User Guide for Cisco Security MARS Global Controller, Release 4.2.x
Queries and Reports

Table Of Contents

Queries and Reports

Queries

To Run a Quick Query

To Run a Free-form Query

To Run a Batch Query

To Stop a Batch Query

To Resubmit a Batch Query

To Delete a Batch Query

Selecting the Query Type

Result Format

Order/Rank By

Filter By Time

Use Only Firing Events

Maximum Number of Rows Returned

Selecting Query Criteria

To Select a Criterion

Query Criteria

Source IP

Destination IP

Service

Event Types

Device

Severity/Zone

Operation

Rule

Action

Saving the Query

Perform a Long-Duration Query Using a Report

View a Query Result in the Report Tab

Perform a Batch Query

Reports

Report Type Views: Total vs. Peak vs. Recent

Creating a Report

Create a New Report

Working With Existing Reports


Queries and Reports


This chapter discusses the following topics:

Queries

Perform a Long-Duration Query Using a Report

Perform a Batch Query

Reports

Queries

On the Query page, you can run reports as on-demand queries, or create your own query. Many links from other pages bring you to the query page, which then partially populate the query's criteria. Once you have submitted a query, you can save it as a report or a rule.

Queries performed at the Global Controller level are similar to those on an Local Controller, but also include the Zone parameter. You can run a query across one or more Local Controllers by specifying their zones. This enables a query at the Global Controller to select zone-specific objects.

When you submit a query from the Global Controller, it is sent out to the Local Controllers specified in the Zone parameter. The Local Controllers perform the actual query, send it back to the Global Controller, which then merges and presents the results at the global level.

Figure 6-1 The Global Controller Query Table

1

Click to select the Local Controller to query.

2

Click to set the query type and time range criteria.

3

Click Clear to return query values to default values.

4

Quick query fields permit entry of values without opening dialog box for the field.

5

Click on a field value to open the dialog box for that field.

6

Save the query as a report or as a rule.

7

Click Submit Batch to run the query.


Except for the Zone parameter, running a query on the Global Controller is the same as running a query on a Local Controller.

To Run a Quick Query


Step 1 Enter a source IP, destination IP, or a service into the quick query field.

Step 2 Click the Submit Inline button to run the query.


Figure 6-2 Running a Quick Query

To Run a Free-form Query


Step 1 Enter a source IP, destination IP, or a service into the quick query field.

Figure 6-3 Running a free-form query

Step 2 Click the name of the query ([None] appears as the name if you have none saved) or Edit to enter the rest of the query. You can also click the parentheses icon ()to add parentheses for nested queries or click the trash can icon () to remove parentheses.

Step 3 Under Search String enter strings to query; under Operation, select the operation (AND, OR, NOT). For the final item in the list, select None.

Step 4 Click the Apply button.

Step 5 Click the Submit button to run the query.


Note The free-form query cannot be saved as a rule.



To Run a Batch Query


Step 1 Enter your data for either a simple or free-form query. If your query is expected to take a long time to run, instead of Submit Inline, you may given the option of having it run as a batch query.

Figure 6-4 Construct a Query to Run in Background (Batch Query)

Step 2 Click Submit... to make your selection.

Figure 6-5 Choosing the Query Submission Method

To submit as a standard inline query, click Submit Inline.To submit your query as a batch query, click Submit Batch. Your query is submitted, and you are automatically taken to the Batch Query tab.

If your query is very large, you may only be give the options of Save as Rule, Save as Report, or Submit Batch.

Figure 6-6 Change Query Criteria

To submit your query as a batch query, click Submit Batch. Your query is submitted, and you are automatically taken to the Batch Query tab.

Figure 6-7 Select Batch Query

Step 3 To watch the status of the query in real-time, you can use the drop-down list to change the Page Refresh Rate from Never (the default) to 1 minute, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, or 30 minutes.

Step 4 To view the results of the batch query as it is running, click View Results. This can be done while the query is in progress.

If the email address in your user profile on the MARS is valid, the results of your batch query are emailed to you when the query has completed, and can also be viewed by clicking QUERY / REPORTS > Batch Query > View Results.


Note When you click View Results while the query is in progress, the results compiled up to that moment are recomputed. This can make the display take longer to appear than after the results are compiled.



To Stop a Batch Query


Step 1 Click QUERY/REPORTS, then click the Batch Query tab.

Step 2 Click Stop. The Status of the query changes to Finished.


To Resubmit a Batch Query

You can resubmit a batch query if you want to restart it. A resubmitted batch query will use previously computed results, thus resulting in a faster query than one submitted for the first time.


Step 1 Click QUERY/REPORTS, then click the Batch Query tab.

Step 2 Click Resubmit. The Status of the query changes to In Progress.


To Delete a Batch Query


Step 1 Click QUERY/REPORTS, then click the Batch Query tab.

Step 2 Click Delete.

Step 3 In the confirmation window, click Delete to confirm.


Note You can only see your own batch queries and their results. The batch queries of others and their results are not viewable by you, and your batch queries and their results are not viewable by others.



Selecting the Query Type

Figure 6-8 Clicking the Query Type or Edit link

You can select different query criteria by clicking the Query Type link or Edit button. This lets you determine a query's result format, rank, time, whether it only uses firing events, and the number of rows returned.

Figure 6-9 The Query Criteria: Result Page

Result Format

Event Type Ranking

Returns the most reported event types. Ranked by either: number of sessions containing at least one of the event type or by bytes transmitted in sessions that contain events that meet the query criteria.

Event Type Group Ranking

Returns either pre-defined or user defined grouped event types. Ranked by either: number of sessions containing at least one event type contained in the group or by bytes transmitted in sessions that contain events that meet the query criteria.

Source IP Address Ranking

Returns source IP addresses. Ranked by number of sessions with that source IP address or by bytes transmitted in sessions that contain events that meet the query criteria.

Network Ranking

Returns top networks that exists in MARS. Ranked by either: number of sessions that contain events that meet the query criteria or by bytes transmitted in sessions that contain events that meet the query criteria. If a network is excluded, it is excluded from all results.

Network Group Ranking

Returns top network groups that exists in MARS. Ranked by either: number of sessions that contain events that meet the query criteria or by bytes transmitted in sessions that contain events that meet the query criteria. If a network is excluded, it is excluded from all results.

Source Network Ranking

Returns top source networks that exists in MARS. Ranked by either: number of sessions that contain events that meet the query criteria or by bytes transmitted in sessions that contain events that meet the query criteria. If a network is excluded, it is excluded from all results.

Source Network Group Ranking

Returns top source network groups that exists in MARS. Ranked by either: number of sessions that contain events that meet the query criteria or by bytes transmitted in sessions that contain events that meet the query criteria. If a network is excluded, it is excluded from all results.

Destination Network Ranking

Returns top destination networks that exists in MARS. Ranked by either: number of sessions that contain events that meet the query criteria or by bytes transmitted in sessions that contain events that meet the query criteria. If a network is excluded, it is excluded from all results.

Destination Network Group Ranking

Returns top destination network groups that exists in MARS. Ranked by either: number of sessions that contain events that meet the query criteria or by bytes transmitted in sessions that contain events that meet the query criteria. If a network is excluded, it is excluded from all results.

Destination IP Address Ranking

Returns destination IP addresses. Ranked by either: number of sessions with that destination IP address or by bytes transmitted in sessions that contain events that meet the query criteria.

Source Port Ranking

Returns source ports. Ranked by either: number of sessions with that source port or by bytes transmitted in sessions that contain events that meet the query criteria.

Destination Port Ranking

Returns destination ports. Ranked by either: number of sessions with that destination port or by bytes transmitted in sessions that contain events that meet the query criteria.

Protocol Ranking

Returns most used protocols. Ranked by either: number of sessions with that protocol or by bytes transmitted in sessions that contain events that meet the query criteria.

Reporting Device Ranking

Returns most active reporting devices. Ranked by either: number of sessions that contain events from the device or by bytes transmitted in sessions that contain events that meet the query criteria.

Reporting Device Type Ranking

Returns most active reporting device types. Ranked by either: number of sessions that contain events from a device of that type or by bytes transmitted in sessions that contain events that meet the query criteria.

Reported User Ranking

Returns information about users from reporting devices such as: Windows clients, Solaris clients, etc. Ranked by either: number of sessions that contain events from a reported user or by bytes transmitted in sessions that contain events that meet the query criteria.

Matched Rule Ranking

Returns top firing rules. Ranked by number of incidents.

Matched Incident Ranking

Returns incidents. Ranked by either: number of sessions that contain events that meet the criteria that contributed to the incident or by bytes transmitted real time in sessions that contain events that meet the query criteria.

All Matching Sessions

Returns all sessions that contain events that meet the criteria. Sessions that contain a common set of event types are grouped together. They are also sub-grouped by session source IP address and session destination IP address. Sessions in the same sub-group are ordered by time. Real Time results are available for this Result Type.

All Matching Events

Returns events. Ranked by time with the most current first. Real Time results are available for this Result Type.

All Matching Event Raw Messages

Returns the raw messages associated with events. Ranked by time with the most current first. Real Time results are available for this Result Type.

NAT Connection Report

Returns NAT connections. Ranked by time with the most current first.

MAC Address Report

Returns MAC addresses. Ranked by time with the most current first.

Unknown Event Report

Returns events that are not fully processed by the MARS. In some cases, event information such as the five tuple (source IP, source port, destination IP, destination port, and protocol) might not be present, hence can not be queried in real time.

Order/Rank By

This selection determines the ranking or order of the query's results. These selections are determined by the kind of Result Format that you use when you run the query.

Session Count

The number of sessions that contain events that meet the criteria that contributed to the incident.

Bytes Transmitted

The number of bytes transmitted in sessions that contain events that meet the query criteria.

Time

Most current results appear first.

Incident Count

Largest number of incidents appear first.

Filter By Time

Last

The present time minus the number of days, hours, and minutes entered.

Start/End

Absolute literal time ranges defined by the date to the minute.

Real Time

Streams rolling real-time results from recent past to current time. Result Formats that work in real time are: All Matching Sessions, All Matching Events, and All Matching Event Raw Messages.

Real Time results appear in a normal browser window. Moving the scroll bar stops the "rolling" behavior. Clicking the Resume button on the bottom of the page allows the scrolling to resume.

Figure 6-10 Click the Resume Button to Start the Page Rolling

1

Top row visible

2

Bottom row visible

3

Total rows queried since start

4

Number of new queries pulled when this page last refreshed


Use Only Firing Events

Select this if you want only events that fired incidents to return information.

Maximum Number of Rows Returned

Select the number of rows that you want displayed.

Selecting Query Criteria

To Select a Criterion


Step 1 Select the criteria that you want to edit by clicking it.

Figure 6-11 Clicking any to narrow your criteria

Step 2 Move the items that you want to query from the right to the left of the filter by selecting the check box next to them, and clicking the Equal and Not Equal buttons.

Figure 6-12 Selecting Variables

Step 3 You can select a variety of different variables, events, devices, addresses from the filter page. The following number correspond with the numbers in the preceding graphic:

1. Check the boxes next to the items in the Sources Selected field to select them, and click the Toggle Equal button to change them between equal and not equal.

2. Click the Select All button to select all items in the Sources Selected field. (Note: if you have items highlighted in the Sources Selected field, clicking Select All will de-select them.)

3. Use the Equal and Not Equal buttons to bring highlighted items from the Sources Available field into the Sources Selected field.

4. Filter sources from this drop-down list.

5. Enter search text, and click Search to move items that match the search criteria from the Sources Available field to the Sources Selected field.

6. To add a new item to the sources, click the Add button. To edit or delete an existing source, click the Edit or Delete button. See IP Management, page 9-3 for more information.

7. Click an item or items in the Sources Selected field, and use the Remove button.

8. To move IP values up into the Sources Selected field, click the Equal (Up) icon, or the Not Equal (Up) icon.

9. Check the radio button next to IP or Range, and enter an IP address or a range of IP addresses into their respective fields.

10. Select items in the Sources Selected field by clicking them. Enter a group name, and click the Grouped As button to group them.

11. Once you have chosen the query criteria that interests you, click Apply to return to the Query page.

Repeat this selection process for other query data.

Step 4 Click the Submit button to run the query.


Query Criteria

The following list describes the selections in the Query Event Data table.

Source IP

Pre NAT source addresses

Specifies that the constraints entered are the session endpoints.

Post NAT source addresses

Specifies that the constraints entered are the source as appearing at the destination.

ANY

No constraint is placed on the source IP addresses.

Variables

Signify any one IP address, only useful for queries in tandem with the same variable.

IP addresses

IP addresses present on devices in the system or user entered dotted quads.

IP ranges

The range of addresses between two dotted quads.

Networks

Topologically valid networks.

Devices

The hosts and reporting devices present in the system.

Destination IP

Post NAT destination addresses

Specifies that the constraints entered are the session endpoints.

Pre NAT destination addresses

Specifies that the constraints entered are the destination as appearing at the source.

ANY

No constraint is placed on the source IP addresses.

Variables

Any one IP address, only useful for queries in tandem with the same variable.

IP addresses

IP addresses present on devices in the system or user entered dotted quads.

IP ranges

The range of addresses between two dotted quads.

Networks

Topologically valid networks.

Devices

The hosts and reporting devices present in the system.

Service

ANY

No constraint is placed on the source or destination ports or protocol.

Service variables

Any one set of destination port and protocol, only useful for queries in tandem with the same variable.

Defined services

Services on the database.

Event Types

ANY

No constraint on the event type.

Event types

Events that have been merged into types.

Event type groups

Groups of event types.

Device

Devices

The reporting devices present in the system. This restricts the query to a subset of the devices that report to the MARS.

Severity/Zone

ANY

No constraint on the event type severity.

Green

Low-severity events

Yellow

Medium-severity events

Red

High-severity events

Zone

Events reported by devices in the indicated zone.

Operation

None

Defines a single-line query.

AND

Boolean "and" that defines a two or more line query.

OR

Boolean "or" that defines a two or more line query.

FOLLOWED-BY

Time conditional query (e.g.: Y must happen after X) that defines a two or more line query.

Rule

Empty field - Rules Chosen field

When this field is empty, it acts like an ANY selection. No constraint is placed on the sub-set of events.

Rule

Restricts the query to the sub-set of events that contributed to the incidents of the specified rules firing.

Action

Empty field - Empty Actions Chosen field

When this field is empty, it acts like an ANY selection. No constraint is placed on the sub-set of events.

Actions

Restricts the query to the sub-set of events that contributed to the incidents of rules that have the specified notifications as part of their actions. (See page ??? rules for more information?)

Saving the Query

You can save query criteria to re-use as reports or rules.

To save a query as a report

This takes the query that you are using and creates a report. For more information on creating reports, see Reports.

To save a query as a rule

This takes the query to the rules page, populating the rules with the selected query criteria. Likely, you must identify additional criteria to complete the rule. For more information on creating rules, see Rules, page 7-1.

Perform a Long-Duration Query Using a Report

This section explains how to create and view a long-duration query on the MARS. There are two ways to perform a long-duration query on the MARS:

1. Modifying an existing report.

Advantages:

The report is compiled relatively quickly.

You can compile data gathered over a longer time period

Disadvantage.

This type of query can only be used without any changes to query criteria other than time range, and can only be used with the following reports:

Activity: All - Top Destination Ports

Activity: All - Top Destinations

Activity: All - Top Event Types

Activity: All - Top Reporting Devices

Activity: All - Top Sources

Activity: Attacks Seen - Top Reporting Devices

Activity: Denies - Top Destination Ports

Activity: P2P Filesharing/Chat - Top Event Types

Activity: Scans - Top Destination Ports

Activity: Scans - Top Destinations

Activity: Unknown Events - All Events

Activity: Web Usage - Top Destinations by Sessions

Activity: Web Usage - Top Sources

Attacks: All - Top Rules Fired

Attacks: All - Top Sources

2. Performing a batch query.

Advantages:

You can modify any of the query criteria.

Best suited for data that spans a short time period.

Disadvantages

This type of query can be slow and may take a substantial amount of time to complete.

Only Admin users can perform a batch query.

If you want to observe activity on your MARS over a long period, you can change the duration of time over an existing report that runs on a regular basis, such as hourly or daily, whether they are shipped with the MARS or created by you.


Note Trying to run a long-duration query using a report that only runs "on demand" has the same effect as running a query; it can take just as long because it has to compile data, whereas data from the regularly-run reports has been precompiled on an ongoing basis.


To query using a report, follow these steps:


Step 1 In the QUERY / REPORTS tab, click the Reports tab to obtain the Main Report window.

Figure 6-13 Main Report Window

Step 2 Navigate to and then click the radio button next to the regularly-scheduled report you want to modify (in this example, we use Activity: All - Top Destinations). Click the Query column to edit the report. The Build Report window appears.

Figure 6-14 Build Report window

Step 3 In the lower portion of the Build Report window, change the Time Range the report (Activity: All - Top Destinations) covers to the duration you want it to cover.

Step 4 Click the Submit button to run the report and return to the Main Report window.


View a Query Result in the Report Tab

To view a query in the Report tab, follow these steps:

Figure 6-15 Main Report window (bottom)


Step 1 At the bottom of the Main Report window, click the radio button next to the report (Activity: All - Top Destinations).

Step 2 From the drop-down list on the bottom of the Reports page, select either:

View HTML: to view the report as an HTML file.

View CSV: to view the report as a CSV (comma-separated values) file.

Step 3 Click the View Report button.


Note The Status column of the report lets you know whether the report has finished before viewing. You can view a partially-completed report, but it might not contain all the data you want to examine. You can also refresh the screen to update the Status column.



Perform a Batch Query

This type of long-duration query can take a long time to perform and is more suitable for a shorter duration of time.


Note Only Admin users can perform a batch query.


To perform a batch query, follow these steps:


Step 1 Click the QUERY / REPORTS > Query tab. The Query window appears.

Figure 6-16 Query window

Step 2 In the Query window, click the Edit button to change the query criteria. The Query Event Data window appears.

Figure 6-17 Query Event Data window

Step 3 In the Query Event Data window, you can change the query criteria. (For more information on query criteria, see Query Criteria). By clicking on various parameters you can change the nature of the query. In this case we are specifying a Source IP address of 10.1.1.6, a Destination IP address range previously saved as mygroup, and setting the duration of the query to the past 2 days.Click either Apply button to apply your changes to the query. The Query Save/Submit window appears.

Figure 6-18 Query Save/Submit window

Step 4 The Query Save/Submit window asks you to choose from the options of Save as Rule, Save as Report, or Submit Batch. To submit your query as a batch query, click Submit Batch. Your query is submitted, and you are automatically taken to the Batch Query tab.

Figure 6-19 Batch Query tab

Step 5 To watch the status of the query in real-time, you can use the Batch Query tab drop-down list to change the Page Refresh Rate from Never (the default) to 1 minute, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, or 30 minutes.

Step 6 To view the results of the batch query as it is running, click the radio button next to your query (here it's highlighted in green) and click View Results. This can be done while the query is in progress.

If the email address in your user profile on the MARS is valid, the results of your batch query are emailed to you when the query has completed. You can also view the results of your batch query by clicking QUERY / REPORTS > Batch Query > View Results.


Note When you click View Results while the query is in progress, the results compiled up to that moment are recomputed. This can make the display take longer to appear than after the results are compiled.



Reports

Using the Reports page, you can build repeatable queries, edit and delete current reports, run reports, and view reports in either HTML or CSV (comma separated value) formats.

Reports performed at the Global Controller level are similar to those on an Local Controller, but also include the Zone Collapsing parameter. You can run a report across one or more Local Controllers by specifying their zones. This enables a report at the Global Controller to select zone-specific objects.

When you submit a report from the Global Controller, the report request is sent to the Local Controllers monitored by that Global Controller. Each Local Controller generates the report and sends summary data back to the Global Controller, which merges the results at the global level. The merged report is sent to any recipients, as defined by the report definition on the Global Controller.

When you view a report, you are viewing the last instance that ran. If you want to view an up-to-the-minute report, resubmit the report before viewing it.

Report results are purged from the database after a purge interval, as tabulated in Table 6-1.

Table 6-1 Maximum Database Retention Limits for Report Results

Cisco Security MARS Model
Maximum Number of Stored Reports1
Database Purge Interval2

CS-MARS-20-K9

1,000 ranking reports
5,000 event/session reports

3 months

CS-MARS-50-K9

1,000 ranking reports
5,000 event/session reports

3 months

CS-MARS-100-K9

1,000 ranking reports
5,000 event/session reports

6 months

CS-MARS-100E-K9

1,000 ranking reports
5,000 event/session reports

6 months

CS-MARS-200-K9

1,000 ranking reports
5,000 event/session reports

6 months

CS-MARS-GC-K9

1,000 ranking reports
5,000 event/session reports

12 months

CS-MARS-GCM-K9

1,000 ranking reports
5,000 event/session reports

12 months

1 Table values are for Cisco Security MARS Release 4.1.5. In Release 4.1.4 and prior, the maximum number of ranking reports is 100, maximum number of event/session reports is 1,000.

2 As of Cisco Security MARS Release 4.1.5. In Release 4.1.3, and 4.1.4, report results are retained for one year in the MARS database before they are automatically purged. In Releases prior to Release 4.1.3, report results are retained indefinately. The purge interval cannot be changed.


Report Type Views: Total vs. Peak vs. Recent

Where alerts provide up-to-the-minute views of high-priority incidents, reports aggregate sessions into different views. Reports correlate based on the three data points:

Period of time

Query criteria

View type

The period of time defines boundaries around the analyzed session data based on when it was recorded. Query criteria restrict the set of sessions that will be aggregated to that which matches your criteria. Criteria can include source address, destination address, network service, event, reported user, and reporting device. The view type defines how to aggregate the matched data into a meaningful report view—one that matches the type of study in which you are interested.


Note In each view type, you can refine the report criteria to filter out expected activity—the data you know about. You can filter this activity by refining the query criteria. These criteria should be tuned to a specific network. Reports can be valuable in detecting behaviors beyond the normal traffic flows of your network. You can determine the expected activities using reports that are not filtered and vetting those results against normal network use.


MARS provides three view types, each of which restricts the matched sessions to a user-defined limit of N. The following view types exist:

Total View. For each result type matching the query criteria, this view counts the occurrences of that result type that transpire during the specified time period. It presents the total count of the top N matched result types, ranked by number of sessions, as determined by which ones occurred most frequently over the period of time. You can use these reports to determine your network's condition relative to the studied sessions. For example, you can use this view to identify attacks that launched at frequent intervals. This view does not present spikes in network activity; it simply presents the top occurring result types.

Peak View. Within MARS, all report result data is stored in 10-minute time slices. The Peak View studies each of the 10-minute time slices within the specified time period to which one contained the highest number of matched sessions for a specific result type. It also determines an additional nine peaks within the time period, where each peak identifies a unique result type relative to the other peaks.

Each peak value is charted relative to the other nine peaks. For each time slice containing a peak value, the Peak View lists the top N matched result types that occurred. It is possible to have multiple peaks within the same time slice, as it is the result type, not the time slice, that must be unique across peaks.


Note To be detected within this view, the result type must peak above normal traffic. Therefore, you must tune the query data to filter out expected traffic.


Unlike the Total View, the Peak View does not focus on the overall top occurring results, instead it identifies a high volume of traffic over a short time period. Its purpose is to detect temporary bursts of traffic on your network that overshadow normal traffic usage. These bursts identify possible issues, such as worm outbreaks.

Recent View. This view is similar to Total View; however, it identifies the top N result types that occurred within the past hour. It then plots all occurrences of those result types over the selected time period.

CSV. Generates the Total View but presents the report in the CSV format for processing by another tool or script. This option is intended for use with e-mail notifications where post-processing is required.

Creating a Report

You can create a report through the Query page, or you can create a report from scratch on the Reports page. These instructions detail creating a report from the Reports page, but are applicable to editing reports and to creating reports from the Query page.

Create a New Report


Step 1 On the Reports page, click the Add button.

Step 2 In the Report Name and Report Description fields, enter a report name and description. Click the Next button.

Step 3 Select the schedule parameters for the report.

Step 4 Select a format for the report's output. Under View Type and Zone Collapsing, select one of the following:

Total View/Sum Zones - This view displays the summed total of the top N results over the specified time range.

Total View/List Zones - This view displays the total, grouped by zone, of the top N results over the specified time range

Peak View/Sum Zones - This view finds the top ten largest results in the time range, and displays the top ten results for the times when those peaks occurred.

Peak View/List Zones - This view finds the top ten largest results in the time range, groups them by zone, and displays the top ten results for the times when those peaks occurred.

Recent View/Sum Zones - This view finds the top N results from the past hour, and displays them versus their summed totals over the specified time range.

Recent View/List Zones - This view finds the top N results from the past hour, groups them by zone, and displays them versus their summed totals over the specified time range.

CSV/Sum Zones - This view displays the summed total of the top N results as a comma-separated values file. (See Report Type Views: Total vs. Peak vs. Recent).

CSV/List Zones - This view displays the summed total of the top N results, grouped by zone, as a comma-separated values file. (See Report Type Views: Total vs. Peak vs. Recent).

Click Next.

Step 5 Select users in the Recipients Available field by expanding the user groups, clicking users or user groups, and clicking the Add button.

Step 6 Repeat Step 5 for other users. Click Next.

Step 7 Build or modify the query. To edit the query time range, either click the Report type link or click the Edit button.

Step 8 Click Apply to save your changes; click Next when the query is complete.

Step 9 Click Submit to save your report.


Working With Existing Reports

To View a Report


Step 1 Click the radio button next to the report.

Step 2 From the drop-down list on the bottom of the page, select either:

View HTML: to view the report as an HTML file.

View CSV: to view the report as a CSV file.

Step 3 Click the View Report button.


Note If you chose to view the report as a CSV file, you need to save the file to your computer and open the CSV file in a third-party application.


To Run a Report


Step 1 Click the radio button next to the report.

Step 2 Click the Run Now button.


Note Due to caching issues, reports with a time range of less than one hour are not recommended.


See Table 6-1, "Maximum Database Retention Limits for Report Results" for information on how long report results are retained in the database per MARS model number.


To Delete a Report


Step 1 Click the radio button next to the report.

Step 2 Click the Delete button to delete the report.

Step 3 On the Delete Confirmation page, click Delete.


To Edit a Report

You can not edit system generated reports. Editing report criteria is meant for minor tweaking to previously generated report.


Step 1 Click the radio button next to the report.

Step 2 Click the Edit button to edit the report.

Step 3 Navigate using the Previous and Next buttons, or clicking on the report criteria.

Figure 6-20 Navigating to the Recipients column by clicking its criteria

Step 4 Edit the report, and click the Apply button to apply changes to the report.

Step 5 Click the Submit button to finalize the report.


Note Changing the report's query criteria will not re-generate a new result. New edited criteria is based on the previously generated report. In some situation such as filtering out specific IP source, user should create a new report.



Note Email notification of a global generated report will be sent from the Global Controller and not the Local Controller.