User Guide - Statseeker Version 3.x

Grouping

Purpose of this Guide

This Guide provides an introduction to the Statseeker Grouping utility.

Groups can be used to create different profiles or views of the network, and to create different access profiles to the reporting functionality of Statseeker.

Index

Naming Conventions

It is important to adopt a consistent Group Naming Convention for the following reasons:

  • The Group Filter in NIM is sorted alphanumerically and a Group Naming Convention ensures all Geographical, Business Unit and Infrastructure Groups appear at the top of the Group Filter;
  • User Profile Groups are not used for reporting and are therefore moved to the bottom of the list;
  • Users can quickly navigate through the Group Filter to find relevant information.

The example below shows:

  • 1: ‘Group Name’ = a geographical location (Country, City, Suburb, County, Town, Building)
  • 2: ‘Group Name’ = a business unit (Administration, Finance, Sales, Manufacturing, IT)
  • 3: ‘Group Name’ = an infrastructure type (Routers, Switches, WAN Links, Uplinks, Stack ports, Internet Links)
  • Interface: Speed = a group of like interface speeds automatically maintained by Statseeker
  • Interface: Type = a group of like interface types automatically maintained by Statseeker
  • User Profile: ‘Profile Name’ = a group of reports and users (Users will only see the reports relevant to them)
  • Users: ‘User Group Name’ = a group of users, typically used for alerting (Server Team, Network Engineers, Management)

Add a User

  1. Log into Statseeker as Administrator;
  2. Go to Administration Tool> User Profile/Grouping> Add / Edit Users;
  3. Enter a User Name;
  4. Select ‘Add’;
  5. Enter an email address (often used for alerting);
  6. Enter a password;
  7. Select the default ‘Time Zone’ relevant to the User’s reporting requirements;
  8. Select ‘Add User’.

Note: There is no ‘Save’ button! Changes will be updated immediately.

The following example shows Neil Cornwell being added as a User with a default Time Zone of ‘America/New_York’.

Add a Group

  1. Log into Statseeker as the Administrator;
  2. Go to the Administration Tool> User Profile/Grouping> Add / Edit Groups;
  3. Enter a Group Name;
  4. Select ‘Add’.

The Group is created and added to the Groups list.

Add a Time Filter

The best way to create a Time Filter is to copy and edit an existing Time Filter.

To do this:

  1. Log into Statseeker as the Administrator;
  2. Go to the Administration Tool> User Profile/Grouping> Add / Edit Time Filters;
  3. Select an existing Time Filter;
  4. Select 'Edit';
  5. Edit the name of the Filter;
  6. Customize the Time Filter;
  7. Select 'Save' for the Time Filter to be added to your Time Filter List.

Add an SLA

SLA's are used to calculate the percentage of device and interface availability within business hours, against a target.

To configure an SLA:

  1. Log into Statseeker as the Administrator;
  2. Go to the Administration Tool> User Profile/Grouping> Add / Edit SLAs;
  3. Enter a name for your SLA;
  4. Select 'Add';
  5. Enter the SLA target percentage;
  6. Specify the required business hours using the Time Filter;
  7. Select 'Add SLA'.

Populate Groups

The following options are available:

  • Users to a Group;
  • Reports to a Group;
  • Devices to a Group;
  • Interfaces to a Group;
  • Time Filters to a Group;
  • SLAs to a Group;
  • Groups to a User;
  • Groups to a Report;
  • Groups to a Device;
  • Groups to an Interface;
  • Groups to a Time Filter;
  • Groups to a SLA.

The following three examples demonstrate how to use this utility:

1. Add Devices to a Group

  1. Log into Statseeker as the Administrator;
  2. Go to Administration Tool> User Profile/Grouping> Devices to a Group;
  3. Select the appropriate Group name;
  4. A third column will appear with the heading of the Group Name selected. This column contains the lists of excluded and included devices;
  5. Highlight the devices to be added to the Group, within the Exclude list. (Hold the CTRL+ or SHIFT+ keys for multiple selections);
  6. Select the ">>" button to add these devices to the Include list.

Note: There is no ‘Save’ button! Changes will be updated immediately.

In the example below, the User adds 5 devices to the ‘1: Las Vegas’ Group.

2. Add Interfaces to a Group

  1. Log into Statseeker as the Administrator;
  2. Go to Administration Tool> User Profile/Grouping> Interfaces to a Group;
  3. Select the appropriate Group name;

    A third column will appear with the heading of the Group Name selected.

  4. Use the drop down list to select a device from the list;

    The Exclude list is populated with the interfaces from that device.

    5. The example below shows interfaces from device ‘Atlanta-Switch1’ being added to the ‘3: Stack Ports’ Group.

  5. Select the interfaces to be added to the Group. (Hold the CTRL+ or SHIFT+ keys for multiple selections);
  6. Select the ">>" button to move those interfaces to the Include list.

Note: There is no ‘Save’ button! Changes will be updated immediately.

3. Add Groups to a Device

  1. Log into Statseeker as the Administrator;
  2. Go to Administration Tool> User Profile/Grouping> Groups to a Device;
  3. Select the appropriate Device; (A third column will appear with a heading of the Device selected. This column contains the lists of excluded and included groups)
  4. Highlight the groups to be associated with the Device, within the Exclude list. (Hold the CTRL+ or SHIFT+ keys for multiple selections);
  5. Select the ">>" button to move these Groups to the include list.

Note: there is no ‘Save’ button! Changes will be updated immediately.

In the example below, the User associates 3 Groups to the Device ‘Baltimore-Router1’.

Check the Contents of a Device Group

  1. Go to the Network Infrastructure Monitor and select a Device Group from the Group Filter;
  2. Open the Report List> General> Device Details report;
  3. A list of the Devices in the selected Group will appear in the report.

Check the Contents of an Interface Group

  1. Go to the Network Infrastructure Monitor and select an Interface Group from the Group Filter;
  2. Open the Report List> Interfaces> Details report;
  3. A list of the Interfaces in the selected Group will appear in the report.

Note: This process can also be used to check the interfaces in a Device Group.

Example - Create a User Profile

User profiles are created in order to customize the data and reports that are presented to certain Users. Users can be restricted to the Reports, Groups, and Devices that are relevant to their job function or business unit.

  1. Add a User

    1. Log into Statseeker as Administrator;
    2. Go to Administration Tool> User Profile/Grouping> Add / Edit Users;
    3. Enter a User Name;
    4. Select ‘Add’;
    5. Enter an email address (often used for alerting);
    6. Enter a password;
    7. Select the default ‘Time Zone’ relevant to the User’s reporting requirements;
    8. Select ‘Add User’.

    Note: There is no ‘Save’ button! Changes will be updated immediately.

    The following example shows Neil Cornwell being added as a User with a default Time Zone of ‘America/New_York’.

  2. Add a Group

    1. Go to Administration Tool> User Profile/Grouping> Add / Edit Groups;
    2. Enter a Group Name (the name of the User Profile);
    3. Select ‘Add’.

    The example below shows a User Profile for US based Network Engineers.

  3. Add Reports to a Group

    1. Go to Administration Tool> User Profile/Grouping> Reports to a Group;
    2. Select the appropriate Group name;

      A third column will appear with the heading of the Group Name selected. This column contains the list of excluded and included reports.

    3. Highlight the reports to be added to the Group, within the Exclude list. (Hold the CTRL+ or SHIFT+ keys for multiple selections);
    4. Select the ">>" button to add these reports to the Include list.

      5. Note: There is no ‘Save’ button! Changes will be updated immediately.

    The example below shows the reports required by the US Network Engineers Group.

  4. Add a User to a Group

    1. Go to Administration Tool> User Profile/Grouping> Groups to a Users;
    2. Select the appropriate User Name from the list of previously created Users;
    3. Highlight the Groups relevant to the User, within the Exclude list. (Hold the CTRL+ or SHIFT+ keys for multiple selections);
    4. Highlight the User Profile relevant to this User’s job function or role;
    5. Select the ">>" button to add these Groups to the User.

    Note: There is no ‘Save’ button! Changes will be updated immediately.

    The example below shows Neil Cornwell is a Network Engineer responsible for North America. Neil Cornwell belongs to all Groups associated with North America and the User Profile for US Network Engineers.

  5. The Result

    6. When the User logs into Statseeker, they will only see the Reports, Groups, Devices and/or Interfaces that have been assigned to them.

    The example below shows that we have created a User profile for Neil Cornwell, where Neil only sees the Reports relevant to a Network Engineer and will only see Groups and Devices in North America.

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