Active Administrator 8.6 - User Guide

Using the Active Directory Health landing page

Using the Active Directory Health landing page

The first time you open the Active Directory Health module, a message displays that you need to configure Active Directory forests. Click Manage Agents and install at least one Active Directory Health Analyzer agent. See Installing Active Directory Health Analyzer agents.

Once you have installed at least one Active Directory Health Analyzer agent, the Active Directory Health landing page displays summary information for about forests, domains, sites, domain controllers, and alerts. Active tiles display summary information for each domain that is configured in Active Administrator®.

Summary area

The Summary area displays a summary of the forests, domains, sites, and domain controllers.

 

Table 30. Summary area

Object	Description
Forest	Number of forests being monitored.
Domains	Number of domains in the forest, including domains not being monitored.
Domain controllers	Number of domain controllers in the forest, including domain controllers not being monitored.
Agents	Number of installed agents.
Global catalog servers	Number of global catalog servers in all domains.
Read only domain controllers	Number of read-only domain controllers (RODCs) in all domains.
Sites	Number of sites in all forests.
Bridgehead servers	Number of bridgehead servers in all sites.
Monitored domain controllers	Number of monitored domain controllers.
Unmonitored domain controllers	Number of unmonitored domain controllers.
All agents running All schema versions consistent All schema masters consistent All naming masters consistent All PDC masters consistent All infrastructure masters consistent All RID masters consistent All functional levels consistent	Indicates the status of the object in all forests and domains. If one object has a problem, the status becomes No.

Alerts area

The Alerts area indicates the total number of critical, and warning alerts for the forest. The chart shows alert history over the past 12 hours. If you pause the cursor over the graph, you can view the number of critical, and warning alerts that were triggered or created during the hour, and the number of active alerts that occurred during the hour.

Active tiles

An active tile displays for each domain being monitored by Active Administrator®. The active tiles automatically update every 30 minutes, but you can use the icons to refresh the tiles at any time. You also can pause and resume the refresh of data. To customize the active tile refresh, see Setting general user options.

To use the Active Directory Health landing page

1	Select Active Directory Health.

2	Click the item to open a window so you can examine details.

▪	Click the Summary area to open the Analyzer window for the forest. See Analyzing the health of a forest.

▪	Click the Alert Summary area to open the Alerts window. See Viewing alerts and alert history.

▪	Click an active tile to open the Analyzer window for the domain. See Analyzing health of a selected domain.

Installing Active Directory Health Analyzer agents

Installing Active Directory Health Analyzer agents

To monitor Active Directory domains, an agent is required. You can install the agent on each domain controller that you want to monitor, which is called standalone mode. You also have the option to install the agents on servers in a pool that are used to monitor selected domain controllers. Installing the agents into a pool helps to distribute the workload. Finally, once you run the wizard, you can set up automatic deployment, which deploys either the agent to newly discovered domain controllers or adds the domain controller to the pool of agents.

 

IMPORTANT:   • For the Active Directory Health Analyzer agent to deploy successfully, .NET Framework 4.7.2 must be installed. • There must be one Active Directory Health Analyzer agent for every 25 monitored domain controllers. For example, if you need to monitor 100 domain controllers, you must have at least 4 Active Directory Health Analyzer agents in the pool.

Figure 1. Active Directory Health Analyzer agent deployment options

Topics 

•	Installing Active Directory Health Analyzer agents into a pool

•	Installing Active Directory Health Analyzer agents onto domain controllers

•	Installing Active Directory Health Analyzer agents manually

•	Setting up automatic Active Directory Health Analyzer agent deployment

Installing Active Directory Health Analyzer agents into a pool

Installing Active Directory Health Analyzer agents into a pool

Active Administrator recommends installing Active Directory Health Analyzer agents into a pool to balance the workload among the servers in the pool. As domain controllers are added, removed, stopped, or started, the servers automatically adjust the workload every 24 hours. You also can initiate a workload evaluation manually at any time.

When installing the agents into a pool of servers, you can choose to have the pool monitor domain controllers in selected sites or all domain controllers.

NOTE: There must be one Active Directory Health Analyzer agent for every 25 monitored domain controllers. For example, if you need to monitor 100 domain controllers, you must have at least 4 Active Directory Health Analyzer agents in the pool.

To install Active Directory Health Analyzer agents into a pool

1	Select Active Directory Health | Agents.

2	Open the Monitored Domain Controllers tab, and click Add.

-OR-

Open the Analyzer Agents tab, and click Install.

3	On the welcome page, click Next.

4	Select Manage the Active Directory Health agent pool.

5	Click Next.

NOTE: If you selected Managed Domain Controllers | Add, the first time you open this page, you see a warning that no Active Directory Health Analyzer agents are deployed. You can close the warning message.

6	Use the Add, Edit, and Remove buttons to manage the list of servers in the pool.

 

Table 31. Active Directory Health Analyzer agent pool options

Option	Description
Add	Add a server to the pool. To add a server to the pool 1 Click Add. 2 Browse to select the server on which to install the agent. 3 Select to make the agent available to all domain controllers or select specific sites from the list. Use Select All and Clear All to help with the selection Regardless of the option you select, you will have the opportunity to select the actual domain controllers that the agent will monitor. 4 Click OK. Repeat for each server you want to add to the pool.
Edit	Edit the selected server. You can change the sites for which the agent is available.
Remove	Remove the selected servers from the pool.

7	Click Next.

8	In the Domain box, type a domain, or browse to locate a domain.

9	Click Find Domain Controllers.

If you want to load all the domain controllers for the forest, select the check box. Keep in mind that the load time depends on the size of the forest. If the forest is large, the load time may take a while.

10	Select the domain controllers that the servers in the pool will monitor. If you selected specific sites, only the unmonitored domain controllers in the selected sites are listed.

▪	To filter the list of domain controllers, start typing in the Filter Domain Controller box. The list filters as you type. You also can sort the list by clicking a column heading.

▪	To select all the listed domain controllers, click Select all.

▪	To clear the selections, click Clear all.

11	Click Next.

12	In the Run as box, type an account, or browse for an account.

IMPORTANT: For optimal monitoring of domain controllers, an account with domain administrative privileges is recommended. If you cannot use an account with domain administrative privileges, choose an account that is a member of the Performance Log Users and Distributed COM Users groups in the monitored domain. You also must enable Remote Access for WMI on remotely monitored domain controllers. Some monitoring features will not be available. NOTE: To analyze replication, the startup account must have the rights to monitor performance data and to create objects in Active Directory. NOTE: A service account that is a member of the "Protected Users" security group cannot be used for AD health agents.

13	Type the password for the account.

14	Click Next.

15	To configure Windows Firewall to allow the Active Directory Health Analyzer agent to communicate with the Active Administrator Data Service (ADS), select the check box.

16	Select the account to use to install the agent. You can use the Active Administrator Foundation Service (AFS) account, or indicate a specific user account.

 

NOTE: The selected account must be a full Administrator on the target server.

17	Click Next.

18	On the Summary page, check the settings, and click Finish.

19	Click Finish again to begin installation.

When installation is complete, the Monitors column indicates the agent is available for all domain controllers or indicates which site it is monitoring.

▪

To view the domain controllers monitored by the agent pool, click Monitored Domain Controllers. The Monitored by column indicates which server in the agent pool is monitoring each domain controller. You also can click Properties for a selected domain controller. See Managing the Remediation Library.

Installing Active Directory Health Analyzer agents onto domain controllers

Installing Active Directory Health Analyzer agents onto domain controllers

Active Administrator recommends installing Active Directory Health Analyzer agents into a pool to balance the workload among the servers in the pool. For more information, see Installing Active Directory Health Analyzer agents into a pool. It is also possible to install an Active Directory Health Analyzer agent directly onto a domain controller where the agent monitors only that domain controller.

To install Active Directory Health Analyzer Agents onto domain controllers

1	Select Active Directory Health | Agents.

2	Open the Monitored Domain Controllers tab, and click Add.

-OR-

Open the Analyzer Agents tab, and click Install.

3	On the welcome page, click Next.

4	Select Install the Active Directory Health Analyzer agents directly onto domain controllers.

5	Click Next.

6	In the Domain box, type a domain, or browse to locate a domain.

7	Click Find Domain Controllers.

If you want to load all the domain controllers for the forest, select the check box. Keep in mind that the load time depends on the size of the forest. If the forest is large, the load time may take a while.

8	Select the domain controllers on which to install the agents.

▪	To filter the list of domain controllers, start typing in the Filter Domain Controller box. The list filters as you type. You also can sort the list by clicking a column heading.

▪	To select all the listed domain controllers, click Select all.

▪	To clear the selections, click Clear all.

9	Click Next.

10	In the Run as box, type an account, or browse for an account.

IMPORTANT: For optimal monitoring of domain controllers, an account with domain administrative privileges is recommended. If you cannot use an account with domain administrative privileges, choose an account that is a member of the Performance Log Users and Distributed COM Users groups in the monitored domain. You also must enable Remote Access for WMI on remotely monitored domain controllers. Some monitoring features will not be available.

11	Type the password for the account.

12	Click Next.

13	To configure Windows® Firewall to allow the Active Directory Health Analyzer agent to communicate with the Active Administrator Data Service (ADS), select the check box.

14	Select the account to use to install the agent. You can use the Active Administrator Foundation Service (AFS) account, or indicate a specific user account.

 

NOTE: The selected account must be a full Administrator on the target server.

15	Click Next.

16	On the Summary page, check the settings, and click Finish.

17	Click Finish again to begin installation.

When installation is complete, the Monitors column indicates the agent is monitoring the domain controller on which it is installed.