Spotlight on Active Directory 6.8 - Questsupport-public.cfm.quest.com/b47b629e-82e1-4aad... ·...

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Spotlight on Active Directory 6.8.3

2Confidential Technical Support Training/ Support Partner Program

• Learning Objectives- Slide #3

• Overview of Spotlight on Active Directory – Slide #4

• Topology Viewer – Slide #5 to #11

• Diagnostic Console – Slide #12 to #15

• Web Reports – Slide #16 to #18

• Distributed Collector Console – Slide #19 and #20

• Common Install Issues – Slide #21

• Log File Locations – Slide #22

• Common Solutions – Slide #23

• Prerequisites for Contacting Support – Slide #24 and Slide #25

Slide Index


Learning Objectives

• Upon completion of this presentation, the student should be able to:– Troubleshoot common issues with the operation of Spotlight on Active Directory

– Diagnose common issues with components such as the Topology Viewer, Diagnostic Console, and the Distributed Collector Console

– Solve the issue or gather the necessary information to escalate the case.

– Isolate the issue using knowledge of the products architecture

– Understand the purpose of each console

How To Diagnose & Troubleshoot


Overview of Spotlight on Active Directory• Spotlight on Active Directory (SLAD) provides an Administrator with a quick and easy

way to monitor the health of the Domain Controllers in the forest

• SLAD consists of four main components:– Topology Viewer: Provides a visual overview of the forest including domain controllers, sites

and replication links. Administrators can run scheduled tests (with e-mail notifications) which will help the Administrator detect issues with the domain controller such as server performance, replication issues and DNS health

– Diagnostic Console: Based on feedback from the results of the scheduled tests in the Topology Viewer, the administrator can connect to the DC that has an issue using the Diagnostic Console and view the (near) real time performance metrics to pinpoint the potential issue. The diagnostic console is not intended to be run 24/7.

– Collector Management Console: The collector handles all of the data collection and processing for the scheduled tests in the Topology Viewer. By default, there is one collector installed locally. To distribute load, additional collectors can be deployed using the Distributed Collector Console.

– Web Reports: Web Reports is a web based console which displays reports based on the data collected from the scheduled collections in the Topology Viewer. Web reports are an optional component.


Overview of the Topology Viewer• The topology viewer runs scheduled tests against domain controllers and

inserts the data into the SQL database (database name is SLAD)

• Displays test results by color. Green means the last scheduled DC/Site test has passed, red means the test failed and yellow shows that the test was incomplete

• The results of the last test will be displayed within the Analysis Test Results section of the console. Historical data can be viewed with the Web Reports

• The console does not have to be left open for the tests to run, they will run on a schedule in the background

• The Topology Viewer can be installed on the same server as the services or it can be installed remotely


Topology Viewer - Architecture

SLAD Database

On SQL Server

Domain ControllersDiagnostic ServicesTopology Viewer

Console


Topology Viewer – Domain View


Topology Viewer – Analysis Test Results


Topology Viewer – Management Action Results


Topology Viewer – Troubleshooting Checklist• If the Topology Viewer is unable to connect, verify that all three services are running

• If the services are unable to start, there may be an issue connecting to the SQL database:

– Verify the account running the services has dbowner access to the SLAD database

– Verify the account running the services has local administrator access

– Go to the properties of the DiagnosticTestEngineSLAD service. In the middle of the General tab, scroll to the right of the “Path to executable” and there will be “Data Source=“. This will be the SQL server being used. Ensure the SLAD database is accessible.

• If a test fails with an access denied error message, verify that the account running the test has domain administrator access. To verify access, log in as the service account and open compmgmt.msc and connect remotely to the Domain Controller. Once connected, the account should be able to navigate down to the services, event log, etc.


Topology Viewer - Common Error Messages• “Failed to connect to the diagnostic services” when attempting to connect

using the topology viewer. Ensure all three services are running (SOL68917)

• “Error 1053: the service did not respond to the start or control request in a timely fashion” - If the services are unable to start, verify the SLAD database is accessible and that the account has appropriate access (SOL31453)

• “Invalid credentials specified for test group, test will be paused” when running a scheduled test. Ensure the account either running the services or test has local admin access and that user account control is disabled (SOL66093)

https://support.quest.com/SolutionDetail.aspx?id=SOL68917




Overview of the Diagnostic Console


Diagnostic Console - Architecture

Diagnostic Console Domain Controllers


Diagnostic Console – Troubleshooting Checklist• If the values are being displayed as “-1”, “-2” or grayed out then the account

logged in cannot access the DC to obtain the data. Verify the below:– The account will require administrator access on the remote Domain Controller

– Try to connect remotely using perfmon. A list of counters can be found in solution SOL63945

– Ideally firewalls should be disabled. List of ports can be found in solution SOL8987

• Since the connections use native calls, use native ways to try to connect to the remote DC such as: Computer Management, Regedit, Perfmon, etc.




Diagnostic Console - Common Issues• “Account does not have sufficient rights to connect” when connecting to a

Domain Controller. Even if the account logged in has domain admin access, there may be other issues connecting to the DC. It is possible that access to certain perfmon counters is denied or remote WMI has been disabled (SOL3485)

• “Windows Networking Users” or “Connected Users” count can be a very high number. This is due to a native Windows 2008 issue (SOL49456)

• “The current ‘Spotlight on Windows’ license does not allow access to this functionality”. This error can occur when more than one Spotlight product installs it’s own version of the diagnostic console (SOL50285)

• Not all counters are populating when connecting to a Domain Controller. This can be due to limited native perfmon access or corrupt perfmoncounters (SOL54282)






Overview of the Web Reports


Web Reports– Troubleshooting Checklist• If the Web Reports are installed on IIS 7, verify the below role services are installed:

– ASP.NET and ASP

– Windows Authentication

– IIS 6 Management Compatibility

• The Web Reports use a UDL file to connect to the SQL Database. If there are issues with connectivity or access, open the below UDL file and ensure it is pointing to the correct SQL Server/database

– C:\Program Files\Dell\Spotlight on Active Directory\WebReports.UDL

• The web reports relies on the data being in the database from the scheduled analysis tests. Ensure scheduled tests are running successfully prior to generating web reports

– The data is stored in the SLAD database under the Views section. If there is expected data missing in the report, open the corresponding view in the database

• There are three local groups created when the web reports are installed: Web Report Administrators, Web Report Authors, and Web Report Users. Ensure the account running the web reports is a member of one of these groups


Web Reports– Common Error Messages• “Unable to open database connection” when accessing Web Reports. Use

SQL authentication in the webreports.UDL file to access the database, or set up the SLAD server for delegation in Active Directory (SOL55129)

• Sections of the web reports display “No Data”. Verify the correct server health test is running and the web reports are installed in the same directory as SLAD (SOL92216)

• Data for “Corporate Active Directory at a Glance” report may not be populated with information. Verify that the Windows Scheduled Task “Directory Objects Collector” is running (SOL72266)





Overview of the Distributed Collector Console


Collector Management Console – Common Error Messages

• “Could not contact diagnostic services” when opening the console. Ensure that all three diagnostic services are running

• Version of collector is listed as “Unavailable”. Verify that the Distributed Collector service is running (either locally or remotely)

• “The server could not be reached” when trying to deploy a distributed collector. Ensure that the firewall is disabled on the remote sever and the account used to deploy has local admin access. If a firewall is in use the collector may need to be installed manually and then open the necessary ports (SOL8987)



Spotlight on AD - Common Install Issues• The product will install the default Distributed Collector locally. Do not

manually install a distributed collector on the same server as the services, this will cause issues in the database. SOL43790, SOL89767

• “An error occurred trying to create a Virtual Web Directory for the product. The data is invalid. Error Code =8007000d” may occur during the installation of the Web Reports. This is due to the .Net framework not being installed, install 2.0 or later (SOL95308)





Log File Locations• DiagnosticTestEngine Service:

– C:\Program Files\Dell\Common Files\Diagnostic Test Server\DiagnosticTestEngine.log

• DataManagerSLAD Service:– C:\Program Files\Dell\Common Files\Diagnostic Test Server\DataManager.log

• Discovering the topology (RefreshDiscovery.exe):– C:\Program Files\Dell\Common Files\Diagnostic Test Server\RefreshDiscovery.log

• Distributed Collector service:– C:\Program Files\Dell\Common Files\Diagnostic Test Server\DistributedCollector.log

• Topology Viewer Console:– C:\Program Files\Dell\Spotlight on Active Directory\SLADTV.log

• Spotlight Diagnostic Console:– C:\Program Files\Dell\Spotlight\Console\Spotlight.log


Common Solutions• SOL54747 – How to enable extended logging

• SOL8987 – Ports used by Spotlight on Active Directory

• SOL63979 – How to move the SLAD database

• SOL89767 - Unable to install/uninstall a distributed collector, produces “Error 1722”

• SOL90510 – How to change the service account

• SOL30520 – List of tests with a description of each








Prerequisites for Contacting Support


• Problem Description

• Diagnostic logs, screenshots, etc.

• Environmental details (system versions, physical/virtual hardware, federation, High Availability, architecture, etc.)

• Issue severity and customer business impact, timeframes, etc.

• If a performance issue, provide specific details as specified in the Notes section of this slide.

When opening a support case submit the following:

Spotlight on Active Directory 6.8 - Questsupport-public.cfm.quest.com/b47b629e-82e1-4aad... ·...

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