Skedler 2.2.1 – Keep pace with ELK, Time window support, Pause/Resume PDF/XLS Report

The Skedler v2.2.1 is here (yes, we have had 3 product updates since our previous blog post on v2.0 release).  It helps ELK users who need PDF, XLS reporting in three areas:

Keep pace with ELK releases

One of the challenges for the users of ELK stack is the torrid pace of new releases.  Each release is packed with features/bug fixes and significant internal changes.  It requires significant development and maintenance effort to keep pace with these changes.

A significant value and advantage of using Skedler is that it eliminates the burden and the time consuming effort of keeping pace with the changes in ELK.   We test Skedler against various ELK releases and keep you posted through the release notes and install guide.   The 2.2.1 version of Skedler is no different.  The latest version supports Elasticsearch (1.7 to latest) and Kibana (4.1 to latest).  And Skedler is ready for 5.0!

Generating reports using time windows

Timewindown-1024x761

If your stakeholders are asking for daily PDF/XLS reports using last 7 days of data,  it is now easy to setup using Skedler.   Set up a Kibana dashboard with the metrics/charts that you would like to track.  Simply schedule a daily PDF/XLS report for the dashboard with a time window of last 7 days and save it. It is that simple.  Alternatively, you can create save the time window in Kibana and use it in Skedler.  Skedler provides you the flexibility to choose the option that works best for your organization.

Pause/Resume reports with a button click

Pause-resume-1024x511

Sometimes you have to temporarily stop sending out reports to stakeholders for various reasons.   You can now pause a scheduled report with a click of button in Skedler.  When you are ready to send the reports again, you can resume report generation with a click.

In addition to the above features, we have added 15+ minor improvements in the PDF, XLS reporting since 2.0 based on the feedback that we received from our customers.

We invite you to try Skedler free for 15 days and explore if Skedler meets your requirement for scheduling and generating PDF, XLS  reports from your ELK application.

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Skedler v2.0 – Next Generation Reporting for ELK is Here!

It has been just 2 weeks since we released Skedler v 1.3, but we are thrilled to announce the availability of Skedler v2.0, the next generation of the Report Scheduler for Kibana/ELK applications. The new version has been re-architected from the ground up to provide an amazingly simple but powerful reporting solution for your ELK based log analysis, security, or analytics applications.

Skedler v2.0 is packed with innovative features and unmatched capability.  A few highlights are given below:

Support for Kibana 4.4 and Elasticsearch 2.2

The new release supports the latest release of Elasticsearch (2.2) and Kibana (4.4).  This is inline with the commitment to our customers to have Skedler keep pace with the latest releases of Kibana and Elasticsearch.   Our philosophy is that customers shouldn’t have to worry about the frequent architectural changes in Kibana or Elasticsearch.  We will handle it and make your life easy!

New Wizard UI for Scheduling Reports

Skedler v2.0 provides a step-by-step approach to scheduling reports.  You can create reports from dashboards or searches, customize the report, schedule it, and set up the email template in an intuitive UI.

PDF and Excel Reports from Search

If your end users prefer to use Excel to analyze the data, Skedler makes it so easy to deliver the data to them in a timely manner.  Simply create a search in Kibana (you don’t need to create any dashboard) and schedule a report in Skedler based on your search and configure it to email XLS reports.  Your end users will be happy and your life will be easy!

Report Level PDF Personalization

You can now customize the PDF reports including the logo at the individual report level.  So, if you are sending out reports to different customers, you can customize the reports with their logo and offer a personalized analytics solution.

And a Lot More

Skedler v2.0 has many more enhancements such as dynamic filters on Search based Reports, performance improvements, and not to mention that it includes all the goodness that Skedler v1.3 introduced.

See a Live Demo or Try It Free for 15 Days

If you would like to see a live demo of Skedler v2.0 or would simply like to test drive it in your environment for 15 days,  contact us to get started.

Skedler as Kibana Plugin

Just in time for the Elastic{On} 2016, we are excited to announce the availability of beta version of Skedler as Kibana plug-in.

Skedler Standard Edition made it easy to add report scheduling option to your Kibana/ELK application.  With Skedler Plug-in for Kibana, adding reporting option has become even simpler.   You can simply deploy the Skedler Plugin package in Kibana, configure the reporting.yml file and start scheduling reports from within your ELK application.

Skedler - Schedule reports from ELK Stack

Skedler Plugin in Kibana

Skedler Plug-in offers most of the features available in the Standard Edition.  The following features are currently available only in the Standard Edition and not in the Plug-in version.

  • Automatic saved search discovery
  • PDF reports from saved search
  • Include Excel report with PDF
  • Server core based scaling/multi-threading

The beta version of Skedler Plugin is now available to existing Skedler customers {only}.

If you are attending Elastic{On} and would like to see the Skedler Plug-in or Skedler Standard Edition in action, email shankar at guidanz dot com  to set up a time to meet in the conference.

Update as of 06/15/2016:  At this time, the Skedler plug-in is not available for download/beta.  The Skedler Standard/Advanced Edition offers the features and scalability that is currently not available in the plug-in architecture.  We invite you to try Skedler free.

Skedler v1.3 is here, loaded with features!

We are excited to announce the early availability of Skedler v1.3 with amazing features that have been on the wish list of our customers.

Schedule High Quality Customized PDF Reports

Skedler v1.3 - Customize ELK Stack report layout in schedule a report window

Customize your PDF in Skedler

Whether you email PDF reports to internal users, partners, or customers, quality and customization are important aspects to consider.  Skedler v1.3 is designed to make it incredibly easy to schedule and email customized high quality PDF reports based on your Kibana dashboards.   You can now customize the logo, report titles, page size, layout, and font for your scheduled PDF reports.   We have made significant enhancements to the PDF report quality.  You need to see it to believe it.

Attach Excel Report to PDF Reports

Skedler v1.3 - Select include excel reports in schedule a report window

Attach Excel Reports

What if your stakeholders prefer playing with the raw data using Excel?  We got your covered.  With one click, you can attach excel export to scheduled PDF reports of your Kibana dashboard.   Check out a sample excel report here.

Schedule PDF Reports from Kibana Searches

Skedler v1.3 - Select report type as searches in schedule a report window

Schedule Report for Kibana Search

Reports based on Kibana Discover (Search) tab has been a frequent request from our customers and today, we are happy to say that Skedler v1.3 has taken the first big step in fulfilling this popular request. You can now schedule PDF reports in Skedler for your saved searches in Kibana Discover tab.  No need to create dashboards! Combine it with the PDF customization capability to schedule high quality reports for your stakeholders.  You can’t generate Excel reports yet, but it is coming soon!

Easy to Install + Amazing Support

Skedler is designed such that most customers can get it running within an hour.  However, if your environment is unique (OS/network/Shield/Nginx/Mail server configuration issues) and if you need help with the configuration, we have an amazingly responsive and talented Skedler team to support you through your evaluation and beyond.

Free Trial

You can try Skedler free to experience the value of Skedler and decide if you would like to include it in your solution.  Contact us (use your official email id only please) to get started.  We will  send you an electronic (Docusign) Evaluation License Agreement.  Upon signing it, we will send you the link to download the latest version.

Email XLS Reports from ELK to data analysts

Introducing XLS Email Reports in Skedler 1.1

Skedler PDF reports  are an easy way to send actionable visual  information from your Elasticsearch-Kibana application to non-technical users.   But how do you meet the requirement from your customers, data analysts and users  who are looking for raw data from your Kibana application?   What if they would like to receive data periodically for analyzing with Microsoft Excel or Tableau?

We are proud to announce the beta release of Skedler 1.1 that allows you to schedule XLS reports in addition to PDF, PNG and in-line PNG reports.

Skedler - Select report format in schedule a report window

Schedule XLS reports in Skedler

Scheduled XLS reports makes it simple to schedule, generate, and send hourly/daily/weekly/monthly data snapshots to data analysts.   Skedler will automatically generate an XLS worksheet for each chart in your Kibana dashboard, combine all the worksheets into a single XLS file, and email the report to target recipients as per the schedule.

Consider the following Kibana dashboard with several charts providing information regarding Crime statistics in Alameda County for the past 90 days.

Skedler - Kibana® dashboard - Alameda County Past 90 days crime statistics

Alameda county – Past 90 days crime statistics

Skedler will automatically convert this dashboard into a single XLS report with multiple worksheets, one worksheet for each chart.

Skedler - Kibana® excel (XLS) report

Daily XLS Report screenshot

You can notice that the XLS report contains six(6) worksheets, each corresponding to the chart in the Kibana dashboard.   Skedler automatically uses the chart title for the worksheet name so that it is easy to identify the worksheets and the data.  You can download the sample email report from Daily XLS Report of All Crimes Dashboard.

In addition to emailing XLS report to customers, data analysts and others who prefer to use their own tools,  you can also generate and store the XLS reports in server side file folders which can then be used for various analysis or as a data feed for other applications.

Test drive Skedler v1.1 Beta with XLS reports

If you are interested in trying out the Beta release of Skedler v1.1,  contact us and we will help you get started with Skedler.  Skedler is easy to set up and get started.  We will provide you with the technical support required to get past common configuration issues.

Introducing Skedler – Powerful Report Scheduling for Kibana

Kibana is a nice tool for quickly creating real-time dashboards from Elasticsearch data.   But, what if your managers, business users and other stakeholders need reports delivered to them periodically, e.g., weekly status report on business/technical metrics? Wouldn’t it be great to send the right information to the right people at the right time automatically instead of asking them to check the dashboard periodically?

Possible Solutions

Unfortunately, Kibana doesn’t offer this reporting functionality which is a common feature in traditional BI reporting platforms.  So, the possible solutions are:

1.  Use a BI report scheduling tool that has a plug-in for Elasticsearch and build the reports from scratch –>  For most customers, this is not practical approach for two reasons:  1.  You need to recreate the reports from scratch and maintain them in two systems (Kibana and the BI platform).  2.  BI platforms are large deployments requiring dedicated resources.  So, unless you already have a BI platform that works with Kibana / Elasticsearch, this approach is an expensive affair.

2.  Build your own custom report scheduler combining a bunch of tools –>  This is a mammoth effort.  Scheduling and generating consistent reports from Kibana and Elasticsearch is a very complex technical exercise which requires deep expertise on several fronts (UI engineering, Kibana, Elasticsearch, Back end scheduler expertise, systems expertise to handle Kibana/Elasticsearch configurations etc).  Plus, you need to allocate dedicated resources to keep pace with the frequent changes in Elasticsearch/Kibana.

For most organizations, both #1 and #2 are not viable options.  They can neither afford a new BI reporting platform nor divert their scarce engineering resources to build and manage this software.

Introducing Skedler – Report Scheduler for Kibana

Skedler is a powerful report scheduling solution that allows organizations to schedule, generate, and distribute Kibana dashboards periodically to various stakeholders.  It is simple to install and is designed to work seamlessly with your existing Kibana/Elasticsearch installation.

Skedler enables organizations to create PDF and PNG snapshots (more format to come soon) quickly using Kibana dashboards.  It provides the flexibility and features to ensure that reports are sent to the right people when they need them through centralized scheduling and distribution.  With Report Scheduler, Kibana can serve as a single system for both interactive analysis and reporting, eliminating redundant systems and saving significant costs.

See how Skedler works in this video below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=try-KdXm11o&utm_source=skedler_site&utm_medium=blog_article&utm_campaign=howitworks_video

Easy Installation

Skedler can be installed and ready to go in just a few seconds.  Simply unzip the skedler package in a server, configure your Kibana and Elasticsearch URLs in the config file, start the skedler engine and you are all set to start generating reports.

Auto-discovery of Kibana dashboards

Skedler automatically discovers the dashboards in your Kibana server and makes them available for scheduling.

Skedler - Auto-discovers Kibana® dashboard in schedule a report window

High Resolution PDF Reports

Skedler generates high resolution PDF reports from your Kibana dashboards and auto-optimizes the report regardless of how your Kibana dashboard is set up.  You can also customize the resolution of the reports as needed to suit your requirements.

Dynamic filters, recipients, and folders

What if you want to generate customer specific reports from a single dashboard and email the reports to targeted email recipients or save them in custom folders?  Skedler has a solution for that.   You can create filters, filter specific recipients, and filter specific file folders in Skedler and use them while scheduling reports. Skedler will automatically apply the filters on the fly to dashboards, generate reports, and email/preserve the reports as defined.

Skedler - Customize report generation filters in schedule a report window2015-09-01_12-09-32-1024x838

Eliminate Redundant Reporting Systems

Report Scheduler allows you to drive both analysis and reporting from the Kibana platform, eliminating the need for redundant reporting systems.

See a Live Demo and Test Drive Skedler

Skedler is a powerful solution that will allow you to add report scheduling capability to your Kibana-Elasticsearch system within a few minutes.  See a live demo of the Skedler solution and get set up for a free test drive.  Request a live demo and test drive  today.

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