User Guide - Statseeker Version 3.x

Understanding the User Interface

Purpose of this Guide

This Guide provides:

  • Introduction to the Statseeker User Interface;
  • Information on how to interact with the Statseeker User Interface.

Index

The Network Infrastructure Monitor (NIM) Consoles

To log into Statseeker Version 3.x for the first time:

  • Open a supported web browser;
  • Type in the URL of the Statseeker server;
  • Each User is provided a username and password by their Administrator;
  • Once the authentication has completed, one of two NIM Consoles will appear.

The NIM is the 'nerve center' of Statseeker and allows network staff to quickly and easily run real time reports, perform historical analysis and administer Statseeker.

There are two NIM Consoles in Statseeker:

  1. When logged in as the Administrator, the default screen is the NIM – Advanced Console;
  2. When logged in as a User, the default screen is the NIM – Standard Console:

The NIM Standard Console

  • The reports, groups, devices and interfaces seen by the User are determined by the Statseeker Administrator.

    The Standard Console is designed as a point and click style User Interface. For example, if a User has been given access to the Interfaces> Utilization report and wanted to know the busiest interface on their entire network, they would go to the Report List and select Interfaces> Utilization.

    This report would proactively rank 100% of the network, or 100% of the interfaces that have been assigned to a User. The top 20 interfaces would be presented in the report, with the default sort being identified by the blue arrow, as shown below.

  • Users can drill down to a comprehensive baseline of the performance of this interface by selecting the ifName in the Interface column. The default time filter of this drill down is the last 12 hours based on 1 minute data samples.

    Users can select a time filter from the predefined list to view a baseline for any of these time periods. Data is presented in the most appropriate format based on the time filter selected. For example, if Last 30 Days is selected, data is presented in a calendar format so Users can quickly and easily see trends on the network’s performance.

    This quick and easy access method to a comprehensive baseline on the network’s performance is consistent throughout the NIM.

  • While the Standard Console is the default login view for Users, they also have access to the Advanced Console by selecting the ‘Advanced Console’ button at the bottom of the screen.

    Note: The Standard Console is simply a cut down version of the Advanced Console.

The NIM Advanced Console

  • The Advanced Console is the default log in for the Admin User and is home to the full compliment of Statseeker features. The contents of the Advanced Console can be amended by the Administrator when configuring User Profiles and Groups.

Navigating the Consoles

Note: The Standard Console is simply a cut down version of the Advanced Console.

The Advanced Console consists of six separate easy to use and interrelated sections:

Report List

The Out of the Box Report List contains:

  • All of the reports relevant to the User’s network; and
  • All of the reports relevant to the User’s Statseeker configuration.

For example, if Statseeker is configured to monitor Servers and UPS’s these reports will appear in the Report List. Similarly if thresholds have been configured, then a series of threshold reports will appear in the User’s report list.

Note that the Report List is bundled according to technology type and vendor specific reporting which are identified by report headings, such as;

  • Ping;
  • Interfaces;
  • Historical/Management;
  • Network Devices;
  • Servers;
  • Events.

Each group of reports are further divided into different types for specific data analysis, such as:

  • Current Status;
  • Statistics Reports (detailed time based reports);
  • Events;
  • Reporting Tool (for ad hoc detailed analysis);
  • Technology Reports (eg Cisco IPSLA or Server File system usage).

Each report in the list provides a drill down to network data. To run a report, click on the report title in the list.

The report will open in a new window and multiple reports may be opened.

Note:

  • Running a report with no filtering will show data for the entire network relevant to that technology/data type;
  • All real time reports in Statseeker refresh, making them ideal for Help Desk, Service Desk or NOC environments.

Group Filter

Group Filters provide a method of filtering to specific areas of interest - for example limiting to a certain type of equipment, core interfaces; a specific geographic location, or business unit etc.

Selecting one or multiple Groups before running a report will limit the data retrieved to those Groups only. This will allow Users to drill into specific parts of the network quickly. Multiple groups can be selected using standard browser multiple select options (Shift+, Ctrl+).

The Group Filter also displays User profiles that have been created using the Grouping & User Profiling section of the Administration Tool.

It is strongly advised that a naming convention is adopted where for example:

  • ‘1 Group Name’ might indicate a geographical location;
  • ‘2: Group Name’ a business unit;
  • ‘3: Group Name’ an infrastructure type etc...

Device Filter

The Device Filter contains a list of ALL devices currently being monitored.

Select one or multiple devices, to report on those devices only.

Time Filter

The Time Filter allows Users to report across specific time periods.

By using the drop down selections it is possible to limit the volumes of data collected by Statseeker.

Note: The selected time filters populate the Query Info section of the Time Filter itself.

Users can select a pre-defined time range from the Favorites drop down list, and further narrow that selection by using the weekday and time drop downs.

In the example above, the following options were chosen:

  • A Time Filter favorite of the last 30 days;
  • Weekday = Mon to Fri;
  • Time = 8:00 am to 6:00 pm;
  • Time Zone = America/Los Angeles.

The resulting Query Info would read: 

range = start_of_today – 30d to now; wday = Mon to Fri; time = 08:00 to 18:00

Alternatively Users can use the Range by selecting a start date and time and then specifying a duration.

Note: the duration options change as more granular range selections are made.

In the example above, the following options were chosen using the Range selections:

  • Year = 2010;
  • Month = Oct;
  • Day = 25;
  • Duration = 1 day (or many days from the start date can be chosen);

The resulting Query Info would read: 

range = 2010-10-25 to 2010-10-26

Commonly used time filters can be saved as Favorites and will appear in a User’s Favorites List.

To Create a Favorite:

  • Select the appropriate Time Filter Options;
  • Select the ‘Modify’ button;
  • Enter a name for the Favorite;
  • Select ‘Save’.

It is also possible to write a time filter query directly into the Query Info text box.

The most important thing to remember about the time filters is that they can be used to review any data down to a five minute window of time, and potentially graph, report or export that data as one minute samples.

NOTE: The Time Filter only applies to reports relating to ‘event style data’.

These reports include Availability, Outages, Syslog, SNMP Traps, Device Events, Interface Events, Thresholds etc...

To identify if the time filter has been applied successfully, check the heading on the top of the report.

In the following example a time filter of Yesterday was selected before running a Ping> Outages report.

NOTE: Reports that do not use the Time Filter will display the time filter relevant to that report within the heading.

In the following example the Interfaces> Utilization report displays a heading of ‘Interface Utilization – Last 5 Minutes’.

There are three options for displaying historical data with these reports:

  • Option 1 - Select a Last N filter option from the list provided at the top of the report.

  • Option 2 - Drill down on either the device name or the ifName in the Interface column depending on whether it’s a Device or Interface report, and access a comprehensive baseline for any time selections at the top of the report.

  • Option 3 - Most reports provide a link to the Advanced Reporting Tool where Users can graph, report or export the data for a particular range of time at a particular sample rate, as shown below.

General Filters

The General Filters provide Users with an even greater level of control over their reported data.

  1. Text Filters

    2. The Text Filter allows Users to:

    • Insert plain text or complex regular expressions to filter reports;
    • Generate reports on any part of a make, model or location based on the User’s device naming convention.

    Reports will only apply to those devices that match that text. For example:

    • If a User enters text into the filter; and then
    • Runs an Interfaces > Utilization report.

    The Report will then display only devices that match the text. In the following example a User wants to report on all “Router1” devices.

    The Text Filter can also be used in conjunction with the Group Filter.

    • If a User selects a Group from the Group List; and then
    • Enters text into the Text Filter, and opens an ‘Interfaces> Bytes Report’.

    The Report below displays the Top N of all interfaces that match the query. In this example a User is reporting on all Routers in New York.

    The Text Filter can also be used to filter on events:

    • Select a time filter (e.g Last Week);
    • Enter text into the Filter;
    • Open any Event report.

    This is especially useful for Syslog and SNMP Trap Event Reports.

    For example, if Users are only interested in the UPDOWN Syslog messages, that expression can be entered into the Text Filter and limit the report to contain only those messages. .

    If Users are only interested in those messages for a specific group of devices or a particular device, then a Group Filter or a Device Filter can also be applied.

    The following example demonstrates how to generate a report with only the UPDOWN Syslog messages in the Sydney Group.

    Note: This logic applies to all of the event reports and is also the same principal used to create alerts from Statseeker.

  2. Top N Filter

    3. The Top N Filter determines the number of lines displayed in most reports.

    The default setting for the Standard Console is 20 and can’t be adjusted.

    The default setting for the Advanced Console is 50, and can be adjusted.

    The most common uses for this filter are;

    1. Display all of the interfaces on a large switch by;
      • Selecting a switch from the Device Filter;
      • Changing the Top N filter to a sufficient size to report on all of the interfaces; and
      • Running a report.
    2. Focussing the report output to only display a limited number of entries.

    The example below is where the Top N filter has been used to limit the number of lines of a report to 10.

    Note: The first report in the report list is deliberately called a Top X Network Summary report, rather than a Top N Network Summary report, as the Top N filter does not apply to this report.

    The Top X report is designed to be a summary and therefore only displays the top 5 results for each of the sub reports within this summary. The top 5 or Top X value for this report is configurable by the Administrator, and is a global setting.

  3. Grouping Option Toggle

    4. The Grouping Option toggle is often used to troubleshoot the network.

    By default, the Grouping Option toggle is set to OR, which means that when two groups are selected Users see the results that live in selected Group A OR Group B.

    In the example below a User has selected ‘1: San Francisco’ and ‘Interface: Speed 100M’ then run an Interface report. The report ranks all of the 100M interfaces on the network and all of the interfaces in San Francisco, in this case 9809 entries.

    (All Interfaces belonging to EACH of the Groups selected in the Group Filter list will be displayed).

    If a User changes the Grouping Option Toggle to AND with the same Group selections and then runs an interface report, it ranks all of the 100M interfaces in San Francisco, in this case 824 entries.

    (Only Interfaces belonging to BOTH Groups selected in the Group Filter list, will be displayed)

Function Buttons

  • The ‘Clear Filters’ button will remove any filters that have previously been applied, so that Users can report on 100% of the network, or start filtering again with a clean slate.
  • The ‘Help’ button will direct Users to Statseeker’s online documentation.
  • The ‘Standard Console’ button and Advanced Console Buttons toggle between the two consoles.
  • The ‘Edit User’ button allows Users to edit their own details. Users can change their email address (used for Statseeker Alerting), password, and default time zone.
  • The ‘Change User’ button makes it is possible to log in as a different User quickly without having to close the current session.
  • The 'Administration Tool' opens a separate administration screen and is used to configure Statseeker.

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