Commvault

Report Configuration - CommCell® Console

Owned by Carl Brault (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Nov 30, 2021 by tdopko@commvault.com (Unlicensed)
19 min read

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Configure CommCell® Reports

CommCell® reports can be configured from the Reports tab in the CommCell toolbar. The most common report types are listed in the toolbar, such as:

  • Job Summary
  • Job Schedule
  • CommCell Readiness

When the report type is selected, it is the default report in the report window. Note that any other report type can be accessed from the window. Reports can be scheduled, saved to a specific location, or saved as report templates. Depending on the report type selected, various report criteria are configured from the tabs in the Report Selection window. Use the tabs to choose which resources; clients, MediaAgents, libraries, or storage policies, to include in the report. You can also select the information to be included in the report, such as failed items, storage usage, job information, or resource configuration.


Configure a report using the following methods:

  • Time Range tab – sets the scope of the report.
  • Output tab – provides a selection for the output format, which is HTML, PDF, or Text file. Choosing Text saves the report as a CSV file for spreadsheet import.
  • Output method – includes choices for scheduling, save as script, save as template or save to a disk location. Reports can be executed on demand or scheduled to be send by email.


Common CommCell® reports:

  • Job Summary report – is used to view data protection, data recovery and administrative jobs.
  • CommCell® Readiness report – is used as a status report for CommCell components such as clients, MediaAgents, library storage capacity and index directories.
  • CommCell® Configuration report – provides CommCell configuration, license usage, and update status of CommCell components.
  • Job Schedule report – is used to view schedules for client computer groups, clients, and administrative jobs.
  • Data Retention Forecast and Compliance report – is used to view jobs in storage, the media it is located on, and the estimated time the data will age.




Report Outputs

When running any report, it can be formatted using HTML, text delimited, PDF, XML. A copy of the report can also be saved on a local drive of any CommCell® client computer, on a network share by providing credentials that have access to the share, or to an FTP site by providing login information. Language, date and time formats are selected from drop-down lists.





To configure report output

1 - From the Reports menu | Select a report to open Report Selection detail.

2 - On the Output tab, select report output type of HTML, Text, PDF or XML format.

3 - Check box to save a copy of the report.

4 - Select the output location including a local drive on the Commserve® server, a network share or FTP site.

5 - Select a Locale language to use for the report.

6 - Choose the date and time format.

7 - Optional to select reports from quick report shortcut buttons.



Running and Scheduling Reports

Reports are executed on demand or scheduled to be sent by email on the desired frequency. To use emailed reports, a mail server must first be configured using the Email and Web Server applet from the Configuration menu.



To configure report output

1 - From the Reports menu | Run any report.

2 - Click to run the report on demand.

3 - Click to schedule the report.



4 - Give a name to the report schedule.

5 - Define the schedule pattern.

6 - Attach or embed the report to email.

7 - Move recipient to the right.

8 - Email address or distribution list can be used.


Report Schedules

There are a few ways to view scheduled reports. The easiest method to use is the View Schedules tool from the Reports tab. This view displays all configured reports and allows the schedules or the report settings, such as the recipients, to be edited.




To view scheduled reports

1 - From the Reports menu | Click on View Schedules.

2 - Right-click on a schedule to access additional tasks.



Report Types

Commvault® software provides several report types. Each report is built to provide specific information useful to the management of a CommCell® environment. The following section describes all built-in reports.

Job Summary

The Job Summary report is considered the most important because it provides details about CommCell® jobs. This includes job status, the amount of data protected, skipped files and folders, and much more. Some available job types are backup, restore, administrative jobs, archiving, and Continuous Data Replication (CDR). To help decipher the information, the report provides a multi-color display that includes a summary of all jobs followed by detailed information about each one.

Although the Job Summary report is still available in the CommCell® console, it is recommended to execute the report from the Web Console.


The following entities are available in the CommCell® console:

  • Job Summary Report (Web) – Provides the link to automatically execute the Web Console version of the report.
  • Job Summary Report (CommCell console) – Executes the traditional CommCell® console version of the report.




To run a backup summary report

1 - From the Reports menu | Job Summary.

2 - Select the report version.

3 - Choose the type of job to include.

4 - Click on Modify to choose the computers, agent types or subclients.



5 - Select the MediaAgents tab to include MediaAgent details.

6 - Select the Storage Policies tab to include details on Storage Policies and copy sets.



7 - From the Selections tab, include additional information for the report including listing Subclient filters used in job and Failed Objects.

8 - On the Options page, select details about job types, throughput, data size and job status.



9 - On the Time Range page, accept the default of last 24 hours or define a custom time frame.

10 - Select the output type to include HTML, CSV, PDF and with some reports XML.

11 - If not wanting to display results on screen, select Output To if saving to a folder or FTP site is required.

12 - Select to Run now, Schedule or Save As a script.



13 - This section displays the criteria selected to run report.

14 - Top section of report displays Job summary.



15 - The next section provides detailed information for each job by Client and agent.

16 - Colors in report detail status and success, failure, completed with errors and more. Color details are found at end of report.



Audit Trail

The Audit Trail report tracks information about any CommCell® configuration modifications along with the user who made the change. Different levels can be selected ranging from high (high impacting modification changes) to low (low impacting modification changes, such as logins).




To run an Audit Trail report

1 - From the Reports menu | Audit Trail.

2 - Choose the playback level.

3 - Select all or specific users to include in the report.



4 - Displays all configuration changes and is colored based on impact level.



CommCell® Readiness

The CommCell Readiness report is used to query every CommCell® component to ensure all resources are available. When running this report, the CommServe® server queries MediaAgents to ensure they are reachable. It then queries the libraries to confirm that there is enough free space in disk, tape and cloud libraries. It finally runs a Check Readiness on all the clients to ensure they are ready for the next backup.




To run a readiness report

1 - From the Reports menu | Click on Readiness.

2 - On the Report Selection page choose the components to include in the readiness check.



3 - Select all or specific computers and agent types to include in the report.

4 - Select all or specific MediaAgents to include in the report.



5 - The summary sections flag issues in the environment.

 - The detailed section provides detailed information about the issues.



CommCell® Growth

The CommCell® Growth report provides a growth overview of the CommCell® environment for a defined period. This report is valuable for trending analysis and resource procurement.




To run a growth report

1 - From the Reports menu | Growth.

2 - Define the time period to cover by the report.



3 - This section provides information about the number of clients and agents from the beginning to the end date.

4 - This section provides information about jobs from the beginning to the end date.

5 - This section provides information about media usage from the beginning to the end date.



License Summary

The License Summary report displays license usage statistics for the CommCell® Environment. This report provides the required information, based on the license model, to help a backup administrator plan license procurement when needed.




To run a License Summary report

1 - From the Reports menu | License Summary.

2 - Select the licensing information to include in the report.



3 - The first section provides information about license usage per types.

4 - This section provides information about application size data.

5 - This section provides information about features and agent types.



CommServe® Event

The CommServe® Event report is used to display events that might no longer be in the Event Viewer. The Event Viewer displays 200 events by default, but the system keeps 10,000 events back in time. This report has several options are used to filter out unwanted events or to cover a specific time range.




To run a CommServe® Event report

1 - From the Reports menu | Other Reports | CommServe Event.

2 - Any severity levels can be filtered from the report by unselecting it.

3 - Define the time range.



4 - Displays the events that occurred during the time period.


User Capability

In CommCell® console where several users and administrators have access, it can be hard to keep track of everyone's responsibilities. The User Capability report helps to establish the exact capabilities each user or user group has.




To run a User Capability report

1 - From the Reports menu | Other Reports | User Capability.

2 - Select the output format.



3 - Displays the capabilities of users.

4 - Displays the capabilities of user groups.



Configuration

The CommCell® Configuration report lists all configuration parameters that are set in the CommCell® environment. If all options are selected, it provides a blueprint of the environment in its entirety. Having access to a CommCell® Configuration report provides the opportunity to completely reconfigure the environment to a previous state, if necessary.




To run a CommCell® Configuration report

1 - From the Reports menu | Other Reports | Configuration.

2 - Check the information sections to include in the report.



3 - Select all or specific computers and agent types.

4 - Select to include subclient information.



5 - Include all or specific MediaAgents information.

6 - Include all or specific Libraries information and optional to include drive details.



7 - Include all or specific storage policies information.

8 - Additional details can be included such as media, Global storage policies and subclient list.



9 - Report displays the requested configuration information.



Schedule

The Schedule report lists all schedules that are configured for the requested time range. It provides schedule name, job type, which agents are associated with it, and more. Optionally 'Job options' can be selected to display in the report.




To run a Schedule report

1 - From the Reports menu | Other Reports | Schedule.

2 - Select tasks and optionally job options to include in the report.



3 - Select all or specific computers and agent types.

4 - Select the time range to cover in the report.



5 - All jobs for the selected time are listed with scheduling information.

6 - If Job options was selected, additional details are displayed.



Storage Policy

The Storage Policy report is used to display configuration settings storage policies and storage policy copies. If content indexing is enabled on a policy, a dedicated section lists content indexing related configuration options.




To run a Policy report

1 - From the Reports menu | Other Reports | Policy.

2 - Select all or specific storage policies to include in the report.



3 - Displays the storage policies configuration settings.

4 - If enabled, displays the storage policies Content Indexing settings.

5 - Displays each storage policies copy settings.



Storage Information

The storage information report provides valuable information about CommCell® media. This report includes pertinent information, such as the media location, data size, expiration date, and last write time.

When using tape media as primary recovery method for disaster, send a storage information report offsite daily. If there is a DR, this report can be used to quickly identify the most recent tape that belongs to the CommServeDR storage policy, which is required to restore the CommServe® server database.




To run a Storage Information report

1 - From the Reports menu | Other Reports | Information.

2 - Select details to include in the report.



3 - Select to include all or specific libraries. Option to include media location details.

4 - Select to include all or specific Media Repositories.



5 - Select to include all or specific locations.

6 - Select the storage policies for which the storage information is required.



7 - Define a time range if needed.



8 - Provides a summary on CommCell® media.

9 - Displays information for each media.



Forecast

The Data Retention Forecast and Compliance report is a report that lists all media information as it is today or as it will be in the future. This report can be helpful in case of media you expected to be back from vault, but that did not. This report displays the expected return date and the retention criteria that is locking the tape in vault, such as basic retention, extended retention, job retention, etc.




To execute a forecast report

1 - From the Reports menu | Click Other Reports | Forecast.

2 - Specify to include media that are in and/or out of the library.

3 - Specify to include data that is and/or is not aged out.

4 - Show the current status of jobs or as forecasted in the future.

5 - Sort the jobs by client or storage policy.

6 - Click Run.

7 - The report lists all jobs and provides information such as retention.



Discovery

The Discovery report is used in conjunction with Content Indexing. It displays information about items such as Legal Holds, Review Sets, and Content Searches.




To run a Discovery report

1 - From the Reports menu | Other Reports | Discovery.

2 - Select the type of discovery report to run.



3 - Select All or choose specific Review sets to include with report.

4 - Select All or individual Web servers to query from.



5 - Select the latest time window or define a more specific time.

6 - Sample Section of Search activity Report.


When to use Review Set Posting

You can use the Review Set Posting report to review detailed information about search result items that are posted in a review set. This report is useful if you need to know:

  • The name and type of files that are posted to the set and the time that files are posted.
  • The backup job ID and the user that posted the job.
  • Restore status, and Legal Hold status, if applicable.


When to use Review Set Activity

You can use the Review Set Activity report to review detailed information about each operation that a user performs on a review set. This report is useful if you need to know:

  • The ID number, type, and severity level of an operation.
  • The name of the user that performed an operation.
  • A description of the operation.


When to use Review Set Summary

You can use the Review Set Summary report to review information about a review set. This report is useful if you need to know:

  • The name of a review set and the users that post to it.
  • The sharing status of a review set.
  • The number of items contained in a review set.


When to use Legal Hold Summary

You can use the Legal Hold Summary Report to review detailed information about legal set items. This report is useful if you need to know:

  • Legal hold name and description.
  • All user groups that have access to the legal hold.
  • Retention policy details.
  • Size and number of files in the legal hold set.
  • The time and date that the last file that was appended.


When to use Search Activity

You can use the Search Activity Report to review detailed information about searches that users perform on a review set. This report is useful if you need to know:

  • The query ID of a search activity.
  • The name and domain of the user that performed the search.
  • The query parameters, the keyword entered, and the number of search results, or hits, displayed for a query.




Library and Drive

The Library and Drive Configuration report provides information about the storage libraries and drives within the CommCell® environment including the number of libraries, their capacity, and the amount of space left. This report is useful if you need to know:

  • The libraries and drives you have configured.
  • Hardware information, such as the model, barcode reader, and capacity.
  • The controlling MediaAgent, SCSI ID, status, and error counts.
  • The mount path information for disk libraries.
  • The library attribute settings for the drive and media.
  • The job completion rate for the last 24 hours in each library.
  • Scale and performance information for the last 1 hour and 24 hours.
  • Details for cloud storage libraries including name, amount of data uploaded, and amount of data downloaded.




To run a Library and Drive report

1 - From the Reports menu | Other Reports | Library and Drive.

2 - Select to include all or specific libraries.

3 - Sample section of Library and Drive Report.



Scratch Pool

The Scratch Pool report is used to display setting that are configured for scratch pool. A list of the spare media can optionally be displayed.




To run a Scratch Pool report

1 - From the Reports menu | Other Reports | Scratch Pool.

2 - Select the scratch pool to include in the report.

3 - Select to display the list of spare media.

4 - Sample section of Scratch Pool report lists configuration settings of the spare media group.

5 - If report option is selected, report will display list the spare media within the scratch group.



Media Prediction

The Media Prediction report displays the anticipated media that is required by operations performed within the entire CommCell® environment.

Also displayed in the report is information about media that is required per individual backup set, instance, or subclient. This report is useful if you need to know:

  • Media requirements on an enterprise-wide scale.
  • Whether media required by an operation is available in the library, especially for restoring/recovering data across a firewall.
  • Resource conflicts where the media is used by more than one operation.
  • Where to find a copy that accesses a faster disk media rather than slower tape/optical media, so that you can then restore/recover from it.
  • Where to find media that has been replaced, or changed to meet updated system requirements, or consolidated to efficiently manage media.
  • A list of attributes for the media used by the secondary copy and the amount of data yet to be copied.




To run a Media Prediction report

1 - From the Reports menu | Other Reports | Media Prediction.

2 - Choose the job type for which to predict required media.



3 - Select all or specific computers and agent types.

4 - Use the default setting of Latest data or select a specific time frame to recover.



5 - Sample report section displays list of required media for the selected operation.



Storage Policy Copies

The jobs in Storage Policy Copies report displays information about data protection jobs that are associated with the specified storage policy copies. You can use this report to review information for operations that run in each storage policy copy. This report is useful if you need to know:

  • Detailed information regarding the jobs that reside on each storage policy copy, including the client, backup set, instance, subclient, and data size.
  • Whether a job has been picked for data verification.
  • Whether or not the job is enabled with 'Data Integrity Validation.'
  • The history and status of data verification for each job.
  • Whether a job is to be copied to the copy (from another source copy), or if the job has already been copied.
  • Jobs with data encryption and deduplication.
  • The media that is associated with each job.
  • The jobs that are retained using extended retention rules.
  • The amount of data that is not copied per job.
  • Legal Hold data protection jobs associated with the storage policy copies.




To run a Storage Policy Copies report

1 - From the Reports menu | Other Reports | Storage Policy Copies.

2 - Select entire Storage policy list or specific policy copyset.

3 - Option to select additional details in report.



4 - Select all or specific computers.

5 - Use filters to refine report details.

6 - Select latest time or define a more specific time frame.



7 - Sample report section provides storage policy copies settings summary.

8 - This area of report provides auxiliary copy summary.

9 - This section of report lists all jobs in storage policy copies.



Tracking

Built-in Vault Tracker reports can be sent to tape operators or backup administrators, to provide a list of tapes that are required to be exported or recalled. The list is automatically populated by the software based on the tracking policy's media movement and media status.




To configure the Vault Tracker Export Media report

1 - From the Reports menu | Other Reports | Tracking.

2 - Select Reconciliation to generate an Export Media report.



3 - Select the source libraries to include in the report.

4 - Select the destination location where media are sent.



5 - Select a tracking policy or use default of all.

6 - Select latest time or specify a time frame.



7 - Select the report format to use, such as HTML, Text delimited, PDF or ‘Iron Mountain’ format.

8 - A copy of the report can be saved on local disks, network share or sent to an FTP site, such as the vaulting company’s FTP site.

9 - Click to schedule the report to be automatically generated.



10 - Give a name to the report schedule

11 - Define schedule pattern.

12 - Choose to embed or attach the report to the email.

13 - Select users and or groups the report should be sent.

14 - Type an email addresses or distribution lists for accounts not listed.



File Level Analytics

The File Level Analytics report provides information on files protected in Commvault® software. File attributes such as the file size and type, the modification, and last access time are used to build the report. Clients, backup sets and subclients can be granularly selected to be included in the report.

TIP: Use File Level Analytics Report to Implement Commvault OnePass® Archiving
When implementing Commvault OnePass® archiving without a good knowledge of the data being archived, two situations might happen. Either the archiving rules are not strict enough and almost no data gets archived, or the rules are too strict resulting in most of the data being archived. To avoid this situation, use the File Level Analytics report to properly establish the archiving rules.




To run a File Level Analytics report

1 - From the Reports menu | Other Reports | File Level Analytics.

2 - Select the clients, backup sets or subclients to include in the report.



3 - Select the filter criteria such as PDF files bigger than 4 KB and not modified in the last 10 days in this example.

4 - Review the additional options and select as needed for the report output.

5 - Select the time frame for the report.



7 - This section of report displays the list of entities included in the report.

8 - Displays the total number and size of files meeting the criteria.

9 - Displays the file distribution over time based on modification time.

10 - Displays the list of all files meeting the criteria.


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