We want to log every user action(display/print/export) on certain reports of our application. I found that SSRS already have its log(select * from ExecutionLog) and most of the data we need is there BUT that log can be turned off if someone has access to the server. Is there an API/class we could to do that logging by our own?
We need a reliable solution where we are 100% sure that the log of the report is performed every time.
We are trying to avoid the use of events in the client side to log the user actions due to the network performance. Not sure if that is a recommendable option instead.
Any comment is appreciated :D
Related
I'm finishing a system at work that makes calls to mysql server. Those calls' arguments reveal information that I need to keep private, like vote(idUser, idCandidate). There's no information in the db that relates those two of course, nor in "the visible part" of the back end, but even though I think this can't be done, I wanted to make sure that it is impossible to trace this sort of calls, with a log or something (calls that were made, or calls being made at the moment), as it is impossible in most languages, unless you specifically "debug" in a certain way, while the system is in production and being used. I hope the questions is clear enough. Thanks.
How do I log thee? Let me count the ways.
MySQL query log. I can enable this per-session and send everything to a log file.
I can set up a slave server and have insertions sent to me by the master. This is a significant intervention and would leave a wide trace.
On the server, unbeknownst to either Web app and MySQL log, I can intercept communications between the two. I need administrative access to the machine, of course.
On the server, again with administrative access, I can both log the query calls and inject a logging instrumentation into the SQL interface (the legitimate one is the MySQL Audit Plugin, but there are several alternatives, developed for various purposes by developers over the years)
What can you do? You can have the applications use a secure protocol, just for starters.
Then, you need to secure your machine so that administrator tricks do not work, and even if the logs are activated, nobody can read them and you can be advised of any new and modified file to delete it promptly.
So this morning I was looking at our company's database users and it was a great mess, with some big potential insecurities. Since most colleagues where around I decided to gather them around and decide which users to delete.
Now I forgot one colleague uses powerbi and he wasn't around (a lot of different dashboards) and it will take some time for him te replace all the data sources with a new user. So I was wondering if there is anyway I can find the users I deleted so I can see which one was used by him since you cant see which credentials he was using in powerbi.
If the general query log was enabled on your server, then you have a log of each query and the user that executed it.
Alternatively, enable the error log and set log-warnings to 1 or higher and then ask the user to try to refresh the dashboard. The access denied event will be logged into the error log.
I'm working with MS Reporting Services 2016. I noticed that the application domain is set by default to recycle every 12 hours. Now the impact on users after a recycle is either slow response from reporting services or a failed report. Both disappear after a refresh of the report, but this is not ideal.
I have come across a SO answer where people suggest that you can turn off the scheduled recycle by setting the configuration attribute RecycleTime to zero.
I have also read that writing a script to manually restart reporting services, which also recycles the app domain. Then a script that simply loads a report at a controlled time to remove the first time load issues. However this all seems like a work around to me and I would rather not have to do this.
My concern is that there must be a logical reason for having the scheduled recycle time, but I cannot find any information explaining this. Does anyone know if there is a negative impact from turning off the scheduled application domain recycle?
The RecycleTime is a function aimed at making sure SSRS isn't consuming RAM it doesn't need and potentially starving the rest of the machine. Disabling the refresh essentially removes the ability to claw back any memory used for a brief period of intensive processing.
If you are confident your machine is suitably resourced you can turn the refresh off or, if not, alternatively schedule the refresh for an out of hours time and define a Cache Refresh Plan to cache any super important reports immediately afterwards to minimise any user impact.
Further reading here: https://www.mssqltips.com/sqlservertip/2735/prevent-sql-server-reporting-services-slow-startup/
I guess I'm possibly over simplifying this, but SSRS was designed to recycle every 12 hours (default) for a reason. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. In my case, I wanted to control when the recycle occurred. I execute a 1 line powershell script from a SQL Agent job at 6:50 am, then generate a subscription report at 7 am, which kick starts SSRS and the users do not see any performance degradation.
restart-service 'ReportServer'
Leaving the SSRS config file setting at 720 minutes lets the recycle occur again at 6:50 pm. Subscription reports generate throughout the night, so if a human gets on SSRS after hours there should be no performance issue because the system is already running.
Are we possibly overthinking it?
So I am going to be building a website using the Django web framework. In this website, I am going to have an advertising component. Whenever an advertisement is clicked, I need to record it. We charge the customer every time a separate user clicks on the advertisement. So my question is, should I record all the click entries into a log file or should I just create a Django model and record the data into a mysql database? I know its easier to create a model but am worried if there is a lot of high traffic to the website. Please give me some advice. I appreciate you taking the time to read and address my concerns.
Awesome. Thank you. I will definitely use a database.
Traditionally, this sort of interactions is stored in a DB. You could do it in a log, but I see at least two disadvantages:
log rotation
the fact that after logging you'll still have to process the data in a meaningful manner.
IMO, you could do it in a separate DB (see the multiple db feature in django). This way, you could have the performance somewhat more balanced.
You should save all clicks to a DB. A database is created to handle the kind of data you are trying to save.
Additionally, a database will allow you to analyze your data a lot more simply then a flat file. If you want to graph traffic from country, or by user agent or by date range, this will be almost trivial in a database, but parsing giganitc log files could be more involving.
Also a database will be easier to extend. Right now you are just tracking clicks but what happens if you want to start pushing advertisements that require some sort of additional user action or conversion. You will be able to extend this beyond clicks extremely easy in a database.
Is it possible to cache a query or report the first time it is run? It seems that opening a report will re-query the datasource. For certain queries, the data source does not change frequently enough that I'd be worried about a cache being out of date (users are notified when the database changes), and it would be much easier for the users to be able to open the report instantly rather than having to wait several minutes every time they want to see the data (though I realize if they close the file the caches will be lost - that's OK).
Data comes from an ODBC connection to Oracle, using Access 2003.
Most server databases cache ad hoc SQL statements. That is, if you run the report, Oracle should cache the result, and if it sees the SQL statement come across the wire again, deliver the result from the cache instead of retrieving it all from scratch. I know that SQL Server does this and I assume any enterprise-level database will do the same. Along with the caching, of course, is some form of checking to insure that the cached data is still up-to-date. I don't know what level of control the DBA has over how this works, but you might look into implementing this server-side. A temp table might also be a solution.
Could you maybe keep the report open the entire time the database is open? Open it hidden when the database is opened.
DoCmd.OpenReport "YourReport", acViewPreview,,,acHidden
Then never close it while the database is open.
Alternatively, since you can deal with cache staleness, perhaps you could store the report's data in a local table for faster access. Since the users are aware of when new data is available, give them a command button which empties the local table and puts the latest Oracle data back in.