Reporting Engine - Enable and configure Data Collectors

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Reporting Engine - Enable and configure Data Collectors

This article guides you through the process of enabling and configuring Data Collectors as part of Nerdio Manager's Reporting Engine feature.

Data Collectors are background tasks that run on a scheduled or ad-hoc basis to collect and store data about configured tenants and accounts, which is then used as the basis for reports.

The following Data Collectors are available as part of the Reporting Engine:

  • Users: Data about users, including their details, numbers, roles, status, and licenses.

  • Groups: Data about Group types and assignments.

  • Tenants: Data about your managed customer environments, including domains, storage settings, regions, and subscriptions.

  • Secure Score: Data about your customer tenants' Microsoft Secure Score measurements.

  • Solution Baselines: Data about your customer tenants' status relative to your configured Solution Baselines.

Note:

  • The majority of tasks in this procedure are performed at the MSP level .

  • If you want to configure per-account storage for reporting data, this configuration is performed at the customer account level.

Prerequisites

       Role-based access control (RBAC) and permissions

The following matrix shows the Data Collector configuration permissions associated with built-in Nerdio Manager roles :

Built-in Role MSP-Level Data Collectors Account-Level Data Collectors
Account Admin False False
Account Help Desk False True
(Full permissions)
End User False False
MSP Admin True
(Full permissions)		 True
(Full permissions)
MSP Billing Admin False False
MSP Help Desk True
(Full permissions)		 True
(Full permissions)
MSP IT Admin True
(Full permissions)		 False
MSP Sales Page, Read False
Super Admin True
(Full permissions)		 True
(Full permissions)

       Preparatory steps

Before configuring your Data Collectors, we recommend that you plan and review your data storage settings.

Unless otherwise configured, Reporting Engine uses your default MSP-level Azure storage account to store reporting data. Azure storage accounts offer an optimal balance of price and performance for report data compared to other resources like Nerdio’s SQL Server, or more advanced storage options like Data Lakes.

If you prefer to use a dedicated storage account for reporting data, you can link an existing storage account or create a new storage account at the MSP level under Settings > Integrations .

For customers who want to limit the amount of information that leaves their own tenants, Data Collectors can also be configured to store reporting data at the account level. Before you can configure account-level storage for reporting data, you must first link an Azure subscription and resource group to the account.

Note: You can change the storage account(s) associated with Reporting Engine at any time.

To change the MSP-level storage account (optional):

  1. At the MSP level, navigate to Settings > Integrations, and scroll down to the Report Engine tile.

  2. Select Edit.

  3. Change the Source toggle from Default to Custom.

  4. In the Storage Option dropdown, choose whether to use an existing account or create a new one.

  5. Select the Resource Group to which your storage account belongs (or will belong).

  6. Select the Region to which your storage account belongs (or will belong).

  7. If creating a new storage account, enter a name for the account in the Storage Account field.

  8. For the Mode setting, choose whether and how you want to migrate existing data:

    • Don’t migrate account data: All previously collected data will remain in the existing storage location, and all new data will move to the new location.
    • Migrate account data to the new storage account: Move any previously collected data from the original storage location to the new location.
    • Delete existing account data: Delete all previously collected data.

  9. Enter the text CONFIRM to continue, and select Save.

To use an account-level storage account for a customer's reporting data:

  1. At the account level, navigate to Settings > Integrations, and scroll down to the Report Engine tile.

  2. Next to the currently listed storage account name, select Edit.

  3. Change the Source toggle from MSP to Account.

  4. In the Storage Option dropdown, choose whether to use an existing account or create a new one.

  5. Select the Resource Group to which your storage account belongs (or will belong).

  6. Select the Region to which your storage account belongs (or will belong).

  7. If creating a new storage account, enter a name for the account in the Storage Account field.

  8. For the Mode setting, choose whether and how you want to migrate existing data:

    • Don’t migrate account data: All previously collected data will remain in the existing storage location, and all new data will move to the new location.
    • Migrate account data to the new storage account: Move any previously collected data from the original storage location to the new location.
    • Delete existing account data: Delete all previously collected data.

  9. Enter the text CONFIRM to continue, and select Save.

Enable, schedule, and run Data Collectors

Before you can report on the data associated with a particular Data Collector, you first have to enable the Data Collector and associate it with one or more schedules. You can also perform an immediate one-time run of the Data Collector.

To enable a Data Collector:

  1. At the MSP level, navigate to Report Engine > Data Collectors.

  2. Locate the tile for the connector you want to configure, and toggle the Disabled switch to Enabled.

  3. Optionally, specify a value in days for the data retention period.

    Tip: The default setting is 365 days. Setting a shorter retention period will reduce storage overhead at the cost of reduced access to historical data and the ability to map trends over longer timespans.

  4. In the Accounts field, select the user account(s) for which you want the Data Collector to obtain reporting data.

    Tip: By default, Data Connectors are associated with all managed accounts. Selecting only specific accounts to obtain data for (for example, if you offer reporting as a premium service) can reduce both storage overhead and the performance impact on your Nerdio Manager instance, especially in large deployments.

  5. Either select a previously configured global schedule from the Schedule dropdown, or select Create new schedule to configure a new schedule specifically for this task.

    Tip: Data collection jobs are RAM intensive, especially when running over large amounts of data and/or when multiple Data Collectors are run simultaneously, and can negatively impact the performance of your Nerdio Manager. To mitigate possible performance issues:

    • Run Data Collectors outside of regular business hours

    • Stagger data collection jobs so that only a single Data Collector is running at any one time.

  6. Select Confirm.

To add a Data Collector schedule:

  1. At the MSP level, navigate to Report Engine > Data Collectors.

  2. In the tile for the connector you want to configure, and select Add New Schedule.

  3. Either select a previously configured global schedule from the Schedule dropdown, or select Create new schedule to configure a new schedule specifically for this task.

    Tip: Data collection jobs are RAM intensive, especially when running over large amounts of data and/or when multiple Data Collectors are run simultaneously, and can negatively impact the performance of your Nerdio Manager. To mitigate possible performance issues:

    • Run Data Collectors outside of regular business hours

    • Stagger data collection jobs so that only a single Data Collector is running at any one time.

  4. Select Confirm.

To amend a Data Collector schedule:

  1. At the MSP level, navigate to Report Engine > Data Collectors.

  2. Locate the tile for the connector you want to configure. A list of the current schedules associated with the Data Collector is displayed.

  3. To amend an already-associated schedule, select the corresponding pencil icon.

  4. In the configuration popup, you can amend the start date, time zone, start time, or repeat interval of the schedule. You can also use the Schedule dropdown to switch to editing another schedule that has already been associated with the Data Collector.

  5. Once you've made your changes, select Confirm.

To run a Data Collector immediately:

  1. At the MSP level, navigate to Report Engine > Data Collectors.

  2. Locate the tile for the connector you want to run, and select Run Now.

  3. When asked to confirm, select Run.
    The Data Collector will run immediately against all associated accounts.

Need help?

Raise a support ticket for this item.

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