ISSUE
In this article I will discuss various reports and how to use them to gain insight into your environment and the rate of change produced from the data collection.
The information presented to you depends on what you click on, and what time frame you choose. This KB uses the Legacy Administrative Interface only.
RESOLUTION
GENERAL RULE: The Navigation pane drives the resulting report. When the Unitrends Server is selected, you will be presented with data related to the Client as a whole. Thus, Hosts will show the total values, databases their total values. When you select the individual Client, it will break down those values down to the database/Guest Machine.
REPORTS > CAPACITY: Shows you the footprint to protect (aka capacity). The report presented is based on the item you choose in the Navigation. The value presented is close to the size of used space on the Client, but based on unique data. For VMs the size can be anywhere from the actual used space up to the provisioned space (determined by VMware and the amount of change rate of the VM). In the report below, I have selected the Host, displaying the footprint capacity for each Guest VM
REPORTS > BACKUP REPORTS > BACKUPS: You must select a time frame from the bottom "Date Range" section. These values do not take into consideration their deduplicated state. You can sort, to help you get a better visual. For example, clicking on ID will give sort chronologically, showing you the oldest to the newest.
REPORTS > BACKUP REPORTS > DEVICES: You must select a time frame from the bottom "Date Range" section. These values are based on actual storage used (after deduplication and compression has been processed). Looking at a range of 3 or more sets, you can see the pattern of deduplication effectiveness over time. If deduplication is very high, and the change rate is very low, you may need to go to the oldest backup sets. You can sort, to help you get a better visual. For example, you can focus on the Master backups first by sorting by Type first (click the column, NOT the arrow), then Date (clicking the arrow next to date).
REPORTS > DATA REDUCTION: Shows you the effectiveness of Deduplication and Data Reduction. Note there are two charts; The left is Deduplication, and is denoted by the green line. The right is Data Reduction, denoted by the orange bars. Placing your cursor over the item will show you the ration for that day. The range, is always based on 30 days.
All reports can be exported for presentation and/or imported for personal processing. For example, the export option creates a CSV file which is compatible with Excel, Access and many other database solutions, allowing you to sort and process the data into manageable, and identifiable historical patterns.