How to assign data sources

Data sources relay information to your business groups. By assigning one or more data sources to a business group, it can populate reports.

Prerequisite(s):

These instructions are for assigning a data source to an existing business group. If you want—or need—to create a new business group before continuing, see How to create business groups first.

Tip! There is no harm having the same probe instance included in different business groups. The data is transferred only once from the data source to ORS, and thus the processing is just as efficient.

Observer Reporting Server has several default business groups to which you can assign your data sources. To assign a data source to a business group, follow the instructions provided.

A business group is a collection of data sources from one or more networks to create a data set against which to run the reports.

You may also edit the existing business groups or create your own. You may want to create your own if you want to organize your data by department, location, or for some other reason.

1.	Choose Organization Group > Business Groups tab.

2.	Select a business group, and click Edit Group. The Edit Business Group window appears.

Observer Reporting Server periodically queries all of its data sources for updated data. When it queries, it also gathers information about all probe instances for each Observer. The list of probe instances appears here in the business group window.

3.	From the Available Data Sources list, select the probe instances you want to assign to this business group.

This is how you create groups that span either physical locations, such as servers located in different sites, or logical locations like departments.

4.	Click the >> button to add the probe instances to the Selected Data Sources.

5.	Click OK to save your changes to the business group.

6.	Click the Data Sources tab.

7.	Select the listed data source from which you want to gather the network trending, and click Get Data Now.

Observer Reporting Server contacts Observer and Observer Infrastructure to request its trending data. This process may take a few minutes depending on how much trending data must be retrieved.