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iPrism v5.0 introduces support for centralized high-performance reporting as a service. mERS provides an alternative to purchasing an in-house Enterprise Reporting Server (ERS) and performing related in-house installation and configuration. This may be attractive for those with a few iPrism units (typically 2-4), who want aggregated high-performance reporting and/or an offsite reporting data backup for individual iPrisms. As a result, there are now 3 reporting methods available from Reports → Preferences, with the default being iPrism.
Selecting iPrism means that you want to perform normal stand-alone iPrism reporting. Note: new in v5.x is the 'background reporting' feature. See iPrism v5.0 - Reporting and Scheduling.
Selecting ERS means that you want to upload reporting data to an already installed ERS server (by name or IP) for high-performance, aggregated reporting. Note that in v5.x you no longer need to install a HotFix for iPrism/ERS configuration. See ERS Overview.
Selecting mERS means that you want to upload reporting data to a managed ERS server at a hosting location for high-performance, aggregated reporting. See Below.
mERS is supported by geographically dispersed Enterprise Reporting Servers in North America and Europe.
mERS is a shared, yet secure, reporting resource using a multi-tenant database with physically separated data.
Each customer (tenant) has their own report definitions and schedules.
To run mERS reports via Appliance Manager on a client PC, 512MB of RAM is required, 1GB of RAM is recommended.
Note that HotFix 2-500 must be installed to enable mERS configuration in Appliance Manager.
When registering for mERS note the following:
The provisioning server will select the geographically closest mERS server based on the location selected by the customer during registration.
The provisioning server monitors the health of all mERS reporting servers.
Necessary customer account information is stored on mERS provisioning servers. The provisioning server synchronizes account information from multiple iPrisms for the same customer.
To synchronize account information from a multi-iPrism environment, one iPrism must be the "originator" of the customer account. All other iPrisms must be known as "participants" for the customer account. The idea is similar to a master/slave or primary/secondary setup.
The originator iPrism is used to:
Register the customer account
Designate the preferred geographic location of mERS
Modify settings such as passwords and/or notes
Give mERS reporting access rights to local iPrsim user account(s)
Upload its own reporting data to mERS
The participant iPrism(s) may:
Join or disjoin an existing
customer account
Upload its own reporting data to mERS
The general architecture can be depicted as follows:
Select an iPrism to be the "originator." Select a permanent reliable unit, not one that is perhaps being used for testing or transient use.
Navigate to Reports > Preferences and change the default from iPrism to mERS (below).
Click Configure (above). Check Enable Customer Account (below).
Set the mERS Role to "Originator" (above).
Enter an alphanumeric Customer ID of your own choosing (similar to making up a username). This Customer ID will also be used during the "Join" operation for each participant iPrism. Underscore ("_") is also an allowed character.
Enter a Password/Confirm Password of your own choosing. This password will also be used during the "Join" operation for each participant iPrism.
Select the Closest Location for reaching mERS. This selection affects the originator and all subsequent participants.
Important: mERS Role, Custom ID, and Closest Location are "greyed out" (not changeable) once registered. Make sure these fields are set to your satisfaction before registration.
Click Register (above) to send your "originator" information to the provisioning server. At this point:
mERS Link will display the URL for reaching the "Closest Location" mERS
A notification email is sent to the originators iPrism administrator email address. It includes the same URL as displayed in mERS Link.
You may enter any helpful Notes, and Change Your Password
An mERS reporting database will be created for the customer account, and local iPrism reporting data will then be uploaded to the mERS server by jobs scheduled on the local iPrism. Note: upon initial registration, wait overnight before attempting to run reports as this allows time for scheduled optimizations to occur against uploaded data.
Additional iPrism units should be configured as "Participant" (below).
Enter the Customer ID and Password used to register the Originator.
Click Join (below) to send your "participant" information to the provisioning server. At this point:
mERS Link will display the URL for reaching the "Closest Location" mERS
A notification email is sent to the participants administrator email address. It includes the same URL as displayed in mERS Link.
The mERS reporting database will be updated using the Participant reporting data by jobs scheduled on the local iPrism. Note: upon initial registration, wait overnight before attempting to run reports as this allows time for scheduled optimizations to occur against uploaded data.
Upon registering your "originator" or joining "participants," a confirmation email with a link to your mERS server is sent to the iPrism administrator email for each iPrism unit.
Local iPrism user accounts created on the "iPrism Originator," and configured with "Allow Access to mERS" will be able to logon to the mERS server to run reports.
Note that currently, NTLM or LDAP users are not supported for mERS reporting.
Local iPrism user accounts are easily created from Users → Local (shown below).
Note: When adding user accounts, allow as much as an hour before attempting to login to mERS with the new account.
mERS provides reports up to last midnight. For reports on “today”, run reports on iPrism directly.
Each customer may store up to 400 million events on ERS.
Each customer has a separate set of reporting slots.
All customers share the same background reports queue.
