Forum Discussion

admin_bkp007's avatar
admin_bkp007
Level 5
2 months ago

Get something off one’s chest

I think we need urgent :) more ADMINs NETBACKUP using NETBACKUP IT ANALYTICS.

Some kind of that reports we can help each other, I remember when I need some report equivalent in OPSCenter about growth data like a post DPeaco , with one simply search in this forum I find and that's works until today.


NETBACKUP IT ANALYTICS is "good tool", but a lot of complex! 

Support doesn't help us for custom reports, alright I understood something like that because depends of what report do you want is very very specific, but let's be far about side admin backup?

I waste a lot of my time for create one report in NEW DYNAMIC TEMPLATE, I supposed that's option was to be simply for create a report? Bad mistake, I learned some fields you put on this report make your report get in blank...how is that possible? Is Like a conflict between some fields? So WHY can I able to add this field? That's not make sense...

The bad thing is when you waste time for create a report in DYNAMIC TEMPLATE and check works fine from 90% about your environment and what about 10%? Do another template or check field by field for try to find where is your "conflict" ... again that's not make sense...

  • admin_bkp007's avatar
    admin_bkp007
    Level 5
    2 months ago

    Hey DPeaco  you say a lot of trues, that's the point we admin backup just need a tool "friendly" for do our reports and send for our customers and boss.

    The intuitive tool for create a report and don't waste hours and hours with something is gonna working for 90% or create report with conflict and wow I don't have any idea what I have to check ... 

    Upgrade NBUITA is piece of cake, please think about do reports like do upgrade :)  maybe New Dynamic Template is the way ....

  • DPeaco's avatar
    DPeaco
    Moderator
    2 months ago

    BTW, my presence here is not to always talk bad about NBUITA. I'm just trying to find answers to my reporting problems and questions all the while - trying to help others and to point out to Veritas developers that NBUITA should have a GUI front-end that is Backup Admin friendly and easier to use......Point-and-click.

    A comment from another Backup Admin I got today:
    It's a shame how much more difficult it is to generate a report from sql (nbuita).

  • admin_bkp007's avatar
    admin_bkp007
    Level 5
    2 months ago

    I gonna check, thanks.

    Believe I tried to make a lot of times SQL report, tried to make modification with chatgpt, read documentation for to understand better so I tried a lot of things, is not just "well that's so hard to understand" no way !

    But when we don't have the base about SQL make things so hard to create a report from zero or do modifications because thats "languague is not my world" do you know what I meaning right...

    • DPeaco's avatar
      DPeaco
      Moderator
      2 months ago

      This right here....!!!!!!

      But when we don't have the base about SQL make things so hard to create a report from zero or do modifications because that "language is not my world" do you know what I meaning right...

      Look, I'm a backup admin, supporting over 1400 servers and with data backups running in the 4.6 to 5.1 PB of data per month. Do YOU think I have time to sit and try to figure out what SQL query language is, how to write it and then figure out the database structure in NBUITA that is so complex that Veritas support is buried in support calls for IT Analytics. < sigh >

      1. What I need is NOT a "custom report". I've been riding Veritas on how reporting could be done by a Backup Admin without learning to be a DBA and writing SQL queries without knowing all the databases, indices, pointers, table joins, and the list goes on and on. I've been harping to make reporting easier, better, and more Backup Admin friendly for at least a decade now. A MS SQL Database report that shows a MSSQL DB backup policy, schedule, and database name to send out to my MS SQL DBA's should be a simple, clean, and pre-canned report in NBUITA. 
        I reached out to a Veritas person about an MSSQL report and it wasn't long before I got something back from them that was "almost" want I needed. The SQL code I got from them would have taken me a full year to figure out, learn and write for myself.
      2. The information that we need ( us backup admins ) is IN the database tables inside NBUITA. Do I really need to become an Oracle DBA to get a report out of NBUITA for my company's leadership to see/read?
      3. Backup reporting for data protection, job success rate, job failure rate, how much data growth have we seen for server abc123 in the past 3 month, when did the last full backup run for server def321, what's our monthly backup data amounts  for our Windows servers, Linux servers, Unix servers over the past 6 months. And the list goes on.
      4. Believe it or not.......and I'm talking to Veritas here.....Backup REPORTING is a "critical" part of the daily struggle for every backup admin living in the "trenches" every single day. We get requests for specific information and it should not take a YEAR to figure out how to get that information OUT of NBUITA. OPS Center was more backup admin friendly than Aptare/NBUITA has ever been.

      In brief.....

      If you sell and support a product that provides the abilities for data protection and disaster recovery and any level? Then YOUR priority should be developing a easy to use reporting tool that helps "remove" the pressure off of the supporting backup admin.

      OK....I'll go back to my corner now and mind my own business. I now need to get back to that MSSQL DB backup report that I'm still trying to figure out the SQL query code to get the end result I need. ---- BTW ---- THANK YOU Mr. Veritas for sending the code for the MSSQL DB backup report. It just needs some tweaking to get the final output correct and we'll be golden....and I'd be happy to share the end result with the rest of the group once we have it correct and running.

      Thanks for listening and allowing me to vent.

      Dennis Peacock

  • admin_bkp007's avatar
    admin_bkp007
    Level 5
    2 months ago

    Robert_Gellerthat's the point, I'm not able to write custom reports using SQL, I don't have any expertise about SQL. 

    One of reports I want is about "growth data" like post DPEACO, but anyone give some "light" about his post, I keeping gonna fighting with Analytics, thanks for your opinion.

    • Robert_Geller's avatar
      Robert_Geller
      Level 4
      2 months ago

      admin_bkp007 DPeaco kiyan  Look at these reports in the report library

      Backup Client Volume Forecast CL

      NBU Ad Hoc Occupancy Distribution 

      NBU Daily Full and Incremenals by Client - Policy

      Ad Hoc Backup Metric Forecast

      Backup Period over Period Stats Detail

      Daily Job Size vs 3 Day Moving Average

      Re: Not knowing SQL, the Dynamic Template designer helps with not having to type SQL code, but its still an SQL based tool and the advanced use of this does require some SQL knowledge IMO.  I think you will get more use out of learning SQL vs DTD in the long run.  The best way to start is taking an SQL based report (IE: from the library) and making modifications and updates.  

       

       

  • Robert_Geller's avatar
    Robert_Geller
    Level 4
    2 months ago

    I think most customers who write custom reports use the SQL template designer.  The Dynamic template designer is a good tool to update existing "out-of-the-box" reports, but when creating the reports from scratch, it can be complex (as you mentioned), and it doesnt have as much functionality as writing SQL.   There is a way to enable debugging, so you can see the query that gets executed behind the scenes, and this could help to explain/diagnose issues when you add certain data points and the report goes blank.  Its usually a data problem, because the join created can be a straight join vs an outer join. 

    I like where you are going with more people using this forum and contributing to the community.  Perhaps you can create a new post and describe what type of report you are looking for, and Im sure you will get some folks to chime.

     

    CC ZenOfAnalytics