How Exchange Reporter Plus works

Exchange Server-related information is gathered from the server database and other data sources like Active Directory, Message Tracking Logs, and Outlook Web Access Info (IIS) Logs. Exchange Reporter Plus can be configured to gather data at scheduled intervals. Gathering data at scheduled intervals is a data extraction procedure that requires privileged user credentials corresponding to the type of gathering being carried out. These privileges are provided either when a new Exchange organization is added or when a new scheduled task is created.

Once these scheduled tasks are created (from the Settings Tab → Configuration → Exchange Server → Task Scheduling option), the product automatically collects the required data at scheduled time intervals and stores the data in a built-in PostgreSQL database. When a user views a report in Exchange Reporter Plus, the product queries its database and provides a categorized, graphic representation of this data.

Data that is needed for Exchange Online reporting and auditing is collected directly from the Office 365 tenants using PowerShell. The collected information is then stored in the database for further processing and analysis. It can be retrieved anytime from the product's bin file under the installation path.

To monitor Skype for Business, Exchange Reporter Plus collects information from the platform using the following entities:

• From the Global Catalog server, Skype for Business organization data is collected using LDAP.
• From the Skype for Business Server, configuration details of the server are collected using PowerShell.
• From the MS SQL Server connected to the Skype for Business Server, various user activities such as conference details, instant messaging details, audio/video calls, and file transfer details are collected using database query.

Note: For more details about the workings of Exchange Reporter Plus and its architecture, refer to this page.