Auditor Help: Change Reports

Note: Change Reports are available in the Auditor Professional version of Ecora software. They are not available in Ecora Auditor Lite and Ecora Auditor Basic. If you are interested in the Ecora Auditor Professional, please contact a sales representative.

Ecora understands that it is important to know what has changed in your IT environment; for the sake of tracking down the cause of a new problem and for the sake of efficiency if you're auditing regularly and know your environment well. Change Management allows you to choose two new or existing data or report sets (by date) to be compared. The resulting browser view shows the first selection on top and the second on the bottom of a split screen. This "before" and "after" comparison allows you to see configuration changes in your environment at a glance.

Tip: The following instructions assume the Wizard interface. If you have disabled the Wizards, scroll down for Standard interface instructions.

Warning: None of the reports can provide a thorough analysis if you do not document ALL systems in your infrastructure. A security-oriented report, for example, will necessarily have "blind spots" where systems that are not documented may have vulnerabilities.

To create a Change Report using the Wizard interface:

1. Run the Ecora software.
2. Click on the Change button.
3. From the list of Report Types, select the report that best suits your needs.
4. Click Next >.
5. Choose a data set from the left-hand pane.
6. Click Next >.
7. Choose whether to Collect a new data set or Use an existing data set in the right.
8. If you chose to use an existing, select the data set.
9. Click Next >.
10. If you chose to collect a new data set, make the selections appropriate to the module:
• Active Directory
• Check Point
• Cisco
• Cisco PIX
• Citrix
• DB2
• Domino
• Exchange
• IIS
• MS-SQL
• Novell NetWare
• Oracle
• Windows
• Unix
• VMWare
11. If prompted, accept the time estimate and click OK.
12. Click No if prompted to save to a file for scheduling (or click Yes, name the selection set, and see the Scheduling instructions).
13. After the report has been generated, leave the checkbox selected to View Report Now (or deselect it to return to the interface).
14. Click Finish.
15. Browse the split-screen HTML change report using the directory tree to see the changes in each section (for details, see Browsing Reports).

Notes:
Change reports provide information on COMMON elements only (such as servers or domains). If you select two data sets with no common network elements, there will be nothing to compare for differences.
Change reports additional or new information (i.e. added services, applications) as differences.
One system per documentation report mode (aka "Serial") works by selecting two data sets for the same system to compare.

To create a Change Report using the Standard interface:

1. Run the Ecora software.
2. Choose Reports... Change Report... or click on the Change button.
3. If prompted, verify or change the preparer settings and click OK.
4. Choose a Reference Data Set from the left-hand pane.
5. Choose whether to Collect a new data set or Use an existing data set in the right.
6. If you chose to use existing, use the tree and data set panes to select the data set.
7. Click Next >.
8. If you chose to collect a new data set, make the selections appropriate to the module:
   • Active Directory
   • Check Point
   • Cisco
   • Cisco PIX
   • Citrix
   • DB2
   • Domino
   • Exchange
   • IIS
   • MS-SQL
   • Novell NetWare
   • Oracle
   • Windows
   • Unix
   • VMWare
9. If prompted, accept the time estimate and click OK.
10. Click No if prompted to save to a file for scheduling (or click Yes, name the selection set, and see the Scheduling instructions).
11. Click OK.
12. Browse the split-screen HTML change report using the directory tree to see the changes in each section (for details, see Report Use & Format).

Notes:
Change reports provide information on COMMON elements only (such as servers or domains). If you select two data sets with no common network elements, there will be nothing to compare for differences.
Change reports additional or new information (i.e. added services, applications) as differences.
One system per documentation report mode (aka "Serial") works by selecting two data sets for the same system to compare.

  See also Daily Change Report Exercise.