Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Copyright 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011,2012, 2013 EMC Corporation. All Rights
Reserved. EMC believes the information in this publication is accurate as of its publication date. The information is subject to change
without notice.
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.
Use, copying, and distribution of any EMC software described in this publication requires an applicable software license.
EMC2, EMC, Data Domain, RSA, EMC Centera, EMC ControlCenter, EMC LifeLine, EMC OnCourse, EMC Proven, EMC Snap, EMC SourceOne,
EMC Storage Administrator, Acartus, Access Logix, AdvantEdge, AlphaStor, ApplicationXtender, ArchiveXtender, Atmos, Authentica,
Authentic Problems, Automated Resource Manager, AutoStart, AutoSwap, AVALONidm, Avamar, Captiva, Catalog Solution, C-Clip, Celerra,
Celerra Replicator, Centera, CenterStage, CentraStar, ClaimPack, ClaimsEditor, CLARiiON, ClientPak, Codebook Correlation Technology,
Common Information Model, Configuration Intelligence, Configuresoft, Connectrix, CopyCross, CopyPoint, Dantz, DatabaseXtender, Direct
Matrix Architecture, DiskXtender, DiskXtender 2000, Document Sciences, Documentum, elnput, E-Lab, EmailXaminer, EmailXtender,
Enginuity, eRoom, Event Explorer, FarPoint, FirstPass, FLARE, FormWare, Geosynchrony, Global File Virtualization, Graphic Visualization,
Greenplum, HighRoad, HomeBase, InfoMover, Infoscape, Infra, InputAccel, InputAccel Express, Invista, Ionix, ISIS, Max Retriever,
MediaStor, MirrorView, Navisphere, NetWorker, nLayers, OnAlert, OpenScale, PixTools, Powerlink, PowerPath, PowerSnap, QuickScan,
Rainfinity, RepliCare, RepliStor, ResourcePak, Retrospect, RSA, the RSA logo, SafeLine, SAN Advisor, SAN Copy, SAN Manager, Smarts,
SnapImage, SnapSure, SnapView, SRDF, StorageScope, SupportMate, SymmAPI, SymmEnabler, Symmetrix, Symmetrix DMX, Symmetrix
VMAX, TimeFinder, UltraFlex, UltraPoint, UltraScale, Unisphere, VMAX, Vblock, Viewlets, Virtual Matrix, Virtual Matrix Architecture, Virtual
Provisioning, VisualSAN, VisualSRM, Voyence, VPLEX, VSAM-Assist, WebXtender, xPression, xPresso, YottaYotta, the EMC logo, and where
information lives, are registered trademarks or trademarks of EMC Corporation in the United States and other countries.
All other trademarks used herein are the property of their respective owners.
Copyright 2013 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Published in the USA.
Watch4net Fundamentals
This course is intended to introduce you to EMCs Watch4net software suite. It will provide
you with the basic details of the usage of the Watch4net portal. It covers base User Interface
and other features available from a user perspective.
Watch4net Fundamentals
Upon completion of this course, you should be able to efficiently make use of Watch4nets
main portal to generate, view, and interpret reports. You should also be able describe the
general concepts of Watch4net and its reporting capabilities.
Watch4net Fundamentals
Watch4net Fundamentals
This lesson covers an overview of Watch4net key benefits as well as the Watch4net
audience.
Watch4net Fundamentals
EMCs Watch4net software suite is a carrier-class performance reporting application that provides real-time,
historical, and projected visibility into the performance of the overall business. The aggressive research and
development program has resulted in an innovative and unique design, that allows collecting and aggregating
performance data from various sources (fault management tools, network devices, enterprise data and homegrown tools) into a single repository. This allows you to have an enterprise-wide visibility of your entire
business infrastructure.
Key benefits include:
Cross-domain Performance Visibility & Control, which is made possible with:
A single pane, customizable, dashboard view
A multi-tenancy support
And a secure, role-based access
It has a Flexible & Scalable architecture and reporting capabilities such as:
An easy to use ReportWizard to access out-of-the-box reports and provides the ability to
quickly create customizable reports.
It also supports multiple technologies and device types from different vendors.
For Proactive Performance Management, Watch4net can:
Manage tens of thousands of devices and process millions of metrics per polling cycle,
while analyzing every metric on the fly.
And it provides proactive alerting, including Situations to Watch and unexpected user
or application network traffic, to troubleshoot infrastructure service performance
problems faster - before business process gets impacted.
And for Resource and Service Level Optimization, it:
Provides historical performance trending and capacity reports to predict future
requirements and more accurately plan capital expenditures.
And allows contractual SLA measurement and reporting, and, simulates and measures
the end-users experience, to improve the quality of services delivered.
Watch4net Fundamentals
Getting closer to our point of interest, Watch4net can be split in two sets of features:
Frontend and Backend sides.
Watch4net has many features available to end-users. Those users mainly interact with
provided User Interface, also known as the Web Portal.
Watch4net has the advantage to be accessed from a single, yet centralized, Web Portal for
any tasks.
Watch4net provides a fully interactive report access. This means no pre-recorded, canned,
or static reports.
Watch4net allows the user to Drill-down reports. All reports from a given ReportPack start
with a global overview of a given technology. And from this high level view of performance,
content is clickable, allowing for drill down and thus being able to focus on elements you
are interested in.
Watch4net organizes reports in Tree which is a convenient way of giving structure and
organization to your reports. It is composed of a main branch with sub branches (unlimited
deep level).
Watch4net provides the ability to modify and add reports (the report itself and/or
structure).
Watch4net has the ability to export reports in many formats: PDF, JPEG, and PNG images,
csv and even the Excel format.
Watch4net features a Report Wizard that helps users with report creation.
Watch4net Fundamentals
Features and benefits are also on the Backend side as it helps simplify life for systems Engineers and
Administrators, responsible for platform administration.
We find:
At the collection level, Watch4net provides dedicated and generic collectors: that collects data the
customer is interested in. When there is a need for more efficient collection and/or depending on
how data is available, the Watch4net Development team can provide dedicated collectors.
Watch4net can benefit from your existing EMS/NMS systems thus speeding up integration and
benefits from components already in place.
Watch4net automatically manages data retention a self-healing data management, compression
(aggregation) from data getting into the database results in less pain from Administrators. All
managed retention rules are based on configuration policy.
For more flexibility, Watch4net provides a standard way for data normalization in order for the
platform to be aligned with the business needs.
Watch4net can overcome the IP overlapping issues, typically seen with Service Providers and
Outsourcers.
Part of its basic backend advantage, is the capability for Watch4net to have its main components
distributed across the Infrastructure. It evens connects through remote sites and Data Centers as
long as there is an IP network path available to interconnect components.
Modular solution adapts to a broad range of customer applications.
One must keep in mind that Watch4nets key of success is its flexibility to be tailored to the exact
match of what the customer is expecting.
Watch4net Fundamentals
Watch4net Fundamentals
End-to-End Visibility.
Watch4net can aggregate data across multiple sources to provide an end-to-end, yet unified,
view of your IT infrastructure.
By combining data across all IT Silos, Watch4net provides complete visibility on:
In short, all that can be found in the IT Infrastructure (the Cloud) but presented per silo of
interests.
Watch4net Fundamentals
10
Open Architecture.
Speaking of integration, as a companys list of vendors is actually growing, and as new
technologies and vendors are emerging, Watch4net sees the customer need for easier,
better integration.
Watch4net is at the forefront of this integration effort. First, with southbound generic
adapters to EMS/NMS, flexible data collectors, adapters for CMDBs and other sources of data
enrichment and second with northbound APIs (Webservices/SOAP/XML, HTTP, etc), secured
web portals and alerting (traps, scripts, emails, logs) to MOMs, NMS and other tools.
So, it is important to keep in mind that Watch4net is far from being a closed, yet proprietary,
environment. It features standard connectors and listeners that help integrate any IT
infrastructure.
Watch4net Fundamentals
11
Watch4net automatically retrieves information from devices and various data sources (Data Collection) to provide realtime, historical, and projected visibility into the performance of the infrastructure and business services (Data Presentation
and Analysis). Watch4net features a Web Portal with no license limitation on the number of concurrent user access, an
opened and documented database schema.
Lets get the details of main components:
Watch4net Collectors: are lightweight processes that collect data from various sources including SNMP, SSH devices,
network management systems (NMS), element management systems (EMS), Cisco Netflow, VoIP equipment and enterprise
data (SQL databases, files, home-grown tools), Storage arrays and FC switches and so on. Collectors can be scaled and
deployed as your business grows. Generic adapters can be tailored to virtually any (yet unlimited) source of data.
Watch4net Backend and database: receives, normalizes, and consolidates the collected data. Data aggregation is
performed for report acceleration and data retention is managed for storage optimization. The database Module is selfmaintaining and supports MySQL, and Oracle, with an open and documented schema.
Watch4net Web Portal: displays performance and SLA reports to operations, engineering, and customers. Advanced
features include:
a graphical report builder,
a formula editor to compute complex KPIs,
an outage editor to exclude and document maintenance periods,
an LDAP authentication support,
profile-based security,
and console integration with NMS/EMS applications.
Web Portal is provided with no license limitation on the number of concurrent user access.
Watch4net SolutionPacks: are predefined reports dedicated to a specific technology or vendor with built-in analytics like
baseline deviation and forecasting. SolutionPacks are available for various IT silos, including IP, MPLS networks, QOS, IPSLA, Juniper, Storage, SANs, Virtualization and Applications.
Watch4net Fundamentals
12
This slide lists a current set of predefined collectors and SolutionPacks (ReportPacks) already
available and supported.
At the collection level, please note that multiple collectors can be group together for
efficiency and for complementary collection, for example:
IONIX, and SNMP (to supplement polling, is: IP-SLA, QOS ).
SolutionPacks (Reportpacks) are turnkey solutions for a vendor and/or technology. Easy to
deploy and quick to provide value, these packages contain predefined reports and collector
configurations, etc. needed to manage a technology domain.
Watch4net Fundamentals
13
This lesson covers a quick tour of the Watch4net solution platform features.
Watch4net Fundamentals
14
The concept of Watch4net is to monitor all performance with one solution and one screen.
Today, some corporations have many performance consoles. Watch4net consolidates all the
information, analyzes it, and securely presents it to the internal team of operations,
engineers, and executives, and also to the customers.
Screenshots you see here are all web-based. Watch4net supports tables, graphs, and
geographical maps. Maps are based on the Google technology - very popular with Service
Providers.
Watch4net Fundamentals
15
Watch4net Fundamentals
16
Watch4net is a complete solution for performance and reporting. It combines a single web
interface with all required tools and features such as:
Graphical wizard-driven Report&KPI Builder: All the tools you need to create and modify
your reports are embedded within the Web Portal. No need for any external editor or
tool.
SNMP Configuration and MIB Browser: Any tool you need to configure the SNMP
collection is included within the Watch4net Web Portal. Plus, this tool allows you to test
against any SNMP agent in your network.
Role & Profile Management: As an administrator, Watch4net provides you with a full
customizable site to control users and provide them with roles and profiles.
Alerting on Patterns: Watch4net includes tool sets to let you create rich sets of rules for
any alert detection from your collection. It features output capabilities such as logs, SNMP
traps, file writing and external script call.
Watch4net Fundamentals
17
Watch4net Fundamentals
18
Watch4net is also an ideal solution for Service Providers. Watch4net encompasses the
following domains of application:
Mobile Network Performance Management: Watch4net provides solutions for
measuring and reporting over mobile networks.
Customer SLA Monitoring: Watch4net can be tailored to your needs in monitoring
SLAs.
Broadband Network: Watch4net measures and reports over SPs Broadband
network.
And End-to-End Performance Management: As a complement of SLA management,
Watch4net integrates tools to measure and report on Network Service delivery
latency, time to respond, and many more features.
Watch4net Fundamentals
19
Watch4net also covers collection and reporting of storage related domain of technology,
already available with vendor specific SolutionPacks:
Storage Arrays: Watch4net provides solutions (through SolutionPacks) for measuring and
reporting on various storage arrays and from various vendors.
Storage Switch: Watch4net supports SANs switches like Cisco MDS & Nexus and Brocade
switches.
Applications: Watch4net can take charge measurement and reporting on your applications
like Oracle, MS-SQL, etc.
Virtualization: Watch4net easily implements collectors and reporting for VMware and
provides Administrators with centralized reports when it is time to service the infrastructure.
Watch4net Fundamentals
20
Even if SolutionPacks are targeted for technology or vendor specific, you can still mix data in
a unified way as shown on this slide.
With Watch4net, it is possible to create your own reports and be able to mix data from
different domains of collection: vCenter has a view over the Virtual world while Server
specific data can be placed next to Storage related data. At a glance, you can come up with a
complete view of your IT Infrastructure. This complete a 360-degree view that fits the
Administrators needs, allowing them to determine if the IT Infrastructure needs attention.
Watch4net Fundamentals
21
The Report Wizard has been designed to make it easier for users to create base reports in
Watch4net and save it in their user sandbox. Users can then combine and structure multiple
reports to build complete report solutions tailored to their needs.
Please note that the user must be granted access from the Administrator to do so.
Watch4net Fundamentals
22
On the administration side of the platform, Administrators can manage Watch4net via a
centralized GUI. This management application is designed to help Watch4net administrators
in their day-to-day tasks of managing Watch4net in a distributed environment. Total
complete control over every single piece of the whole platform can be managed from this
centralized tool. No need to jump (or login nor RDP) on the targeted server to accomplish
administrative tasks.
Watch4net Fundamentals
23
Ready-to-use Reports
Watch4net comes with a set of pre-defined, ready-to-use reports, called SolutionPacks, to provide
your business with real value from day one. Each SolutionPack is dedicated to a specific vendor or
technology domain. It includes all the technical reports, strategic dashboards, key performance
indicators, and preconfigured analytics to diagnose health, assess performance, and plan future
growth for the managed domain.
Easily create your own Reports
Watch4net pre-configured reports provide comprehensive reporting possibilities for most IT
environments. However, there are situations when the administrator might have to define their own
set of indicators and reports. Watch4net includes the necessary tools to customize reports: a
graphical Report Builder, and a Formula Editor that uses mathematical and Boolean operators to
define custom key performance indicators (KPI). Furthermore, the automatic grouping of resources
uses dynamic filters which are particularly interesting if naming conventions are in place in your
environment.
Device Summary
Watch4net collects hardware and software inventory details for each asset. This report will present a
global and detailed view of performance, interface, network, and server. Data reported:
Model
Location
Current CPU usage in % Device by hardware model
Memory % and Availability of the device
Watch4net Fundamentals
24
Watch4net also provides several Trending and Forecasting reports that allow the user to:
Trending and Forecasting reports included with every deployment of Watch4net are:
Watch4net Fundamentals
25
The same rules apply to predict the Storage solutions usage future, based on Host/VM
FileSystem performance monitoring.
Polynominal regression (shown above, first degree) is based on timeseries of 1 metric (any!)
and from any horizon/time selection of your choice.
Watch4net Fundamentals
26
And finally to close our quick Watch4net tour, lets talk a bit about topology.
Watch4net comes built-in with set of tools that allows you to create your own report
Topology views.
Report based on a topology (imported into Watch4net from external sources), shows nodes
and edges between nodes with metrics / KPIs displayed as icons, sparklines and with a
possible static background.
A prerequisite for a topology report, and to navigate along the topology within the report
wizard, is based on common model (DMTF CIM), similar to ICIM (EMC Ionix).
Watch4net does not discover the topology alone, but it can import it from external sources.
Watch4net Fundamentals
27
This lesson covers Watch4net logical and scalable architecture, collector and backend, and
database and frontend.
Watch4net Fundamentals
28
Watch4net is made of several components, called modules. Those work together to collect
data from the infrastructure and to display collected data to the users through reports.
Depending on the environment where Watch4net is deployed, there can be more or less
modules installed in a variety of configurations. As todays training objective is not to cover
these configurations in detail, this lesson will describe the basic components of Watch4net.
Watch4net Fundamentals
29
The Watch4net Collector is the scout that searches the network, gathering information
from polled devices. The Collector can also intervene on the collected data through the use
of filters to add value to the collected data. This is referred to as the Data Enrichment
processing stage. Once completed, the Collector has the responsibility to communicate with
its associated Backend and push the collected and processed data towards it.
The Watch4net Backend is literally the heart of Watch4net, as it is the component that
receives data from collectors. It is typical to have many collectors to connect to one Backend.
Backend responsibilities are:
Watch4net Fundamentals
30
When needed for a report, in order to be retrieved as fast as possible, the Watch4net
database stores all the data collected in the most optimized manner. It stores data timeseries
values separate from data properties. Without using the time-shifted aggregates,
information is expressed from the vantage point of the report time zone, so values with
timestamps from other time zones would be shifted in the day according to how their time
zone is offset from the local time. This would render reports out of sync and jeopardize the
validity of the report data. The database also executes any housekeeping tasks from the
Backend and also some optimization tasks sent from external processes.
The Watch4net Frontend is the user interface accessed through a web browser. Users consult
the collected data through reports and the data is taken from the database. The Frontend
houses the Report Engine that we will refer to later in the course.
Watch4net Fundamentals
31
Watch4net is highly scalable. This means that its architecture can be adapted to any
environment and the modules deployed onto as many servers as required for the load.
This scalability is transparent for the user, so the Watch4net user experience will always be
the same, no matter how scaled the Watch4net environment is.
This graphic displays two possible deployment scenarios of Watch4net; but Watch4net is far
from being limited to these. It is only a basic example, and the possible deployment
scenarios are outside the scope of this course.
At their most simple deployment, all Watch4net components are housed within the same
server, either physical or virtual Windows or Unix platform. On the other hand, in a more
complex environment, components can be spread among many servers, again physical or
virtual, and could be a mix of both Windows and Unix operating systems.
There is a one-to-one relationship between the Backend and database. You cannot have
more than one Backend driving one single database (logical instance or schema). You
cannot have one Backend driving multiple databases (logical instance or schema). Only one
database instance can have many logical instances or schemas. Each logical instance or
schema must be driven or assigned to only one Backend.
Watch4net Fundamentals
32
This lesson covers tool bars, drilling down a report, and different types of reports for the
Watch4net portal.
Watch4net Fundamentals
33
You can access the Watch4net Portal through any web browser: Internet Explorer (versions 8
and 9 for best results), Firefox (version 3.6 and later), Chrome, Safari, iPhone & iPad &
Android (browse-mode only).
Once logged in to Watch4net portal shows many panes and tools. This lesson will explain
each of them.
The highlighted red zone shown here represents the Report Pane. Report Pane is the main
part of the screen by taking most of the area in your browsers window. This is where reports
are displayed.
Watch4net Fundamentals
34
The highlighted red zone on the left-hand side is called the Report Tree. The Report Tree is
used to browse through the reports. Each report is a node in the tree. It is possible for nodes
to have sub-nodes attached to them thus creating a report structure similar to a directory
structure on a given computer.
Clicking a node displays its report; clicking on the triangle icon beside the branch unfold its
sub-nodes.
Watch4net Fundamentals
35
Watch4net Fundamentals
36
The tools bar is split into two sets. The first set of tools is located in the upper blue line.
Clickable actions are yellow text. Please note the difference between the non-administrator
and the administrators view in how tools are showing.
Settings: Allows the user to set some personal settings: names, set or change password, set
locales, email address, etc.
Modules: Advanced Watch4net tools are available through this link. However, some of these
tools may be disabled by the Watch4net administrator.
Help: A complete and valuable frontend user manual is available through this link.
Administration: As an administrator, clicking this link will bring you to the Watch4net
Administration Portal. This is where admins can perform administrative tasks like manage
users & roles, report packs, and modules, etc.
X: Logs the user out of the Watch4net portal.
? (Question Mark): When clicked, Watch4net opens a new window showing you valuable
details on a systems installed licenses and some system information. Please remind this if
you are required to open a Service Request.
Watch4net Fundamentals
37
Watch4net Fundamentals
38
The Tools tab gives access to several useful tools to help you get the most out of Watch4net.
First, notice that Tools tab content is split into two parts: Tools (on the left) and Actions (on
the right).
Tools do not interact with the reports themselves but allow you to gather some other
information.
On the other hand, actions do interact with the reports. You can:
Show Report URL: Displays the reports URL for a direct access to this specific report. This
is a convenient way to share report reference through email or some Instant Messaging
tool.
Print this Report: Displays a printer-friendly version of this report allowing you to directly
print the report.
Store this Report: Takes a snapshot of the report and stores it with your login for future
reference.
Add to Favorite Reports: Like bookmarking a report. This is useful when you refer to a
specific report that is located deeper in the report tree.
Watch4net Fundamentals
39
From Export tab, you have access to a full set of possibilities for exporting a current report.
You can export a report in several formats:
PDF Format: Generates the report in a PDF format you can save or print (use tool icon for
options).
CSV Format: Exports the report in a comma separated values file.
XLS Format: Exports the report to Microsoft Excel.
XLS 1 Column: Exports the report to Microsoft Excel, but all values are in 1 column.
PNG Image: Exports the graphic to an image (Portable Network Graphics).
JPEG Image: Exports the graphic to an image.
SVG Image: Exports the graphic to an image (Scalable Vector Graphics).
XML Format: In Browse Mode, exports the reports data to an xml file. This export can then
be used, for example, by a third party tool. In Edit Mode, this button exports the reports
template that can be re-imported in Watch4net.
Watch4net Fundamentals
40
The Display tab allows you to alter the way the report is displayed - to tweak it. Three sections appears under Display tab:
Actions, Time Selection and Report Type.
Actions: Show a group of actions once youre done with other sections.
View in Full Page: Displays a current report in full page in a new window.
Revert to Default Report: Brings the report back to its original, yet default, settings after you have made several changes
(or tweaks).
Apply: Applies the changes you have set from the Report Type and/or Time Selection sections.
Time Selection: Groups the time range selection options of our current report.
Display [] values: Used to change the value aggregation whether real-time values or aggregated values.
Using [] aggregation: Used to select the type of aggregation (average, max, etc) to use (sometimes called aggregation
function).
Over []: Used to change time range selection of the report. Note that the Time Range Quick Switch arrows allow you to
jump backward or forward in time. Once clicked, it shows clickable calendar icons that allow you to select date-time start or
date-time end to the exact time range you are looking for in your report.
Padlock icon: Toggles the lock to the modified Time Selection so you can keep it while browsing to other reports and
compare more easily.
Report Type: Groups options that, based on default type of report, will allow you to change some options in your current
report.
Display: Used to change the number of reports per line. Especially useful for mixed reports.
Report: Used to change on the fly the report type. This option depends on the default reports family currently set.
Rendering: Some graphics can be rendered either in static mode or in dynamic mode. In dynamic charts, hovering mouse
pointer over a graph line will show a tip tool containing a pointed metric name with exact value and time. While dynamic
charts look nicer and are easier to use, static charts may be quicker to load.
Summary Statistics: Used to overlay useful information on your graph report type: statistics information, pin points,
trending, etc.
Watch4net Fundamentals
41
This slide defines the meaning of some time range selection expressions.
This chart will help you understand the meaning of selecting Previous, Current or Last day/week/month/quarter.
From the Display menu, the Over Display Option, we find:
previous: Selects the complete previous range according to the period boundaries.
last: Selects one complete period range back from present time.
current: Selects the current period range according to period boundaries.
Let us suppose the current date and time is 15th of May, 08:00 AM.
The previous day (24 hours) would be selected as May 14th from 00:00AM to 11:59:59 inclusive.
This could then be translated to the complete yesterday time range selection.
The last day (24 hours) would be May 14th 08:00AM to May 15th 08:00AM inclusive.
This could then be translated to selecting the last 24 hours from the actual present time.
The current day would be May 15th 00:00AM to 11:59:59PM inclusive (some projection in the
future, could be useful for trending and forecasting the report time range selection).
This could then be translated to selecting the complete present period definition (present day).
The same principle applies for weeks, months, years, quarters, and so on.
This concept is used in report tweaking but mostly in Report Editiing.
Watch4net Fundamentals
42
Watch4net Fundamentals
43
From the All report pane, we clicked Routers in the Device Summary / Details by
Device Type report section.
This brings you a list of all the routers available in this Watch4net environment.
From there, select a device by clicking , yokohama.bigtelco.net, which brings
detailed information about the device. You can also continue digging into the
monitored components of the device.
Watch4net Fundamentals
44
Properties in a Report.
Reports may be configured to show a header (highlighted here by a red rectangle). This
header contains details of a given selected element for this report and properties of a
given selected element. This header also is defined at report editing time and set by the
reports designer.
In the above example, we can see the devices model, IP address, and location information.
Watch4net Fundamentals
45
Legend of a graph.
When a graph is generated, Watch4net always displays a legend at the bottom (highlighted
here by a red rectangle).
Legend helps indicate the color of each timeseries of the graph. Clicking the legend button
allows you to toggle between hide and show the timeseries.
From the above example, clicking the button for the Incoming (Mbits/sec) would hide the
green line, leaving only the orange line. Note: this requires you to click the Apply button.
The Invert radio button, next to the Apply button reverses the displayed selection. If
some metrics are displayed and others are hidden, those that were hidden are now being
displayed and vice versa.
The All radio button resets all customization and displays all metrics.
Note: that the legend will not be displayed if the graph is displayed through a mixed report.
Watch4net Fundamentals
46
Another useful feature of Watch4net is its ad-hoc filtering capabilities from a table column.
Using the funnel icon (upper-right in the column, where applicable) allows you to filter
column values. Once done, the applied filter shows on top of the report (highlighted by red
horizontal bracket), beside the report name. Do not forget to cancel filtering to remove the
filters effect.
From above example, we have a device name list that is so long that we would like to focus
on the device name that starts only with the letter d. Note: that as we set the filter,
Watch4net dynamically digs into the database and shows a list of current results quite a
handy feature!
Watch4net Fundamentals
47
Watch4net Fundamentals
48
Watch4net Fundamentals
49
Graph Customization.
Under most graphs, there is a pencil icon (shown here in the red circle, in the shaded area,
in the right lower corner). This icon opens the Graph Customization panel that allows the
user to modify each showing timeseries characteristics, as follows:
Curve: Alters the Curves shape on how points in the timeseries are joined together:
Default or using Spline approximation.
Width: Alters the thickness of the line.
Marker: Makes use of a marker for each value of the timeseries along the curve.
Color: Sets line color.
If you want to get back to the original settings, simply use the Revert button.
Watch4net Fundamentals
50
Stored Reports.
The Stored Report feature is located under Tools tab. This Store this report feature allows
you to take a snapshot of the current report. This could be for many reason such as:
Reports take time to generate and you might want to refer to this report multiple times
without having to regenerate it each time.
You want to keep a snapshot of the current report for further reference in the future.
When using this feature, current report layout along with its dataset will be copied
(snapshot) and be available under Stored Reports. From there, if you want to return back to
this report, click the unfold Stored Reports entry and select the report.
If you want to see an updated version of the report, you will have to process it again like you
would from the reports original node.
Watch4net Fundamentals
51
Favorite Reports
The Favorite Reports feature allows you to quickly go back to a report node you use more
often, like a browsers bookmark. To set a favorite report, you have to locate the report then
use the Favorite this Report button under Tools tab. This will create an entry under your
Favorite Reports node in Report tree. Keep in mind, that this action will always generate
the report in the current setting of the report definition. This is opposed to the previous
Stored Report where a snapshot is completely set and kept aside. This Favorite Report will
not do that. It is solely a bookmark on a specific report node. If the original report node gets
deleted or moved, please note this Favorite Report entry will show as a Broken link like any
browser would do with a web page bookmark.
Note: you can set a favorite report to be displayed when you login to Watch4net.
Watch4net Fundamentals
52
Scheduled Report
The Scheduled Report is the last reporting mode and yet the most complete. The Scheduled
report is similar to the Stored Reports feature but with more options and features. Scheduled
Reports have the characteristic of being generated based on a schedule. Doing so will allow
you to execute or run a report on a regular basis, according to your specification (off-load,
off-hours for example, sent by mail, stored, etc).
First, choose and tweak the report so it displays the information you need. Then, under the
Tools tab, click the Schedule this Report button.
This will bring you with a new panel: New Scheduled Report. This is where you can set
various parameters of a scheduled report through tabs.
Here is an overview of each tab when setting a Scheduled Report:
Scheduling: Sets the report name, definition, and status.
Storage: Confirms the setting about report generation.
Email: Formats your output report for email.
Remote Transfer: Sends your report to remote service.
Alert: Alerts the report feature.
More details on setting up a Schedule Report follows.
Watch4net Fundamentals
53
From the New Scheduled Report panel, under Scheduling tab, you have:
Name: The name of the scheduled report. Any name can be set.
Schedule: Scheduling options of the report: Set any schedule you want for this report to be
generated.
Active: Whether the scheduling is enabled or disabled. This allows you to temporarily
deactivate the automatic report generation while keeping the whole schedule definition.
Watch4net Fundamentals
54
Storage Tab
This tab allows you to set store options for the report once the report is completed.
Stored: Activates the storage of the report: In activated, you will find the report under
Scheduled Report in the Report tree.
Confirmation Email: Setting this option will send an email to the recipients listed there (but
not the report) when the report is completed.
Watch4net Fundamentals
55
Email Tab.
The email tab allows the report to be sent by email to a list of recipients. If you prefer the
final generated report to be sent by email, you will be required to complete the fields.
You can also set the report formats to join, as well as subject and short message (HTML tags
allowed).
Watch4net Fundamentals
56
Remote Transfer
The Remote Transfer allows the final generated report to be transferred onto a remote
location. Settings support several protocols including FTP and CIFS.
You can specify as many destinations as you want. You can also ask for a confirmation
delivery notice by email.
Watch4net Fundamentals
57
Alert on Report
Data from scheduled reports can be sent to the Alerting engine for further processing.
From the example above, Local Manager refers to an Alerting Backend installed on the
current Watch4net platform. Please note that this Watch4net Fundamental training does not
cover this feature in more detail. This is delegated to the Alerting Engine module training.
Watch4net Fundamentals
58
Pre-Generated Reports.
This feature is the last automatic reporting feature from report edition and is meant to be
used to save time when users need to access heavy reports. These configured reports are
processed routinely and automatically, based on a pre-determined scheduled, and then users
access the already processed copy of the report. That said, it is important to understand that
this is set at report node definition. It will prevent the targeted report to be generated at
browse time mode with present, actual data, as opposed to the normal behavior of
Watch4net.
The drawback is that users cannot view the latest information. It is recommended to use
lighter or simpler reports to visualize near real-time information. This option can be set in
Edit Mode, not covered in this current Watch4net Fundamental training.
Watch4net Fundamentals
59
This lesson covers Watch4net Data organization. This lesson is of high importance as it will
let you understand Watch4nets data modeling in order to let you be comfortable with
reporting and associated collateral tasks.
Watch4net Fundamentals
60
Each instance has a its own set of metrics. You can have multiple Arrays, types of Arrays,
mixed-environment of data source: hosts, VM hosts, SAN Switches, Routers, Firewalls,
Network switches, etc.
Watch4net Fundamentals
61
Watch4net Fundamentals
62
Watch4net Fundamentals
63
This is the beauty of Watch4net data convention: it is fully extensible to fit any of your
requirements. You are unlimited in regards to the number of properties you may add to the
metric's property set.
Any piece of data that can be used for report purposes can be set at collection time. This
process is called Property enrichment thanks to flat model database storage schema.
Shown properties are solely for demonstration although devdesc and model are pretty
common.
Watch4net Fundamentals
64
What happens between Collector and Backend? This is depicted in this slide.
The image above shows several collected raw data (four) traveling towards the Backend in
order to be inserted in Watch4nets database. Again, notice how properties are following
data timestamp and value. This is in respect to the main rule: each single metric has its own
set of properties.
Watch4net Fundamentals
65
For beginners in Watch4net, there is always a hard to understand concept that we will try to
de-mystify and depict here.
This shows the logical relationship of properties to metrics (or metrics to properties) by using
the Atomic view.
In the database, all Metrics, identified by their Metric ID, have their total degree of freedom.
Also, MetricID is the key that links Properties to the Timeseries data.
Report Generation is a two steps process:
1.
First, Report Generator queries the database to identify all required Metric IDs for a
given report.
2.
Once done, Report Generator will query again to retrieve timeseries data (from
separate data tables).
During the first step, Report Generator will get a list of Metric IDs according to a filter over
one or more properties. All Metric IDs that match, will be taken for the second step. This can
be seen as selecting metrics that have properties in common that satisfy filtering rules and
thus create a logical link between those metrics.
For example, depicted here, Report Generator is looking for metric IDs that matches
property name equals to sitename AND for which property value is SiteA. In this case,
both MetricID0001 and MetricID0002 would be selected.
Copyright 2013 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.
Watch4net Fundamentals
66
OutOctets
Watch4net Fundamentals
67
As a final example, we made a list of all device names along with the count number of
metrics they each have. The query would be:
CPE002
And so on. There are lots of possibilities here and they all depend on the report your looking
for. But at this point, you may ask yourself: well, its interesting BUT as a user, how will this
be useful for me? The answer is covered in the upcoming lessons where you will learn how
to tweak your report on the fly and get the most out of Watch4nets capabilities.
Watch4net Fundamentals
68
From the previous set of notions about data common convention, here is your first
connection with how the Report Generator works. This slide shows report creation/edition
on the left side and report browse mode on the right side. Vertical lines represent a level of
reporting nodes and much like your computers directory structure, you have to get inside of
each level to see the report.
When creating the report (in edit mode), the property names are used. When browsing the
report, the property values are shown in place of the property name.
Sitting on the first level, all available MetricIDs are available, that is, everything from the
database. You have to organize your report, so you decide to list all available Sitenames on
the first branch (level). Once done, you then decide to show available devices that would
apply to selected sitenames (that is, at browse time). From there you decide to end your
report structure in showing available metrics that result from previous compound filters
applied implicitly from previous branches (or levels). The final result depicted here is from
the databases content from the previous slide.
Sitename becomes SiteA (theres only 1 site in that case).
Underneath, 2 devices: CPE001 and CPE002, unique device names.
And finally, under each device, metric names listed: InOctets and OutOctets.
While this is a example from a simple database, this represents the base notion of how
Report Generator makes use of data properties. We will get back with these important
notions in the Custom Reporting course.
Watch4net Fundamentals
69
Watch4net Fundamentals
70
Here the continued example list of common properties that can be found in a given
Watch4net platform. Again, this list is inspired from a network data collection domain.
Notice that the list is complete and various compared to the common property list.
Watch4net Fundamentals
71
Watch4net Fundamentals
72
The main reason to use aggregated values is to improve and optimize report generation and
calculation performance. Also, real-times values are most often used for a short period of
time selection, typically last 1-day (24 hours) as opposed to aggregated values that are more
suitable for longer time range reporting (greater than, lets say, 1-day view).
For example, if you generate a yearly report, you probably do not need the whole 105
thousand values data in your graph (polling every 5 minutes over 365 days). A report using
weekly averaged values is likely to be more effective, and maybe best.
Watch4net Fundamentals
73
Using aggregates in report is faster and lighter for the Report Generator - especially when
using large time range selection (week, month) where numbers of values in the timeseries
could be important compared to real-time aggregate.
In a graph one, we will notice the change in degree of precision of the graph. In a table,
nobody will notice.
These two graphs show an example where for long term analysis (two weeks) using full
precision does not bring more interest. Sometimes users are interested in an average shape
of the behavior of a metric (shown by 1-hour aggregate average graph), especially in a long
term view. The benefits are at calculation time and stress Databases and Portal Report
Engines.
Watch4net Fundamentals
74
This lesson covers the concepts of setting a filter and usage with a search engine.
Watch4net Fundamentals
75
The filter wizard is used in several tools throughout Watch4net, and it is important to master
it.
For example, some of the tools that use the filter wizard are:
Report Edition
Search Engine
Alerting Engine
Metric database maintenance
The filter wizard is made of logical boxes, each one containing one or several Watch4net
properties linked together by logical operators like AND and OR. The filter wizard is a tool
that helps you set or build your filter expression. As you build your filter, the boxes assembly
evolves to display what your filter is.
Watch4net Fundamentals
76
Using a wizard: Allows you select the property name (left hand-side) on which you
want to set filter.
With an expression: Allows you to tweak the filters expression yourself, by hand.
A device type: Will launch the Filter Wizard already set on the devtype property
name.
A device: Will launch the Filter Wizard already set on the device property name.
A component type: Will launch the Filter Wizard already set on the parttype
property name.
A component: Will launch the Filter Wizard already set on the part property name.
A metric type: Will launch the Filter Wizard already set on the name property name.
Examples are shown on the next slide.
Watch4net Fundamentals
77
When you select the option to Refine / using a wizard..., a new panel shows up, prompting
you for a property that will appear. Just start typing the name of the property and the Wizard
will give you suggestions. Once you have chosen the property name, you have to enter the
property value and Watch4net will provide you with matching suggestions.
Tip: If you selected the wrong property and Watch4net is now asking you to enter a value,
just click on the property and Watch4net will ask you to enter a new one.
Tip: If you know the value you are looking for, but you are not quite sure of the propertys
name, just type the value instead of the property and APG will return all matches.
Watch4net Fundamentals
78
When using the filter wizard, the default operator is set to an exact match (ie is keyword)
between property name and property value. Maybe this is not what you meant to do.
To change this operator, click the is keyword between the property name and the property
value input text box and a drop-down menu will show up giving you a list of available
operators. You can then set the proper operation you want between the property and the
value.
It can be:
Watch4net Fundamentals
79
Once you set your first property filter expression entry, you can select a second property to
filter on, using either the AND or OR operand. Just click the first filtered property and the
contextual menu will appear.
Watch4net Fundamentals
80
You may have noticed that there is a strange formula below the filters logical boxes. This is
actually the filters expression displayed in a textual manner. When you click on the filter, the
Edit expression panel shows up and allows you to edit this expression without using the
Wizard. You can build the same filters as you would with the Wizard. Whether you opt for
editing the expression yourself by hand or using the Wizard, the filter will always be
displayed in both manners at the same time.
Here are the rules for building a successful filter without the Wizard:
Values should be entered between single quotation marks.
You can use parenthesis, but dont forget to close them.
If you are unsure, first build your filter with the Wizard, then look at the expression.
Look at the next slide for list of available operands.
Watch4net Fundamentals
81
Once you get used to the Filter Wizard and ready to move to a faster way of setting your
filter expression, you will need to remember the following list of operands in order to write
filter expressions by hand.
Watch4net Fundamentals
82
Watch4net has two ways of using a search engine: Simple search and Advanced search.
You can use the Simple Search tool to quickly access a report without browsing the report
tree. Simply type in keywords like devices names and press ENTER to see a list of
corresponding reports.
Note: in order to have your Watch4net Simple Search show content, an Administrator must
run at least once with one specific task named Frontend Search. This task will parse, in a
background process, the whole report tree against elements found in the Database (thus
whats been collected so far). This task will index the database content that will then be used
by Simple Search. This can be compared to any Internet Search Engine Robots.
Watch4net Fundamentals
83
The advanced search is much more powerful and flexible at the price of some data
convention knowledge. The Advanced Search tool is located beside the Simple Search bar,
under the down triangle icon. It provides the same filtering engine as the report editor.
The search base indicates where to search: from the reports tree root or from the current
node, where the search is launched from.
Watch4net Fundamentals
84
If you perform an advanced search and you do not define any expansion, the result will be
one single graph displaying all metrics matching your filter. That might not be what you want.
In the example above, the filter was for the device named berlin.bigtelco.net and only one
level of expansion was defined, on the device property (actually, its the default option). As
you can see, the resulting graph is for all the metrics for the this device and its components.
Good step forward but again, could be difficult to interpret as this could lead to tons of
metrics showing in a single graph.
We will now see how to improve this situation.
Watch4net Fundamentals
85
Watch4net Fundamentals
86
Here is the result of the same search for the device named berlin.bigtelco.net, but using an
expansion on multiple property name: device, then part, then name.
Look at the tree, on the left-hand side, under the Search Results node. Watch4net created
several nodes from the three properties entered as the expansion. Expansion allows for easy
searching and reporting, as you can use it to sort your report hierarchy based on properties.
Watch4net Fundamentals
87
For more detail, you can group two properties on to a same node in the search results by
putting a comma (instead of a space) between property names in the expansion box.
Look at the screenshot, and notice that it displays Interface (comma) GigabiteEthernet0/0
and Memory (comma) I/O in the left-hand side tree; instead of just GigabitEthernet0/0
and I/O like it was on the previous slide.
A new property has been added, parttype, but notice in the expansion box how it is
written:
Watch4net Fundamentals
88
Above is a search performed without any expansion or filtering expression. This could be
dangerous for a Report Engine as you are an Administrator.
In this case, Watch4net returned an error because there was no filtering or sorting and the
user is limited to display a maximum of 10 thousand metrics (may differ in your
environment). Note this will not apply to Administrators: it is assumed that Admins know
what theyre doing!
The same empty search using an expansion on any given property would have returned
some results; but in this case, APG returns an error as there are too many results to display.
Watch4net Fundamentals
89
For this first demo, we will search for a single device, and sort the results using expansions.
The device to search is: saopaulo.bigtelco.net
The properties to use for the expansion are (in this order):
device
part
name
Pictured above is the result of the search, along with the filter used.
Now lets see the Demo.
Watch4net Fundamentals
90
This video will introduce you to the concepts of filtering and expansion in Watch4net.
Watch4net Fundamentals
91
For our second demo, we will perform a search with no filter, but using an heavier expansion.
The concept of expansions is important in Watch4net as it allows you to create a complex report tree
hierarchy with minimal effort, thanks to properties. You will use expansions again when creating
reports.
For this demo, the filter setting will be set to everything and the expansion will be:
customer (space)
country (space)
state (space)
location (space)
devtype (space)
model (space)
device (space)
ip (space)
parttype (space)
part (space)
name (space)
The sequence above appears logical to most users, but Watch4net can handle any sequence of
properties without any problem.
Now lets see the Demo.
Watch4net Fundamentals
92
Watch4net Fundamentals
93
The third demo will be more complex. It will combine a complex filter along with a complex
expansion.
Filter statement is the following:
All routers that belong to customer ABC Finance located in country United States or
Czech Republic
All routers that belong to customer National Bank located in country United Stated
All devices except routers that belong to customer HydroEnergy Power
All routers and switches that belong to customer World Expedition that are located in all
countries but India
Pictured above is the filter expression that matches the statements.
As for expansion, use these:
customer (space)
country (comma) state (comma) location (space)
devtype (comma) model (space)
device (comma) ip (space)
parttype (space)
part (space)
name
Watch4net Fundamentals
94
Here is a final view of the result of demo 3: complex filter and expansion.
Notice how Czech Republic, Rio Grande do Sul and Prague are displayed onto one line.
That is because the properties country, state and location are separated with a comma
instead of a space in the Expansion box of the Search engine.
Now lets see the Demo.
Watch4net Fundamentals
95
This video will combined both previous concepts in a more complex way.
Watch4net Fundamentals
96
Now , what you have just learned, could be considered the hard way of performing a Search.
Watch4net provides a complete set of tools for those who want to make life easier.
One of those tools is Report Wizard.
The Report Wizard is a useful tool that allows you to quickly build a report. It is located in the
Tools menu.
The following slides will explain how to use the Report Wizard, then you will create your own
report using the Report Wizard.
Watch4net Fundamentals
97
Device Browser
Devices by Location
At first, when you open the Report Wizard, only the left-most column is visible. Other
columns appear as you select items in previous ones. At the top of each column, there is a
drop-down menu that allows you to change the elements displayed. There is also a
magnifying glass icon that brings a filter tool over each column (bottom).
Watch4net Fundamentals
98
In order to be able to run the report, you must select at least one metric.
A metric is a Key Performance Indicator. In this example, the availability of the router
abidjan has been chosen.
Watch4net Fundamentals
99
At the bottom of the window, the Optional Report Settings give you more options for your
report:
manage Axis (you can add a second axis)
manage scaling
manage aggregation of selected metrics
You have to run the report before being able to save it to My Reports. Once saved to My
Reports, you will be able to edit it again using either the Edit Mode or the Report Wizard.
Watch4net Fundamentals
100
The objective of this demo is to reproduce the graphic above using Report Wizard and to
store this report in our report tree.
Here is some helpful information:
Device Type is router
Hostname is berlin.bigtelco.net
Component Type is interface
Component is GigabitEthernet0/0
Metrics are ifInOctets and ifOutOctets
Now lets see the demo.
Watch4net Fundamentals
101
This video will focus on showing you how to make use of the Watch4net Report Wizard.
Watch4net Fundamentals
102
Watch4net Fundamentals
103
When a Watch4net Administrator adds a new collection to the platform, they also add new
SolutionPack layout in the Portal. This new SolutionPack will, by default, attach under the
SolutionPacks report node.
SolutionPacks are specialized, technology-oriented reports layout, yet optimized and already
done for you. Those may include dashboards, inventory, special and specific reports for the
given technology or vendor.
Watch4net Fundamentals
104
As an example from Networking domain of collection, this slide shows sample snapshots of
Cisco QoS ReportPack.
This ReportPacks show details about your QoS configured in a given network, from a global
view down to a per device basis, per class of service, interface.
It report on the following:
Traffic by ClassMap
Situations to watch
Drops status
shaping
Policy traffic (Match/Shaping/Police)
WRED statistics
Queuing statistics
TopN traffic shaping delays
Watch4net Fundamentals
105
As an example from Storage domain of collection, this slide shows sample snapshots from
VNX Block & File ReportPack.
It can report on following:
VNX File performance
VNX File Capacity & Planning
VNX CIFS & NFS Advanced performance analysis
Protocol Overview
Inventory
Deduplication statistics
Quotas reporting
Watch4net Fundamentals
106
This module covered many base aspects of Watch4net: from key benefits of the platform to
a complete tour of the GUI. This module also covered some key concepts of Watch4net, like
data convention and platform architecture details.
Watch4net Fundamentals
107
Watch4net Fundamentals
108
Watch4net Fundamentals
109