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 e-mail 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 properties of users, groups and other directory objects, group membership lists, and 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 later in this chapter.
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 later in this chapter.
The Active Roles Collector allows you to collect data from computers running the Administration Service and store it 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 is 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 One Identity Active Roles | Active Roles Collector and Report Pack on the Apps page or select All Programs |One Identity 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.
If you select the option Collect data from the network on the Select Task page, the Collector wizard displays the Configure Connection page on the next step.
On the Configure Connection page, the wizard prompts you to specify the basic options for managing the data: the database in which you want to store the collected data; the source computer running the Administration Service; and the credentials to log on to that computer.
To specify a database, click the button next to the Database box. In the dialog box that appears, you can specify the desired database and authentication option for connection to SQL Server.
In the Active Roles Service box, type the full name of the computer running the Administration Service from which you want to collect information.
In the Log on as area, specify the credentials that the Collector will use to connect to the Administration Service. You can choose one of the following options:
- Current user Connect to the Administration Service with the credentials of the user account under which the Collector is running.
- Specified user Connect to the Administration Service with the specified user name and password.
Click Next to proceed to the Data Collection Tasks page.
On the Data Collection Tasks page, the wizard prompts you to select the sources of the data you want Collector to retrieve:
- Active Directory Collect information about users, groups, computers, organizational units, and domains from Active Directory.
- Policy Compliance Information Collect data to determine whether directory objects comply with the policies defined by Active Roles. This option requires the Active Directory option to be selected.
- Active Roles event log Collect events from the Active Roles event log on the computers running the Administration Service.
Click Next to proceed to the Data to Collect page.
|
NOTE: The wizard only displays the Data to Collect page if you select the Active Directory check box on the Data Collection Tasks page. |
On the Data to Collect page, the wizard prompts you to specify the categories of data you want to collect:
- Access Templates Information about Access Templates defined in your Active Roles environment.
- Policy Objects Information about Policy Objects defined in your Active Roles environment.
- Managed Units Information about Managed Units defined in your Active Roles environment.
- Script Modules Information about Script Modules defined in your Active Roles environment.
|
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. |
Click Next to proceed to the Select Domains or OUs page.
On the Select Domains or OUs page, the wizard prompts you to specify the domains or containers from which you want to collect information. You can complete this page as follows:
- 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 objects held in the selected domain or OU: select the Use subtree search check box in the dialog box 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.
Click Next to proceed to the Select Operation Mode page.
On the Select Operation Mode page, you can specify whether to start the task execution immediately or schedule the task to run at a convenient time. You can also disable SID resolving for faster data collection.
If you want to start the collection process right now, select Now under Run Active Roles Collector and click Next. While the wizard performs the operation you can see the progress screen, showing you the progress details.
When the operation is completed, the wizard displays the final screen that shows you the operation results. You can click View Log to examine operation log for possible errors.
If you want to schedule the task, select On a schedule and click Next. This displays the Schedule page where you can specify the task schedule and logon 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. Once the scheduling options are set, click Next to complete the wizard.