This document describes how to configure report options with the dbo.ReportOptions table.
This table is your centralized location to configure report options so there's no need to open different jobs to view and change them.
dbo.ReportOptions
| Column Name | Data Type | Description |
| ReportName | varchar(50) | This is the name of the SP that runs the alert. When specifying this do NOT include the schema name. The default is MinionDefault. This is the global default for all the alert reports. So If you have the same requirements for all report emails, then you only need this one row. |
| ServiceLevel | varchar(10) | This is the SLA that's passed into the alert SP. The default is All, which covers all SLAs. If you want to override a specific SLA, you may do so. See Overriding ServiceLevels below for details. |
| ShowDefer | BIT | Controls whether to display the Defer code at the bottom of the alert. The default is 1. |
| ShowChange | BIT | Controls whether to display the Change code at the bottom of the alert. The default is 1. |
| ShowException | BIT | Controls whether to display the Exception code at the bottom of the alert. The default is 1. |
| ShowDeferTable | BIT | Controls whether to display the table that shows the current defer objects. See Show Defer Table below for details. |
| DeferHrs | INT | This is the default number of hours you want to defer items for. This gets printed in the defer code that's controlled by the ShowDefer col above. |
| UseNightMode | BIT | Night Mode is a fabulous feature that gives alerts that occur at night to not blind you when you get woken up. Read more about it here. |
| AutoCodeThreshold | INT | There are 2 modes to showing Defers, Changes, and Exceptions. There's detail mode and master mode. In detail mode you'll get a single line for each report object to defer, change or except. In master mode you'll get a single SP call to manage all items together. This col sets the number of items show up in the report before switching from detail to master mode. See AutoCodeThreshold below for more details. |
| IsActive | BIT | Turns the current config row on or off. |
| Comment | varchar(1000) | Anything you want to record about the current row. This is a great place to document why you've made override changes or allow you to have separate settings for different times of the day, or even different days, etc. Using this in conjunction with IsActive can add an impressive amount of flexibility. |
Overriding ServiceLevels
By default you'll see the 'All' ServiceLevel in this table. However, you may want to override that with different defaults for individual server groups. For example, let's say that you want a different setting for DeferHrs for Bronze alerts because it's not as important that get on them right away. Your ReportOptions table would look like this:
| ReportName | ServiceLevel | ShowDefer | ShowChange | ShowException | ShowDeferTable | DeferHrs | UseNightMode | AutoCodeThreshold | IsActive | Comment |
| MinionDefault | All | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 24 | 1 | 10 | 1 | Default |
| MinionDefault | Bronze | 1 | 1 | 1 | 36 | 1 | 10 | 1 | Bronze |
Now all SLAs will use DeferHrs of 24 except all Bronze alerts, which use 36.
Now, what if you want to configure this change for only Backup alerts?
That too is easy, but there's a caveat. Let's look at the settings for this:
| ReportName | ServiceLevel | ShowDefer | ShowChange | ShowException | ShowDeferTable | DeferHrs | UseNightMode | AutoCodeThreshold | IsActive | Comment |
| MinionDefault | All | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 24 | 1 | 10 | 1 | Default |
| Backup | All | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 24 | 1 | 1 | 1 | All Backups |
| Backup | Bronze | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 36 | 1 | 10 | 1 | Bronze |
Here we've configured 2 override rows for backup alerts. One for All and one for Bronze. We need the all row to cover any SLAs that aren't Bronze. Once you're at a named ReportName level you can't get any settings from the MinionDefault level. So you should either cover all rows with named SLAs, or configure an All row to cover the ones that aren't named.
* You should still try to do as much configuring as possible at the MinionDefault level to make it easier.
Show Defer Table
Speaking of deferments, what if you want to know which alert objects are currently being deferred? This can be handy for troubleshooting alert issues or simply just good to know. The ShowDeferTable setting allows you to see the current defer entries for the alert. The table will be displayed right above the defer code list.
*Note: You can see this table without having ShowDefer = 1.
Above is an example of what it will look like. In future versions of Minion Enterprise it may look slightly different. This table can be used to determine why a report object isn't showing up in the alert list, or simply remind you when a deferment is going to expire so you can take action ahead of time if needed.
AutoCodeThreshold
This setting controls when the alert switches from detail to master mode. This setting also controls the Change and Exception code as well. It's not possible to have separate thresholds for the 3 different settings.
The detail mode is the classic mode that you're used to seeing in ME. For every report object there's a printed call to the deferment SP. For large alerts with lots of items this can increase the size of the email a lot and make it quite cumbersome to navigate. Therefore, we've developed the master mode which only gives you a single SP call for all objects. This way you can defer all objects in a single line of code. The below screenshots show the effect each mode has on an email alert.
Detail Mode:
Master Mode:
Using this setting
Let's say you want to switch to Master mode if the number of report objects in the Detail mode is greater than 10 (default). Simply set this to 10. Again, this setting controls the mode setting for Defer, Change, and Exception.
Related Topics