Import Issues

Occasionally, Vantage Ultimate encounters issues when importing information from log files.

Any issues that are encountered are displayed in the Issues pane at the bottom of the Storages tab.

An import will stop after a certain number total issues or a certain number of consecutive issues are encountered. These values can be customized in Tools | Options | Import (see Import Options). By default, import will stop when 1000 total issues or 15 consecutive issues are reached.

Issues may occur for several reasons:

  • You may have selected the wrong format for your log files.
  • Vantage cannot automatically detect the log format.
  • Your log contains a different date format than what Vantage Ultimate was expecting
  • The log file format is not supported by Vantage Ultimate.
  • The log file contains information that does not adhere to the structure Vantage Ultimate was expecting.

Auto-Detection Issues

Some loaders in WebSpy Vantage support multiple types of log files. For example, the one Sophos loader supports different types of Sophos log files such as Web Filtering, Web Application Firewall, and Packet Filter log files from both Sophos SG, Sophos XG and Web Appliance devices.

WebSpy Vantage will attempt to automatically detect what type of log file you have selected, but sometimes the automatic detection may fail, and Vantage imports the file using the wrong format.

To fix automatic detection issues:

  1. On the Storages tab, select your storage and double-click the folder to the right (in the Input section) where your log files are located.
  2. Select the Format tab and click the Properties button.
  3. You'll notice the format is set to Automatic Detection. Select the type of log format you are trying to import and click OK and OK again.
  4. Select Reload all to reload your log files with the hard-set log file format.

Issue Severity Levels

There are four severity levels of import issue:

Fatal

Fatal issues indicate that nothing could be imported from a log source due to a problem with the log source itself. Examples include:

  • Could not find file.
  • No data stream available.
  • Could not access the input.

High

High severity issues indicate a problem with lines in the log that indicate that data has been imported incorrectly. Changes may need to be made to the import settings to correctly import the file. One example includes:

Incorrect data type was returned (e.g. Expected number and found text).

Medium

Medium severity issues indicate a problem with records in the log, but does not mean the log source has been imported incorrectly. Medium severity issues include:

Expected n fields, n returned.

Low

Low severity issues do not affect the import and can be thought of as informational messages rather than issues. An example of a low severity issue includes:

Automatically changed the date format from D/M/Y to Y/M/D.

Dismissing and Reviewing Import Issues

You can perform the following functions using the buttons on the toolbar of the Issues pane:

  • Dismiss:
    Removes the selected issue from the list
  • Dismiss All:
    Removes all the issues from the list
  • Email:
    Launches an email to WebSpy support that includes some system and loader information. Before sending this email to WebSpy Support, export your issues to a review file (*.islog) using the Review button and attach this file to the email (see below).
  • Review:
    You can export the list of issues to a review file (uses the extension .islog) which can be viewed with any text editor such as notepad. This can be emailed to WebSpy support using the Email button.
  • Copy:
    Copies the selected issue to the clipboard
  • Help:
    Launches this help file

Use the options above to send the issues to Fastvue / WebSpy Support and we will guide you in the best direction to import your logs.