New Features For CSVSync

Quite a few customers have expressed the desire to generate and collect the ACS Support Cab (package.cab) using csvsync. This gives the advantage of being able schedule the operation via a script on a remote PC - essential if your ACS is the Appliance kind.

In testing now is the next version of csvsync with exactly this feature. You can connect to the following versions of ACS to collect the cab file:

Appliance v4.0(1) onwards
Software v4.1(4) onwards

Prior to v4.1(4) the Support page was not available via ACS Admin Software version.

Beta expected the next couple of weeks.

ACS v4.1(4) Compatibility Issue Resolved

A new build of aaa-reports! v2.2.1 has been posted today that resolves all known issues with importing ACS v4.1(4) cab and dump files.

Hoorah!

aaa-reports! enterprise edition - beta now available

aaa-reports! enterprise edition beta 2 is now available for download. Please use our contact page to request a copy.

New feature highlights:

• Scalable SQL Server Express databases for upto 48GB capacity.
• Advanced parameter filter on canned reports (equal, like, null, ...) incl wildcards.
• Enhanced Query Builder. Re-order & re-name columns + complex expressions.
• All ACS log types now supported (incl. appliance, replication etc).
• New look UI and usability enhancements.

Note the system requirements for this version are higher than for aaa-reports! v2.x and this is because it uses SQL Server as the main repository. Ideally you would be installing on a dual/quad core 2 system with at least 2GB RAM.

There are two installers which must be used in the correct order:

1. Environment setup. Installs .NET framework and SQL Server Express
2. Application setup
   

ACS v4.1(4) Compatibility Issue

If you have recently upgraded to ACS v4.1(4) there is a compatibility issue when importing the ACS database into aaa-reports! due to file format changes inside the cab and dump files.

We've posted a fixed build (15th Jan) onto the download site for the .cab file issue and are working on the dump file import now.

If you experience the error "database contains no groups or users" when importing the database you need this patch. The patched aaa-reports! version is "FE 2.2342" (click help/about to check)

Merry Christmas!

To any and all who celebrate this time of year....

... and especially our customers


Have a great one!!

aaa-reports! enterprise... sneak preview

Well we're almost there for the first beta of aaa-reports! enterprise. The screenshots below show off our refreshed UI (ok.. about time!)



This is a major step forward for aaa-reports! with an all new back end based on SQL Server Express giving us a total of 32GB of storage. Of course we're keeping the multi-DB feature so you actually get n*32GB !!

For our biggest customers there is also the option to swap out Express with full blown SQL Server.



Switching to SQL Server enables a whole wealth of server-sided filtering that wasnt possible before. As a result all of the canned reports can now be filtered on one or more attributes, eg Network Device Group, Group etc allowing you to make them as general or specific as you wish. The reports also appear much faster as the datasets are created in SQL Server.

Oh and the query builder has undergone a major overhaul to allow column ordering to be saved, column renaming and even free form SQL statement entry for very advanced users.

Negative values in canned reports

This week we had some reports of very large negative values in our canned reports - in particular the device utilisation reports.

After some delving it turned out to be the customers PIX sending garbage values in the TACACS+ "elapsed time" attribute.

The customer is now following this up with Cisco.

aaa-reports! "Software as a service"

For those of you out there that don't want the hassle or expense of managing yet another Windows server but still want to benefit from extraxi's reporting expertise...

We are developing a virtually hosted subscription based offering with our partner 1&1 Internet Ltd. For a fraction of the TCO of a real Windows server we will offer a choice of shared virtual server or dedicated server - both running industry standard Windows Server 2003. 1&1 are one of Europe's largest ISPs and offer state of the art hosting facilities with unparalleled uptime.

The solution comprises extraxi csvsync for collecting logs from all your ACS servers, a secure FTP client for pushing logs onto the hosted server. You  then have FULL terminal service access to the server with a pre-installed copy of aaa-reports! with automation.

Report PDFs are published to an IIS web folder where your authenticated users can download directly over secure https.

For more information please contact us 

Online Quote & Ordering Page

You can get quotes and submit orders online at

http://www.extraxi.com/order1.asp

Extraxi Licensing FAQ

When you want to order copies of any extraxi product there are several factors that decide the cost:

• Number of AAA servers you wish to report against
• Number of installed copies you wish to purchase
• Maintenance & support requirements

Its a common mistake to assume if you have 2 AAA servers you need 2 copies of say aaa-reports! as well - you don't. A single copy of aaa-reports! can import logs from 10's of servers.

You only need multiple copies if you want to install on multiple PCs - for example if you wanted a copy in two locations.