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WebManage's Service Level Reporter Details Performance October 2, 2000 By Lori MacVittie You've been getting regular reports on the performance of your Web site, and you're pleased with them. Throughput statistics, average response times, completed transactions--you have them all. But if your Web site is configured to run in a server farm, are you getting all the statistics necessary to manage those servers? Did the software or service that provided the reports dig up the statistics for every machine in the server cluster? The answer to both questions is probably no. Most software and services aimed at reporting on the performance of your Web site do not dig any deeper than the front-end service that answers requests for pages. But WebManage Technologies' Service Level Reporter 1.0 uses back-end agents and a sophisticated communication system to compile and present a complete view of your site--from front-end services running on multiple systems down to the individual machines in the farm. In the fight to better manage your clustered servers while providing accurate reporting statistics to the people that need them, Service Level Reporter is a good weapon to add to your arsenal. Add Whom to What and Where? I installed a beta copy of Service Level Reporter in Network Computing's partner labs at Schneider National, Green Bay, Wis. The back-end machines were Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) 4.0 Web servers clustered behind an Alteon WebSystems AceSwitch 180. The first steps outlined in the installation guide were to configure the Service Level Reporter server machine with an FTP site and connectivity to an ODBC-compliant database, which in my case was a Microsoft SQL Server, version 7.0. The data collected by the product can be stored in any ODBC relational database. Using its Logxlerator technology, the product accumulates log files from the agents and stores the information in a database. Service Level Reporter automates the delivery of these reports, which are compiled from the aggregated log files. Among the data reported are detailed views of bandwidth utilization, subscribed and actual error rates, performance statistics, and response times. Metrics can be viewed on a class, user or application basis. Stress-Free Install I found the installation of all these components remarkably easy. The only change I needed to make to the Web servers was to turn off the logging feature--this was done to prevent logging redundancy and ensure that a JVM (Java Virtual Machine) was available. The agents installed themselves as a service and started up automatically after a reboot. After installing the server portion on a Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 machine, I started up Service Level Reporter. Several options need to be configured during the "first run." A wizard guides you through these initial steps. Because of the complexity of the tasks being performed, it's understandable that this product requires mucho manual configuration. To WebManage's credit, any options that can be prefilled with values--such as the name of the log file on the agent machines--are ready to go. And though the configuration of databases, agents and user rights is a bit complex, the installation guide is exceptionally thorough. I was able to configure Service Level Reporter via the wizard without any problems. Reports Galore The reporting options available in Service Level Reporter are well-rounded. Templated reports offer information on a plethora of performance metrics. The reports, which can be displayed as HTML in a browser or in Microsoft Word or Microsoft Excel formats, also can contain a glossary that details each metric's meaning and purpose. I generated a heavy load on my testing Web site using RadView Software's WebLoad, a traffic generator, then ran some typical reports to see how my site was doing. I generated bandwidth reports, executive reports and even a trend-analysis report. The bandwidth and other metric-based reports are configurable--detailing the deviations between subscribed rates and actual rates. Reporting can be accomplished based on an SLA (service-level agreement). Detailed information regarding individual machines within the cluster, Web sites and even customer browsing history can be viewed in the reports. Customized reporting also is available; an easy-to-follow wizard and step-by-step instructions in the manual walk you through the task of setting up these reports. Smorgasbord of Site Details Almost every detail about a Web site--including visitor history, general performance and machine-specific metrics--is available through the Service Level Reporter's reporting server. Reports can be e-mailed automatically to designated personnel on a scheduled basis or generated with a few clicks using the Service Level Reporter client. The robust reporting features offered by this product make it a good choice for hosting providers and for in-house performance management alike. Service Level Reporter agents are available for Microsoft IIS 4.0, Apache Web Server and Netscape Communiations Corp. Navigator on Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000, for Netscape on Sun Solaris 7.0, and for Apache on Linux. The Service Level Reporter server requires Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 2000 and requires connectivity to an Oracle8i, Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 or Sybase Enterprise 11.0 relational database. The Service Level Reporter client is available for Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 98 and requires only a database client for the selected Service Level Reporter server database. Send your comments on this article to Lori MacVittie at lmacvittie@nwc.com.

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