Microsoft IIS - Web Transaction Analysis Report

The Web Transaction Analysis report is specific to web sites. This report provides a summary of the performance of key web transaction metrics reported by eG agents for each web site. A web site may include multiple web servers, with load balancing being used to distribute the requests across the web servers. For a specific time period (say 2 weeks), a user can use the Web Transaction Analysis report to view web transaction metrics across each of the web servers used for a web site. Using this report, a user can determine the following:

  • Is the transaction load being balanced across all the web servers supporting the web site?
  • Are any unusual error patterns seen on specific web servers (e.g., because some content is not available on one of the servers)?
  • Is there any unusual slowness observed on specific web servers?

Figure 1 shows a Web Transactions Analysis report for a web site.

In order to generate this report, do the following:

  1. Select the Web Transaction Analysis option from the Consolidated Analysis node of the REPORTS BY FUNCTION tree.

    Figure 1 : Generating the Web transaction Analysis report

  2. Select the Site for which the report is to be generated from Figure 1.

  3. Specify a Timeline for the report.

    Note:

    For every user registered with the eG Enterprise system, the administrator can indicate the maximum timeline for which that user can generate a report. Once the maximum timeline is set for a user, then, whenever that user logs into eG Reporter and attempts to generate a report, the Timeline list box in the report page will display options according to the maximum timeline setting of that user. For instance, if a user can generate a report for a maximum period of 3 days only, then 3 days will be the highest option displayed in the Timeline list - i.e., 3 days will be the last option in the fixed Timeline list. Similarly, if the user chooses the Any option from the Timeline list and proceeds to provide a start date and end date for report generation using the From and To specifications, eG Enterprise will first check if the user's Timeline specification conforms to his/her maximum timeline setting. If not, report generation will fail. For instance, for a user who is allowed to generate reports spanning over a maximum period of 3 days only, the difference between the From and To dates should never be over 3 days. If it is, then, upon clicking the Run Report button a message box will appear, prompting the user to change the From and To specification.

  4. In addition to the settings discussed above, this report comes with a set of default specifications. These settings are hidden by default. If you do not want to disturb these default settings, then you can proceed to generate the report by clicking the Run Report button soon after you pick a Site. However, if you want to view and then alter these settings (if required), click on the button. The default settings will then appear in the MORE OPTIONS drop down window (see Figure 2). The steps below discuss each of these settings and how they can be customized.

    Figure 2 : The default settings for generating the Web Transaction Analysis report

  5. Specify the start time and end time for report generation against the Time period field (see Figure 2).

  6. If the timeline specified for the report needs to exclude the data collected during the Weekends, then set Exclude weekends to Yes. If not, select No.

    Note:

    The Weekend settings for a Zone Performance report will apply to this report too.

  7. In large environments, reports generated using months of data can take a long time to complete. Administrators now have the option of generating reports on-line or in the background. When a report is scheduled for background generation, administrators can proceed with their other monitoring, diagnosis, and reporting tasks, while the eG manager is processing the report. This saves the administrator valuable time. To schedule background processing of a report, you can either select the Background Save - PDF option or the Background Save - CSV option from the Report Generation list. In this case, a Report Name text box will appear, where you would have to provide the name with which the report is to be saved in the background. To process reports in the foreground, select the Foreground Generation - HTML option from this list.

    Note:

    • The Report Generation list will appear only if the EnableBackgroundReport flag in the [BACKGROUND_PROCESS] section of the eg_report.ini file (in the [EG_INSTALL_DIR]\manager\config directory) is set to Yes.
    • The default selection in the Report Generation list will change according to the Timeline specified for the report. If the Timeline set is greater than or equal to the number of days specified against the MinDurationForReport parameter in the [BACKGROUND_PROCESS] section of the eg_report.ini file, then the default selection in the Report Generation list will be Background Save - PDF. On the other hand, if the Timeline set for the report is lesser than the value of the MinDurationForReport parameter, then the default selection in the Report Generation list will be Foreground. This is because, the MinDurationForReport setting governs when reports are to be processed in the background. By default, this parameter is set to 2 weeks - this indicates that by default, reports with a timeline of 2 weeks and above will be processed in the background.
  8. Finally, click the Run Report button to generate the report.

  9. Figure 3 reveals the transaction-related metrics for the chosen Website.

    Figure 3 : The performance of the website hosted by a Web server

    Note:

    All the metrics displayed in a WebTransaction Analysis report are pre-configured, and cannot be altered.

  10. On the other hand, if the Background Save - PDF option is chosen from the Report Generation list, then clicking on the Run Report button will not generate the report and display it in this page for your benefit. Instead, a message indicating that the report is being processed in the background will appear. This will be accompanied by a link that will lead you to the page that lists all the reports that are being processed in the background, and their current status. If background report generation fails for a report, you can regenerate that report using this page, or can even delete that report if need be. On the other hand, if background processing successfully completes for your report, then, you can view a PDF of the report by clicking on the icon in that page.