Active Administrator 8.6.3 - User Guide

Managing Active Directory Health Templates

Managing Active Directory Health Templates

Active Directory Health templates can be viewed, modified, removed from an object, and deleted. Templates can also be imported or exported.

When viewing templates, the number of objects locked to that template are displayed to the right of the template name. When viewing the properties of a template, details such as the template ID, template name, description, object type, created dates, creator, updated dates, who updated the template, and the objects that are using the template are displayed. The collector settings and alert settings can also be viewed.

When a template is modified, all objects locked to that template will be updated to reflect the changes.

When a template is deleted, all objects locked to that template will be unlinked. The settings for the objects will remain unchanged.

Topics 

•	Managing agent workload

•	Sending agent notifications

•	Monitoring agent performance

To view Active Directory Health templates

1	Select Active Directory Health | Agents.

2	Select the Monitored Domain Controllers tab.

3	Select Settings | Templates.

4	Select a template.

5	Click Properties to display the template details.

6	Click Settings.

7	Optionally, click Data Collectors to view all of the data collector settings for this template.

8	Optionally, click Alerts to view all of the alert settings for this template.

9	Click Close to exit.

To edit Active Directory Health templates

1	Select Active Directory Health | Agents.

2	Select the Monitored Domain Controllers tab.

3	Select Settings | Templates.

4	Select a template.

5	Click Properties to display and edit the template details.

6	Click Settings.

7	Optionally, click Data Collectors and double-click any data collector to edit its settings. Click Apply to save the changes for all objects locked to this template.

8	Optionally, click Alerts and double-click any alert to edit its settings. Click Apply to save the changes for all objects locked to this template.

9	Optionally, select Active Directory objects that have the template applied and click Remove Template to remove the application of the template. Click Yes to accept and continue..

NOTE: The template is no longer applied to the object. The data collector and alert settings are retained and may now be changed.

10	Click Update to save the modified template details.

11	Click Close to exit.

To delete Active Directory Health templates

1	Select Active Directory Health | Agents.

2	Select the Monitored Domain Controllers tab.

3	Select Settings | Templates.

4	Select the templates to be deleted.

5	Click Delete.

NOTE: The templates are no longer applied to the data collectors. The settings are retained for each data collector and may now be changed.

6	Click Close to exit.

To export Active Directory Health templates to a file

1	Select Active Directory Health | Agents.

2	Select the Monitored Domain Controllers tab.

3	Select Settings | Templates.

4	Select the templates to be exported.

5	Click Export.

6	Navigate to the location to save the file.

7	Enter a meaningful file name.

8	Click Save.

To import Active Directory Health templates from a file

1	Select Active Directory Health | Agents.

2	Select the Monitored Domain Controllers tab.

3	Select Settings | Templates.

4	Click Import.

5	Navigate to the file containing exported templates and select it.

6	Click Open.

The templates contained in the file will be displayed.

7	Select the templates to import.

8

Click OK.

9	Click Yes to overwrite any existing templates that have the same name as a template being imported.

- OR -

Click No to skip importing any templates with the same name as an existing template.

10	Click Close to exit.

Managing Active Directory Health Analyzer agents

Managing Active Directory Health Analyzer agents

You can install agents directly to a domain controller in standalone mode. The standalone agent monitors only the domain controller on which it is installed. Installing agents into a pool maximizes the efficiency by balancing the workload among the pool of load-balancing agents.

NOTE: The DAAgentConfig.exe utility is available for managing the Active Directory Health Analyzer agent if you are experiencing problems. The DAAgentConfig.exe utility is located at C:\Program Files\Quest\Active Administrator\Server\SLAgent\DAAgent. The utility is launched outside of Active Administrator® to help you troubleshoot issues. If a Active Directory Health Analyzer agent is experiencing problems, an alert is triggered and displays in the Current Alert list. See Viewing alerts and alert history. For Active Directory Health Analyzer agents in a pool, the domain controllers it monitors move to another agent, and the domain controller hosting the agent is removed from the pool and no longer monitored until it come back online.

To manage Active Directory Health Analyzer Agents

1	Select Active Directory Health | Agents.

2	Open the Analyzer Agents tab.

3	Use the tool bar to manage audit agents.

 

NOTE: When you select Remove, Start, Stop, Restart, Set Agent Startup Account, or Set Port Number, 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 57. Audit agent tool bar

Option	Description
Refresh	Refresh the Active Directory Health Analyzer agent on all listed domain controllers.
Refresh Selected	Refresh the Active Directory Health Analyzer agent on selected domain controllers.
Install	Install the Active Directory Health Analyzer agent. See Installing Active Directory Health Analyzer agents.
Properties	Display properties for the selected Active Directory Health Analyzer agent. You also can view properties when monitoring agent performance. See Monitoring agent performance.
Limiter	Enable, disable, and edit time thresholds for notifications.
Remove	Uninstall the selected Active Directory Health Analyzer agent. NOTE: If for some reason, the Active Directory Health Analyzer agent cannot be removed, use the Remove Orphaned Agent option. NOTE: You must select the account to use to remove the agent.
Start	Start collecting events on the selected domain controller(s). NOTE: You must select the account to use to start the agent.
Stop	Stop collecting events on the selected domain controller. NOTE: You must select the account to use to stop the agent.
Restart	Restart selected Active Directory Health Analyzer agents. NOTE: Agents can be restarted only if they are started. If an agent is stopped, click Start. NOTE: You must select the account to use to restart the agent.
Workload Details	Manage workload distribution by the agent pool. See Managing agent workload. Manage email notifications for the status of load-balancing agents. See Sending agent notifications.
More | Agent Notifications	Manage email notifications for the status of standalone and load-balancing agents. See Sending agent notifications.
More | Automatic Agent Deployment	Set up automatic deployment of the Active Directory Health Analyzer agent. Manage pending deployments. You can cancel or initiate the deployment immediately. See Setting up automatic Active Directory Health Analyzer agent deployment.
More | Agent Performance Settings	Set up performance monitoring of a selected Active Directory Health Analyzer agent. See Monitoring agent performance.
More | Agent Performance	View properties and statistics to help monitor memory and CPU usage on a selected Active Directory Health Analyzer agent. See Monitoring agent performance.
More | Set Agent Startup Account	Change the Active Directory Health Analyzer agent startup account. NOTE: For optimal monitoring of domain controllers, an account with domain administrative privileges is recommended. If you cannot use an account with domain administrative privileges, use 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 the remotely monitored domain controllers. Some monitoring features will not be available. NOTE: You must select the account to use to set the agent startup account.
More | Set Agent Port Number	Specify the port that the Active Administrator Foundation Server uses to communicate with the Active Directory Health Analyzer agent on the domain controller. NOTE: TCP Port 15603 is the default value. If you change the agent port number from the default, make sure the port is open in Windows® Firewall on the computer hosting the Active Directory Health Analyzer agent. NOTE: You must elect the account to use to set the agent port number.
More | Remove Orphaned Agents	Removes the Active Directory Health Analyzer agents from the selected computers. NOTE: If the Remove option does not uninstall the agent, use this option.
More | View Agent Log	View the Active Directory Health Analyzer agent log. NOTE: The log entries exist in memory. You can use the Filter Log Entries option to search for specific log entries. You can right-click and copy a selection of log entries to the clipboard. If you require a log file for troubleshooting, use the Active Directory Health Analyzer agent configuration utility. See Using the Active Directory Health Analyzer agent configuration utility.
More | Test Agent Status	Test the Active Directory Health Analyzer agent connection.
More | Configure Firewall Rules	Configures Windows® Firewall to allow the Active Directory Health Analyzer agent to communicate with the Active Administrator Data Service (ADS).
More | Upgrade	Upgrade the selected Active Directory Health Analyzer agent.
More| Upgrade All	Upgrade all listed Active Directory Health Analyzer agents.
More | Group by Status	Group the list of agents by status.
More | Remove Grouping	Remove the grouping.
More | Excluded Domain Controllers	Manage the list of domain controllers that are excluded from monitoring. See Excluding domain controllers.
Tasks	Manage the tasks that pertain to the Active Directory Health Analyzer Agent. See Managing tasks.

Managing agent workload

Managing agent workload

As domain controllers are added, removed, started, or stopped, the agent pool automatically redistributes the workload. A workload evaluation is run every 24 hours automatically, but you can trigger it manually as well. You may find you need to add more agents to the pool to help with the workload. See Installing Active Directory Health Analyzer agents into a pool.

To run a workload evaluation

1	Select Active Directory Health | Agents.

2	Open the Analyzer Agents tab.

3	Click Workload Details.

The agents and the number of domain controllers monitored by the agent display along with their status and time stamp of the last evaluation.

▪	If you want to send notifications when a load evaluation occurs, click Agent Notifications.

▪	To view the domain controllers that an agent is monitoring, click Agent Details.

4	Click Evaluate Agent Load.

A message displays stating an evaluation will begin in one minute.

Sending agent notifications

Sending agent notifications

By default, an email notification is sent when an agent goes into a critical state, a stopped state, and when the agent has recovered. You also can select to send an email notification when the agent goes into a warning state or when an agent workload evaluation is performed, which occurs if a load-balancing agent cannot recover.

To manage agent notification

1	Select Active Directory Health | Agents.

2	Open the Analyzer Agents tab.

3	Select More | Agent Notifications.

NOTE: For load-balancing agents, you also can set agent notifications by selecting Workload Details | Agent Notifications.

4	By default, agent notifications are enabled. Clear the check box to disable notifications.

5	Select the status of the agent to trigger the email notification.

NOTE: For stand-alone agents, if the Load Evaluation check box is selected, a notification is not sent because load balancing does not occur.

6	Click Add to add an email address to the list of recipients for the email notifications. You can edit a selected address or remove selected addresses from the list.

 

NOTE: You also can manage the DA Agent Notification Settings email address list from the Settings menu. See Managing email addresses.

7

Click OK.