IT Analytics 7.1 offers several predefined cubes out-of-the-box that each include their own set of fields to allow for flexible ad-hoc reporting on your Altiris environment. For users who leverage custom inventory or the CMDB capabilities within Altiris to create custom data classes that contain data specific to their environment, there is a method by which this data can be added to IT Analytics cubes. This involves the download and installation of the IT Analytics Cube Extension Utility (.zip file attached to this article) and a simple configuration to add the custom data class as a dimension to the cubes.
This utility is provided as an optional configuration to IT Analytics and is separate from the Symantec Management Platfrom so that it can be updated on as as needed basis. Any issues and requested enhancements to the utility should be sent directly to the author. In the event of future upgrades to subsequent versions of the Symantec Management Platform, this utility will need to be run again to include any custom data classes previously added to the default set of cubes.
NOTE: Only the cubes that contain Asset or Computer data are currently supported for extension using this utility. After custom data classes have been added to the cubes, if at any time those data classes are modified to include additional attributes, you must remove and re-add that data class through the utility to ensure the changes are reflected in the cube. Additionally, because of the nature of the complexity associated with mapping multi-rowed data classes within the cube, these data types are not supported through this utility.
UPDATE (3/28/13): This utility has been updated to include the ability to handle data classes with 'bigint' as a column data type.
UPDATE (5/15/15): Please make sure you select the proper download for your version of the Symantec Management Platform:
UPDATE (04/05/17): Confirmed ITAnalyticsCubeExtensionUtiliyt_v76.zip also supports version 8.0 & 8.1.
To successfully install and use the IT Analytics Cube Extension Utility the following prerequisites must be met:
Specify the Dimension Name or accept the default name and click Next.
Verify the information is correct on the Summary screen and click Next.
When closing the IT Analytics Cube Extension Utility, you may see the following error message:
This error does not affect functionality and will be addressed in a future product update.
The 7.6 version of the utility is compatible with 8.0 & 8.1 so no new version of the utility is required.
Is there a new version of the utility for version 8.0 ?
This is an older thread so I may not be posting this in the right place.
With respect to ITMS 8.0 and ITA, we are interested in adding some other specific details that exist in the CMDB that are not currently available through the cubes.
One specific example is that of the BIOS version of devices. We can do this with just standard reporting, but the ability to do bar charts and other dashboard and KPI presentations are delivered by ITA and not in the standard reporting.
I could not find any reference to BIOS vresion through the ITA cubes?
Other types of data that also come to mind are:
We are interested in how we can extend this to include things we might want to see like the BIOS version within the cubes.
Thanks.
Hi @dprager
Is valid for editable data classes? I have created an editable data classes and I associated to computer asset, but I do not see it, after select computer cube. (I have a 7.6 implementation)
Thanks in advance
Emil,
Unfortunately, because of the nature of the complexity associated with mapping multi-rowed data classes within the cube, these data types are not supported through this utility. I have updated this article accordingly to reflect that.
Thanks,
Darren
Can we also add the Multi-rowed data classes..? I see them missing from the dropdown window...
Nevermind I let it run for about 90 minutes then our server crashed. When it came back up I had the data class added. So guess it worked.
How long does adding a dimention take. I got to the end and it is now saying "adding dimention" for about 30 or so minutes at this point. Wondering how long I wait until I kill the wizard processes?
We are on 7.5 SP1 HF2
When we run this on 7.5 SP1 it does not show our custom data classes to import. Could we please have an updated version?
Is this currently working in Altiris 7.5???
Hi,
Thanks for this guide.
I have tried to use the IT Analytics Cube Extension Utility with SEP pack. But it seems not compatible with SEP Cubes.
Could you confirm?
And if yes, in the near future will it be possible to extend for SEP Cubes?
Sorry for the late reply here but as long as the CMDB containing the custom data class is the same one shared with IT Analytics, the extension should see it even if the DB is off box.
If you are still having trouble with this please feel free to send me a note directly and I'll be happy to help troubleshoot.
I created a custom data class to collect bitlocker encryption status as shown here
https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/forums/how-gather-bitlocker-status#comment-8454231
I was trying to see if I could use IT Analytics to report on that status, but when I go to add data class in the wizard, the new data class isn't listed there. Is it because my DB is off box?
We have dedicated ITA server, so local Symantec_CMDB is not used (except SMP configuration and only single Agent). We use External Connection option to pull data from 10 production databases.
How can I make this CubeExtensionUtility aware of that, so I can see dimensions used on client-facing servers?
In regards to your questions:
Hope that helps.
Thanks for creating this utility! I have a couple of questions:
1. A commonly-requested Asset report is assets by assigned user-owner --I have not been able to find that data in the Asset cube. Could this utility be used to add that data to the cube?
2. The pre-requisites state that the utility needs to be installed directly on the system that hosts the Symantec Management Platform --does this mean the actual SMP server or the server that hosts the SMP databases? If the answer is the SMP server, how do you avoid conflicts between the required 3.5.1 .NET version for the platform and the 4.0 .NET requirement for the utility? Concerned that loading 4.0 will break the system (?)