User Guide for Cisco Secure ACS Solution Engine 4.0 - Logs and Reports [Cisco Secure Access Control Server Solution Engine]

Table Of Contents

Logs and Reports

Logging Format

Special Logging Attributes

Posture-Validation Attributes in Logs

Reporting HCAP Errors

Update Packets in Accounting Logs

About ACS Logs and Reports

Accounting Logs

Dynamic Administration Reports

Viewing the Logged-in Users Report

Deleting Logged-in Users

Viewing the Disabled Accounts Report

ACS System Logs

Working with CSV Logs

CSV Log File Names

CSV Log Size and Retention

Enabling or Disabling a CSV Log

Viewing a CSV Report

Log Filtering

Configuring a CSV Log

Remote Logging

About Remote Logging

Implementing Centralized Remote Logging

Local Configuration of Remote Logging

Remote Logging Options

Enabling and Configuring Remote Logging

Disabling Remote Logging

Remote Agent Logging Configuration

Remote Agent Logging Options

Configuring Remote Agent Logs

Service Logs

Services Logged

Configuring Service Logs

Helping Customer Support Gather Data

Logs and Reports

The Cisco Secure Access Control Server Release 4.0 Solution Engine, hereafter referred to as ACS, produces a variety of logs, and provides a way to view most of these logs in the ACS web interface as HTML reports.

This chapter contains the following topics:

•Logging Format

•Special Logging Attributes

•Posture-Validation Attributes in Logs

•Update Packets in Accounting Logs

•About ACS Logs and Reports

•Working with CSV Logs

•Remote Logging

•Service Logs

Logging Format

ACS logs a variety of user and system activities. Logs can be recorded in comma-separated value (CSV) files. The CSV format records data in columns separated by commas(,). This format is easily imported into a variety of third-party applications, such as Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Access. After data from a CSV file is imported into such applications, you can prepare charts or perform queries, such as determining how many hours a user was logged in to the network during a given period. For information about how to use a CSV file in a third-party application such as Microsoft Excel, please see the documentation from the third-party vendor. You can access the CSV files on the ACS server hard drive or by downloading the CSV file from the web interface. For more information about downloading the CSV file from the web interface, see Viewing a CSV Report.

For information about the formats that are available for a specific log, see About ACS Logs and Reports.

Special Logging Attributes

Among the many attributes that ACS can record in its logs, a few are of special importance. The following list explains the special logging attributes that ACS provides.

•User Attributes—These logging attributes appear in the Attributes list for any log configuration page. ACS lists them by using their default names: Real Name, Description, User Field 3, User Field 4, and User Field 5. If you change the name of a user-defined attribute, the default name rather, than the new name, still appears in the Attributes list.

The values that you enter in the corresponding fields in the user account determine the content of these attributes. For more information about user attributes, see User Data Configuration Options, page 3-4.

•ExtDB Info—If the user is authenticated with an external user database, this attribute contains a value that the database returns. In the case of a Windows user database, this attribute contains the name of the domain that authenticated the user.

In entries in the Failed Attempts log, this attribute contains the database that last successfully authenticated the user. It does not list the database that failed the user-authentication attempt.

•Access Device—The name of the AAA client that is sending the logging data to ACS.

•Network Device Group—The network device group to which the access device (AAA client) belongs.

•Filter Information—The result of network access restrictions (NARs) applied to the user, if any. The message in this field indicates whether all applicable NARs permitted the user access, all applicable NARs denied the user access, or more specific information about which NAR denied the user access. If no NARs apply to the user, this logging attribute notes that no NARs were applied.

The Filter Information attribute is available for Passed Authentication and Failed Attempts logs.

•Device Command Set—The name of the device command set, if any, that was used to satisfy a command authorization request.

The Device Command Set attribute is available for Failed Attempts logs.

•Remote Logging Result—Whether a remote logging service successfully processes a forwarded accounting packet. This attribute is useful for determining which accounting packets, if any, a central logging service did not log. It is dependent upon the receipt of an acknowledgment message from the remote logging service. The acknowledgment message indicates that the remote logging service properly processed the accounting packet in the manner that the remote logging service is configured to do. A value of Remote-logging-successful indicates that the remote logging service successfully processed the accounting packet. A value of Remote-logging-failed indicates that the remote logging service did not process the accounting packet successfully.

Note ACS cannot determine how a remote logging service is configured to process accounting packets that it is forwarded. For example, if a remote logging service is configured to discard accounting packets, it discards a forwarded accounting packet and responds to ACS with an acknowledgment message, causing ACS to write a value of Remote-logging-successful in the Remote Logging Result attribute in the local log that records the account packet.

•Application-Posture-Token—The application posture token (APT) returned by a particular policy during a posture-validation request. This attribute is available only in the Passed Authentications and Failed Attempts logs. For more information, see Posture-Validation Attributes in Logs.

•System-Posture-Token—The system posture token (SPT) that is returned during a posture-validation request. This attribute is available only in the Passed Authentications and Failed Attempts logs. For more information, see Posture-Validation Attributes in Logs.

•Other Posture-Validation Attributes—Attributes that a NAC client sends to ACS during a posture-validation request. The attributes are uniquely identified by the vendor name, application name, and attribute name. For example, the NAI:AV:DAT-Date attribute is an attribute containing information about the date of the DAT file on the NAC client for the anti-virus application by Network Associates, Inc. These attributes are available only in the Passed Authentications and Failed Attempts logs. For more information, see Posture-Validation Attributes in Logs.

Posture-Validation Attributes in Logs

You can choose to log posture-validation attributes in the Passed Authentications and Failed Attempts logs. All inbound attributes are available for logging. The only two outbound attributes that you can record in logs are Application-Posture-Assessment and System-Posture-Assessment.

All posture-validation requests resulting in a system posture assessment/token (SPT) are logged in the Passed Authentications log. posture-validation requests resulting in an SPT of anything other than Healthy are logged in the Failed Attempts log. For more information about posture tokens, see Posture Tokens, page 14-3.

Reporting HCAP Errors

The Authen-Failure-Code entry in the Failed-Attempts report may display one of the following errors when Host Credentials Authentication Protocol (HCAP) fails:

•Version failure - Could not communicate with external policy server - wrong HCAP version

•Connection failure - Could not open a connection to external policy server

•Authentication failure - Could not communicate with external policy server - authentication failure

•Timeout error - Could not connect to external policy server - timeout error

•Other - Posture Validation Failure on External Policy

Update Packets in Accounting Logs

Whenever you configure ACS to record accounting data for user sessions, ACS records start and stop packets. If you want, you can configure ACS to record update packets, too. In addition to providing interim accounting information during a user session, update packets drive password-expiry messages via ACS Authentication Agent. In this use, the update packets are called watchdog packets.

Note To record update packets in ACS accounting logs, you must configure your AAA clients to send the update packets. For more information about configuring your AAA client to send update packets, refer to the documentation for your AAA clients.

•Logging Update Packets Locally—To log update packets according to the local ACS logging configuration, enable the Log Update/Watchdog Packets from this Access Server option for each AAA client in Network Configuration.

For more information on setting this option for a AAA client, see Adding AAA Clients, page 4-11.

•Logging Update Packets Remotely—To log update packets on a remote logging server, enable the Log Update/Watchdog Packets from this remote AAA Server option for the remote server AAA Server table entry on the local ACS.

For more information on setting this option for a AAA server, see Adding AAA Servers, page 4-16.

About ACS Logs and Reports

ACS provides logs that can be divided into four types:

•Accounting logs

•Dynamic ACS administration reports

• ACS system logs

•Service logs

This section contains information about the items from the previous list. For information about service logs, see Service Logs.

This section contains the following topics:

•Accounting Logs

•Dynamic Administration Reports

•ACS System Logs

Note All reports open instantly when selected, except for the Logged-In Users report, which might take up to 20 seconds to open. Specific user information might take up to several minutes to appear.

Accounting Logs

Accounting logs contain information about the use of remote access services by users. By default, these logs are available in CSV format, with the exception of the Passed Authentications log. Table 11-1 describes all accounting logs.

In the web interface, all accounting logs can be enabled, configured, and viewed. Table 11-2 contains information about what you can do with the accounting logs.

Table 11-1 Accounting Log Descriptions

Log

Description

TACACS+ Accounting

Contains:

•User sessions stop and start times

•AAA client messages with username

•Caller line identification (CLID)

•Session duration

TACACS+ Administration

Lists configuration commands entered on a AAA client by using TACACS+ (Cisco IOS). Particularly if you use ACS to perform command authorization, we recommend that you use this log.

Note To use the TACACS+ Administration log, you must configure TACACS+ AAA clients to perform command accounting with ACS.

RADIUS Accounting

Contains:

•User sessions stop and start times

•AAA client messages with username

•Caller line identification information

•Session duration

You can configure ACS to include accounting for Voice-over-IP (VoIP) in the RADIUS Accounting log, in a separate VoIP accounting log, or in both places.

VoIP Accounting

Contains:

•VoIP session stop and start times

•AAA client messages with username

•CLID information

•VoIP session duration

You can configure ACS to include accounting for VoIP in this separate VoIP accounting log, in the RADIUS Accounting log, or in both places.

Failed Attempts

Lists authentication and authorization failures with an indication of the cause. For posture-validation requests, this log records the results of any posture validation that returns a posture token other than Healthy.

Note In entries in the Failed Attempts log, the ExtDB Info attribute contains the database that last successfully authenticated the user. It does not list the database that failed the user-authentication attempt.

Passed Authentications

Lists successful authentication requests. This log is not dependent upon accounting packets from your AAA clients, so it is available; even if your AAA clients do not support RADIUS accounting or if you have disabled accounting on your AAA clients. For posture-validation requests, this log records the results of all posture-validation requests resulting in an SPT.

Table 11-2 What You Can Do with Accounting Logs

What You Can Do

Description and Related Topics

Enable an accounting log

You can enable the log in CSV format. For instructions on how to enable an accounting log in CSV format, see Enabling or Disabling a CSV Log. For information on Remote Logging, see Remote Logging.

View an accounting report

For instructions on viewing an accounting report in the web interface, see Viewing a CSV Report. For information on Remote Logging, see Remote Logging.

Configure an accounting log

For instructions on configuring the CSV accounting log, see Configuring a CSV Log.

Dynamic Administration Reports

These reports show the status of user accounts when you access them in the ACS web interface. They are available only in the web interface, are always enabled, and require no configuration.

Table 11-3 contains descriptions of all dynamic administration reports and information about what you can do regarding dynamic administration reports.

Table 11-3 Dynamic Administration Report Descriptions and Related Topics

Report

Description and Related Topics

Logged-In Users

Lists all users receiving services for a single AAA client or all AAA clients. Users accessing the network with Cisco Aironet equipment appear on the list for the access point that they are currently associated with, provided that the firmware image on the Cisco Aironet Access Point supports sending the RADIUS Service-Type attribute for rekey authentications.

On a computer configured to perform machine authentication, machine authentication occurs when the computer starts. When a computer is started and before a user logs in on that computer, the computer appears on the Logged-In Users List in the Reports and Activity section. Once user authentication begins, the computer no longer appears on the Logged-In Users List. For more information about machine authentication, see EAP and Windows Authentication, page 13-10.

Note To use the logged-in user list feature, you must configure AAA clients to perform authentication and accounting by using the same protocol—TACACS+ or RADIUS.

For instructions on viewing the Logged-in User report in the web interface, see Viewing the Logged-in Users Report.

For instructions about deleting logged-in users from specific AAA clients or from all AAA clients, see Deleting Logged-in Users.

Disabled Accounts

Lists all user accounts that are disabled and the reason they were disabled.

For instructions on viewing the Disabled Accounts report in the web interface, see Viewing the Disabled Accounts Report.

Appliance Status Page

Lists information about resource utilization on the ACS Solution Engine. Also displays information about the IP configuration for the ACS Solution Engine and the MAC address of its network interface card. You cannot configure this log.

Viewing the Logged-in Users Report

To view the Logged-in Users report:

Step 1 In the navigation bar, click Reports and Activity.

Step 2 Click Logged-in Users.

The Select a AAA Client page displays the name of each AAA client, its IP address, and the number of users who are logged in through the AAA client. At the bottom of the table, the All AAA Clients entry shows the total number of users who are logged in.

Tip You can sort the table by any column's entries, in ascending or descending order. Click a column title once to sort the table by the entries in that column in ascending order. Click the column a second time to sort the table by the entries in that column in descending order.

Step 3 Do one of the following:

•To see a list of all users who are logged in, click All AAA Clients.

•To see a list of users who are logged in through a particular AAA client, click the name of the AAA client.

ACS displays a table of users who are logged in, including:

•Date and Time

•User

•Group

•Assigned IP

•Port

•Source AAA Client

Tip You can sort the table by the entries in any column, in ascending or descending order. Click a column title once to sort the table by the entries in that column, in ascending order. Click the column a second time to sort the table by the entries that column in descending order.

Deleting Logged-in Users

From a Logged-in Users Report, you can instruct ACS to delete users who are logged into a specific AAA client. When a user session terminates without a AAA client sending an accounting stop packet to ACS, the Logged-in Users Report continues to show the user. Deleting logged-in users from a AAA client ends the accounting for those user sessions.

Note Deleting logged-in users only ends the ACS accounting record of users who are logged in to a particular AAA client. It does not terminate active user sessions, nor does it affect user records.

To delete logged-in users:

Step 1 In the navigation bar, click Reports and Activity.

Step 2 Click Logged-in Users.

The Select a AAA Client page displays the name of each AAA client, its IP address, and the number of users who are logged in through the AAA client. At the bottom of the table, the All AAA Clients entry shows the total number of users who are logged in.

Step 3 Click the name of the AAA client whose users you want to delete from the Logged-in Users report.

ACS displays a table of all users who are logged in through the AAA client. The Purge Logged in Users button appears below the table.

Step 4 Click Purge Logged in Users.

ACS displays a message, indicating the number of users who are purged from the report and the IP address of the AAA client.

Viewing the Disabled Accounts Report

To view the Disabled Accounts report:

Step 1 In the navigation bar, click Reports and Activity.

Step 2 Click Disabled Accounts.

The Select a user account to edit page displays disabled user accounts, the account status, and the group to which the user account is assigned.

Step 3 To edit a user account listed, in the User column, click the username.

ACS opens the user account for editing.

For more information about editing a user account, see Basic User Setup Options, page 7-2.

ACS System Logs

System logs are logs about the ACS system and therefore record system-related events. These logs are useful for troubleshooting or audits. They are always enabled and are only available in CSV format. For information about each system log, including which system logs are configurable, see Table 11-4.

For instructions on viewing a CSV report in the web interface, see Viewing a CSV Report.

Table 11-4 System Log Descriptions

Log

Description

ACS Backup and Restore

Lists ACS backup and restore activity. You cannot configure this log.

RDBMS Synchronization

Lists RDBMS Synchronization activity. You cannot configure this log.

Database Replication

Lists database replication activity. You cannot configure this log.

Administration Audit

Lists actions taken by each system administrator, such as adding users, editing groups, configuring a AAA client, or viewing reports.

User Password Changes

Lists user password changes that users initiate, regardless of which password-change mechanism was used to change the password. Thus, this log contains records of password changes accomplished by the ACS Authentication Agent, by the User Changeable Password web interface, or by Telnet session on a network device using TACACS+. It does not list password changes that an administrator makes in the ACS web interface.

For information about configuring the User Password-Changes log, see Configuring Local Password Management, page 8-5.

ACS Service Monitoring

Lists when ACS services start and stop.

For information about configuring the ACS Service Monitoring log, see ACS Active Service Management, page 8-13.

Appliance Administration Audit

Lists administrator activity on the serial console, including logins, logouts, and commands executed. You cannot configure this log.

Working with CSV Logs

This section contains the following topics:

•CSV Log File Names

•CSV Log Size and Retention

•Enabling or Disabling a CSV Log

•Viewing a CSV Report

•Log Filtering

•Configuring a CSV Log

CSV Log File Names

When you access a report in Reports and Activity, ACS lists the CSV files in chronological order, with the current CSV file at the top of the list. The current file is named log.csv, where log is the name of the log.

Older files are named as:
logyyyy-mm-dd.csv 
where

log is the name of the log.

yyyy is the year that the CSV file was started.

mm is the month that the CSV file was started, in numeric characters.

dd is the date that the CSV file was started.

For example, a Database Replication log file that was generated on October 13, 2002, would be named Database Replication 2002-10-13.csv.

CSV Log Size and Retention

For each CSV log, ACS writes a separate log file. When a log file reaches 10 MB in size, ACS starts a new log file. ACS retains the seven most recent log files for each CSV log.

Enabling or Disabling a CSV Log

This procedure describes how to enable or disable a CSV log. For instructions about configuring the content of a CSV log, see Configuring a CSV Log.

Note Some CSV logs are always enabled. For information about specific logs, including whether you can disable them, see About ACS Logs and Reports.

To enable or disable a CSV log:

Step 1 In the navigation bar, click System Configuration.

Step 2 Click Logging.

Step 3 Click the name of the CSV log that you want to enable.

The CSV log Comma-Separated Values File Configuration page appears, where log is the name of the CSV log that you selected.

Step 4 To enable the log, under Enable Logging, check the Log to CSV log report check box, where log is the name of the CSV log that you selected in Step 3.

Step 5 To disable the log, under Enable Logging, clear the Log to CSV report log check box, where log is the name of the CSV log that you selected in Step 3.

Step 6 Click Submit.

If you enabled the log, ACS begins logging information for the log that you selected. If you disabled the log, ACS stops logging information for the log that you selected.

Viewing a CSV Report

When you select Logged-in Users or Disabled Accounts, a list of logged-in users or disabled accounts appears in the display area, which is the pane on the right side of the web browser. For all other types of reports, a list of applicable reports appears. Files appear in chronological order, with the most recent file at the top of the list. The reports are named and listed by the date on which they were created; for example, a report ending with 2002-10-13.csv was created on October 13, 2002.

Files in CSV format can be imported into spreadsheets by using most popular spreadsheet application software. Refer to your spreadsheet software documentation for instructions. You can also use a third-party reporting tool to manage report data. For example, aaa-reports! by Extraxi supports ACS.

You can download the CSV file for any CSV report that you view in ACS.

To view a CSV report:

Step 1 In the navigation bar, click Reports and Activity.

Step 2 Click the name of the CSV report that you want to view.

On the right side of the browser, ACS lists the current CSV report filename and the filenames of any old CSV report files.

Step 3 Click the CSV report filename whose contents you want to view.

If the CSV report file contains information, the information appears in the display area.

Tip You can sort the table by entries in the column, in ascending or descending order. Click a column title once to sort the table by that column's entries in ascending order. Click the column a second time to sort the table by that column's entries in descending order.

Tip To check for newer information in the current CSV report, click Refresh.

Step 4 If you want to download the CSV log file for the report that you are viewing:

a. Click Download.

Your browser displays a dialog box for accepting and saving the CSV file.

b. Choose a location where you want to save the CSV file, and click Save to save the file.

Log Filtering

You can use ACS to filter CSV log reports. When you select a report type from the available reports types list, a report history (log) files list of the selected report type appears. After you select a specific CSV log file, and its contents appear, you can specify the filtering criteria. The filtering criteria is applied on the original log file, and only rows that match the criteria appear.

Filtering criteria includes a regular expression, a time range, or both.

Regular expression-based filtering checks that at least one of each column's value, per row, matches the provided regular expression. When you use regular expression filtering, ACS traverses each column and displays only the rows that match the filtering criteria.

You can use time-based filtering by specifying values for a Start Date & Timeand an End Date & Time. Rows dated within the specified time range appear.

You can enter a regular expression for filtering, a time-based filter, or a combination of both. When you enter a regular expression and use time-based filtering as well, the report will include only the rows that match both criteria.

Note The functionality of the Refresh and Download links remain unchanged (without filtering). See Viewing a CSV Report.

To apply a log filter:

Step 1 In the navigation bar, click Reports and Activity.

Step 2 Click the name of the CSV report type that you want to view.

On the right side of the browser, ACS lists the current CSV report filename and the filenames of any old CSV (log) report files.

Step 3 Select a log file. The contents appear.

You can then specify filtering criteria and apply the filter to the log file's content.

Step 4 In the Regular Expression text box enter a string value. The expression can be up to 100 characters long.

Step 5 In the Start Date & Time and End Date & Time text boxes, enter string values. The date and time format is dd/mm/yyyy,hh:mm:ss or mm/dd/yyyy,hh:mm:ss as defined in the ACS system configuration for the date format.

Step 6 In the Rows per Page box choose the number of rows to display per page. (The default is 50.)

Step 7 Click Apply Filter. The ACS web server will apply the specified filtering criteria to the report file and display the filtered results in the report's table.

Click Clear Filter to reset filtering parameters to their default values. Use this option to display the entire report unfiltered.

Step 8 Use the Next and Previous buttons to navigate forward and backward through the report pages.

Configuring a CSV Log

This procedure describes how to configure the content of a CSV log. For instructions on enabling or disabling a CSV log, see Enabling or Disabling a CSV Log.

The logs to which this procedure applies are:

•TACACS+ Accounting

•TACACS+ Administration

•RADIUS Accounting

•VoIP Accounting

•Failed Attempts

•Passed Authentications

You can configure the log content of a CSV log. To configure CSV log content:

Step 1 In the navigation bar, click System Configuration.

Step 2 Click Logging.

Step 3 Click the name of the CSV log that you want to enable.

The CSV log Comma-Separated Values File Configuration page appears, where log is the name of the CSV log that you selected.

The Select Columns To Log table contains two lists, Attributes and Logged Attributes. The attributes in the Logged Attributes list appear on the log that you selected.

Step 4 To add an attribute to the log, select the attribute in the Attributes list, and then click --> (right arrow button).

The attribute moves to the Logged Attributes list.

Tip Use the vertical scroll bar to find attributes that are not visible in the list box.

Step 5 To remove an attribute from the log, select the attribute in the Logged Attributes list, and then click <-- (left arrow button).

The attribute moves to the Attributes list.

Tip Use the vertical scroll bar to find attributes that are not visible in the list.

Step 6 To set the attributes in the Logged Attributes list back to the default selections, at the bottom of the browser window, click Reset Columns.

Step 7 Click Submit.

ACS implements the CSV log configuration that you specified.

Remote Logging

This section discusses remote logging capabilities of ACS Solution Engine.

This section contains the following topics:

•About Remote Logging

•Implementing Centralized Remote Logging

•Local Configuration of Remote Logging

•Remote Agent Logging Configuration

About Remote Logging

The Remote Logging feature enables ACS to send accounting data received from AAA clients to an ACS Remote Agent. The remote agent runs on a computer on your network. It writes the accounting data that ACS sends to it into CSV files. You can configure many ACS Solution Engines to point to a single remote agent, thus making the computer that runs the remote agent a central logging server. For more information about installing and configuring an ACS Remote Agent, see Installation and Configuration Guide for Cisco Secure ACS Remote Agents 4.0.

Note The Remote Logging feature does not affect the forwarding of accounting data for proxied authentication requests. ACS only applies Remote Logging settings to accounting data for sessions authenticated by proxy when accounting data for sessions authenticated by proxy is logged locally. For more information about proxied authentication requests and accounting data for sessions authenticated by proxy, see Proxy Distribution Table Configuration, page 4-27.

The Remote Logging Setup page, available from the Logging Configuration page in the System Configuration section, is where you configure ACS to perform remote logging of accounting data. You can specify that account data is sent to a single remote agent or that it is sent to many remote agents. For more information about enabling remote logging, see Local Configuration of Remote Logging.

Regardless of how many ACSes send their accounting data to the central logging server, the remote agent receives its configuration from a single ACS Solution Engine. That ACS is the configuration provider for the remote agent. In the HTML interface of the configuration provider ACS, you determine the remote agent configuration. By using the links under Remote Agent Logging Configuration on the Logging Configuration page, you determine:

•what logs the remote agent keeps

•what data is recorded for each log kept

•how the remote agent manages the log files

For more information about configuring remote agent logging, see Remote Agent Logging Configuration.

Implementing Centralized Remote Logging

To implement centralized remote logging:

Step 1 Install and configure an ACS Remote Agent on a computer that you want to use to store centralized logging data. For more information about installing and configuring an ACS Remote Agent, see Installation and Configuration Guide for Cisco Secure ACS Remote Agent.

Step 2 On each ACS Solution Engine, add the remote agent. For more information, see Remote Agent Configuration, page 4-19.

Step 3 On each ACS Solution Engine, enable remote logging. For more information, see Local Configuration of Remote Logging.

Step 4 On the ACS Solution Engine that the remote agent is configured to use as its configuration provider, configure remote agent logging. For more information, see Remote Agent Logging Configuration.

Step 5 If you want to create another central logging server, for use as a secondary server or as a mirror server, perform Step 1 through Step 4 for the additional server.

Local Configuration of Remote Logging

Local configuration of remote logging entails enabling the ACS Solution Engine to send accounting data to remote agents and specifying to which remote agents the accounting data is to be sent.

Local configuration of remote logging is performed on the Remote Logging Setup page, accessed by the Remote Logging link, which is under Local Logging Configuration on the Logging Configuration page.

Note Local configuration of remote logging does not affect the types of logs sent to remote agents or the configuration of the data included in logs sent to remote agents. For information about configuring which logs are sent to remote agents and the data the logs contain, see Remote Agent Logging Configuration.

Remote Logging Options

ACS provides the following remote logging options, which appear on the Remote Logging Setup page:

•Do not log Remotely—When selected, this option limits ACS to writing accounting data for locally authenticated sessions only to the local logs that are enabled.

•Log to all selected remote log services—When selected, this option enables ACS to send accounting data for locally authenticated sessions to all remote agents in the Selected Log Services list.

•Log to subsequent remote log services on failure—When selected, this option enables ACS to send accounting data for locally authenticated sessions to the first remote agent in the Selected Log Services list that is available to provide logging services. You use this option to configure one or more backup central logging servers so that no accounting data is lost if the first central logging server fails or is otherwise unavailable to ACS.

•Remote Log Services—The remote agents configured in the Remote Agents table in Network Configuration to which ACS does not send accounting data for locally authenticated sessions.

•Selected Log Services—The remote agents configured in the Remote Agents table in Network Configuration to which ACS does send accounting data for locally authenticated sessions.

Enabling and Configuring Remote Logging

Before You Begin

Be certain that you have configured your central logging server. For more information, see Implementing Centralized Remote Logging.

To enable and configure remote logging:

Step 1 To enable remote logging:

a. Click Interface Configuration.

b. Click Advanced Options.

c. Check the Remote Logging check box.

d. Click Submit.

ACS displays the Remote Logging link on the Logging page in the System Configuration section.

Step 2 Click System Configuration.

Step 3 Click Logging.

The Logging Configuration page appears.

Step 4 Under Local Logging Configuration, click Remote Logging.

Step 5 Select the applicable remote logging option:

a. To send the accounting information for this ACS to more than one remote agent, select the Log to all selected remote log services option.

b. To send the accounting information for this ACS to a single remote agent, select the Log to subsequent remote log services on failure option.

Note Click the Log to subsequent remote log services on failure option when you want to configure ACS to send accounting data to a second remote agent if the first remote fails.

Step 6 For each remote agent that you want the Selected Log Services list to display:

a. In the Remote Log Services list, select the name of a remote agent to which you want to send accounting data for locally authenticated sessions.

Note The remote agents that appear in the Remote Log Services list are determined by the Remote Agents table in Network Configuration. For more information about the Remote Agents table, see Remote Agent Configuration, page 4-19.

b. Click --> (right arrow button) to move the selected remote agent to the Selected Log Services list.

Step 7 To assign an order to the remote agents in the Selected Log Services list, click Up and Down to move selected remote agents until you have created the order you need.

Note If you click the Log to subsequent remote log services on failure option, ACS logs to the first accessible remote agent in the Selected Log Services list.

Step 8 Click Submit.

ACS saves and implements the remote logging configuration that you specified.

Disabling Remote Logging

You can prevent ACS from sending its accounting information to remote agents by disabling the Remote Logging feature.

To disable remote logging:

Step 1 In the navigation bar, click System Configuration.

Step 2 Click Logging.

Step 3 Under Local Logging Configuration, click Remote Logging.

Step 4 Select the Do not log Remotely option.

Step 5 Click Submit.

ACS no longer sends its accounting information for locally authenticated sessions to remote agents.

Remote Agent Logging Configuration

Remote agent logging configuration entails enabling logs that you want a remote agent to keep and configuring which logging attributes are sent to remote agents. On the Logging Configuration page, the Remote Agent Logging Configuration table lists the CSV logs that you can configure ACS to send to a remote agent. You can configure each log separately.

For information about configuring which remote agents ACS sends log data to, see Local Configuration of Remote Logging.

Remote Agent Logging Options

For each log that a remote agent can keep, you have the following configuration options:

•Log to log name report—Defines whether the remote log is enabled.

•Attributes—The available attributes whose data is not sent to the remote agent for logging.

•Logged Attributes—The attributes whose data is sent to the remote agent for logging.

•Generate New File—The frequency with which the remote agent starts a new CSV file for the log.

The options are:

–Every day—The remote agent starts a new CSV log file at 12 A.M. every day.

–Every week—The remote agent starts a new CSV log file at 12:00 A.M. every Sunday.

–Every month—The remote agent starts a new CSV log file at 12:00 A.M on the first day of every month.

–When size is greater than X KB—The remote agent starts a new CSV log file when the current log file grows to the number of kilobytes specified in the box.

•Directory—The directory where the remote agent writes the CSV log file. The directory must be specified by its full path on the server that runs the remote agent. If the server uses Microsoft Windows, the path must begin with the drive letter, such as c:\acs-logs. If the server uses Sun Solaris, the path must begin at the root directory, such as /usr/data/acs-logs.

•Manage Directory—Defines whether the remote agent deletes older log files. Using the following options, you can specify how the remote agent determines which log files to delete:

–Keep only the last X files—The remote agent retains the most recent log files, up to the number of files specified. When the number of files specified is exceeded, the remote agent deletes the oldest files.

–Delete files older than X days—The remote agent deletes log files that are older than the number of days specified. When a log file grows older than the number of days specified, the remote agent deletes it.

Configuring Remote Agent Logs

This procedure describes how to configure the content of a remote agent CSV log. For instructions about enabling or disabling all remote agent logging, see Local Configuration of Remote Logging.

This procedure applies to all logs recorded by a remote agent, that is, all logs listed in the Remote Agent Logging Configuration table on the Logging Configuration page.

Before You Begin

For information about the options available for remote agent log configuration, see Remote Agent Logging Options.

To configure a CSV log for a remote agent:

Step 1 In the navigation bar, click System Configuration.

Step 2 Click Logging.

Step 3 Under Remote Agent Logging Configuration, click the name of the remote agent log that you want to configure.

The CSV log File Configuration page appears, where log is the name of the remote agent log that you selected.

Step 4 To enable the log, check the Log to CSV log name report check box.

Note If the Log to CSV log name report check box is not checked, ACS does not send data for this log to remote agents.

Step 5 For each attribute that you want to include in the remote agent log, select the attribute in the Attributes list and click --> (right arrow button).

The attribute moves to the Logged Attributes list.

Tip Use the vertical scroll bar to find attributes not visible in the list box.

Step 6 If you need to remove an attribute from the remote agent log, select the attribute in the Logged Attributes list and click <-- (left arrow button).

The attribute moves to the Attributes list.

Tip Use the vertical scroll bar to find attributes that are not visible in the list.

Step 7 If you want to set the attributes in the Logged Attributes list back to the default selections, at the bottom of the browser window, click Reset Columns.

Step 8 Under Generate New File, specify when the remote agent should begin a new log file.

Step 9 If you want to manage which CSV files the remote agent keeps:

a. Check the Manage Directory check box.

b. To limit the number of CSV files ACS retains, click the Keep only the last X files option and type the number of files that you want ACS to retain in the X box.

c. To limit the age of CSV files retained by ACS, select the Delete files older than X days option and type the number of days for which ACS should retain a CSV file before deleting it.

Step 10 Click Submit.

ACS implements the remote agent log configuration that you specified.

Service Logs

Service logs are considered diagnostic logs which you use for troubleshooting or debugging purposes only. These logs are not intended for general use by ACS administrators; instead, they are mainly sources of information for Cisco support personnel. Service logs contain a record of all ACS service actions and activities. When service logging is enabled, each service generates a log whenever the service is running, regardless of whether you are using the service. For example, RADIUS service logs are created even if you are not using the RADIUS protocol in your network.

This section covers:

•Services Logged

•Configuring Service Logs

•Helping Customer Support Gather Data

For more information about ACS services, see Chapter 1, "Overview."

Services Logged

ACS generates logs for the following services:

•CSAdmin

•CSAuth

•CSDBSync

•CSLog

•CSMon

•CSRadius

•CSTacacs

The most recent debug log is named:

SERVICE.log

where SERVICE is the name of the applicable service.

Older debug logs are named with the year, month, and date on which they were created. For example, a file that was created on July 13, 1999, would be named:

SERVICE 1999-07-13.log

where SERVICE is the name of the applicable service.

If you selected the Day/Month/Year format, the file would be named:

SERVICE 13-07-1999.log

Configuring Service Logs

You can configure how ACS generates and manages the service log file. You can configure the following options for Level of Detail in the service log file:

•None—No log file is generated.

•Low—Only start and stop actions are logged. This is the default setting.

•Full—All services actions are logged.

To configure how ACS generates and manages the service log file:

Step 1 In the navigation bar, click System Configuration.

Step 2 Click Service Control.

The status of the services appears in ACS on hostname table, where hostname is the name of the computer that is running ACS.

Step 3 To disable the service log file, under Level of Detail, select the None option.

After you click Restart, ACS does not generate a new service log file.

Step 4 Click Restart.

ACS restarts its services and implements the service log settings that you specified.

Helping Customer Support Gather Data

So that customer support will have enough data to research potential issues, you must set your services log configuration correctly. Choose System Configuration > Service Control, and then choose Full. Ensure that you have sufficient disk space to handle your log entries.

The Support feature in the System Configuration section includes service logs in the package.cab file that it generates if you click Run Support Now. For information about this feature, see Support Page, page 8-19.

Note When creating a package.cab file that is larger than 2GB, additional .cab files are created due to the size limit of the packer. The sequence is: the first package name is package.cab, the second is package1.cab, and so on, until the N package, packageN.cab, where N is the number of packages minus one. The files are saved in the same location that is specified before the packing begins. These files are not standalone and all of them must be sent to package. Problems with the packed file (package.cab) may arise if there is not enough hard-disk space.