How to enable email of full PDF report output in CA Performance Management

Products

• CA Infrastructure Management
• CA Infrastructure Management
• CA Performance Management - Usage and Administration
• DX NetOps

Issue/Introduction

Beginning with the r3.6 GA release of DX NetOps Performance Management users can now take advantage of the following new feature.

1. Send an email to users with URL link to download a full multi-page PDF report.
   • The report is stored locally on the Performance Center server in a specified drive or location.
   • The email sent to end users contains a URL. Users select the URL which downloads a copy of the full PDF report locally to their system.
2. The only option available prior to r3.6, emailing users a report PDF containing only the first page of a report remains.

For some environments the ability to store these reports on the Performance Center server or in other locations isn't an option.

With no place to locally store the reports for user download via URL in emails, how can we use the feature?

There is a property we can enable in the Performance Center server to resolve this. It will allow sending of the full multi-page PDF as a direct attachment to the email sent to the end user. The user will receive it attached to the email instead of as a URL to use for download.

New feature partially provides what eHealth users were used to. Some require the full PDF be sent and cannot expose a local drive for PDF download. This resolves that problem.

Environment

DX NetOps Performance Management releases r3.6 and newer

Resolution

NOTE: A common caveat to this option being enabled is email server attachment size limitations.

• If the email server has limitations for attachment size, and the PDF attached to the email is beyond that size, it will reject the email. The user will fail to receive it.
• In order for this to work properly, ensure the attachment size limitations on the email server are disabled or raised to appropriate levels.
• The appropriate level will be dependent on the size of the largest report sent via email on a regular bases.

To enable full PDF send via email complete the following configuration changes.

1. Set the Email.Report.Attach.Only property value.
   1. Go to the following URL. Replace <PC_HostName> with the PC Host Name or IP address.
      1. <PC_HostName>:8181/pc/center/admin/debug/attrs
         1. Log in using an Administrative user.
      2. Find the Email.Report.Attach.Only property value.
      3. Set it to True
      4. Select the Update button at the top or bottom of the web page.
      5. Confirm the property is set to True post Update.

With this flag set to True full multi-page PDF report files will be sent as attachments to emails.

Additional Information

Are there any known performance impacts possible?

• Full PDF generation is more resource intensive on the Performance Center server.
  • Sometimes less than full required resources are used. While the system works for current usage, enabling this feature adds load to the system. It requires all system requirements for the environment are met.
  • Ensure the recommended system requirements provided by the Performance Management Sizing tool are met before enabling this option.
• As noted above this option requires an email server configured to allow the send of emails with large PDF attachments.