Active Administrator 8.7 - User Guide

Managing archive reports

Managing archive reports

You can create and run reports on the data in the archive audit database.

To manage archive reports

1	Select Auditing & Alerting | Archives.

2	Select the archive to use.

The left pane displays the list of auditing reports that are grouped by categories. You also can designate reports to be listed under Favorites.

All Events (Last 24 Hours) is a snapshot of the archive audit database. The Applied Filters area displays displays the last 1000 events collected based on the applied filters and selected report.

3	Use the tool bar to manage the archive reports.

 

Table 63. Audit reports tool bar

Option	Description
Refresh All	Refresh the report list.
Refresh Selected	Refresh selected reports.
New	Create a new report. See Creating a new audit report.
Edit	Edit the selected report.
Delete	Delete the selected report(s).
View	Generate a report to send as an email, to save to a file, or to open in a report editor. See Running an audit report.
Schedules	Schedule a report. See Scheduling audit reports.
More	Copy an existing report to create a new report. See Creating a new audit report by copying a report.
Categories	Manage report categories. See Categorizing audit reports.
Tags	Manage Audit tags. See Using tags to mark events.
Grouping	Group events. See Grouping events.

Managing audit agents

Managing audit agents

You can manage audit agents from the Audit Agent page. Initially the display is blank. You must install and activate the audit agent to begin collection of audit events.

NOTE: A warning may appear at the bottom of the page that indicates domain controllers are present without installed audit agents. You can suppress this warning by selecting the check box. If you want to reinstate this warning, select Configuration | Agent Installation Options. See Setting agent installation options.

The bottom half of the display shows the tasks that pertain to audit agents. To manage all tasks in Active Administrator, see Managing tasks. Click the chevron to hide the Tasks area.

A warning message displays to inform that domain controllers do not have audit agents installed. To suppress this display, click the check box. You can manage the display of the message using Configuration | Agent Installation Settings. See Setting agent installation options. Alternatively, you can exclude selected domain controllers to suppress this message. See Excluding domain controllers.

Topics 

•	Excluding domain controllers

•	Setting up auditing on domain controllers

•	Installing audit agents

•	Modifying the audit agent startup account

•	Modifying the audit agent test account

•	Updating audit agents

•	Moving an audit agent

•	Automating audit agent deployment

•	Canceling pending automated deployments

To manage audit agents

1	Select Auditing & Alerting | Agents.

2	Use the tool bar to manage audit agents.

 

NOTE: When you select Remove, Start, Stop, or Move, you are asked to select the account to use to manage the agent. You can use the Active Administrator Foundation Service (AFS) account, or indicate a specific user account.

 

Table 64. Audit agent tool bar

Option	Description
Refresh	Refresh the audit agent on all listed domain controllers.
Refresh Selected	Refresh the audit agent on selected domain controllers.
Install	Install the audit agent on the selected domain controller. See Installing audit agents.
Properties	Display properties, change the start-up account, or SQL Authentication for the selected domain controller.
Remove	Remove the audit agent from the selected domain controller. NOTE: You must select the account to use to remove the audit agent.
Start	Start collecting events on the selected domain controller(s). NOTE: You must select the account to use to start the audit agent.
Stop	Stop collecting events on the selected domain controller. NOTE: You must select the account to use to stop the audit agent.
More | Test Agent Account	Set the test agent account. See Modifying the audit agent startup account.
More | Set Startup Account	Set the startup account. See Modifying the audit agent test account.
More | Move	Move the audit agent to another computer. See Moving an audit agent. NOTE: You must select the account to use to move the audit agent.
More | Update	Update the audit agent on the selected domain controller(s) to the version installed on the server. See Updating audit agents.
More | Update All	Update the audit agent on all listed domain controllers to the version installed on the server. See Updating audit agents.
More | Excluded Domain Controllers	Exclude domain controllers from Active Administrator. See Excluding domain controllers.
More| Group by	Group the list of domain controllers by Domain, Status, or Agent Computer.
Tasks	Manage the tasks that pertain to the audit agent. See Managing tasks.
Autodeployment	Set up Active Administrator so the audit agent is installed on newly discovered domain controllers. See Automating audit agent deployment.

Excluding domain controllers

Excluding domain controllers

You can exclude domain controllers from Active Administrator® so you do not see the information banner at the bottom of the display that indicates a domain controller does not have an audit agent installed.

To exclude domain controllers from Active Administrator

1	Select Auditing & Alerting | Agents.

2	Select More | Excluded Domain Controllers.

3	Select a domain controller, and click Exclude.

4

Click OK.

NOTE: If at a later time you want to install an audit agent on an excluded domain controller, repeat this process and choose to include the domain controller.

Setting up auditing on domain controllers

Setting up auditing on domain controllers

To gather the proper information from the security event logs, the information must first be audited. You need to modify the Default Domain Controllers Policy to enable auditing.

To set up auditing on a domain controller

1	Start Active Administrator Console.

2	Select Group Policy | Group Policy Objects.

3	Select Default Domain Controllers Policy, and click Edit.

4	Expand Computer Configuration | Windows Settings | Security Settings | Local Policies, and select Audit Policy.

5	Verify that the following polices are defined. If not, double-click the following policies to edit their Success and Failure settings.

 

Table 65. Default domain controller policy settings

Policy	Setting
Audit logon events	[Success, Failure]
Audit account logon	[Success]
Audit account management	[Success]
Audit directory service access	[Success]
Audit policy change	[Success]
Audit system events	[Success]

6	Close the Group Policy window.

7	From the command prompt, refresh the Group Policies by typing gpupdate /force.

 

NOTE: Auditing policy changes may take a long time to take effect. NOTE: If there are issues detecting audit events when monitoring domain controllers, manually set the above audit policies for each type of object using the Microsoft auditpol system utility.