System Center Configuration Manager 2007 : Reporting Configuration (part 3) - Console Reporting Links, Relational Database Concepts

5. Console Reporting Links

In addition to the report viewing functionality found under the ConfigMgr console’s Reporting subtree, Microsoft provides a number of links throughout the console to reports relevant to the task at hand. As an example, the Software Distribution home page found under Configuration Manager -> Site Database -> Computer Management -> Software Distribution presents links to several reports related to software distribution. Perform the following steps to configure the behavior of these links:

1.

Right-click the System Center Configuration Manager -> Site Database node in the Configuration Manager console tree, and choose Report Options.

2.

The Report Options dialog box provides check boxes to use SRS for the ConfigMgr console report links and to open reports in a new window. By default, report links open inside the console window and use the classic reporting engine. If you have multiple reporting points or reporting services points, you can also use this dialog box to specify which site systems to use when launching reports from the console. Figure 7 displays the Report Options dialog box. Figure 7. The Report Options dialog box used to set options for console report links

6. Relational Database Concepts

The heart of each report is a Structured Query Language (SQL) statement that retrieves data from the site database. SQL is the standard language for managing and querying relational databases. If you are not familiar with the basic concepts of relational databases and the SQL language, it is worth taking some time to learn about them. You don’t need to be a SQL expert to administer ConfigMgr, but to get the most out of the product, it helps to know a little SQL. 

Database Tables

A relational database management system (RDBMS) such as Microsoft SQL Server organizes data into logical storage containers called tables. You can think of a table as being similar to a spreadsheet, with data arranged in rows and columns. Table 2 shows a simple example of a database table.

Database Views

Database developers use views to gather data from one or more tables and present that data to users. Using views gives developers the ability to choose which data to make available and how to arrange and format that data, without needing to reorganize the underlying tables. For the purpose of developing reports, views are essentially equivalent to tables. Microsoft provides an extensive set of views in the Configuration Manager database. The reports Microsoft provides in Configuration Manager are based on the database views, and you should use these views wherever possible when designing or customizing reports.

The Select Statement

The SQL language contains a rich set of statements for manipulating data and managing databases. For reporting purposes, it is necessary to look at only one statement of the SQL language, the SELECT statement. The SELECT statement retrieves data from a database.

In its most basic form, the SELECT statement looks like

SELECT select_list FROM table_source

Table_source specifies the database tables or views from which the data will be retrieved, and the select_list is the list of columns you want to retrieve. As an example, if the data presented in Table 18.2 were stored in a table named cars, you would use the following statement to retrieve the stock number, color, and body style of the available cars:

SELECT [stock number], color, [body style] FROM cars

Notice the column names containing spaces are enclosed in square brackets []. The brackets also allow you to include SQL reserved words in your column names if you choose to do so. The preceding query would return all the data shown in Table 18.2 except the engine type.

The WHERE clause

You can limit the results of your SELECT statement to rows meeting specific criteria by adding a WHERE clause to your statement. As an example, the statement

SELECT [stock number], color, [body style] FROM cars WHERE [Engine Type] = 'V-6'

					  

returns only the rows for cars with V-6 engines. Table 3 shows the results of this statement.

Table Joins

Database platforms such as Microsoft SQL Server are called relational databases because they take advantage of relationships in the data to reduce redundant storage and provide more flexibility in working with the data. If the cars in the cars sample table are rental vehicles, for example, you can use a separate table to store the rental history of each vehicle without duplicating all the information in the cars table each time a vehicle is rented. Table 4 shows a portion of the rentals table.

Now suppose you want to see the rental information for blue cars for the week ending 11/22/2008. Use the following SQL statement to retrieve that information, using both tables:

SELECT c.[stock number], c.[body style], r.CustNo AS [Customer Number], r.[Date],
(r.MilesOut – r. MilesIn) AS [Miles Driven]
FROM cars c INNER JOIN rentals r ON cars.[stock number] = rentals.[stock number]
WHERE c.color = 'Blue' AND r.[Date] BETWEEN '11/16/2008' AND '11/23/2008'

					  

The key to this statement is the INNER JOIN clause, which causes this SELECT statement to pull only the data from the rows in the two tables where the stock numbers match. The results of this statement are displayed in Table 5.