Install Monitoring Reports in Skype for Business Server

Summary: Learn how to install a service that generates Monitoring reports in Skype for Business Server.

Skype for Business Server Monitoring Reports provides you with a wealth of information about the quality and quantity of the communication sessions that take place in your organization.

Install Monitoring Reports

Monitoring Reports aren't automatically installed when you install Skype for Business Server; instead, you must install Monitoring Reports separately, and only after Skype for Business Server are installed on the computer.

Note

It is recommended that you install Monitoring Reports on the same computer where the monitoring database is installed. This simplifies the process of assigning permissions for accessing the reports: installing Monitoring Reports on the computer that hosts the monitoring store means that you will not have to configure permissions that allow a database on one computer to interact with Reporting Services running on a second computer.

Skype for Business Server Monitoring Reports includes over 30 reports designed to provide detailed information about conferences, peer-to-peer IM sessions, user registrations, the Response Group application, and much more. For the 2013 version, Skype for Business Server Monitoring Reports include many enhancements:

More information on the individual reports can be found in the Monitoring Reports documentation.

Note

There is another report - QoE Call Detail Subreport - included in Skype for Business Server. However, this report is primarily for internal use, and is not intended to be directly accessed.

There are two ways to install Skype for Business Server Monitoring Reports: you can use the Skype for Business Server Deployment Wizard or you can use a Windows PowerShell script included with the Skype for Business Server installation files. Regardless of the method you use to install the reports you must first make sure that you:

  • Have the right to add a database role to a user account in the monitoring database.

  • Hold the Content Manager role in SQL Server Reporting Services. This role gives you the right to deploy reports to SQL Server Reporting Services.

To install the Monitoring Reports by using the Deployment Wizard, complete the following steps:

  1. Select Start, select All Programs, select Skype for Business Server, and then select Skype for Business Server Deployment Wizard.

  2. In the Deployment Wizard, select Deploy Monitoring Reports in order to start the Deploy Monitoring Reports wizard.

  3. In the Deploy Monitoring Reports wizard, on the Specify Monitoring Database page, make sure that the fully qualified domain name of the computer hosting your monitoring store appears in the Monitoring database dropdown list. (If you have multiple monitoring stores you need to select the appropriate server from the dropdown list.) Verify that the correct SQL Server instance appears in the SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) instance box (for example, atl-sql-001.litwareinc.com/archinst) and then select Next.

  4. On the Specify Credentials page, in the User name box, type the domain name and user name of the account to be used when accessing the Monitoring Reports (for example, litwareinc\kenmyer). If you don't use this format (domain\user name) an error occurs.

    Type the user account password in the Password box, and then select Next. No special rights are required for this account. The account automatically grants the required sign in and database permissions when setup completes.

  5. On the Specify Read-Only Group page, enter the name of a security group that grants read-only access to the SQL Server Reporting Services in the User group box. For example, to give read-only administrators access to the reports enter RTCUniversalReadOnlyAdmins. Select Next.

  6. On the Executing Commands page, select Finish.

Monitoring Reports can also be installed from the Skype for Business Server Management Shell by running the script DeployReports.ps1; this Windows PowerShell script can be found in the <install location>\Skype for Business Server 2015\Deployment\Setup folder. To install Monitoring Reports using DeployReports.ps1, type a command similar to the following at the Management Shell prompt:

C:\Program Files\Skype for Business Server 2015\Deployment\Setup\DeployReports.ps1 -storedUserName "litwareinc\kenmyer" -storedPassword "p@ssw0rd" -readOnlyGroupName "RTCUniversalReadOnlyAdmins" -reportServerSqlInstance "atl-sql-001.litwareinc.com" -monitoringDatabaseId "MonitoringDatabase:atl-sql-001.litwareinc.com"

The parameters used in the preceding command are described in the following table:

Parameter Name Required Description
storedUserName
Yes
User account (in the format domain\username) used to access the monitoring store; for example:
-storedUserName "litwareinc\kenmyer" This account must have the previously-specified SQL Server and SQL Server Reporting Services permissions or the script fails.
storedPassword
Yes
Password for the user account used to access the monitoring store.
readOnlyGroupName
No
Domain or local security group whose members are granted read-only access to the Monitoring Reports. The script fails if the specified group does not exist. If you later decide to revoke these permissions, or if you decide to grant other users or other groups access permissions, you can do so using the SQL Service Reporting Services Report Manager.
reportSqlServerInstance
No
SQL Server instance that hosts the Reporting Service. The Reporting instance must be specified using the fully qualified domain name of the Report Server; for example:
-reportServerSqlInstance atl-sql-001.litwareinc.com If this parameter is not included the script will assume that the reporting services are hosted by the same SQL Server instance that hosts the monitoring database.
monitoringDatabaseId
No
Service Identity for the monitoring database. You can return the Identities for your monitoring databases by running this command:
Get-CsService -MonitoringDatabase

After the Monitoring Reports have been installed you must then use the New-CsReportingConfiguration cmdlet to configure the URL used to access these reports. This task can be carried out from the Skype for Business Server Management Shell by running the following Windows PowerShell command. Note that it is recommended, but not required, that you use the HTTPS protocol when configuring the reporting URL:

New-CsReportingConfiguration -Identity 'service:MonitoringDatabase:atl-sql-001.litwareinc.com' -ReportingURL 'https://atl-sql-001.litwareinc.com:443/Reports_ARCHINST'

In the preceding command, the ReportingUrl property should be set to the Report Manager URL used by SQL Server 2008 R2 Reporting Services. You can determine the Report Manager URL by completing the following steps on the computer where SQL Server Reporting Services has been installed:

  1. Click Start, click All Programs, click Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2, click Configuration Tools, and then click Reporting Services Configuration Manager.

  2. In the Reporting Services Configuration Connection dialog box, make sure that the name of the Reporting Services computer appears in the Server Name box. Select the SQL Server instance from the Report Server Instance dropdown list and then click Connect.

  3. In Reporting Services Configuration Manager, click Report Manager URL. One or more URLs should appear in the Report Manager URL pane. Any of these URLs can be used as the Reporting URL although, again, it is recommended that the ReportingUrl use the HTTPS protocol.

If you have set up a mirror database for your monitoring database then you must also associate the Monitoring Reports with the mirror database. See the article Associate Monitoring Reports with a mirror database in Skype for Business Server for details.