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Active Roles 8.1.4 - Administration Guide

Introduction Getting started with Active Roles Configuring rule-based administrative views Configuring role-based administration Rule-based autoprovisioning and deprovisioning
Provisioning Policy Objects Deprovisioning Policy Objects How Policy Objects work Policy Object management tasks Policy configuration tasks
Property Generation and Validation User Logon Name Generation Group Membership AutoProvisioning Exchange Mailbox AutoProvisioning AutoProvisioning in SaaS products OneDrive Provisioning Home Folder AutoProvisioning Script Execution Microsoft 365 and Azure Tenant Selection E-mail Alias Generation User Account Deprovisioning Office 365 Licenses Retention Group Membership Removal Exchange Mailbox Deprovisioning Home Folder Deprovisioning User Account Relocation User Account Permanent Deletion Group Object Deprovisioning Group Object Relocation Group Object Permanent Deletion Notification Distribution Report Distribution
Deployment considerations Checking for policy compliance Deprovisioning users or groups Restoring deprovisioned users or groups Container Deletion Prevention policy Picture management rules Policy extensions
Using rule-based and role-based tools for granular administration Workflows
Key workflow features and definitions About workflow processes Workflow processing overview Workflow activities overview Configuring a workflow
Creating a workflow definition for a workflow Configuring workflow start conditions Configuring workflow parameters Adding activities to a workflow Configuring an Approval activity Configuring a Notification activity Configuring a Script activity Configuring an If-Else activity Configuring a Stop/Break activity Configuring an Add Report Section activity Configuring a Search activity Configuring CRUD activities Configuring a Save Object Properties activity Configuring a Modify Requested Changes activity Enabling or disabling an activity Enabling or disabling a workflow Using the initialization script
Approval workflow Email-based approval Automation workflow Activity extensions
Temporal Group Memberships Group Family Dynamic groups Active Roles Reporting Management History Entitlement profile Recycle Bin AD LDS data management One Identity Starling Join and configuration through Active Roles Managing One Identity Starling Connect Configuring linked mailboxes with Exchange Resource Forest Management Configuring remote mailboxes for on-premises users Migrating Active Roles configuration with the Configuration Transfer Wizard Managing Skype for Business Server with Active Roles
About Skype for Business Server User Management Active Directory topologies supported by Skype for Business Server User Management User Management policy for Skype for Business Server User Management Master Account Management policy for Skype for Business Server User Management Access Templates for Skype for Business Server Configuring the Skype for Business Server User Management feature Managing Skype for Business Server users
Exchanging provisioning information with Active Roles SPML Provider Monitoring Active Roles with Management Pack for SCOM Configuring Active Roles for AWS Managed Microsoft AD Azure AD, Microsoft 365, and Exchange Online Management
Configuring Active Roles to manage Hybrid AD objects Unified provisioning policy for Azure M365 Tenant Selection, Microsoft 365 License Selection, Microsoft 365 Roles Selection, and OneDrive provisioning Changes to Active Roles policies for cloud-only Azure objects
Managing the configuration of Active Roles
Connecting to the Administration Service Managed domains Using unmanaged domains Evaluating product usage Creating and using virtual attributes Examining client sessions Monitoring performance Customizing the Console Using Configuration Center Changing the Active Roles Admin account Enabling or disabling diagnostic logs Active Roles Log Viewer
SQL Server replication Using regular expressions Administrative Template Configuring federated authentication Communication ports Active Roles and supported Azure environments Integrating Active Roles with other products and services Active Roles Language Pack Active Roles Diagnostic Tools Active Roles Add-on Manager

Active Roles Reporting

The Active Roles reporting solution leverages Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) as a platform for managing, generating, and viewing reports.

Through the use of SSRS, Active Roles delivers enterprise reporting functionality that combines the strengths of web-based features and traditional reporting. The use of Reporting Services provides a way to centralize report storage and management, enable secure access to reports, control how reports are processed and distributed, and standardize how reports are used.

A comprehensive collection of report definitions, referred to as the Active Roles Report Pack, are published to the report server, a component of Reporting Services. Installing the Report Pack creates published reports that can be accessed through web addresses (URLs), through SharePoint Web parts, or through Report Manager, a web-based report access and management tool included with SSRS.

Opening a published report from the report server generates the report in a format suitable for viewing. This action is referred to as rendering a report. Rendering a report also occurs upon subscription, when the report is delivered to an email inbox or a file share in an output format specified by the report user.

The reports that can be generated once the Active Roles Report Pack is deployed are instrumental in change tracking audits, directory data monitoring and analysis, and assessment of Active Roles security and policy configurations. The reports fall into these categories:

  • Active Roles Tracking Log: Check what changes were made to directory data through the use of Active Roles, who made the changes, and when the changes were made.

  • Active Directory Assessment: Examine the state of directory data (such as users' properties, groups and other directory objects, group membership lists, and the contents of Organizational Units).

  • Administrative Roles: View details on who has access to what data when using Active Roles, and what changes administrative users or groups are authorized to make.

  • Managed Units: View details on the Managed Units defined in the Active Roles environment, what policies are applied to Managed Units, and what users or groups have administrative access to what Managed Units.

  • Policy Objects: View details on what administrative policies are defined in the Active Roles environment, where particular policies are applied, and what policies are in effect on particular objects and containers.

  • Policy Compliance: View details on what data in the directory is not compliant with Active Roles policies that are in effect, and what policy rules are violated.

Reports are built on data prepared by the Active Roles Collector. For details about the Active Roles Collector, see Collector to prepare data for reports.

You can generate and view reports by using Report Manager, which is part of SSRS. For instructions on how to generate and view reports, see Working with reports.

Collector to prepare data for reports

The Active Roles Collector allows you to collect data from computers running the Administration Service and store them in an on-premises or Azure SQL database, making the data available for reporting.

NOTE: The Collector is installed as a separate component of Active Roles.

Data for reports are collected from the following sources:

  • Active Directory: The Collector accesses Active Directory through the Administration Service. Reports built on this data provide detailed information about domains, accounts, groups, and other Active Directory objects.
  • Active Roles configuration database: Reports built on this data provide detailed information about who can carry out what actions and to which directory objects using Active Roles, as well as information about the policies defined by Active Roles.
  • Event log on computers running the Administration Service: Reports built on this data provide detailed information about actions performed, the success or failure of each action, and object properties that were modified using Active Roles.

The scope of data that the Collector can retrieve from Active Directory is restricted by the access rights of the user account under which the Collector performs the data collection task. Therefore, reports based on Active Directory data only include information about the objects that the Collector is permitted to access in Active Directory.

For example, suppose the Collector performs a data collection task under the user account that is not permitted to access user account properties in Active Directory. As a result, the Collector will not be able to retrieve data related to user accounts, and reports will not display any information about user accounts (including the number of user accounts).

Starting the Active Roles Collector wizard

To start the Active Roles Collector wizard

  • Depending upon the version of your Windows operating system, click Active Roles > Active Roles Collector and Report Pack on the Apps page or select All Programs > Active Roles > Active Roles Collector and Report Pack from the Start menu.

When started, the Collector wizard displays the Select Task page, where you can select one of the following the tasks to perform:

  • Collect data from the network: Collect data and events from the computers running the Administration Service, and store the collected information in a database server to make the information available to the report server.

  • Process gathered events: Export selected events to another database server, or delete obsolete information from the database.

  • Import events from an earlier database version: As the current version of the Active Roles reports is only compatible with the database of the current Collector version, you need to import events from the database of an earlier version to the database of the current version if you want to use those events for reporting.

  • Deploy reports to Report Server: Setup only installs the Active Roles report definitions to the local computer. To use the reports, you need to publish them to your SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) Report Server.

Collecting data from the network

You can use the Active Roles Collector to prepare data for reporting. The data you will prepare for reporting are stored in the database you specify. To make the data available for the report server, you have to configure the data source on the report server to connect to the database that stores the data.

This section describes how to prepare report data. For more information on how to configure the data source for the Active Roles Report Pack, see Configuring the data source.

To collect data from the network, start and complete the Collector wizard, and complete the wizard pages as follows. For more information, see Starting the Active Roles Collector wizard.

To configure data collection with the Active Roles Collector wizard

  1. On the Select Task page, select the Collect data from the network option.

  2. On the Configure Connection page, specify:

    • The database in which you want to store the collected data. To initially specify a database, or choose a different database, click the button next to the Database box, then use the dialog that appears to specify the required database type, database, and authentication option for connection to database server.

    • The computer running the Administration Service. To do so, in Active Roles Service, specify the full name of the computer running the Administration Service from which you want to collect information.

    • The credentials to log in to that computer. To do so, under Log on as, click one of these options:

      • Current user: Connect to the Administration Service with the user account under which the Collector is running.

      • Specified user: Specify the user name and password you want the Collector to use when connecting to the Administration Service.

  3. On the Data Collection Tasks page, specify the sources of data you want to collect. Select or clear these check boxes as appropriate:

    • Active Directory to collect information about users, groups, computers, Organizational Units, and domains from Active Directory.

    • Policy Compliance Information to collect information on whether Active Directory data are in compliance with the policies defined by Active Roles. If you select this check box, the Active Directory check box is selected as well.

    • Active Roles event log to collect information from the Active Roles event log on the computers running the Administration Service.

    NOTE: If you select the Policy Compliance Information check box on the previous page, the wizard does not allow the Policy Objects check box to be cleared on the Data to Collect page.

    The wizard only displays the Data to Collect page if you select the Active Directory check box on the Data Collection Tasks page.

  4. On the Data to Collect page, specify the categories of Active Roles data you want to collect. Select or clear these check boxes as appropriate:

    • Access Templates to collect information about Access Templates defined in your Active Roles environment.

    • Policy Objects to collect information about Policy Objects defined in your Active Roles environment.

    • Managed Units to collect information about Managed Units defined in your Active Roles environment.

    • Script Modules to collect information about Script Modules defined in your Active Roles environment.

  5. On the Select Domains or OUs page, specify the domains or containers from which you want to collect information:

    • Click Add to select a domain or OU to add to the list on the page.

    • Click Remove to delete a selected domain or OU from the list.

    When selecting a domain or OU, you have the option to force the wizard to collect information about all child objects of the selected domain or OU: Select the Use subtree search check box in the dialog that appears when you click Add. If you clear the Use subtree search check box, the wizard only collects information about the immediate child objects of the selected domain or OU.

  6. On the Select Operation Mode page, specify whether to start the task initialization immediately or schedule the task to run at a convenient time:

    • To start the collection process immediately, click Now, then click Next.

    • To schedule the task, select On a schedule, then click Next.

    TIP: You can also disable SID resolving for faster data collection.

  7. If you selected the On a schedule option, on the Schedule page, specify the task schedule and login account:

    • Click Add to create a schedule for the task.

    • In the User account under which the task will run area, supply the user name and password of the user account under which you want the task to run.

    The user account under which the task will run must have the Log on as a batch job right configured. Use Group Policy security settings to assign that right to the user account. Members of the Administrators or Backup Operators group have the Log on as a batch job right by default.

Once configured, you can use the Task Scheduler console to examine the Collector task that you have scheduled. Task Scheduler allows you to view or change the task properties (such as task name, description, security options, triggers, conditions, and settings).

You can also view the task history with its properties. Task Scheduler tracks the task history by events that are raised when the task is started, run, finished running, and at other times as needed to track the task history. Errors related to the task are also tracked in the task history.

To view the task’s properties and history by using Task Scheduler

  1. If Task Scheduler is not open, start Task Scheduler.

    You can start Task Scheduler by typing Taskschd.msc into a command prompt (for example, cmd.exe).

  2. In the Console tree, select Task Scheduler Library > Active Roles > Collector.

  3. In the Console window, double-click the name of the task.

    The name of the task in the Task Scheduler console has the following format: Active Roles Collector (<task name>), where <task name> stands for the name you specified in the Collector wizard (for example, Active Roles Collector (New Task).

  4. In the dialog that appears, click a tab to view or change the task’s properties located on that tab.

  5. Click the History tab to view the task’s history.

    The History tab lists the events specific to the task you selected. Click an event in the list to view the description of the event.

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