the scoop with new reports

dmorris · 05-27-2009, 03:47 PM

So we know there are some issues with the current reporting.
Basically if anything goes wrong the reports come out incomplete.
On smaller machines with big datasets this happens sometimes (usually with the monthly reports). Additionally the pdf generation library we use is unreliable at best.

We have an ongoing 'new reports' project that simplify and streamline the report generation process that is more resilient and more performant. Additionally reports are being restructured to provide much more information and visibility into what is going on. All graphs will be supplemented with csv files should anyone want to do their own reports. Per user/host/email reports will be much more in depth to provide better visibility into user behavior.

All of this does come at a cost however. Instead of supplying shallow reports over both html and pdf; there will be deeper reports available only on the web. The emailed reports will be emailed links similar to quaratine digest emails. The schema will be completely different (affects those that have been doing customizations or custom reports on the schema). The report viewing interface will be totally different (much improved IMO).

You can expect all this in the 6.3 or 6.4 timeframe. In the meantime if report generation doesn't work for you the only option is to really add more hardware (better disks, more memory, etc). Hope that sheds some light on whats going on.

fasttech · 05-27-2009, 03:53 PM

Thank you for the update.

far182 · 05-28-2009, 07:20 AM

Thank you for the update. I am excited for the improved reporting, but I am also very concerned. Please be very careful taking away features that we already have in place and sold to clients. For example, right now the oldest report data ON the Untangle box is 1 month old. Some of my clients want reports going back much longer than that. To accomplish this client need - we email a daily report to an email box (or public folder) for which these reports are kept forever.

If the new reports worked like the quarantine, and were just links back to the Untangle administrative interface, then we are going to need to be able to report more than a month of data.

Another issue here is the "logons" to the reporting. I remember in 5.x we could create "reporting only" users for the administrative interface. I hope you bring this back. For example, we don't give the reporting users the "admin" logon to the Untangle server today and don't plan on doing this ever.

Are reporting only users coming back?

How is this need for "archiving reports" going to be addressed?

Thank you dirk

chitx2000 · 06-26-2009, 04:14 AM

Any time frame on when would be the release of version 6.3? Thanks . . .

joemailey · 06-26-2009, 05:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chitx2000

Any time frame on when would be the release of version 6.3? Thanks . . .

I'm busting for these new reports to come out.
Time frame would be great.

05-27-2009, 03:47 PM	#1 (permalink)
dmorris Untangle Junkie Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: San Mateo, CA URLs submitted: 10 Posts: 6,694	the scoop with new reports So we know there are some issues with the current reporting. Basically if anything goes wrong the reports come out incomplete. On smaller machines with big datasets this happens sometimes (usually with the monthly reports). Additionally the pdf generation library we use is unreliable at best. We have an ongoing 'new reports' project that simplify and streamline the report generation process that is more resilient and more performant. Additionally reports are being restructured to provide much more information and visibility into what is going on. All graphs will be supplemented with csv files should anyone want to do their own reports. Per user/host/email reports will be much more in depth to provide better visibility into user behavior. All of this does come at a cost however. Instead of supplying shallow reports over both html and pdf; there will be deeper reports available only on the web. The emailed reports will be emailed links similar to quaratine digest emails. The schema will be completely different (affects those that have been doing customizations or custom reports on the schema). The report viewing interface will be totally different (much improved IMO). You can expect all this in the 6.3 or 6.4 timeframe. In the meantime if report generation doesn't work for you the only option is to really add more hardware (better disks, more memory, etc). Hope that sheds some light on whats going on.

05-27-2009, 03:53 PM	#2 (permalink)
fasttech Master Untangler Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Phoenix, Az, USA Posts: 558	Thank you for the update.

05-28-2009, 07:20 AM	#3 (permalink)
far182 Master Untangler Join Date: Aug 2008 URLs submitted: 1 Posts: 870	Thank you for the update. I am excited for the improved reporting, but I am also very concerned. Please be very careful taking away features that we already have in place and sold to clients. For example, right now the oldest report data ON the Untangle box is 1 month old. Some of my clients want reports going back much longer than that. To accomplish this client need - we email a daily report to an email box (or public folder) for which these reports are kept forever. If the new reports worked like the quarantine, and were just links back to the Untangle administrative interface, then we are going to need to be able to report more than a month of data. Another issue here is the "logons" to the reporting. I remember in 5.x we could create "reporting only" users for the administrative interface. I hope you bring this back. For example, we don't give the reporting users the "admin" logon to the Untangle server today and don't plan on doing this ever. Are reporting only users coming back? How is this need for "archiving reports" going to be addressed? Thank you dirk

06-26-2009, 04:14 AM	#4 (permalink)
chitx2000 Untanglit Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Baghdad, Iraq Posts: 11	Any time frame on when would be the release of version 6.3? Thanks . . .