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Product Lifecycle: Operate

Operate: Using Packeteer ReportCenter Reports

Using Packeteer's ReportCenter, you can integrate the information from one or more PacketShaper units into single detailed reports. You can create reports on a regular basis and use them to monitor bandwidth utilization, performance, and usage trends in your network. You can drill down to performance and usage details on specific applications, PacketShapers, IP addresses, top-consuming users, and more.

ReportCenter lets you select from a range of report types and customize which PacketShapers are incorporated into each report. You can create a list of Favorite Reports in ReportCenter and later access each complete set of PacketShapers, report type, and time span you have saved in your favorites list with just a single mouse click.

ReportCenter documentation consists of a set of materials. You should have hard copies of the ReportCenter Installation Checklist and the ReportCenter Getting Started Guide that came with your ReportCenter software. PacketGuide for ReportCenter is also on the first of the CDs shipped to you in the ReportCenter box. In addition, while using a web browser to connect to your ReportCenter Server, you can see a related PacketGuide for ReportCenter page by clicking the PacketGuide button in the navigation bar. Also, all documentation is available from the Packeteer documentation web page.

A brief summary of procedures is below.

To access reports:

1. Use a web browser to connect to the ReportCenter Server.
2. Click the word Reports in the top navigation bar.
3. Select a group of PacketShapers, or an individual PacketShaper, in the left-most drop-down.
4. Choose the Application category or the Device category in the second drop-down.
5. Choose a specific type of report from the third drop-down.
6. Use the right-most drop-down to select a time span for the report, or click one of the available time periods in the Quicklinks area of the page below the drop down menus.

Your report will be created and displayed in your web browser.

Note: You can see more about accessing reports in PacketGuide for ReportCenter.

ReportCenter allows you to save a list of your favorite report types that includes details such as:

• The group of PacketShapers (or single PacketShaper) to be included
• The selection for Device or Application report category; if you are using FDR the Host category also appears
• The specific type of report, for example Top 10 Applications
• The time span for the report, for example Yesterday

If you have a suspicious bandwidth-hungry application, you can create a Favorite Reports entry that lets you view a report for Top 10 Applications with one click.

Here is a suggested list of reports you might want to add to your list of favorites in ReportCenter:

• Top 10 Applications
• Top 10 Sites
• Compression Summary (if using Xpress)
• Device Summary
• Host Accounting

Note: You can see more details on the reports available in ReportCenter in PacketGuide for ReportCenter.

Create Your List of Favorites

For each report type you want to use on a regular basis, use the following steps to add the report to your list of Favorites.

1. Create an instance of the report by using the four drop-downs on the Reports page.
2. While viewing the report, click the yellow star icon to the right of the drop-downs.
3. On the Edit Favorites page select a radio button for your email preference.
4. Click Add.

Each user account in ReportCenter has a unique set of Favorites.

Note: You can see more details on Favorites in PacketGuide for ReportCenter.

Most of the reports in ReportCenter include one or more tables. You can sort the display by selecting any header in a blue-gray table cell. Many reports let you drill down to more detailed information — look for table data in the form of a hypertext link. Often, there are multiple levels of detail available. Keep clicking on links until you reach the level of detail required.

Here are some guidelines for evaluating the suggested reports listed above:

• Top 10 Applications — Examine the pie chart. Is an application that is not mission critical consuming too much of your bandwidth? The application names shown, by default, are as they appear in PacketShaper. You can easily create a policy to restrict an application that uses too much bandwidth.
  
  
• Top 10 Sites — Is one of your remote locations using much more bandwidth than any of the others? You can click the link for any site in the table and drill down to a report that details each traffic class. Chapter 5 of the ReportCenter Getting Started Guide contains instructions for configuring sites in ReportCenter.
  
  
• Compression Summary — Customers using the compression features of Xpress can see which traffic classes benefit the most from Xpress compression techniques. Click the Bytes Saved By Compression Percent header to see the benefits of this feature. There are two types of Compression Summary Reports, one each for the Device and Application categories. Links on the left lead to details on applications in the Application Device Summary Report. In the Device Application Summary Report there are links to each PacketShaper.
  
  
• Device Summary — This report shows you the top users of bandwidth with individual pie charts for both the inbound (from the network) and outbound (to the network) directions. You can easily see which traffic classes have symmetric flows, and which are asymmetric. Click on the Average Throughput heading in the table to order the report according to your busiest PacketShapers; you'll see where your bandwidth usage is highest. Links let you drill down to further details on specific PacketShapers.
  
  
• Host Accounting — This report shows bandwidth usage information on a per-IP address basis. Configure Host Accounting in ReportCenter and on your PacketShapers so you can track network resources used on the basis of individual IP addresses. The PacketShaper identifies each host, and ReportCenter collates the information from each PacketShaper. Is there a small number of hosts on your network using large portions of your resources? The Host Accounting Report shows the top 10 users of network bandwidth. Links in the table drill down to details for each IP address over time.

ReportCenter offers a lot of rich features whenever you are ready. For example, you can configure ReportCenter to periodically email you a Device Exception Detail Report. This report will indicate when service levels have failed to meet Performance Profiles you define in ReportCenter.