BPPM 9.5 Reporting Best Practice FAQs. Q: Can we create custom executive reports, combining Event reports, Impact reports and Performance reports?

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1 Q: Can we create custom executive reports, combining Event reports, Impact reports and Performance reports? Q: Is the reporting studio part of the BPPM Reporting Server licensing? A: Please discuss licensing with your BMC sales representative. Q: What version of BPPM does BPPM 9.5 Reporting support? A: BPPM Reporting 9.5 supports BPPM versions 9.5 and 9.0. Q: Where does data for reports come from? Integration service? Is this data stored in BPPM Sybase database? A: Performance data comes from the BPPM application server database which is Sybase or Oracle depending on what database platform you chose to install. The event data for BPPM Reporting comes from the BPPM event management cells. Q: Is there any document for creating custom reports? A: Yes, it is part of standard reporting documentation. Q: Can I use MS SQL Server as the database for Reporting if I have Sybase as the database for BPPM? BPPM Reporting 9.5 supports the MS SQL Server database. Prior versions of BPPM Reporting only support Oracle. Q: Is Oracle SCAN Listener version supported? Q: Do we need our own SAP Business Objects license or is it is included? A: The SAP Business Objects license is included with BPPM Reporting.

2 Q: Is there any "compatibility matrix" for the BPPM Reporting database and the BPPM application server database? A: Please see product documentation for versions supported and compatibility. There are no compatibility concerns between the two databases. They are completely separate databases. Q: How are duplicate entries handled by the BPPM reporting Database? For example suppose UAT & PROD BPPM application servers feed individual reporting engines that share the same BPPM Reporting Server. We then move agents from UAT to PROD. Will there be any conflict regarding data in reports? A: Potentially yes. BMC recommends separate BPPM Reporting databases for UAT and PROD. Q: Are events from the event cell that go to the Report Engine Server propagated via a gateway configuration? Q: Can we connect more than one event cell (like BEM 7.4 event cells) to a single Report Engine server? A: Yes, but you need at least one BPPM Server while installing BPPM Reporting Q: How is BPPM Reporting licensed? Is it based on number of users or number of Reports? A: It comes with BPPM. Please discuss licensing with your BMC sales representative. Q: Can the BPPM application server database and the reporting database reside in the same RAC environment? The two databases must be separate instances. Q: Is an SAP support ID required to download Foundation Reporting updates and components? A: No. You can download the foundation components from BMC using your BMC contract ID. Q: If a customer has only a small BPPM environment but he wants BPPM Reporting (event, impact, performance), can BPPM Reporting be implemented? A: Yes

3 Q: Is data that transfers from the BPPM application server database to BPPM Report database pulled or pushed? A: The BPPM Reporting Engines pull data from BPPM application server database. Q: Can I feed perform data to the BPPM reporting database? A: No, not using out of the box configuration capabilities. Depending on the use case(s) it may be better to leverage BMC Capacity Optimization (BCO) and feed BPPM data to BCO instead. Please consider assistance from BMC Consulting Services to address this. Q: Is Linux not supported? A: BPPM Reporting supports SPARC Solaris, Windows and Linux. Q: Does the reporting engine have a cell or flat file database that it stores and processes and then forwards to the database? I know the configuration (via a policy) acts like a forward from one cell to another. A: BPPM reporting has a Java based ETL that processes data and stores it in Reporting Database. Q: Does Linux have the same requirements regarding CPU, memory, disk, etc. as Solaris? A: Yes, it is the same as Solaris. Q: Can we use the PATROL SQL Server KM to monitor the BPPM reporting database on SQL Server? Q: What is the default BPPM reporting database? Is it Sybase, SQL Server, or any other? Can it be configured to use Oracle? A: There is not a default database. The solution can either run on SQL Server or Oracle and the customer must provide and install the database.

4 Q: So, the SAP Business Objects license is included in the BPPM reporting license, which is included in the BPPM suite license. This means that the BPPM suite license includes everything I need for reporting. Correct? A: You must provide the Reporting database separately. The Reporting Studio license to support creation of custom reports is also separate. All other components are included. Please discuss licensing with your BMC sales representative. Q: Can I use VM's for all the reporting components if I provide the required resources, or are the resources for physical machines only? A: The same requirements are for both physical and virtual machines. Q: Can we integrate the reporting server to AD or OVD for authentication? Q: Are memory and storage requirements the same on VM's as physical machines? Q: Can we send the automated with PDF reports? A: Yes Q: Are only KPI attributes sent to the BPPM reporting database or are only the attributes monitored via CMA Policies sent? A: Any attributes that are trended and stored in the BPPM server database can be sent to reporting. This is independent of CMA policies and KPIs. You must create External Report Attribute Sets in the BPPM server. This will allow you to choose which attributes you want to send to Reporting. By default reporting will not get any data. Q: Is it possible to configure a report as Availability of a CI for a period of 1 month (% of time Uptime)?

5 Q: Can we restrict user access to particular data or reports? A: No. Currently this feature is not available. Users can see all available data. Q: I setup CPU utilization in external reports. Does this data have to be monitored via Policies or global thresholds? A: Both are supported. The data must be monitored and collected. Any method that facilitates configuration of collecting the data into the BPPM server database will support reporting. Q: Are there any options or templates available to report BPPM server self performance? A: This report is available in the BPPM application server. Q: Can I filter events that are sent to BPPM reporting engine via the gateway?