This is a beginning framework for reporting from Servers Alive. It uses the Interchange file format to get information on checked items. This is no longer being actively developed. The need still exists, but I can't give any time to it at the moment. All three pieces are functional, but the reporting piece isn't complete.

SAReports consists of three pieces (currently). 1) An insert piece that takes data from the interchange file and puts it in a DB. 2) A munge piece that massages the data into a summary form that's easier to use. 3) A report piece that generates graphs. I cheated and decided to use the graphing facilities of MS Office. That saved me lots of effort, but since the package is modular you can substitute your own graphing piece to handle the graphs.

SAReports is kept separate and licensed very loosely so that you can use it however you please. The copyright and license info are in the files.

Before Starting
You'll need to get a perl interpreter. I recommend ActiveState (http://www.activestate.com). Also, you'll need to get the DBI modules for database interaction. To get these go to the command line and type:
ppm install DBI
ppm install DBD::ODBC

Depending on your version of activestate you may need to use ppm3 instead of ppm.

Getting Started
After downloading the SAReports archive unzip the components into a directory on your Servers Alive system. I chose C:\Program Files\Salive\Reportdb, and that's what is used in the example config files.

• Insert the registry entry. Double click on the interchange registry file. This tells SA what things to put in the Interchange file.
• Setup an ODBC source. Create an ODBC source pointing at the Access DB supplied, or a suitable substitute. I called mine "salive" and put that name in the sareports.conf file. If you choose another name then modify the sareports.conf file to show the correct information.
• Tell SA to start generating the interchange file. To do this:
  1. Open SA and click Setup.
  2. Hit the Interchange tab.
  3. Click "Export result file".
  4. For the filename use an appropriate path. I chose to have SA store it in the default directory, in a file called inter.txt. So I set filename to "C:\Program Files\Salive\inter.txt".
  5. The command should point at wherever you stored insert.pl. You will also need to include a command line parameter that tells insert where to find its conf file. It appears that SA doesn't actually change directories to where insert.pl is before launching it, so if the conf file isn't in the SA directory insert won't find it. My command is "C:\Program Files\Salive\reportdb\insert.pl -l reportdb". You'll notice that I used a relative path for the -l parameter. You may want to use a full path depending on where you put your program.
• Hit Apply and OK.
• Let SA finish a cycle, then go see if the interchange file was made, and whether the contents were put into your DB.