Extractors

The 'Data Sources' menu allows an admin of the Exivity solution to manage USE 'Extractors'. USE has its own language reference, which is fully covered in a separate chapter of this documentation.

As described in the USE documentation, you are free to use your editor of choice to create and modify USE Extractors. However, the GUI also comes with a built-in USE Extractor-editor.

Creating Extractors

To create a new USE Extractor, follow these steps:

1. From the menu on the left, select "Data Sources" > 'Extractors'

2. To create a new USE Extractor where you want pull usage or lookup data from, click the 'Add Extractors' button

3. When your Exivity instance has access to the Internet, it will pull in the latest set of Extraction Templates from our Github account. These templates are then presented to you, and you can pick one from the list to start Extracting. If you don't have access to the internet, you can download them directly from Github. You are also free to start creating your own Extractor from scratch.

4. Provide a meaningful name for your USE Extractor. In the above example we're creating an USE Extractor for VMware vCenter 6.5 and higher. Therefore we call this USE Extractor : 'vCenter 6.5'

5. When you're done creating your USE Extractor, click the 'Insert' at the bottom of the screen

Edit and Delete Extractors

When you want to change or delete an existing USE Extractor, first select one from the list of USE Extractor that you want to change:

1. When you've selected your USE Extractor from the "Data Sources" > 'Extractors' list, you can change the USE Extractor variable values via the 'Variables' tab. Any variable value (except encrypted variables) from the USE Extractor script, can be change via this menu

2. In this example there is a variable called User, which has a value of vcenter_admin. We can change this value simply by changing that value to something else: my_new_user

3. When clicking 'Save' at the bottom right of this screen, you can save your changes to this USE Extractor

4. If you want to make more fundamental changes to this USE Extractor, you may click on the 'Editor' tab just next to the 'Variables' tab.

5. In the 'Editor' screen, you can make more advanced changes to your script. Such as:

   • changing existing API calls

   • changing csv output format

   • provide usernames / password that require encryption

6. In case you want to save your changes, click the 'Save' button at the bottom of the 'Editor' screen. To delete this USE Extractor, you can do so by clicking the 'Remove' button, after which you'll receive an confirmation pop-up where you'll have to click 'OK'.

Run and Schedule Extractors

To test your USE Extractor, you can execute or schedule it directly from the Glass interface:

1. After you have selected the USE Extractor that you would like to run, click to the 'Run' tab next to the 'Editor' tab

2. Most Extractors require one or more parameters, usually in a date format such as 20171231. In this example, the USE Extractor requires two parameters: a from and to date

3. When you've provided the required run parameters, click 'Run Now' to execute the USE Extractor. After the USE Extractor has completed running, you will receive some success or failed message, after which you might need to make additional changes to your USE Extractor

4. Once you're happy with your output, you can schedule the USE Extractor via the 'Schedule' tab, which is located next to the 'Run' tab at the top of the screen.

5. USE Extractors can be scheduled to run once a day at a specific time. Also you should provide a from and (optionally) to date, which are provided by using an offset value. For example, if you want to use the day before yesterday as a from date, you should use the down pointing arrows on the right, to select a value of -2. If the to date should always correspond with yesterdays date, you should provide a value there of -1.

6. If your Use Extractor requires additional parameters, you may provide these as well in the 'Schedule with these arguments' text field.

7. When you're done with the schedule configuration, you may click the 'Schedule' button. In case you want to change or remove this schedule afterwards, click the 'Unschedule' button.