Set up Central Reports

Before setting up Central Reports, review the prerequisites in the previous section. If you have not yet set up your external databases at each site, including the reporting site, you must do this first by following the instructions in Upsize to an external database (RDBMS) .

1. Select a server as your reporting server. This is the server on which you will configure and run Central Reports. You can choose which ever server is most convenient for you. In fact, you can configure several or all servers to be able to run Central Reports.

2. On the server, open the server config file [app-path]/server/server.properties in a text editor (e.g. Notepad).

3. At the bottom of the file, add central-reports configuration statements as documented in Server Configuration below and save the file

4. Log in to the PaperCut NG/MF Admin web interface to configure admin rights and email notifications:

   To grant Central Reports admin rights to users who need access:

   1. Select Options > Admin Rights.
      The Admin Rights page is displayed.

   2. Select the group you want to add Central Reports rights for; then click Add Group.
      Or if adding a single user, enter the user; then click Add User.
      By default the group or user you added will have access to all features.

   3. Click the edit link to the right of the group or user entry.

   4. Select the specific rights you want to apply. In particular, ensure that Access Central Reports is selected.

   5. Click Apply.

   Enabling an email (SMTP) server allows scheduled Central Reports to be sent. Additionally, enabling email error notifications is recommended so that administrators are notified of any issues that would prevent Central Reports from running successfully). E.g. if a scheduled central report fails, this allows administrators to be notified by email rather than needing to log in to the Admin web interface and check the App. Log page.

   To enable email notifications:

   1. Click Options > Notifications.
      The Notifications page is displayed.

   2. Under SMTP Server Options, enter an SMTP server and other details so that PaperCut NG/MF can send emails.

   3. Recommended: under System Notifications, select Error level events.

5. Log in to the Central Reports interface using the URL https://[server-name]:9192/central-reports and check the Status page for any errors. If this page is not available, check that you have added Central Reports admin rights to your login.

6. Select the Central Reports tab and run several reports to test. Verify that the reports run and that the results are as expected.

Server configuration

Central Reports is enabled by configuration statements in [app-path]/server/server.properties. Changes to the Central Reports related settings in this file do not require a restart of the PaperCut Application Server (although most other settings in this file do).

This file should include template examples for configuring Central Reports. If it does not then you can see the [app-path]/server/server.properties.template (which is kept up to date with every upgrade) and copy the Central Reports related settings into your server.properties file.

As an example, if using Microsoft SQL Server as the external database, the following statements configure a Melbourne Application Server to run consolidated reports across the Melbourne, Perth and Sydney sites:

central-reports.enabled=Y
central-reports.database.local.include=Y
central-reports.database.local.label=Melbourne HQ

central-reports.require-all-databases-online=Y
central-reports.database.1.label=Perth Branch
central-reports.database.1.url=jdbc:jtds:sqlserver://per1.example.com/papercut
central-reports.database.1.username=admin central-reports.database.1.password=xJf56gy
central-reports.database.2.label=Sydney Branch
central-reports.database.2.url=jdbc:jtds:sqlserver://syd1.example.com/papercut
central-reports.database.2.username=admin central-reports.database.2.password=dF95FCd

Note that in this example the server.properties file is for the “Melbourne HQ” site, and it would contain configuration for its own SQL Server database above (as documented in Upsize to an external database (RDBMS) ).

The database statements detailed below must be specified for each remote server. Where specified, n is a numeric ID (e.g: 1, 2, 3) used to associate statements for the same site, as per the example above.

Central Reports statements in server.properties

central-reports.enabled

central-reports.database.local.include

central-reports.database.local.label

central-reports.require-all-databases-online

central-reports.database.n.label

central-reports.database.n.url

central-reports.database.n.username

central-reports.database.n.password