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How to use, configure and troubleshoot CAReport
command in addition using Alert Email/SMTP function
Contents
INTRODUCTION
Requirement Summary
External Software Dependencies
Hardware
IMPLEMENTATION STEPS
Create CAReports generic job with Jobscheduler Wizard
Start Generic CAReports job to create the report and sent to per email to Alert
Email
Create Custom Reports Using the Report Writer Utility
Setting up Alert Manager for Email Alert with the attached Report by MS
Exchange Server or SMTP
Appendix
How to Debug CAReports activity and alerts to Email
Requirement Summary
1. BrightStor ARCserve Backup Server
2. BrightStor ARCserve Backup Manager
3. Alert Manager
External Software Dependencies
Exchange Server 2000/2003
Hardware
None
Introduction
The purpose of this document is to show how to create a BrightStor ARCserve
Backup Report using the Job scheduler Wizard and Report Writer. In addition to
this description Alert Manager will be configured to get these Reports by Email or
SMTP. The Appendix will contain Debug settings for the different topics discussed
in this document.
Create CAReports generic job with Jobscheduler Wizard
There are two ways to create schedule reports; by Reports Writer and Job scheduler
Wizard. In this document, you will see how to create a report by the Job scheduler
Wizard and create a custom report by Report Writer without a schedule.
First, you should learn more about the help topics of the command.
Print the help of command careports to a txt file by using “careports /?” from the
Command Prompt or open the help menu from ARCserve Manager and search for
content “CAReports”. You will get the following list with commands:
NOTE: Option “- alert” will only support alert via Email and SMTP configured Email
accounts. The recommended configuration for MS Exchange 2003 is SMTP.
There is no functionality to get this alert directly to a printer or as a broadcast on the
screen.
Options
The following options are supported:
-a (or /a)
Enables the output of files automatically. Combined with the -o
<path> switch, you can create new output files in a specific
directory. The output file name follows the report template name
convention. Using the additional switch, -o, existing files are not
overwritten.
-s (or /s)
Generates the report in silent mode (no dialogs or messages
boxes).The -s option works with the -r option and should be
used when the report is scheduled from the "Job Scheduler
Wizard" tool.
-r (or /r) <report_filename> Specifies the name of the report template to be used for the
report. If the -r option is not specified, the other options (-s,
-o, -alert) are ignored.
-o (or /o) <output_filename> Specifies the output file name where the results generated
by running the report are saved. If a specified file exists, it
is renamed '.bak'; for example, c:\temp\report.xml is
renamed to: c:\temp\report.bak.xml.
-m (/m) <machine_name>
If you want to generate your report on a remote computer,
use this option tospecify the name of the computer.
-f (/f) <format_type>
The format of the output file: XML (*.xml) or CSV (*.csv,
*.txt).
-alert (or /alert)
Sends an alert when the report is completed. The alerts
should be set from Alert Manager, under "BrightStor AB"
configuration.
-append
Use this option to append a new created report to an
existing file.
Note: Both files must be in CSV format.
Syntax
CAReports -s -r <report_filename> -o<output_filename> -m <machine name> -f
<format type> -alert
Open the BrightStor ARCserve Manager. Once this is done, use the Job scheduler
Wizard to create a scheduled job.
The Job Scheduler Wizard screen opens.
Select ‘Use Default Server’ and hit ‘Next’
This opens the Command dialogue – you use this to select commands and the appropriate
‘switches’ to run with the commands.
NOTE: Both path to the report name and the output name MUST be shown
CAReports -r "C:\Program Files\CA\BrightStor ARCserve
Backup\Templates\Reports\Daily Job StatusReport.xml" -o "C:\Program
Files\CA\BrightStor ARCserve Backup\testreport1_lecjo01a.xml" -f xml –alert
NOTE: Parameter –s is not listed here as it would prevent showing what’s happening in
the background after the job starts. Use –s to run it in silent mode.
Next, you will be prompted to enter the security info required to run the job. You should
use the ARCserve System Account, or any account that has the correct privileges to run
the job.
NOTE: Enter Domain name\Username
Then, set the parameters for running the job and hit ‘Next’
If all of your selections appear correctly, hit the Submit button.
NOTE: Enter the description to find the job in large job status lists and submit
NOTE: exit Job scheduler by selecting “X” in the upper right corner.
Start Generic CAReports job to create the report and sent to per email to Alert
Email
While waiting, ARCserve Backup will open the Report Writer to show the newly-created
report from the template. Please do not save as this is the template filled with data from
the ARCserve Database. Just exit to continue…..
NOTE: You can prevent this window by using the option – s for silent mode
This window shows the job finished successfully…
Verified in the Activity Log…
This shows the Alert e-mail being sent for the completed job.
NOTE: In case the files asc.gif, desc.gif and response.xsl were not created, these files are
needed to appropriately display the XML file after creating the report. You can just create
them by opening the Report Writer in ARCserve and create a dummy report.
Create Custom Reports Using the Report Writer Utility
Report Writer is a BrightStor ARCserve Backup utility that you can use to create custom
reports. You can access Report Writer from the Utilities menu (or the Utilities section) in
the BrightStor ARCserve Backup home page.
If you are using a Raima database, the specific ODBC driver must be installed. Report
Writer checks to determine if the Raima ODBC driver is installed and installs it
automatically if the driver is not present.
Note: Reports created using Report Writer can be previewed, printed, or scheduled in
Report Manager.
To create and generate a custom report:
1.
Open the Report Writer utility by selecting the Utilities menu and then choosing
Report Writer.
2.
Select the File menu and click Open to locate the report you want if you are
generating a Predefined report. Otherwise, if you are generating a User-defined report, go
to Step 3.
3.
Enter a name for your report in the Report Title text box. Optionally, you can
enter a description of your report in the Description text box.
4.
In the Available Queries table, highlight the source from which you want to
gather information for your report. When you highlight a source (such as Tape or Media
Pool), the Available Columns table is populated with the types of data you can collect
from the selected source. For example, if you select Job in the Available Queries table,
you can choose to collect information about the Job Type, the Job Owner, the Job's Start
Time, and several other items.
To select an item to include in your report, highlight the item in the Available Columns
table and click Add. The item will be moved to the Report Columns table.
Note: You can create reports made up of information collected from multiple sources.
For example, you could create a report that reports on Job Type, Tape Name, and Source
Host.
5.
Click Next to go to the Report Criteria screen. From this screen, you can
customize your report in the following ways:
•
•
•
Set the order of the records--The records (or rows) in the columns of your report
can be sorted in either ascending or descending order. By default, the records are
ordered in ascending order.
Set the order of the columns--The column at the top of the Report Columns list
will be the first (left-most) column in your report. To change the position of a
column, highlight it in the Report Columns table and click the up or down arrow.
Set filters--The records for your report can be filtered for specific criteria that you
define. Use the Enter Value field, along with the Operators and Condition dropdown menus, to specify the criteria for each type of record (each listing in the
Report Columns table) in your report. After specifying a filter, click Add Criteria
to add it to the Query Criteria table.
For example, to report only on jobs with a Job ID between 150 and 250, follow these
steps:
1.
Click Job, Job ID in the Report Columns table.
2.
Set the Operators drop-down menu to ">=", type 150 in the Enter Value field, and
set the Condition drop-down menu to "and." Then click Add Criteria.
3.
Set the Operators drop-down menu to "<=" and type 250 in the Enter Value field.
Click Add Criteria. The Query Criteria table will reflect your criteria.
6.
To run your report, click Generate Report.
Note: If you are using Report Writer to generate predefined Disk Staging Reports, the
Add and Remove buttons are not accessible.
Save a copy as XML file. Create a folder to store the Reports if you want otherwise use
the ARCserve Home folder.
This shows the file saved to the ‘Testreports’ folder.
Setting up Alert Manager for Email Alert with the attached Report by MS
Exchange Server or SMTP
MS Exchange Server Configuration
NOTE: Choose the new item from your (Global) Address book.
Choose ‘Message Attributes’
Just enter a Subject for your email (This is a subject for ALL Alert mails)
Afterwards right click again and logon to the Email system in case it is not the local one
Add Security Information
Send a Test Message to verify connectivity.
Alert SMTP Configuration
Add a ‘New Item’
Enter the e-mail address and the display name.
For the newly-added name modify the SMTP settings.
Please enter SMTP Server name or use the IP address of this server.
NOTE: It is recommended to use SMTP Alert system for MS Exchange 2003
Appendix
How to Debug CAReports activity and alerts to Email
Please enable Job engine to debug more info into the Activity log. Do this by changing
the message output of the Job engine in the ARCserve Backup Server Admin
ASLoggerd.exe in Debug (Process for Activity log logging)
ABNT 11.x
X:\Program Files\CA\BrightStor ARCserve Backup\config\asloggered.cfg
Example from asloggered.cfg: (# represent commented out lines)
### Set up asloggerd debugging mode.
### 0: no debugging messages.
### 1: to log debugging messages to $(BRIGHTSTOR_HOME)/log/caloggerd.log,
### 2: to log debugging messages to system console.
DEBUG_MODE = 1
Traces to create job tasks logs:
Edit MS Registry with “regedit.exe”
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ComputerAssociates\BrightStor ARCserve
Backup\Base\Task\Common
TraceOperation
ABNT 11.x
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ Software \ ComputerAssociates \ BrightStor ARCserve Backup \
Base \ Task \ Common
Value name: TraceOperation
Data Type: REG_DWORD
Data:
1
TraceMisc
ABNT 11.x
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ Software \ ComputerAssociates \ BrightStor ARCserve Backup \
Base \ Task \ Common
Value name: TraceMisc
Data Type: REG_DWORD
Data:
1
TraceTSI
ABNT 11.x
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ Software \ ComputerAssociates \ BrightStor ARCserve Backup \
Base \ Task \ Common
Value name: TraceTSI
Data Type: REG_DWORD
Data:
1
This will create the following file in the BrightStor ARCserve Backup\Log directory:
TskJob##.Log, BrightStor.log
If you encounter problems sending the email by Alert Service enable the following
debug:
Alert in Debug
ABNT 9.0 / 11.x
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ ComputerAssociates \ Alert \ CurrentVersion \
Service
Highlight Service, then select Edit Add Key,
Key Name: Trace
Class: (leave blank), click OK
Highlight Trace, then select Edit Add Value,
Value Name: (pick from the list below),
Data Type: REG_DWORD,
click OK, Data: 1 = On, 0 = Off
Other acceptable data values = 2, 3 (higher value generating the most
detail in the log)
Application to Trace
Value
Name Ouput File
MS Exchange
ExchPstr
AlrtExch.log
MS Mail
MsmlPstr
AlrtMsml.log
Unicenter
TNGPstr
Alrt_TNG.log
Lotus Notes
NotePstr
AlrtNote.log
SMTP
SMTPPstr
AlrtSMTP.log
Alert API
AlBuild
Alert.log