PDF reports
The Reports > PDF function is a powerful reporting facility that renders Adobe PDF reports statistics selected and configured by the operator. The facility also loads small numbers of message samples into the system (but this facility is not intended to include large amounts of message data, but only message statistics.)
PDF reports generate at midnight each night, or on demand. The report generator parses raw message data to create reports containing graphs and tables of message data.
PDF reports operate on all messages, but typically you restrict the PDF report to a particular thread, such as successful logons, or hardware events, or some other thread created under the Correlation > Threads screen. The report then reflects statistics on a particular class of messages (rather than all messages).
Configuring new PDF reports
BMC Defender Server comes with a small number of generic PDF reports that might be sufficient for many organizations. However, it is easy to expand the number and types of reports, as follows:
- You click on the Reports > PDF tab to access the PDF reporting screen. This displays the top level PDF screen, which lists any configured reports. (You can access these reports by clicking the report name hyperlink.)
- On the PDF screen, click AddNew to define a new report. This displays the Add New Report screen.
- On the Add New Report screen, you provide a title and data source for the report. (The data sources are selectable through a pull-down menu, and correspond to each configured correlation thread. The default data source of all messages can also be selected.)
- You save the report configuration by clicking the Commit button. The newly created report will then appear in the top-level PDF screen.
With no other action, BMC Defender Server begins generating reports each day at midnight. The Add New screen provides reasonable defaults and error checking of user values. When the configuration gets saved, the title for the report (specified in step 3 ) gets displayed as a hyperlink, and you can click this link to access the PDF report.
You can generate an immediate report by clicking on Generate Report Database option at the top of the PDF screen. This launches the report generator as a background process. When the report generator finishes (that might take several minutes), all the reports have been updated with the latest information.
This section provides information about the following topics: