Argent Reports is a robust, web-based reporting product that allows customers to construct elaborate and stylish reports from system administrators to C-level management. The data can be taken from Argent, or from external sources, making Argent Reports a flexible product with a powerful scheduler built into it. Some of the useful built-in Reports include: SLA […]
Argent Reports is designed to provide the simplest installation possible. Argent Reports installs into IIS, creating the virtual folders, application pools and all the various options automatically for you. Setup Simply run SETUP.EXE and follow the setup wizard. Total installation time is three to four minutes. Specify the license file — the license file is […]
This chapter provides a detailed view into each type of report in Argent Reports.
Argent Graphs are line graphs or bar graphs with a date/time scale as the X-axis: Click For Full Size To create your own Argent Graph, you need to specify the Performance Counters, Nodes to include, and various other options, described below Performance Counters These aren’t just for Windows — these include SNMP metrics, Linux/Unix metrics, […]
Alert Tables display data related to Argent Alerts Click For Full Size Click For Full Size Moreover, Alert Tables can have Filters and can be used to display data only if a certain number of lines match the criteria Important Note: The first and second columns of an Alert Table are reserved for the Date/Time […]
Argent Change Log Tables allow you to plot tabular data showing change operations performed within the Argent GUI Click For Full Size Click For Full Size Change Logs This section is used to define what will be displayed in what column You can drag-and-drop to change the order of the columns There are a finite […]
Cross-Reference Tables allow you to plot tabular data from definitions in all Argent Products by cross-referencing Relators Click For Full Size Click For Full Size Cross-Reference Data This section is used to define what will be displayed in what column You can drag-and-drop to change the order of the columns There are a finite set […]
Event-Based Tables display data related to events — typically Windows Event Logs, SNMP Traps, ASCII Logs, etc. Click For Full Size Click For Full Size Important Note: The first and second columns of an Event Table are reserved for the Date/Time and Node Name Event Data The Event Data section is used to define what […]
File Audit Tables allow you to plot tabular data from file change events from Argent for Security Click For Full Size Click For Full Size Important Note: The first and second columns of the table are reserved for the Date/Time and Node Name File Audit Data This section is used to define what will be […]
Exchange Mailbox Tables allow you to plot tabular data from mailbox metrics gathered from Argent Exchange Monitor or Argent for Exchange Click For Full Size Click For Full Size Exchange Mailbox Data This section is used to define what will be displayed in what column You can drag-and-drop to change the order of the columns […]
Exchange Traffic Tables allow you to plot aggregated data from mailbox traffic metrics gathered from Argent Exchange Monitor or Argent for Exchange Click For Full Size Click For Full Size Exchange Traffic Data Exchange Traffic Tables are designed for a specific purpose: aggregating traffic data and presenting Top X information — such as Top 10 […]
Node-Based Tables allow you to plot Licensed Nodes Data gathered from installed Argent Products Click For Full Size Click For Full Size Licensed Nodes Data This section is used to define what will be displayed in what column You can drag-and-drop to change the order of the columns There are a finite set of fields […]
Performance Tables display performance-related data in a tabular format Moreover, Performance Tables can have Filters and can be used to display tables only if a certain number of lines match the criteria Click For Full Size Click For Full Size Important Note: The first and second columns of a Performance Table are reserved for the […]
Performance Top X Tables display the Top X instances across all selected servers Click For Full Size Click For Full Size Only one counter can be selected, but filters can be applied Argent Reports scans through all instances of the counter (e.g. A counter would be ‘LogicalDisk’ and instances would be ‘C:’ or ‘D:’, etc.) […]
PowerShell Reports allow native PowerShell scripts to be executed, with the output, fashioned into a report Click For Full Size Click For Full Size The script editor supports syntax highlighting, and Timeout in Minutes can be set (from 1 minute to 60 minutes) PowerShell Reports also has a Test Script button – this feature tests […]
SLA Downtime Tables allow you to plot a table of all outages throughout a time period, and calculate the total outage time, % uptime and % downtime. Click For Full Size Click For Full Size Instances SLA data can be plotted for Nodes, or for “instances” of a Node – e.g. data collected from Windows […]
SQL Query Tables and SQL Query Graphs allow customers to connect to their own ODBC-Compliant database tables and present data More importantly, values can be mapped into strings that are more readable for humans SQL Query Customers can configure their own SQL Queries, which can also be tested for syntax correctness via Test SQL: Click […]
Custom Reports are for customers with extremely unique requirements, whether they are layout-based or data-based Custom Reports are delivered as .ACR (Argent Custom Report) files, which are specified in a Custom Report definition The .ACR file also tells Argent Reports what parameters and options to provide in the definition screen An ACR file must be […]
All Report definitions have common functions that are used in every type of report: Apply To The Following Nodes This screen allows you to specify nodes to retrieve data for The data actually sits in the various Argent AT Predictor tables — Argent Reports does no physical polling of the nodes Simply choose the SuperConsole […]
Argent Reports makes it extremely easy to generate all reports related to any of the major compliance acts via the Compliance Report Wizard The Compliance Report Wizard processes data gathered by Argent for Compliance. The feature can be accessed by right-clicking on the Report definition tree, and choosing ‘Compliance Report Wizard’: Click For Full Size […]
Customers can create and use Folders to organize Reports in Argent Reports — simply right-click on the Reports tree and choose New Folder. To move Reports between different folders, right-click and choose Manage Folders Click For Full Size Select one or more Reports and choose the target Folder to move to:\ Click For Full Size […]
Report Texts are individual pages for pure text or images As an example, these definitions can be used to create cover pages, introduction pages, “about us” or disclaimers The WYSIWYG (What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get) edit box allows you to apply various fonts, font-sizes, colors, formatting options and images that you can upload and re-use Click For Full Size […]
Groups are a collection of Reports or Text that you want to include into a master PDF For instance, we could start with a cover page in the form of a Text definition, followed by an “About Us”, followed by various Argent Tables and Argent Graphs Drag-and-drop to change the order of the Report Sequence […]
Layouts allows customers to place multiple graphs and tables on a single page. Customers can place up to three rows or “sections” — each section can consist of three Graphs, two Graphs or a full-width Graph or Table. For instance, customers could have a matrix of nine graphs on a page by using three rows […]
Schedules are similar to Argent AT’s Automatic Report Distribution definitions Customers can either send automatic emails, or export to UNC paths, which include the option to send an email with the UNC path or even http:// path of the exported file Click For Full Size Email Section You can define who to send the automated […]
Automators are the execution engines for Argent Reports — equivalent to Argent AT’s Relators As such, Automators can be placed into “Test Mode” or “Production Mode” “Test Mode” means the Automator does not get scheduled to run “Production Mode” means the Automator will be scheduled to run and is LIVE Click For Full Size Report […]
Variables are a very useful feature to make global changes across all your reports, or to leverage off the Variable Overrides feature in Automators You can create an unlimited number of Custom Variables that can be used in any field that sports a red Variable pull-down button on the left of the field: Click For […]
General Custom Message For ‘No Data’ This field allows you to specify a custom message whenever there is no data This will appear on Argent Graphs and Argent Tables PDF Timeout This field allows you to specify a timeout in seconds for PDF generation. Recommendation is the default value of 600 SQL Command Timeout This […]
Click For Full Size The Argent Reports Forecast facility allows customers to see the Automators running Today, and the status of each Automator By clicking on different days in the calendar, customers can also forecast which Automators would have been sent in past or future dates. This is particularly useful for checking if reports would […]
Customers can control which users see what, what nodes they have access to, and what rights and privileges they are given. Click For Full Size Users and Groups This section allows customers to choose specific Users or Groups from Active Directory or the Local Machine, or the special option “Include ALL Users and Groups” on […]
All information critical to Argent Reports is stored in a series of XML files. Take for instance ARGSOFT_CONFIGURATION.XML — this file holds encrypted data on the Argent AT and Argent XT service account, account password, the main engine hostname, and database connection details to Argent AT/XT What happens if we decide to change the service […]