, or does it check to see if there are restrictions on replication traffic and respect those? If I have "downstream" Management Points, can I configure when they'll send their data "upstream"?

Thanks again!

[Support_1]

Thanks for the info, Stefan. That should be a good starting point. Two follow-ups, if I may...

You said "On every action...", does this include each time the client polls it's local NI server to see if there are new projects?

well that depends on if an installation occurs during that polling. ExR only sends data to the management point when an installation occurs.

And secondly, does the client send the information as it gets created, or does it check to see if there are restrictions on replication traffic and respect those?

it sends the data as it is created, although it will wait 10 seconds for any new data before it is sent to the management point. the ExR online help file (\\<niserver>\<nishare>\docs\e\xniExR.chm) contains a complete description of the data flow for ExR. it's in the section 'Concept -> Data Flow'

If I have "downstream" Management Points, can I configure when they'll send their data "upstream"?

yes, the property is on the management point, it is in the 'Extended Reporting Settings (server)' section and called 'Pass on Reporting Data.' you must enable 'Expert mode' to view this property.

[SBR]

Thanks for the info, Stefan. That should be a good starting point. Two follow-ups, if I may...

You said "On every action...", does this include each time the client polls it's local NI server to see if there are new projects?

well that depends on if an installation occurs during that polling. ExR only sends data to the management point when an installation occurs.

and on every Client startup.

.. or does it check to see if there are restrictions on replication traffic and respect those?

No. Only the communication between the Management Point could be set up with a time frame.

Stefan