Automatically generate reports

Stack Serverless

To automatically generate PDF and CSV reports, generate a POST URL, then submit an HTTP POST request using Watcher or a script. In Elastic Stack 9.1 and Serverless, you can use Kibana to generate reports on a recurring schedule and share them with a list of emails that you specify.

Create the POST URL that triggers a report to generate PDF and CSV reports.

To create the POST URL for PDF reports:

1. Go to Dashboards, Visualize Library, or Canvas.

2. Open the dashboard, visualization, or Canvas workpad you want to view as a report. From the toolbar, do one of the following:

   • Stack 9.0.0 If you are using Dashboard or Visualize Library, click Share > Export, select the PDF or PNG option, then click Copy POST URL.
   • Stack 9.0.0 If you are using Canvas, click Share > PDF Reports, then click Advanced options > Copy POST URL.
   • Stack 9.1.0 Click the Export icon, then PDF or PNG. In the export flyout, copy the POST URL.

To create the POST URL for CSV reports:

1. Go to Discover.

2. Open the saved Discover session you want to share.

3. In the toolbar, do one of the following:

   • Stack 9.0.0 Click Share > Export > Copy POST URL.
   • Stack 9.1.0 Click the Export icon, then CSV. In the export flyout, copy the POST URL.

To configure a watch to email reports, use the reporting attachment type in an email action. For more information, refer to Configuring email accounts.

For example, the following watch generates a PDF report and emails the report every hour:

 PUT _watcher/watch/error_report {
  "trigger" : {
    "schedule": {
      "interval": "1h"
    }
  },
  "actions" : {
    "email_admin" : {
      "email": {
        "to": "'Recipient Name <recipient@example.com>'",
        "subject": "Error Monitoring Report",
        "attachments" : {
          "error_report.pdf" : {
            "reporting" : {
              "url": "http://0.0.0.0:5601/api/reporting/generate/printablePdfV2?jobParams=...",
              "retries":40,
              "interval":"15s",
              "auth":{
                "basic":{
                  "username":"elastic",
                  "password":"changeme"
                }
              }
            }
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

1. Configure at least one email account to enable Watcher to send email. For more information, refer to Configuring email accounts.
2. An example POST URL. You can copy and paste the URL for any report.
3. Optional, default is 40.
4. Optional, default is 15s.
5. User credentials for a user with permission to access Kibana and the reporting features. For more information, refer to Configure reporting.

To automatically generate reports from a script, make a request to the POST URL. The request returns a JSON and contains a path property with a URL that you use to download the report. Use the GET method in the HTTP request to download the report.

To queue CSV report generation using the POST URL with cURL:

curl \
-XPOST \
-u elastic \
-H 'kbn-xsrf: true' \
'http://0.0.0.0:5601/api/reporting/generate/csv?jobParams=...'

1. The required POST method.
2. The user credentials for a user with permission to access Kibana and reporting features.
3. The required kbn-xsrf header for all POST requests to Kibana. For more information, refer to API Request Headers.
4. The POST URL. You can copy and paste the URL for any report.

An example response for a successfully queued report:

{
  "path": "/api/reporting/jobs/download/jxzaofkc0ykpf4062305t068",
  "job": {
    "id": "jxzaofkc0ykpf4062305t068",
    "index": ".reporting-2018.11.11",
    "jobtype": "csv",
    "created_by": "elastic",
    "payload": ...,
    "timeout": 120000,
    "max_attempts": 3
  }
}

1. The relative path on the Kibana host for downloading the report.
2. (Not included in the example) Internal representation of the reporting job, as found in the .reporting-* storage.

The response payload of a request to generate a report includes the path to download a report. The API to download a report uses HTTP response codes to give feedback. In automation, this helps external systems track the various possible job states:

• 200 (OK): As expected, Kibana returns 200 status in the response for successful requests to queue or download reports.

  Note

  Kibana will send a 200 response status for successfully queuing a Reporting job via the POST URL. This is true even if the job somehow fails later, since report generation happens asynchronously from queuing.

• 400 (Bad Request): When sending requests to the POST URL, if you don’t use POST as the HTTP method, or if your request is missing the kbn-xsrf header, Kibana will return a code 400 status response for the request.

• 503 (Service Unavailable): When using the path to request the download, you will get a 503 status response if report generation hasn’t completed yet. The response will include a Retry-After header. You can set the script to wait the number of seconds in the Retry-After header, and then repeat if needed, until the report is complete.

• 500 (Internal Server Error): When using the path to request the download, you will get a 500 status response if the report isn’t available due to an error when generating the report. More information is available at Management > Kibana > Reporting.

If you experience issues with the deprecated report URLs after you upgrade Kibana, regenerate the POST URL for your reports.

• Dashboard reports: /api/reporting/generate/dashboard/<dashboard-id>
• Visualize Library reports: /api/reporting/generate/visualization/<visualization-id>
• Discover reports: /api/reporting/generate/search/<discover-session-id>

Stack Preview 9.1.0 Serverless Preview

Save time by setting up a recurring task that automatically generates reports and shares them on a schedule that you choose.

• To generate PDF and PNG reports, your Kibana instance needs a minimum of 2GB of RAM. There is no minimum requirement for CSV reports.

• To use the scheduled reports feature, your role needs access to reporting.

• (Optional) To view and manage other users’ reports and schedules, your role needs All privileges for the Manage Scheduled Reports feature. You can set this by configuring your role's Kibana privileges. If your role doesn't have the Manage Scheduled Reporting feature privilege, you can only share reports with yourself.

• Sharing reports outside of Kibana requires a default preconfigured email connector.

  • Elastic Cloud Hosted or Serverless users: You do not need to set up a default preconfigured email connector. Kibana provides you with a built-in preconfigured email connector that uses the SMTP protocol to send emails. To view it, go to the Connectors page and find the Elastic-Cloud-SMTP connector.

  • Self-managed users: You must set up a default preconfigured email connector to send notifications outside of Kibana. To do this:

    1. Open your kibana.yml file.

    2. Add the xpack.actions.preconfigured Kibana setting. This setting specifies configuration details for the preconfigured connector that you're defining.

    3. Under the xpack.actions.preconfigured setting, define the email connector. Refer to Email connectors to learn about requirements for different email services and providers.

       Note

       You must define preconfigured email connector details in the kibana.yml file. You cannot create a preconfigured email connector from the Kibana UI.

    4. Add the notifications.connectors.default.email Kibana setting, and provide the name of your email connector. The notifications.connectors.default.email setting specifies the default email connector to use when sending notifications. This is especially useful if you have multiple email connectors and want to set a default one.

    The following example shows a modified kibana.yml file with a preconfigured email connector that's set as the default connector for email notifications:

    xpack.actions.preconfigured:
      my-email:
        name: preconfigured-email-connector-type
        actionTypeId: .email
        config:
          service: other
          from: testsender@test.com
          host: validhostname
          port: 8080
          secure: false
          hasAuth: true
        secrets:
          user: testuser
          password: passwordkeystorevalue
    
    notifications.connectors.default.email: my-email
    

• (Optional) To control who can receive email notifications from Kibana, add the xpack.actions.email.domain_allowlist setting to your kibana.yml file. To learn more about configuring this setting, refer to Notifications domain allowlist.

1. Open the saved Discover session, dashboard, or visualization you want to share.

2. Click the Export icon, then Schedule export.

3. Enter the requested details, and (optional) enable Print format to generate the report in a printer-friendly format.

4. Set up a schedule for generating the report.

   • Date: Choose when to start generating reports.
   • Timezone: Specify a timezone for the schedule.
   • Repeat: Choose how often you want to generate reports.

5. (Optional) To share generated reports outside of Kibana, enable Send by email and enter a list of email addresses. Recipients will receive emails with the generated reports attached and on the schedule that you specified.

   Note

   If your role doesn't have the Manage Scheduled Reporting feature privilege, you can only send reports to yourself.

6. Click Schedule exports to save the schedule.

A message appears, indicating that the schedule is available on the Reporting page. From the Reporting page, click on the Schedules tab to view details for the newly-created schedule.

The feature enables analysis of data in external tools, but it is not intended for bulk export or to backup Elasticsearch data. Issues with report generation and sharing are likely to happen in the following scenarios:

• The limit for email attachments is 10 MB. Kibana might fail to attach reports that are larger than this size.
• Scheduling too many reports at the same time might cause reports to be shared late or at an inconsistent schedule. Kibana Task Manager runs reporting tasks one at a time.
• If your cluster is running many tasks in general, reports may be delayed.
• Scheduling reports of Canvas workpads is not supported since Canvas workpads are in maintenance mode.
• Scheduling CSV reports of Lens visualizations is not supported.