Generate Report Action

When the Auditing and Reporting module is activated, you can configure a Server Event Rule to generate a report, then e-mail it or save it to a file. If you add the Generate Report Action to a Rule, you must also tell EFT Server what to do with the report (save it or e-mail it or both). When a report is generated by the Generate Report Action, a temporary, enumerated copy of the report is created and stored locally in EFT Server installation folder. The temporary copy is deleted once the Event Rule context is out of scope.

To facilitate compliance with PCI DSS (Multifaceted security standard that includes requirements for security management, policies, procedures, network architecture, software design, and other critical protective measures.) requirement 10.6, EFT Server automatically generates a report of PCI/High Security-related configuration and functions. The report is converted to HTML and then e-mailed or saved to a file specified by EFT Server administrator.

The automatic Generate Report Action never prompts for parameters because it will be run from the service on a timer, and thus does not allow interaction by a user. Reports that require parameters but do not have sufficient administrator-defined parameters will not run.

Example of a Report Event:

To create an Event Rule with the Generate Report Action

  1. Follow the procedure in Creating Event Rules to create a new rule, or select the rule to which you want to add the Action.

  2. In the Actions list, double-click Generate Report, or click it, then click Add Action. The Report Action dialog box appears.

  3. In the Run the following report box, click the down arrow to select a report from the Reports directory. (Custom reports also appear in the list.)

  4. Click Custom range to specify a custom date range in the From and To boxes or click Report date range and click the drop-down list to specify one of the following options:

  5. In the Report output format area, specify the format of the report output: HTML, PDF, or VP (report file).

  6. In the Advanced Options area, specify parameters (separated by semicolons) for the report, which are evaluated from left to right. You can specify Event Rule variables. For example, if the report definition chosen in the Run the following report box requires two parameters for filename and username (in that order in the report definition), then the Optional parameters box can be populated with *.txt;myname to specify a filename parameter of *.txt and a username parameter of myname.

  7. In the Report Filters area, specify filters with AND or OR.

  8. To run the report in real time to verify that the Action was configured correctly, click Run and display report now (test).

  9. Next, you should create an e-mail Action and include the %FS.REPORT_CONTENT% variable or create a Copy/Move Action and use the %FS.REPORT_FILE% variable to place a copy of the report on a shared drive after the report has been generated.

    The variable %FS.REPORT_CONTENT% can be added to e-mail notifications. When %FS.REPORT_CONTENT% is added to the body of e-mail notifications, the content is displayed inline in the e-mail in HTML format, regardless of the format chosen in the Report Action dialog box.

The variable %FS.REPORT_FILE% can be used in copy/move, PGP, and custom command actions that are executed synchronously (i.e., custom commands that have a failure event defined), but should not be used for Actions that are executed asynchronously (e.g., custom commands that do not have a failure event defined). Instead, use %FS.REPORT_CONTENT% for e-mail notifications, because this variable represents a copy of the contents of the file rather than a link to the file, which is only good so long as the file exists. For a complete list of EFT Server variables, see Variables. Do not use %FS.REPORT_FILE% in e-mail notifications.

Related Topics

Using Actions

Creating Event Rules

Event Timer Rule