What are FortiOS reports?

FortiOS reports are configured from logs stored on the FortiGate unit’s hard drive. These reports, generated by the FortiGate unit itself, provide a central location for both configuring and generating reports. A default FortiOS report, called the FortiGate Security Feature Daily Activity Report, is available for you to modify to your requirements. The default report provides a way to quickly and easily set up your own report from within the web-based manager. The default FortiOS report is a report that compiles security feature activity from various security-related logs, such as virus and attack logs.

FortiOS reports consist of multiple parts, regardless of whether its the default FortiOS report or a report that you have configured from scratch, and these parts are configured separately and added to the layout. These parts of a FortiOS report are:

• charts (including datasets within the charts themselves)
• themes (including styles which are within the themes themselves)
• images
• layout

 

The parts of a FortiOS report

Charts are used to display the log information in a clear and concise way using graphs and tables. Charts contain datasets, which are SQLite queries that help the FortiGate unit to add specific log information into the chart using the log information that is stored in the SQLite database on the local hard disk. If you want to configure a chart, you must configure the dataset first. Datasets are required for each chart, and if there is no dataset included in a chart, the chart will not be saved.

Themes provide a one-step style application for report layouts. Themes contain various styles, including styles for the table of contents, headings, headers and footers, as well as the margins of the report’s pages. Themes are applied to layouts. The styles that are applied to themes are configured separately in the CLI.

You can easily upload your company or organization’s logo to use within a report. By uploading your company or organization’s logo and applying it to a report, you provide a personalized report that is recognizable as your company or organization’s report. The image must be in JPEG, JPG or PNG format.

Layouts provide a way to incorporate the charts, images, and themes that are configured to create a formatted report. A layout is used as a template by the FortiGate unit to compile and then generate the report. The layout is also coded in the CLI.

 

What you can do with the default FortiOS report

You can reset the reports you have configured, as well as the default FortiOS report you modified, to default settings. When you reset reports to default settings, any configured reports that you created from scratch are lost. The execute report-config reset command resets the reports to default settings. If you are going to reset the reports to their default settings, you should back up the current configuration file before doing so, in the event you want to revert back to the reports you previously created and/or modified.

The default FortiOS report can be modified so that it meets your requirements for a report. This default report is located in Log & Report > Report > Local. Select Customize to edit it.

The FortiOS default report contains several pages, which appear as stacked boxes in the editing interface. Each page contains one or multiple charts (depending on the configuration of that page in the interface), and each page in the finished report will contain information about the FortiGate unit at the top of each section.

You can select Run Now on the Local page to immediately create a report with the current layout and design. More complex reports may take longer to generate. After generating a report, you can view it by selecting it from the list below Run Now. Historical reports will be marked as ‘Scheduled’ if created automatically, or ‘On Demand’ if created by selecting Run Now.

 

How to modify the default FortiOS report

The following is a sample modification of the default FortiOS report, which includes adding an image.

1. In Log & Report > Report > Config, modify the page by adding a new Chart, which will appear on its own page in the final report.

2. Add an information Text field below the chart.

You should always save the changes you make by selecting Save; otherwise, the changes you just made will be lost.

3. Modify the header to add the company’s image.

The company’s image will appear in all headers throughout the report. If you select Save now, it will appear on all the report’s pages.

4. Add other charts to the list so they will appear within the report.

Charts marked as ‘FortiGate Security Feature Security Analysis Report’ are autogenerated and take up an entire page or multiple pages on their own. All other charts take up half a page, so two consecutive charts will appear on the same page in the report.

5. Modify the report settings so that the report is generated every Monday at 6 pm, and is emailed to specific employees in the company.

Reports can be sent to others after the report has been generated, if Messaging Servers are configured.

6. Test the report’s modified settings, by selecting Run Now in the Config page; after it is generated, go to Log & Report > Report > Local and view the report.

You can tell that it has been generated because the Bandwidth Usage page’s charts will be populated, and the text added below each chart appears as well.