General

What levels of storage can I analyze with the products?
The TSF architecture allows analysis of storage from the Host (server) perspective. Any device mounted to the Host may be analyzed including the virtual layers presented through a Logical Volume Manager (LVM). A 5-layer model is utilized starting at the File System/Volume layer working down through virtualization layers and culminatiing at the drive layer. Information is supplied concerning DAS/SAN/NAS, IDE/SCSI, File System Type and even World Wide Names

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Licensing

What is the process for obtaining a license?
Start first by downloading the software from the Estorian website: It's free and requires no registration. You'll receive 90 days use of the TSF Express version with no strings attached. At anytime you may return to the website and register your license. Registering the license allows extension of the TSF Express version for an additional year or upgrade to a paying, feature-rich version (TSF Lite or TSF Professional) based on your desired length of subscription.

Why do I need a machine account to obtain a license?
Licensing for the TSF architecture is done based on the server software component of the installation. It includes a combination of the server name, network interface card and several other items of information specific to that server. After establishing a login account, a machine account is required so we may associate the license key generated with the proper machine (server) at your installation. Since you may have several software installations of our code managing different locations or domains, we allow multiple machine accounts to be created so you may manage your licenses easily via our web portal.

Can I go back to a TSF Express license after being on a TSF Lite or TSF Professional license?
Yes, simply return to the Estorian web portal, login and attach your original license file generated during the installation process. Then request a TSF Express license key; you'll receive an email notifying you when your TSF Express license key is available for download. Be aware that downgrading to a TSF Express license key will remove all but the most current three days of History compiled in the database along with the limitation of features available in the software. Also, if you downgrade, this will delete all groups and policies created on the Distributed side, and file searches will only be saved for three days.

My terabytes managed has exceeded the amount I am licensed for. I am receiving an email indicating that agents are being deactivated but it appears that the License checking is deactivating more agents than it should to bring me back under the amount of licensed terabytes.
The error is only in the sending email warning message. Only the necessary agents are deactivated and the software doesn't deactivate more agents than it should.

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Installation

What is the initial size on disk of the TSF GUI Client?
53 MB

What is the initial size on disk of the TSF Server?
42 MB

What is the initial size on disk of the TSF Agent?
Windows: 6 MB
Linux: 14 MB
AIX: 35 MB
Solaris: 17 MB

What is the initial size of the TSF SQL Server Database?
1200 MB / 1190 MB Available

Are named SQL Server instances supported for the TSF Server database?
Yes, Named instances can be specified during installation, by specifying the SQL Server as HOSTNAME\INSTANCE. Alternatively, you should be able to click on the Browse button and select the instance from the list of available SQL Servers.

I am trying to install to a named SQL 2000 Server instance, but the instance is not being recognized. What is wrong?
This is a known Microsoft issue. To solve the problem, make sure that the SQL Server instance is updated to the latest service pack level. Note: You must update each SQL Server instance separately. Refer to the Service Pack instructions.

Is SQL Server 2005 supported?
At this time SQL Server 2005 is not officially supported. It is on the feature list for the next release of TSF.

After installation, I am unable to view any of the agents that I installed through the TSF GUI Client. What is wrong?
The agents that were installed need to be added to the TSF Server, by using the Create New Agent function. To do this, connect to the TSF Server, then expand the Administration node and double-click on the Agents node. Click the Create New Agent button then the Host Name/IP address and Port where the agent is running. You can also edit the desired scan time/interval from this dialog.

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Agents

Can I see the Agent Host DNS Name in the system view rather than the IP Address?
Add agents by System Name (provided your environment supports DNS) rather than IP address in order to easily associate them with the records displayed by the various views.

When adding Agents, why does the new agent sometimes fail to execute the initial scan?
The workaround for this is to perform a Manual Scan on the new Agent using the Client interface for the Agents.

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Server

GUI Client - General

How do I modify the default unit GUI displays?
When in the GUI, you can click on the drop down box for units to change the default settings for displaying data.

Can I choose which columns are displayed?
Yes, with the TSF GUI Client, you are able to select which columns you want to have displayed in the current view as well as in Saved Views and Reports. To change the selected columns, click the Column tab. In the Column Order Chooser window, all available columns appear in the Target column by default which means they will be displayed. In the Target column, use the cursor to select the columns that you want to remove from the displayed view/report and then click the right arrow button. Alternatively, you can click the double-right arrow button to move all columns to the Source list. Apply the changes once you have just the desired columns displayed in the Target list.

Note: Columns that are set in the Target list will affect the columns on the Detail/Zoom tab as well as on the report. Also note that column selection applies only to the Detail or upper level zoom tabs. There is no control over columns displayed from some tables such as Summary tables or lower level zooms. Scheduled Reports will however give the user control of the columns displayed for sub-Zoom tables and summary tables.

Can I change the sort order for the records returned?
Yes, the TSF GUI Client allows the user to select which column(s) the records are sorted by. Additionally, the user can choose to set the sort order as Ascending or Descending. To set the sort order for a view, navigate to the Sort tab. In the Sort Order Chooser window, all available columns appear in the Source column by default which means they are not affecting the sort order. To select columns on which to base the sort order, use the cursor to select the columns in the Source list and then click the right arrow button to add them to the Target list. Alternatively, click the double-right arrow button to move all columns to the Target list. Double click on items in the Target list to change the order from Ascending to Descending and vice-versa.

Note: The sort order set in the Target list will affect how the data is sorted on the Detail/Zoom tab as well as on reports.

How do I resolve system not responding message?
This message may be received if the TSF Server is not running, if there is a network connectivity issue, or if the System Configuration specified in the TSF GUI Client is incorrect. Start by verifying that the "TSF Server 2" service is running in the Services console on the TSF Server system. Next, make sure that you have normal TCP/IP communications from the TSF GUI Client to the TSF Server by sending a PING request from the client system to the TSF Server system. Next, make sure that the Host Name and Port specified for the TSF Server system is correct. To do this, first determine the Port and Secure Port numbers that were specified during installation. This can be accomplished by reviewing the srm_server.conf file in the conf directory in the TSFServer2 installation directory. Then in the TSF GUI Client, open the Configure Systems dialog and click on the Distributed tab. Verify that the values specified in the Host Name, Port and fields match the Ports specified in the srm_server.conf file. Additionally, make sure that the User Name and Password specified are correct for a valid user with proper permissions to access the TSF Server. At this point, you should be able to click on the TSF Server system in the Systems list, and the status indicator should change to green. If these steps do not resolve the issue, contact your system administrator or Estorian support.

How do I resolve invalid username/password message?
Verify your user name and password is in fact the user name and password provided by the TSF Super User for your account. On the View menu, click Configure Systems and then click on the Distributed tab. Re-enter the User Name and Password, then click OK. If you are still unable to connect to the TSF Server, have a Super User change your password.

How do I change my password for the GUI session?
On the Tools menu, click Change Password.

How do I reset my password for the GUI if I forgot what it was?
The user is able to correct a lost password but the process involves the loss of preferences specified in the Common section of the preferences dialog and will invalidate the passwords that are specified in the Configure Systems dialog for connecting to Distributed or z/OS systems. Follow these steps to recover from a lost password:

1. Close the TSF GUI Client.
2. Navigate to the TSF2_1 folder in the user home directory (C:\Documents and Settings\<USERNAME>).
3. Make a backup of all files. If something goes wrong, you can paste these files back to the TSF2_1 folder to restore the configuration.
4. Delete the prefs.xml and prefs.xml.bak files.
5. Re-launch the TSF Client.
6. Specify the new password, confirm it, and then click OK.
7. On the View menu, select Configure Systems.
8. Re-enter the passwords for all configured systems. For z/OS systems, you should confirm that you are able to re-connect by clicking on the Database Name drop-down list for each configured z/OS system to refresh the list of available TSFPRMxx members.
9. On the Tools menu, select Preferences. Re-set any lost preferences in the Common section to their desired values.

GUI Client - Reports

Can I schedule reports in addition to manually generating reports?
Yes, with the Scheduled Report feature, you are able to schedule reports on a Periodic, Daily, Weekly or Monthly basis. Additionally, you can preview the report and publish the report manually.

Can I report on objects across multiple systems and/or tools?
Yes, with the Scheduled Report feature you can append report items from one query to the report items from a completely different query, even from a query generated while connected to a different system.

What report formats are supported?
Reports can be generated to HTML and PDF formats, along with being sent to a printer.

Can I send email notifications when reports are published or scheduled?
Yes, you can specify to send the scheduled or published HTML or PDF report as an email attachment and can include a link to the location where the report was generated. You can also choose to send a URL link if you would rather that the user access the report via a web page.

How do I include my companies branding on reports?
On the Tools menu, click Preferences. In the Preferences dialog box, click User under the Common folder in the left pane. In the right pane, type the full path to the image desired for the report in the Values text box for Printed Reports Logo Path.

How do I choose which report items are in a report?
Click the Report tab, and in the Report Item Chooser window, all available tables and graphs appear in the Source column by default which means they are not selected for inclusion in the Report. Use the cursor to select the tables and graphs that you want to include in the report and use the right arrow button to add them to the Target list. Alternatively, click the double-right arrow button to move all tables and graphs to the Target list.

How can I add text to a report?
Press the Add Text Block button. The Text Block Editor dialog lets you enter free form text with basic editing features to set the type and size of font, the text alignment, and the format such as bold, italic, and underline.

Can I change the scheduled report properties once I have created it?
Yes, once you have created a scheduled report, use the Scheduled Report Editor to change the report items that are displayed, and can edit the interval of the report or even what type of report is generated. To access the Scheduled Report Editor, click on Tools and then Edit Scheduled Reports from the main menu of the TSF Client.

Can I select which printer the reports will be generated to?
At this time, the report will automatically be generated to the default printer defined for your system. Adding support for selecting optional printers is planned for a future release.

Can I publish or schedule reports to be generated to a network share?
Yes, reports can be generated to a CIFS share, provided that you have permission to access the share. When you first publish or schedule a report to a network share location, you will be prompted to supply a valid Domain, User and Password for use when making the connection.

What happens if I schedule a report to be Monthly on the 29th - 30th day, and the month does not have that many days in it?
The scheduled report will be generated on the last day of a month that contains fewer days than the day of the month that was specified.

Can I edit the selection used to perform a Zoom on a scheduled report?
There is no mechanism through the Scheduled Report Editor to change the record that was selected at the time that a Zoom table or graph was generated. For instance, let's suppose that you executed a Drives query that returned several drives, and then wanted to zoom to the Volumes level for one of the drives and add the volume zoom level table and/or graphs to a scheduled report. This is a perfectly valid thing to do, but you will not be able to later edit the drive that was selected at the time you performed the zoom. You can however use the Scheduled Report Editor to select the existing zoom level report items and delete them. You can then re-execute a query that will return the desired drives, select the drive that you want to zoom on, and then append the resulting volume zoom report items to the Scheduled Report.

Can I change the date range that was used to generate a History or Forecast report item?
Yes, through the Scheduled Report Editor, select the desired scheduled report. On the Properties tab, select the History or Forecast table that you are interested in changing. You will then be able to change the History or the Forecast range on the respective History or Forecast tab. Note: You can only change the date range for a History or Forecast table. If you have a History or Forecast graph object included on the scheduled report, the criteria used to generate the graph will be changed when you edit the corresponding table. If there is no corresponding table, you will need to delete the History/Forecast graph object then re-generate it and append it back to the scheduled report in order to change the date range.

I made some edits to a scheduled report, but when I go back to the report the edits were lost. What happened?
You must choose to save edits made to a scheduled report before you navigate to another scheduled report or close the Scheduled Report Editor dialog. You will not be prompted that you have not saved your changes when you have unsaved edits and navigate away from the scheduled report.

I included a URL in the email notification for a report, but the link is not active when it is received in my email client. What causes this?
There are several possible reasons for this. First your email client must support HTML for the URL to be an active hyper-link. Additionally, some email clients will treat a URL such as www.teracloud.com as a valid hyperlink, but other clients will not. Try specifying the URL with the http:// prefix (e.g. http://www.teracloud.com)

I am trying to generate a PDF report but it appears to run out of memory and is not generated. An HTML report returning the same number of records and report items generates with no problem. Why is this?
PDF reports consume much more memory per report item than the HTML version does. If possible, utilize HTML format for reports that return large numbers of records. If you absolutely need the report to be in PDF format, try restricting the number of columns selected to just the minimum amount necessary.

How can I tell if the Scheduled Report service generated a report?
The RSSService log file details which reports are generated and not generated. This log will also indicate the report output path location where the report was generated. The log can be found in the TSFClient2_1/bin directory in the TSF Client install location.

Will I receive notice that a scheduled report failed to be generated if it is too large?
You can receive an email notification in the event that a scheduled report is not generated because it causes an out of memory condition. To receive notification, you must select the Email Result option for the scheduled report. Note that the email will be sent to all recipients.

I have a report that appears to generate an out of memory condition. How can I correct this?
There are several possible solutions to this:

1. If the report is a PDF report, try generating it as HTML instead. PDF reports consume much more memory than HTML reports.
2. If possible, use the Filtering capabilities of the TSF Client to reduce the number of records returned in the report.
3. If you are unable to reduce the number of records returned in the report, try to reduce the number of columns that are displayed. Additionally, consider separating the Graphs and the Summary tables to a different report than the detail records.
4. Increase the amount of RAM available to your system. Note: this will also require a change to the maximum amount of memory that is made available to the JAVA virtual machine that the TSF Report Schedule Service runs under. To increase the amount of RAM available to the TSF Report Schedule Service, perform the following tasks:
1. Stop the TSF Report Schedule Service
2. Navigate to the TSFClient2_1/conf folder in your TSF Client installation directory.
3. Back up the wrapper.conf file.
4. Open the wrapper.conf file in notepad or a similar text editor.
5. Find the line that says "wrapper.java.maxmemory=512"
6. Edit the value to represent the amount of memory in megabytes that you want to allocate to the TSF Report Schedule Service. Make sure not to specify a value that is equal to the total amount of memory available on your system, or system instability may result. It is best to leave at least 256 MB differential between the amount of available system RAM and the amount allocated to the TSF Report Schedule Service.
7. Save the changes to the wrapper.conf file and restart the TSF Report Schedule Service.

1. Open the Windows Services console (services.msc) and stop the TSF Report Schedule Service.
2. Select the TSF Report Schedule Service, then right-click and select Properties.
3. Click the "Log On" tab.
4. Select the "This Account" radio button.
5. Specify a local or domain user in the "This Account" input field. Make sure the user that you specify has permission to access the TSFClient2_1 folder in the TSF Client installation directory, and also has permissions to all user home directories if the TSF Client is used on a machine where more than one person will be sharing the TSF Client and creating scheduled reports.
6. Specify the password for the selected user and confirm it.
7. Apply the changes and restart the TSF Report Schedule Service.

1. Create a Saved View that correlates to the Scheduled Report Items. First enter any filter criteria, sort selections and column selections, then apply all changes and execute the query. Make sure that you get the records/view you anticipated, and then save the view with a name that will help you correlate the view to the Scheduled Report. Now you can add the Report Items that you are interested in to the Report tab target list and schedule the report. When the report is generated, you can just execute the saved view to help make sure that you are getting the expected report items. Note that this method will not help you determine the selections made for Zoom, History, or Forecast selections.
2. For Zoom, History, or Forecast selections you can edit the Report Item labels to help remember what selection was made at the time that the report was generated. For instance, say that you performed a history request on a VOLUME named VOL1. You could edit then edit the generated History table report item to have a name such as "History Table: VOL1" and the History graph to have a label such as "History Graph: VOL1". Note: Be careful not to give Report Items the same name as this may lead to a known issue where the report items are not generated correctly. You can edit the Labels directly on the report tab, or from the Scheduled Report Editor. To edit the report item label from the Report tab, you must first add the report item to the Target List, and then select the report item and right click on it. You can then select "Edit Report Item Title" and make the desired changes. To edit the report item label from the Scheduled Report Editor, first select the desired scheduled report. On the Report Properties tab, find the report item that you want to edit, and then click in the Report Item Name field. You can then just type the new Report Item title. Make sure to save your changes before giving focus to another scheduled report or closing the Scheduled Report Editor.