System Center Configuration Manager 2007 : Customizing Configuration Manager Reports (part 2) - Customizing Report Data Selection

2. Customizing Report Data Selection

ConfigMgr reports are based on the ConfigMgr database views. You can add columns to your report or remove columns from the report by changing the selection list in the report SQL statement. You can also filter which rows display in the report, by modifying the WHERE clause of the report SQL statement or by specifying additional qualifiers.

Modifying Report Columns

To add or remove columns from this report, perform the following steps:

1.	Expand the Configuration Manager console tree to System Center Configuration Manager -> Site Database -> Computer Management -> Reporting -> Reports. Right-click the Computers with low free disk space (less than specified MB free) report and choose Properties.
2.	On the report Properties page General tab, click the Edit SQL Statement button. A portion of the report’s SQL statement is: SELECT SYS.Name, SYS.SiteCode, LDISK.Description0,LDISK.DeviceID0, LDISK. VolumeName0,LDISK.FileSystem0, LDISK.Size0,LDISK.FreeSpace0 FROM v_FullCollectionMembership SYS join v_GS_LOGICAL_DISK LDISK on SYS.ResourceID = LDISK.ResourceID WHERE LDISK.DriveType0 = 3 AND LDISK.FreeSpace0 < @variable AND SYS.CollectionID = @CollID ORDER BY SYS.Name= @CollID ORDER BY SYS.Name
3.	The SQL statement’s FROM clause on the third and fourth lines of the code listing in step 2 indicates that the report is based on data from the v_FullCollectionMembership and v_GS_LOGICAL_DISK views. Figure 18.30 displays the Query Builder interface, which you can use to select columns from these views to display in the report. This figure shows v_GS_LOGICAL_DISK in the views list and VolumeSerialNumber0 in the columns list as selected. After clicking the Insert button, add the view alias LDISK as a column prefix and a comma after the column name. You should also add the LDISK.Compressed0 column from the same view and SYS.Domain0 from the v_FullCollectionMembership view. The modified selection list is as follows: SELECT SYS.Name, SYS.SiteCode,SYS.Domain,LDISK.Compressed0,LDISK. VolumeSerialNumber0, LDISK.Description0,LDISK.DeviceID0, LDISK.VolumeName0, LDISK.FileSystem0, LDISK.Size0,LDISK.FreeSpace0 FROM v_FullCollectionMembership SYS join v_GS_LOGICAL_DISK LDISK on SYS.ResourceID = LDISK.ResourceID Figure 2. The Query Builder interface with view and column selections highlighted

The modified report now includes domain information from the system view, and the volume serial number and compression attribute from the logical disk view. Figure 3 displays the new report.

Figure 3. The modified Computers with Low Disk Space report .

Filtering Report Data to Select Specific Rows

This is common in ConfigMgr reports and occurs because one or both views contain records that are identical with respect to the data selected for the report but differ on some characteristic that is not of interest. This example contains two entries for Microsoft SQL Server version 9.00.3042.00 on each computer. Let’s look at the SQL code used for the Computers with a specific product name and version report:

Select SYS.Netbios_Name0, SYS.User_Name0, SP.ProductName, SP.CompanyName,
SP.ProductVersion
FROM v_GS_SoftwareProduct SP JOIN v_R_System SYS on SP.ResourceID = SYS.ResourceID
WHERE SP.ProductName = @variable AND SP.ProductVersion = @variable1 Order by
SP.ProductName, SP.ProductVersion

					  

It is often easier to use the Query Tool rather than the Query Builder interface when you want to quickly experiment with a number of changes to SQL statements and see the results. To find the source of the apparent duplicate entry, paste this SQL statement into the Query Tool and change the selection list in the first line of the statement by replacing the specific columns from the v_GS_SoftwareProduct view (alias SP) with the wildcard SP.*. This returns all available columns from v_GS_SoftwareProduct. You also want to replace the variables in the WHERE clause with the literal strings ‘Microsoft SQL Server’ and ’9.00.3042.00’ to avoid having to populate the report prompt parameters at run time. The resulting SQL statement is

Select SYS.Netbios_Name0, SYS.User_Name0,  SP.*
  FROM v_GS_SoftwareProduct SP JOIN v_R_System SYS on SP.ResourceID = SYS.ResourceID
  WHERE SP.ProductName = 'Microsoft SQL Server' AND SP.ProductVersion = '9.00.3042.00'
  Order by SP.ProductName, SP.ProductVersion

					  

Running the modified query in the SQL Query tool generates the results shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4. The query results for computers with SQL Server version 9.00.3042.00

The data in rows 1 and 3, for example, is identical with the exception of the ProductID and ProductLanguage columns. The product information is gathered from file headers by the software inventory process, and the database contains inventory from files that show the product language code as 0 and from files showing the product language code as 1033. Each language version is also distinguished by Product ID. Product language information is not necessary for this report, so filter the data by adding the keyword distinct to the selection list in the original SQL statement:

Select distinct SYS.Netbios_Name0, SYS.User_Name0, SP.ProductName, SP.CompanyName,
SP.ProductVersion

					  

This example has the prompt variables in the SQL statement replaced with literal strings to make the query easier to work with using the Query Tool. You might also want to use this technique to modify reports so that you can use them in dashboards or send to users with prepopulated parameters. You cannot use the Computers with a specific product name and version report in a dashboard because it contains prompts. However, the modified SQL statement that explicitly specified the product name ‘Microsoft SQL Server’ and product version ‘9.00.3042.00’ could be used to create a dashboard report, or could be sent to your database administrators to provide specific information about that SQL Server version.

Another common issue with reports is seeing stale data included in the report. The site database often includes data about inactive computers, which are not reporting heartbeat discovery, or obsolete records about computers that have been re-imaged or replaced. To exclude this data from your reports, add the following conditions to the WHERE clause of your SQL statement:

SYS.Obsolete0 <> 1
SYS.Active0 = 1

In some cases, you might want to filter data based on criteria not in the base views for the report you work with. As an example, the Computers with a specific product name and version report is based on software inventory data, so you might want to ensure you are looking only at data from systems that have recently reported software inventory. The last software inventory scan date is in the v_GS_LastSoftwareScan view, which is not part of the report. To add the view to the report and filter for only those systems with inventory scans in the last 30 days, perform the following steps:

FROM v_GS_SoftwareProduct SP JOIN v_R_System SYS on SP.ResourceID =
SYS.ResourceID

FROM v_GS_SoftwareProduct SP JOIN v_R_System SYS on SP.ResourceID =
SYS.ResourceID
JOIN v_GS_LastSoftwareScan LSS on SP. ResourceID = LSS. ResourceID

LSS.LastScanDate > (getdate ()-30)

Select distinct SYS.Netbios_Name0, SYS.User_Name0, SP.ProductName, SP.CompanyName,
SP.ProductVersion
FROM v_GS_SoftwareProduct SP JOIN v_R_System SYS on SP.ResourceID = SYS.ResourceID
JOIN v_GS_LastSoftwareScan LSS on SP. ResourceID = LSS. ResourceID
WHERE SP.ProductName = @variable AND SP.ProductVersion = @variable1
And SYS.Obsolete0 <> 1 and SYS.Active0 = 1 and s.LastScanDate > (getdate ()-30)
Order by SP.ProductName, SP.ProductVersion

					  

The report now includes modifications to show only distinct rows and exclude data from obsolete records and machines that are inactive or have not reported software inventory in the past 30 days.