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Active Administrator 8.7 - Installation Guide

Installation Considerations for Active Administrator Installing and configuring Active Administrator Appendix: Active Administrator Server Manager

Setting the Active Administrator database

You can either create a new Active Administrator database or use an existing database; however, you must ensure that an existing database has been upgraded to the latest version before proceeding.

* 
NOTE: If you are upgrading Active Administrator, you have the option to upgrade your existing live database and all archive databases.
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NOTE: In a TLS 1.2 only environment, SQL 2012 Native Client must be installed on the Active Administrator server and agent servers, and the database server must be configured to use TLS 1.2.
To create a new database
1
Select Create a new Active Administrator database.
2
Click Next.
3
Type the target SQL Server or Azure SQL Managed instance.
4
Type a name for the database or use the default.
5
By default, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption is used for all data sent from the named server to the Active Administrator archive database. To remove encryption, clear the Encrypt Connection check box.
6
By default, the server certificate is trusted. To remove the trust, clear the check box.
* 
NOTE: If the Trust Server Certificate check box is not selected, Active Administrator will walk the validation chain until it finds a valid authority.
7
If using an Azure SQL Managed instance, select SQL Server Authentication, enter a SQL user ID that has login privilege for the SQL Managed instance, and enter the password for the SQL account.
The characters in the password will be hidden. Each character will be represented by a displayed dot. Select Show Password to display the password.
8
Click Next.
9
If necessary, adjust the database size or file paths.
10
Select the security group type for the SQL groups. Using the default group types is recommended.
11
Click Next. See Setting the Active Administrator database.
To use an existing database
1
Ensure the existing database has been upgraded to the latest version before proceeding.
2
Select Use an existing Active Administrator database.
3
Type the target SQL Server or Azure SQL Managed instance.
4
Type the database name or browse to select the database.
5
By default, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption is used for all data sent from the named server to the Active Administrator archive database. To remove encryption, clear the Encrypt Connection check box.
6
By default, the server certificate is trusted. To remove the trust, clear the check box.
* 
NOTE: If the Trust Server Certificate check box is not selected, Active Administrator will walk the validation chain until it finds a valid authority.
7
If using an Azure SQL Managed instance, select SQL Server Authentication, enter a SQL user ID that has login privilege for the SQL Managed instance, and enter the password for the SQL account.
8
The characters in the password will be hidden. Each character will be represented by a displayed dot. Select Show Password to display the password.
9
Click Test Connection to validate the database.
10
Click Next. See Setting the Active Administrator archive database.

Setting the Active Administrator archive database

The Active Administrator archive database stores events. By default, events older than 60 days are archived. You can either create a new archive database or use an existing archive database.

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NOTE: After you complete the configuration wizard, you can use the Active Administrator Console to manage archive databases by selecting Configuration | Archive Databases.
* 
NOTE: In a TLS 1.2 only environment, SQL 2012 Native Client must be installed on the Active Administrator server and agent servers, and the database server must be configured to use TLS 1.2.
To create a new archive database
1
Select Create a new Active Administrator Archive database.
2
Click Next.
3
Type the target SQL Server or Azure SQL Managed instance.
4
Type a name for the database or use the default.
5
By default, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption is used for all data sent from the named server to the Active Administrator archive database. To remove encryption, clear the Encrypt Connection check box.
6
By default, the server certificate is trusted. To remove the trust, clear the check box.
* 
NOTE: If the Trust Server Certificate check box is not selected, Active Administrator will walk the validation chain until it finds a valid authority.
7
If using an Azure SQL Managed instance, select SQL Server Authentication, enter a SQL user ID that has login privilege for the SQL Managed instance, and enter the password for the SQL account.
8
The characters in the password will be hidden. Each character will be represented by a displayed dot. Select Show Password to display the password.
9
Type a name for the archive or use the default.
10
Click Next.
11
If necessary, adjust the database size or file paths.
12
Select the security group type for the SQL groups.
13
Using the default group types is recommended.
14
Click Next. See Configuring purge and archive settings.
To use an existing archive database
1
Select Use an existing Active Administrator Archive database.
2
Type the target SQL Server or Azure SQL Managed instance.
3
Type the database name or browse to select the archive database.
4
By default, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption is used for all data sent from the named server to the Active Administrator archive database. To remove encryption, clear the Encrypt Connection check box.
5
By default, the server certificate is trusted. To remove the trust, clear the check box.
* 
NOTE: If the Trust Server Certificate check box is not selected, Active Administrator will walk the validation chain until it finds a valid authority.
6
If using an Azure SQL Managed instance, select SQL Server Authentication, enter a SQL user ID that has login privilege for the SQL Managed instance, and enter the password for the SQL account.
7
The characters in the password will be hidden. Each character will be represented by a displayed dot. Select Show Password to display the password.
8
Click Test Connection to validate the archive database.
9
Click Next. See Configuring purge and archive settings.

Configuring purge and archive settings

 
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NOTE: You can set more options to purge events, GPO history, and Active Directory® backups, and to archive events in the Active Administrator Console.
To configure purging and archiving
1
Select the purge and archive options to enable or disable.
 
Table 1. Purge and archive options
Option
Description

Event Archiving

By default, events older than 60 days are archived to the Active Directory archive database. To keep all events in the Active Administrator database, clear the check box.

Group Policy History Purging

By default, the GPO History backups are purged after 90 days. To keep all GPO History backups, clear the check box.

Active Directory Backup Purging

By default, Active Directory backups are purged after 90 days. To keep all Active Directory backups, clear the check box.

Inactive User and Computer History Purging

By default, inactive user accounts and computer history are purged after 30 days. To keep all inactive accounts and computer history, clear the check box.

2
Click Next. See Storing Active Administrator data.

Storing Active Administrator data

The Active Administrator Path Selection page displays the default path to the folder where the Active Administrator data is stored.

The install process creates the ActiveAdministrator share, which contains five subfolders in which Active Administrator data is stored: ActiveTemplates, ADBackups, Config, GPOHistory, and GPORepository. You can create your own share as long as it resides on a server that is accessible by all Active Administrator users. Make sure the share has sufficient hard drive capacity. You can estimate that each GPO initially takes 2MB to back up. Each version saved thereafter is significantly smaller, about 10k on average. If you have a large Active Directory database, you should have 10GB available.

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IMPORTANT: If you create a share manually, you must use the name ActiveAdministrator for that share. Set authenticated users full control on the share permissions. If you would like to restrict permissions further, you can change the NTFS permissions.
To create the Active Administrator share
1
Type a path to the folder where you want Active Administrator to create the share, or browse to locate a folder.
* 
NOTE: You should have at least 2GB of free space available on the drive you select. If you have a large Active Directory database, ideally, you should have 10GB free.
2
Click Next. If the folder you entered does not exist, you receive a confirmation message.
3
To create the folder, click Yes. See Setting up features and the owner.
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