Re: InterMapper and Reporting - Take 2

[Jonathan Sherman]

-        Do you need daily, weekly, monthly reports? Of what kinds of information?   It would be nice to be able to simply input a range of time... instead of selecting from a pre made list.  When sifting through data its hard to know ahead of time what you are going to need.  Sometimes you want to look at two days worth... sometimes you need want to see 3 weeks worth.  Maybe you could make it so you could select the time range from a pre-made list, but also have a custom option, where the user can specify exactly what time range they want to see.  That would cover all options.  As for what kinds of information... everything.  Being able to chose from any type of "event" that InterMapper is capable of recording would be best.  If its worth monitoring for with a probe, or being graphed on a chart, then its worth being available for reporting. -        Do you want reports of outages, traffic trends, utilization?   Again, creating a pre made list always boxes the user in, and there will always be times where the user wants something that isn't on the list.  Again, being able to chose from any type of "event" that InterMapper is capable of recording would be best.  Why limit your reporting engine?   -        Do you care how the data is saved? Would text files suffice? Is an SQL database required?   Using a database of some sort would make a lot of sense from my point of view.  Using something like mySQL or PostgreSQL would allow you to utilize an open standard that already has a large user base, and therefore a large support base.  In addition, storing the information in database like this allows third party reports to be written that could sift the data in ways that Dartware doesn't have time to write, or didnt foresee the need for. It seems to me that it would make a lot of sense to have InterMapper write back pretty much everything that it sees happen on a map back to a database (or make it a customizable option for what gets recorded, and what doesnt).  When you write everthing back, then everything is available for reporting.  And reporting is a fundamental need of a network monitoring system.  The stronger the reporting system is, the better. -        If the data were saved in a SQL database, would you want direct access to the DBMS?   Yes.  There are users out there that are always going to want to access the data in ways that Dartware didn't/couldn't foresee.  Making it so that people can access the raw data themselves helps alleviate the problem.  If the need is great enough for the user, they will simply write the tool themselves, and hopefully make the tool available to others.  This just makes InterMapper a better product for everyone.  Leveraging the user base to write custom reports makes a lot of sense, just like you have done with custom probes.   -        How would you use this data? To help improve service? To look for trouble spots? To convince your boss you're doing a good job? :-) All of these.  I would primarily use it for trend analysis.  Being able to see and quantify things like outages, traffic patterns, server utilization, etc. etc. is a powerful tool to help account for them in the future.   Jonathan Sherman Network Administrator Hudsonville Public Schools