Windows 7 / Getting Started

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Reporting

The first component you examine for FSRM is the Storage Report system. It addresses the everyday question, "Where did all my space go?" Current mechanisms to ascertain usage of disk space are manual at best. There is no solution to quickly find out how much space is wasted due to duplicate files, how the disk space is used by file type, and what are the least and most used files, and then present this information in a readable manner.

The Storage Report system addresses this need by defining a number of key scenario reports that can be customized through a number of userdefinable parameters and run on an as-needed basis or on a defined schedule. The built-in reports are defined via the Extensible Style sheet Language (XSL) format. Modifying them is not recommended. The included reports are the following:

• Duplicate files: Files that share a common size and last modified date. This information can be used to reclaim wasted disk space.
• File screening audit: This scans the screening audit events to find violations of screening policies.
• Files by file group: Finds disk usage by the type of file and can be configured to report on all files or only files of certain types, such as audio and video or e-mail.
• Files by owner: Finds usage by the file owner for all users or selected users. It can be fine-tuned to report only on certain filename patterns, such as *.mp3.
• Large files: List all files above a certain definable size and, optionally, based on a certain filename pattern.
• Least recently accessed files: List all files that have not been accessed for a definable number of days and, optionally, matching a certain filename pattern.
• Most recently accessed files: List all files that have been accessed within a definable number of days and, optionally, matching a certain filename pattern.
• Quota usage: List all quotas and their current usage that meet a certain percent of quota used.

The reports can be outputted in a variety of formats, such as HTML, dynamic HTML (allows re-sorting of data within the Web browser), comma-separated values (CSV), text, and XML. After the reports are created, they are saved to a defined location (C:\StorageReports by default) and optionally delivered to a mailbox or distribution list to target multiple users.

Select the Storage Reports Management leaf in the navigation pane. The main details pane shows any existing scheduled reports (if any) and the actions pane gives three options: Schedule a New Report Task allows a new scheduled report to be configured, Add or Remove Reports for a Report Task allows modifications to an existing scheduled report, and Generate Reports Now to initiate a report interactively.

Scheduling a New Report

One of the best ways to use the FSRM reports is to schedule the reports to run periodically at quiet times (for example 2:00 AM) and then post the output to a SharePoint site or by e-mail to managers responsible for a data area. To accomplish this, select the Schedule a New Report Task from the Actions menu or actions pane. You now have three tabs for configuration.

The Settings tab allows you to select which areas are included as part of the report. Volumes, folders, and multiple areas can be selected for each report by clicking the Add button in the Scope section of the tab.

After you select the scope of the report, select which reports to be run. By default, all reports are selected, but you probably want to unselect most of them and run only a specific report. For each report, the Edit Parameters button can be selected. Depending on the report, it allows additional configuration to be performed. For example, for the File Screening Audit report, you can set a minimum number of days since the file screen events occurred and whether the report should be for all users or specific users.

The final configuration on the Settings tab is the output format, which can be dynamic HTML (DHTML), regular HTML, XML, CSV, and plain text. Choose HTML or DHTML for interactive viewing. The difference between DHTML and HTML is that DHTML tables of information can be sorted dynamically by clicking the various column headings. The XML format is most useful for importing the report into another system, such as a data warehouse where you can then run more complex reporting.

The Delivery tab specifies to which e-mail addresses the reports are mailed if the Send Reports to the Following Administrators option is selected. By default, this is not enabled. The Delivery tab also confirms where the report is saved to. You can change this using the Configure options, but it cannot be set on a per-report basis.

The Schedule tab configures when to run the report. Click the Create Schedule button to open the Schedule dialog.

Click the New button and options for the configuration are displayed. Options include frequency of execution, which could be daily, weekly (with the option to select which days to run on), monthly, at system startup, when the system has been idle for a configurable number of minutes, and once (runs the report once at a configured time and date). You can click New multiple times to create combinations of report executions. You are not limited to just one schedule-you can easily run the report daily and at system startup. The Show Multiple Schedules option at the bottom of the Schedule dialog needs to be selected to run multiple schedules. Click OK after all options are configured. The Storage report is now listed in the details pane.

Schedules reports can be modified by right-clicking the report and selecting Properties or by clicking the Add or Remove Reports for a Report Task. This lists the scheduled reports.

If you need a report immediately, you can right-click on a scheduled report and select Run Report Task Now from its context menu. You might create scheduled reports just to have an easy and quick way to run them interactively. If you want to run a report you don't have defined, click the Generate Reports Now link in the actions pane. This gives you exactly the same options as a scheduled report.

If you opt to run reports manually, you have two options. The report can run and then automatically show you the results. The report can run in the background, and you can view it manually later by looking at the reports area (interactive) on disk. Depending on the configuration, the report can be mailed to you.

Now navigate to the StorageReports\Interactive folder. You see a number of files. (The number depends on the reports selected and the output format.) Let's take the most interesting, the dynamic HTML file. (It still has a HTML extension.) When you open the file, you get an Internet Explorer warning. This is because a script loads to render the dynamic HTML. Right-click the warning and select Allow Blocked Content. Then click Yes on the confirmation dialog.

The DHTML file can now be viewed. Clicking the various table column headings sorts the data. This allows one report to be usable for nearly any purpose. (For example, one person might want to see the data listed in order of owner, by biggest file, and by smallest files.) Take some time running reports, and you see the real benefit to the organization. If your company charges business areas for its disk space usage, now you can automatically run a report each night that gets mailed to the areas, showing them why they are using so much disk space. From an operational standpoint, reports that find duplicate files identify wasted disk space. Reports showing file space usage by file type prove that most of your space is used by MP3 files.

Scheduling storage reports is controlled via the Task Scheduler component of Windows Server. Reports are executed by the storrept.exe image. It passes a task identifier so storrept knows which scheduled report to execute. An example of this format is as follows:

C:\WINDOWS\system32\storrept.exe reports generate /scheduled
/Task:"FSRM_Report_Task{8900e594-08ce-49f7-82d3-531d0ce6ac6a}"

View the scheduled task using the Task Scheduler system tool (accessed by clicking Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools). Select the root Task Scheduler Library leaf of the navigation pane, and the report task is listed in the details pane. Each entry can be selected to see the detail of its execution.

Cluster installations are fully supported. Practically, this means that if a scheduled report is defined on one node in the cluster, it is accessible from the other nodes that might share disks. This is possible because the entire FSRM configuration is stored on the actual volume.