5.2 Setting the Context For a Report

The context of a report refers to the machines, data streams, and time frame that are the subject of the report. It might also include measures of the data, such as average or maximum.

NOTE:Depending on the amount of data called for by your context settings, the time required to run a query might exceed the timeout settings in the Web.config file, causing the query to abort. If you are routinely generating reports that contain large data sets, you can alter the timeout settings by editing the Web.config file. For more information about the timeout issues and the workaround, see Report Timeout Issues.

5.2.1 Using the Multi-State Tree Control

The contexts use a multi-state tree control that lets you create different orientations of the data based on your selections. The capability to make different types of selections from different levels of the tree view gives you flexibility in how you present data in a report. For example, you can compare the average memory use of an individual SQL Server with the average memory use for all SQL Servers.

To explicitly select a folder, click the checkbox next to the folder one time. To deselect the folder and select each of its immediate children, click the same checkbox again. To deselect the folder and all of its subfolders, click the checkbox a third time.

Selection State	Description
	Neither the parent nor its children are selected.
	The parent is selected, but none of its children are selected.
	The parent is not selected, but one or more of its children are selected.
	The parent is selected and one or more of its children are selected.

5.2.2 Selecting Report Data

The Data Source context lets you select which Data Sources you want to use for an AppManager report. By default, AppManager reports reflect all Data Sources. Use the tree control to select the Data Sources to report on.

5.2.3 Setting the Group Context

The Group context allows you to select individual servers, groups of servers, or server instances to be included in a report.

When you select an AppManager report, a View menu at the top of the Group context control lists the views from the various AppManager repositories from which you want to display data.

To set the Group context:

Select a view to display all the servers in that view.

If there is more than one instance of a view among the various AppManager repositories (for example, IIS or NT), then all servers from all instances of that view are displayed.

The Master view might contain other server groups.
Select Show Instances if you want to list server instances, such as SQL Server instances, in the tree control.

5.2.4 Setting the Knowledge Script Context

The Knowledge Script context lets you filter the report data by Knowledge Script. Use the tree control to select the individual Knowledge Scripts or groups of Knowledge Scripts whose data you want for your report.

5.2.5 Setting the Measures Context

The Measures context lets you calculate statistics from the data in the report. Use the tree control to select the measures in which you are interested.

Depending on the report, you can select one or more of the following measures. For the Measures context, the tree control provides only two selection states: Selected and Not Selected.

Average: Average of data point values within the selected date range.

Average = aggregate sum / aggregate count
Count: Number of data points collected by a data stream/legend within the selected date range.
Maximum: Highest number of all the collected data point values within the selected date range.
Minimum: Lowest number of all the collected data point values within the selected date range.
Standard Deviation: Value that indicates how tightly a set of values is clustered around the average of those same values (square root of the product). [((SumOfSquares - (Sum * Sum / Count)) / (Count-1))]
Sum: Total of all collected data point values within the selected date range.

5.2.6 Setting the Metric Context

The Metric context lets you select the data for an AppManager report. You can filter your selections by metric type. The metrics are grouped by applications. For example, NT folder lists all NT related metrics.

If you select too many data streams for a report, the chart might become unreadable.

In the reports or the charts, Analysis Center does not display metrics for which the data is empty and does not display machines for which data does not exist.

To set the Metric context:

Select the required Metric Type.

You use the Metric Types list to limit data to specific types of data streams. For example, AppManager performance data or AppManager event data.
Use the tree control to select the metric. You can select a single data stream, or multiple individual data streams, or groups of data streams from various levels of the hierarchy.

5.2.7 Setting the Time Context

The Time context lets you specify a time frame for your report.

Some reports include multiple Time context controls, which allow you to compare the same type of data over different periods of time. For example, the processing time required for SQL statements over the past 12 months when compared to the last 28 days.

The time range filters are Interval, Start Time, End Time, Days Of Week, and UTC. For reports that allow you to specify multiple time ranges, the time range filters are set in the first control and ignored in the other time controls to enforce a comparison of similar type of data.

For example, if the Time control specifies hourly intervals for data collected Monday through Friday, then these filters do not apply to all time ranges covered in the report only for the first one.

Setting the Date Range

The Time context control lets you set a custom time range or select from a number of predefined time ranges:

Date Range	Time Represented
Last 7 Days	The last seven days. For example: If today is January 7, then the last seven days are January 1 to January 7.
Last 12 Months	The previous twelve months. For example: If today is any day in January, 2005, then the previous 12 months are January 1, 2004 to December 31, 2004.
Last 28 Days	The last twenty-eight days. For example: If today is January 28, then the last 28 days are January 1 to January 28.
Last 3 Months	The previous three months. For example: If today is any day in April, then the previous three months are January 1 to March 31.
Last 365 Days	The last 365 days. For example: If today is December 31, 2005, then the last 365 days are January 1, 2005 to December 31, 2005.
Last 4 Quarters	The previous four quarters. For example: if today is January 1, 2005, then the previous four quarters are January 1, 2004 to December 31, 2004.
Last 6 Months	The previous six months. For example: If today is January 1, 2005, then the previous six months are July 1, 2004 to December 31, 2004.
Last 90 Days	The last 90 days. For example: If today is December 31, then the last 90 days are October 3 to December 31.
Last Month	The previous month. For example: If today is any day in February, then the previous month is January 1 to January 31.
Last N Days	The previous N days. The value of N ranges from 2 to 31. The Date Range sets the base time as the day on which the report is run and counts back N days from the base time. For example: If you select N Value as 2 and if today is July 26, 2007, then Analysis Center generates a report for the date range, 7/25/2007 to 7/26/2007.
Last N Months	The previous N months. The value of N ranges from 2 to 12. For example: If you select N Value as 5 and if the current month is July, then Analysis Center generates a report for the date range, 2/1/2007 to 6/30/2007.
Last N Weeks	The previous N weeks. The value of N ranges from 2 to 12. For example: If you select N Value as 2 and if today is August 16, 2007, then Analysis Center generates a report for the date range, 7/29/2007 to 08/11/2007.
Last Quarter	The previous quarter. For example: if today is any day in April, then the previous quarter is January 1 to March 31.
Last Week	The previous week (Sunday to Saturday).
Last Year	The previous year. For example: If today is any day in 2005, then last year is January 1, 2004 to December 31, 2004.
This Month	All days in the current month. For example: If today is January 15, then this month is January 1 to January 31.
This Quarter	All days in the current quarter. For example: if today is February 15, then this quarter is January 1 to March 31.
Today	12:00:00 AM to 11:59:59 PM of the current day.
Yesterday	12:00:00 AM to 11:59:59 PM of the previous day.
Custom Range	The specified date range. For example, you can select Start Date as 7/23/2007, End Date as 7/26/2007 to generate a report.

Selecting a Time Interval

From the Time Interval option, select the time interval at which you want data to be aggregated in the report. For example:

For a date range of 12 months, you might want to aggregate data by month rather than day.
For a date range of seven days, it might be more appropriate to aggregate data by day.

Selecting a Start Time and End Time

To limit the contents of your report to specific hours of the day, set the desired time in the Start Time and End Time options. For example, if you are interested primarily in the level of message traffic on your Exchange Servers during regular working hours, you can limit the contents of the report to data collected between 8:00 AM and 6:00 PM.

Selecting Days of the Week

You can limit the contents of your report to specific days of the week or all days. For example, if you are interested primarily in the level of message traffic on your Exchange Servers during regular working days, you can limit the contents of the report to data collected from Monday to Friday.

Selecting UTC Time

Data is represented using local time by default. Local time is appropriate when the resources in question are specific to a time zone. For example, a file or application server used for a particular office or region.

Select UTC to present data according to Universal Time Coordinated (UTC) time. UTC time is appropriate for resources that are accessed from multiple time zones. For example, Web or database servers.