Change Auditor 7.5 - User Guide

Change Auditor for Active Directory Queries Overview

Change Auditor for Active Directory Queries Overview

•	Introduction

•	Deployment requirements

•	Client components/features

Introduction

Introduction

Many applications use Active Directory as an LDAP directory to provide user credentials, group membership information, and other application data. During a directory migration or restructuring project, such as a corporate acquisition, it is important to understand the ways that applications use the directory before migrating the directory structure, to avoid unnecessary application downtime. Obtaining this information from Windows audit logs is extremely difficult, as it requires setting SACLs and aggregating security audit logs from all domain controllers in the environment.

Change Auditor monitors directory access across all domain controllers in the environment and aggregates that information in a central database identifying LDAP-enabled applications and how they use Active Directory. The LDAP access data gathered by Change Auditor can then be used during Active Directory forest migration and restructuring projects.

NOTE: Active Directory query auditing is only available if you have licensed Change Auditor for Active Directory Queries. If you do not have a valid license you can use the features, however, associated events are not captured. To verify that it is licensed, right-click the coordinator icon in the system tray and select Licensing.

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Deployment requirements

Deployment requirements

For a successful deployment, ensure that your environment meets the minimum system requirements. For information on system requirements, see the Change Auditor Release Notes. For details on installing Change Auditor, see the Change Auditor Installation Guide.

Client components/features

Client components/features

The following table lists the client components and features that require a valid Change Auditor for Active Directory Queries license. The product will not prevent you from using these features; however, associated events will not be captured unless the proper license is applied.

NOTE: To hide unlicensed Change Auditor features from the Administration Tasks tab (including unavailable audit events throughout the client), use the Action | Hide Unlicensed Components menu command. Note this command is only available when the Administration Tasks tab is the active page.

 

Table 1. Change Auditor for Active Directory Queries client components/features

Client page	Feature
Administration Tasks tab	Agent Configuration page: • Configuration Setup Dialog - AD Query Events settings ▪ Discard query results less than nn records ▪ Discard queries taking less than nn milliseconds ▪ Discard duplicate queries occurring within nn minutes ▪ AD Query auditing enabled Audit Task list: • AD Query NOTE: See Configure AD Query Auditing for information on using these settings for Active Directory query auditing.
Event Details pane	What details: • Type • Scope • Results • SSL/TLS • Kerberos • Simple Bind • Port • Occurrences • Since • Elapsed • Filter • Attributes NOTE: See the AD Query Event Details appendix for a description of these fields.
Events	Facilities: • AD Query
Search Properties	What tab: • Subsystem | AD Query NOTE: See Active Directory Query Searches/Reports for information on using the What tab to create custom Active Directory query search queries.
Searches page	Built-in Reports: • All reports that include the event in the AD Query facility.
Advanced tab/Search Results page	Columns: • LDAP Attributes • LDAP Elapsed • LDAP Filter • LDAP Occurrences • LDAP Results • LDAP Scope • LDAP Since • LDAP Type
Alert Body Configuration dialog - Event Details tab	Variables (email tags): • LDAP_ATTRIBUTES • LDAP_ELAPSED • LDAP_FILTER • LDAP_OCCURRENCES • LDAP_RESULTS • LDAP_SCOPE • LDAP_SINCE • LDAP_TYPE NOTE: See the Change Auditor User Guide for a description of these email tags and how to configure alert email notifications.