Console: improved filter/search abilities

[pirx]

Has there been any development to add filter for backup states to console? I'm still puzzled that this seems to be missing in v12 (didn't find it in release notes, didn't update yet). My main use case is that I need to filter for different states in console history (like the 24h view). Like search for a certain job name and then only state failed (or failed + warning). This could be done by adding checkboxes for the different states. Currently I can search for a job but then I can only use sort by state and lose sorting by date. This would be really helpful and is something very basic that I think everybody that is working in operations is missing, I've seen this request a few times in forum.

Other useful addition would be in Backups -> Disks etc to be able to search for job names (or part of if) in addition to VM names. Depending on the number of jobs and the structure of jobnames that could be very helpful too.

[Mildur]

Hi Pirx

V12 doesn't include such filter options.
I remember we already have a few requests for more filter options.
We will note it as an improvement request. I understand the need for some basic filters in the history table.

As a workaround, I suggest using Microsoft Excel (or similar application) for the filtering.
You can choose the entire History table with CTRL+A. Then copy the content with CTRL+C.

Open a new Excel and insert the content with CTRL+V. That will allow you to use Excel filtering outside of Veeam.

Best,
Fabian

[pirx]

Another year has past, any update on this basic filter abilities in console? It'd really be helpful to have at least switches to show all/success/warning/failed jobs in history view. This could be a quick win as I just can't imagine that it's that hard to implement. There were other things added in console, but this seem to be just ignored. TBH I don't have any other tool with a GUI that doesn't has this ability.

[Mildur]

Hi Pirx

I just can't imagine that it's that hard to implement.

Many requests may be "not hard to implement". That doesn't mean we can to them all at once. But for us it's always a decision which of the thousand requests we have to prioritize.
Your request is noted, but no promises if and when it can be included in the product.

By the way, have you already tried our job filter tool? It allows you to add views to the backup console. Example: You can list only failed jobs.
Would that already solve your first request to filter specific job names and job status?
https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backu ... ml?ver=120



Best,
Fabian

[pirx]

The filter does not help at all, it only shows the last result and no history. And it does not work for offloads. Tried this before, gave feedback 2-3 years ago to our Veeam representatives. I understand that there are many requests, but that's the reason I wrote this one could be a quick win. Little implementation effort, happy customers. Be agile!!11! I work now with Veeam for ~10 years and I get more and more the feeling that improving usability is not a very high priority. It's more about adding more and more features - which might be understandable because of competition. But for me as customer it's the other way around. We only use a limited number of features but we see that usability is more an more lacking compared to competitors. We currently use different backup solutions, so it's easy to compare but on the long run we'll have to consolidate. And this will probably be based on user experience as all tools deliver same key features that we need (for database backup the other tools are even ahead).

[Mildur]

Hi Pirx

I understand your point.
We have projects going on to improve usability for all of our interfaces. And I'm currently discussing with our interface product manager your specific request to see what we can do.

Let me summarize your request to be sure I haven't missed anything:

For the Session view:
- You want so see a list of all sessions (jobs, offloads)
- You need to be able to filter this list:
---> job name
---> job status (failed, warning, success, disabled, running, information)
---> time period (in case we show more sessions than 24 hours)
---> Job type (backup, backup copy, agent, ent plugins, NAS backup job, ...)
- You need to be able to sort after the date

For the Backup view:
You need to be able to filter:
---> Job name
---> Workload name

Did I missed anything?

Best,
Fabian

[pirx]

My main pain point is that I can not do basic filtering based on the job result in history view. See screenshot below. I can search there - not filter - for a job name. But I can't see all failed/warning jobs in one view. Clearly it would be nice to have the additional filter abilities you pointed out, but implementing my use case would be a good start.


And what really would be nice is the ability to search for errors/warnings in job history. Not sure if this information is in the database too or if a session view takes this from the log file.

For example I notice below warning and me or support needs to know since when this happens. Or if this happens for other jobs. Currently I've to go through history and check all warnings or use powershell string search for the 150GB log files on VBR server, including compressed files. This is not something I have to do once in a while. This is my regular business as we are more or less permanently having cases open regarding offload. Usually there are different kind of warnings/errors, not just a single one. I easily spent 10% of my time in reporting issues for this, we have already 3 hotfixes on latest v12. I'm uploading several 100GB logs each month, sometimes just that support can find occurrences of a certain issue. So everything that makes life easier would help. But I understand that this might be too advanced.

Code: Select all

08.05.2024 01:57:31 :: Failed to delete checkpoint. Details: HTTP exception: Retrieving message chunk header, error code: 2

[Mildur]

Thank you for the screenshot.

And what really would be nice is the ability to search for errors/warnings in job history. Not sure if this information is in the database too or if a session view takes this from the log file.

If you meant "error messages" you can see in the backup console, then this information would in the database as well. But we won't have the entire log file copied to the database. Log files would still be required by our support team for an investigation.

Best,
Fabian

[pirx]

I mean messages like "Retrieving message chunk header, error code: 2". Support needs logs, that's clear. But it makes a difference if I just need to upload them for a particular day / time range or blindly for the last 7+ day, which then would be 50GB+.