Under the guidance of @Shivarudrappa Satyanaik
Authored by @NAMRATHA R

IBM Concert with IBM Power provides a unified dashboard that enables users to discover systems, assess vulnerabilities, and gain visibility into the overall security posture of their IBM Power environment. By combining inventory and advisory insights, it helps users understand where risks exist and how they are distributed across HMCs and systems.

This blog focuses on the Download Report feature within the IBM Power dimension and explains how users can generate, review, and use the report to capture and share vulnerability insights outside the UI.

Just as the IBM Power dashboard helps users explore vulnerabilities interactively, IBM Concert also provides a way to turn those insights into a structured report. The Download Report feature allows users to generate a snapshot of their current IBM Power environment, capturing CVEs, systems, and severity information in a single, easy-to-share document.

The Download Report capability enables users to generate a comprehensive IBM Power vulnerability report directly from the UI, capturing a point-in-time view of vulnerabilities, affected systems, and severity distribution in a structured document.

What the Download Report Represents

The downloaded IBM Power report is more than a simple export. It is a consolidated summary of the environment’s vulnerability posture at the time of generation. The report reflects the latest inventory and advisory data available in Concert, ensuring accuracy and relevance.

By presenting information in a well-organized, readable format, the report allows teams to move beyond UI-only insights and communicate risk, impact, and priorities across technical and non-technical audiences.

Generating the Report from the UI

From the IBM Concert UI, navigate to:
IBM Concert → Dimensions → IBM Power, and click the Download report button located at the top right of the dashboard. Once selected, IBM Concert opens a preview window displaying the report before it is downloaded.

This preview experience allows users to:

• Review the full contents of the report
• Navigate through multiple pages
• Verify that the data aligns with expectations
• Confirm that the report reflects the current state of the environment

Only after this validation step do users proceed with downloading the report.

Key Sections of the IBM Power Report and Their Importance

The report is divided into logical sections, each serving a specific purpose and audience.

Report Metadata

At the beginning of the report, contextual details such as the requestor and generation timestamp are included. This information is critical for traceability, helping teams understand when the report was generated and ensuring it can be referenced accurately during reviews or audits.

Overall Vulnerability Summary

This section provides a high-level snapshot of the environment’s security posture by showing:

• Total number of identified CVEs
• Breakdown by severity level

This summary is particularly useful for security teams, as it allows quick assessment of overall risk without requiring deep technical analysis.

System and HMC-Level Insights

The report then breaks down vulnerabilities by asset type, such as Power systems, HMCs and standalone VMs. This separation helps teams understand where vulnerabilities are concentrated and which components require closer attention.

By viewing vulnerability counts at the system and HMC level, infrastructure teams can better prioritize remediation efforts and plan follow-up actions.

Detailed CVE Listings

One of the most valuable parts of the report is the detailed CVE section. This section provides in-depth information for each vulnerability, including:

• CVE identifiers
• Severity and CVSS scores
• Affected components
• Installed versions

This level of detail supports security analysis, risk evaluation, and remediation planning, making the report useful not only for high-level reviews but also for technical teams performing deeper assessments.

Why the Download Report Feature Is Important

The Download Report capability extends the usefulness of IBM Concert beyond real-time dashboards.

It allows organizations to:

• Share vulnerability insights with teams that do not have direct access to Concert
• Support audit, compliance, and governance processes
• Preserve snapshots of security posture
• Facilitate structured discussions during reviews and planning sessions

By capturing both summary-level insights and detailed technical data in a single document, the report bridges the gap between operational visibility and organizational communication.

Best Practices for Using Downloaded Reports

To maximize the value of the Download Report feature:

• Generate reports after inventory and advisory data is fully refreshed
• Use reports as supporting artifacts during audits or reviews
• Store reports periodically to track changes over time
• Review the preview carefully before downloading to ensure accuracy
  
  

Conclusion

The Download Report feature in IBM Concert provides a practical and powerful way to transform live IBM Power dashboard insights into a structured, shareable document. By capturing vulnerability data in a clear and comprehensive format, it enables better communication, stronger governance, and more informed decision-making across teams.

Together with Concert’s interactive dashboards, the Download Report feature ensures that visibility into IBM Power environments is not only accessible, but also actionable beyond the UI.