User Guide for Cisco Secure ACS Appliance 3.2
Logs and Reports

Table Of Contents

Logs and Reports

Logging Formats

Special Logging Attributes

Update Packets in Accounting Logs

About Cisco Secure ACS Logs and Reports

Accounting Logs

Dynamic Administration Reports

Cisco Secure ACS System Logs

Working with CSV Logs

CSV Log Size and Retention

Enabling or Disabling a CSV Log

Viewing a CSV Report

Configuring a CSV Log

Remote Logging

About Remote Logging

Implementing Centralized Remote Logging

Local Configuration of Remote Logging

Remote Agent Logging Configuration

Service Logs

Services Logged

Configuring Service Log Detail

Logs and Reports


CiscoSecure ACS Appliance produces a variety of logs and provides a way to view most of these logs in the CiscoSecure ACS HTML interface as HTML reports.

This chapter contains the following topics:

Logging Formats

Special Logging Attributes

Update Packets in Accounting Logs

About CiscoSecure ACS Logs and Reports

Working with CSV Logs

Remote Logging

Service Logs

Logging Formats

CiscoSecure ACS logs a variety of user and system activities. Regardless of the content, a CiscoSecure ACS Appliance writes all logs in comma-separated (CSV) files. The CSV format records data in columns separated by commas.

Files in a CSV format are 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 supplied by the third-party vendor.

You can access the CSV files by downloading the CSV file from the HTML interface. For more information about downloading the CSV file from the HTML interface, see Viewing a CSV Report.

Special Logging Attributes

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

User Attributes —These logging attributes appear in the Attributes list for any log configuration page. CiscoSecure ACS lists them 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 content of these attributes is determined by the values entered in the corresponding fields in the user account. For more information about user attributes, see User Data Configuration Options.

ExtDB Info —If the user is authenticated with an external user database, this attribute contains a value returned by the database. 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 sending the logging data to CiscoSecure 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 forwarded accounting packet is successfully processed by a remote logging service. This attribute is useful for determining which accounting packets, if any, may not have been logged by a central logging service. 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 CiscoSecure 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 CiscoSecure ACS with an acknowledgment message, causing CiscoSecure ACS to write a value of Remote-logging-successful in the Remote Logging Result attribute in the local log that records the account packet.


Update Packets in Accounting Logs

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


Note To record update packets in CiscoSecure 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 local CiscoSecure 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 a AAA Client.

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 CiscoSecure ACS.

For more information on setting this option for a AAA server, see Adding a AAA Server.

About Cisco Secure ACS Logs and Reports

The logs that CiscoSecure ACS provides can be divided into four types:

Accounting logs

Dynamic CiscoSecure ACS administration reports

CiscoSecure ACS system logs

Service logs

This section contains information about the first three types of logs. For information about service logs, see Service Logs.

This section contains the following topics:

Accounting Logs

Dynamic Administration Reports

CiscoSecure ACS System Logs

Accounting Logs

Accounting logs contain information about the use of remote access services by users. They are available in CSV format. Table11-1 contains descriptions of all accounting logs.

In the HTML interface, all accounting logs can be enabled, configured, and viewed. Table11-2 contains information about what you can do in the CiscoSecure ACS HTML interface regarding accounting logs.

Table 11-1 Accounting Log Descriptions 

Log
Description

TACACS+ Accounting

Contains the following information:

User sessions stop and start times

AAA client messages with username

Caller line identification (CLID) information

Session duration

TACACS+ Administration

Lists configuration commands entered on a AAA client using TACACS+ (Cisco IOS). Particularly if you use CiscoSecure 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 Cisco Secure ACS.

RADIUS Accounting

Contains the following information:

User sessions stop and start times

AAA client messages with username

CLID information

Session duration

You can configure CiscoSecure 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 the following information:

VoIP session stop and start times

AAA client messages with username

CLID information

VoIP session duration

You can configure CiscoSecure 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.

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.


Table 11-2 What You Can Do with Accounting Logs 

What You Can Do
Description and Related Topics

Enable an accounting log

For instructions, see Enabling or Disabling a CSV Log.

View an accounting report

For instructions, see Viewing a CSV Report.

Configure an accounting log

For instructions, see Configuring a CSV Log.


Dynamic Administration Reports

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

Table11-3 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 started. 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.

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

For instructions on viewing the Logged-in User report in the HTML 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 currently disabled and the reason they were disabled.

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

Appliance Status

Lists statistics about resource utilization on the CiscoSecure ACS Appliance and provides details about IP configuration, including the MAC address for the network interface card.


Viewing the Logged-in Users Report

To view the Logged-in Users report, follow these steps:


Step1 In the navigation bar, click Reports and Activity .

Step2 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 logged in through the AAA client. At the bottom of the table, the All AAA Clients entry shows the total number of users logged in.


Tip You can sort the table by any column's entries, in either 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.


Step3 Do one of the following:

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

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

CiscoSecure ACS displays a table of users logged in, including the following information:

Date and Time

User

Group

Assigned IP

Port

Source AAA Client


Tip You can sort the table by the entries in any column, in either 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 CiscoSecure ACS to delete users logged into a specific AAA client. When a user session terminates without a AAA client sending an accounting stop packet to CiscoSecure 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 CiscoSecure ACS accounting record of users 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, follow these steps:


Step1 In the navigation bar, click Reports and Activity .

Step2 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 logged in through the AAA client. At the bottom of the table, the All AAA Clients entry shows the total number of users logged in.

Step3 Click the name of the AAA client whose users you want to delete from the Logged-in Users report.

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

Step4 Click Purge Logged in Users .

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


Viewing the Disabled Accounts Report

To view the Disabled Accounts report, follow these steps:


Step1 In the navigation bar, click Reports and Activity .

Step2 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.

Step3 To edit a user account listed, in the User column, click the username.

CiscoSecure ACS opens the user account for editing.

For more information about editing a user account, see Basic User Setup Options.


Viewing the Appliance Status Report

To view the Appliance Status report, follow these steps:


Step1 In the navigation bar, click Reports and Activity .

Step2 Click Appliance Status .

CiscoSecure ACS displays information about resource utilization on the CiscoSecure ACS Appliance. Also displayed is information about the IP configuration for the CiscoSecure ACS Appliance and the MAC address of its network interface card.


Tip Click Refresh to update the information displayed on the Appliance Status report page.



Cisco Secure ACS System Logs

The system logs are logs about the CiscoSecure ACS system and therefore record system-related events. These logs are useful for troubleshooting or audits. They are always enabled and are available in CSV format. For information about each system log, see Table11-4.

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

Table 11-4 System Log Descriptions and Related Topics 

Log
Description and Related Topics

ACS Backup and Restore

Lists CiscoSecure ACS backup and restore activity. This log cannot be configured.

RDBMS Synchronization

Lists RDBMS Synchronization activity. This log cannot be configured.

Database Replication

Lists database replication activity. This log cannot be configured.

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 initiated by users, regardless of which password change mechanism used to change the password. Thus, this log contains records of password changes accomplished by the CiscoSecure Authentication Agent, by the User Changeable Password HTML interface, or by Telnet session on a network device using TACACS+. It does not list password changes made by an administrator in the CiscoSecure ACS HTML interface.

ACS Service Monitoring

Lists when CiscoSecure ACS services start and stop.

Appliance Administration Audit

Lists administrator activity on the serial console, including logins, logouts, and commands executed.


Working with CSV Logs

This section contains the following topics:

CSV Log Size and Retention

Enabling or Disabling a CSV Log

Viewing a CSV Report

Configuring a CSV Log

CSV Log Size and Retention

For each CSV log, CiscoSecure ACS writes a separate log file. When a log file reaches 10 MB in size, CiscoSecure ACS starts a new log file. CiscoSecure ACS retains the most recent 7 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 CiscoSecure ACS Logs and Reports.


To enable or disable a CSV log, follow these steps:


Step1 In the navigation bar, click System Configuration .

Step2 Click Logging .

Step3 Click the name of the CSV log you want to enable.

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

Step4 To enable the log, under Enable Logging, select the Log to CSV log report check box, where log is the name of the CSV log you selected in Step3.

Step5 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 you selected in Step3.

Step6 Click Submit .

If you enabled the log, CiscoSecure ACS begins logging information for the log selected. If you disabled the log, CiscoSecure ACS stops logging information for the log 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 frame on the right side of the web browser. For all other types of reports, a list of applicable reports appears. Files are listed 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 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 CiscoSecure ACS (http://www.extraxi.com).

You can download the CSV file for any CSV report you view in CiscoSecure ACS. The procedure below includes steps for doing so.

To view a CSV report, follow these steps:


Step1 In the navigation bar, click Reports and Activity .

Step2 Click the name of the CSV report you want to view.

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


Tip You can configure how CiscoSecure ACS handles old CSV report files. For more information, see Configuring a CSV Log.


Step3 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 any entries in the column, in either 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 the entries in that column in descending order.



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


Step4 If you want to download the CSV log file for the report you are viewing, follow these steps:

a. Click Download .

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

b. Choose a location to save the CSV file and save the file.


Configuring a CSV Log

This procedure describes how to configure the data attributes that make up the content of a CSV log. For instructions about 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


Note The ACS Backup and Restore, RDBMS Synchronization, and Database Replication CSV logs cannot be configured.


To configure a CSV log, follow these steps:


Step1 In the navigation bar, click System Configuration .

Step2 Click Logging .

Step3 Click the name of the CSV log you want to enable.

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

Step4 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 not visible in the list box.


Step5 To remove an attribute from the log, select the attribute in the Logged Attributes list, then click <-- (left arrow button).

The attribute moves to the Attributes list.


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


Step6 To set the attributes in the Logged Attributes list back to the default selections, at the bottom of the browser window, click Reset Columns .

Step7 Click Submit .

CiscoSecure ACS implements the CSV log configuration that you specified.


Remote Logging

This section discusses remote logging capabilities of CiscoSecure ACS.

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 CiscoSecure ACS to send accounting data received from AAA clients to a CiscoSecure ACS Remote Agent. The remote agent runs on a computer on your network. It writes the accounting data sent to it by CiscoSecure ACS into CSV files. You can configure many CiscoSecure ACS Appliances to point to a single remote agent, thus making the computer that runs the remote agent a central logging server. For more information about CiscoSecure ACS accounting logs, see Accounting Logs. For more information about installing and configuring a CiscoSecure ACS Remote Agent, see Installation and Configuration Guide for CiscoSecure ACS Remote Agent.


Note The Remote Logging feature does not affect the forwarding of accounting data for proxied authentication requests. CiscoSecure 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.


The Remote Logging Setup page, available from the Logging Configuration page in the System Configuration section, is where you configure CiscoSecure 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 CiscoSecure ACSes send their accounting data to the central logging server, the remote agent receives its configuration from a single CiscoSecure ACS Appliance. That CiscoSecure ACS is the configuration provider for the remote agent. In the HTML interface of the configuration provider CiscoSecure ACS, you determine the remote agent configuration. By using the links found 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, and 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, follow these steps:


Step1 Install and configure a CiscoSecure ACS Remote Agent on a computer that you want to use to store centralized logging data. For more information about installing and configuring a CiscoSecure ACS Remote Agent, see Installation and Configuration Guide for CiscoSecure ACS Remote Agent.

Step2 On each CiscoSecure ACS Appliance, add the remote agent. For more information, see Remote Agent Configuration.

Step3 On each CiscoSecure ACS Appliance, enable remote logging. For more information, see Local Configuration of Remote Logging.

Step4 On the CiscoSecure ACS Appliance that the remote agent is configured to use as its configuration provider, configure remote agent logging. For more information, see Remote Agent Logging Configuration.

Step5 If you want to create another central logging server, for use either as a secondary server or as a mirror server, perform Step1 through Step4 for the additional server.


Local Configuration of Remote Logging

Local configuration of remote logging consists of enabling the CiscoSecure ACS Appliance to send accounting data to remote agents and specifying which remote agents the accounting data is to be sent to.

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

CiscoSecure ACS provides the remote logging options listed below. These options appear on the Remote Logging Setup page.

Do not log Remotely —When selected, this option limits CiscoSecure 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 CiscoSecure 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 CiscoSecure 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. This enables you 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 CiscoSecure ACS.

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

Enabling and Configuring Remote Logging

Before You Begin

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

To enable and configure remote logging, follow these steps:


Step1 To enable remote logging, follow these steps:

a. Click Interface Configuration .

b. Click Advanced Options .

c. Select the Remote Logging check box.

d. Click Submit .

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

Step2 Click System Configuration .

Step3 Click Logging .

The Logging Configuration page appears.

Step4 Under Local Logging Configuration, click Remote Logging .

Step5 Select the applicable remote logging option:

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


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


Step6 For each remote agent you want to have in the Selected Log Services list, follow these steps:

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 available in the Remote Log Services list is determined by the Remote Agents table in Network Configuration. For more information about the Remote Agents table, see Remote Agent Configuration.


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

Step7 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 the "Log to subsequent remote log services on failure" option is selected, CiscoSecure ACS logs to the first accessible remote agent in the Selected Log Services list.


Step8 Click Submit .

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


Disabling Remote Logging

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

To disable remote logging, follow these steps:


Step1 In the navigation bar, click System Configuration .

Step2 Click Logging .

Step3 Under Local Logging Configuration, click Remote Logging .

Step4 Select the Do not log Remotely option.

Step5 Click Submit .

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


Remote Agent Logging Configuration

Remote agent logging configuration consists of 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 CiscoSecure ACS to send to a remote agent. You can configure each log separately.

For information about configuring which remote agents CiscoSecure 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. You have the following options:

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, follow these steps:


Step1 In the navigation bar, click System Configuration .

Step2 Click Logging .

Step3 Under Remote Agent Logging Configuration, click the name of the remote agent log you want to configure.

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

Step4 To enable the log, select the Log to CSV log name report check box.


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


Step5 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.


Step6 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 not visible in the list.


Step7 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 .

Step8 Under Generate New File, specify when the remote agent should begin a new log file.

Step9 If you want to manage which CSV files the remote agent keeps, follow these steps:

a. Select the Manage Directory check box.

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

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

Step10 Click Submit .

CiscoSecure ACS implements the remote agent log configuration that you specified.


Service Logs

The service logs may be considered diagnostic logs and are used for troubleshooting or debugging purposes only. These logs are not intended for general use by CiscoSecure ACS administrators; instead, they are mainly sources of information for Cisco support personnel. Service logs contain a record of all CiscoSecure ACS service actions and activities. When service logging is enabled, each service generates a log whenever the service is running, whether or not you are using the service. For example, CiscoSecure ACS generates RADIUS service logs even if you are not using RADIUS to communicate with AAA clients or other AAA servers.

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 more information about this feature, see Support.

For more information about CiscoSecure ACS services, see "Overview"

Services Logged

CiscoSecure ACS generates logs for the following services:

CSAdmin

CSAuth

CSDBSync

CSLog

CSMon

CSRadius

CSTacacs

These files can be retrieved from the appliance using the Support feature in the System Configuration section or using the support command at the serial console.

For each service, CiscoSecure ACS writes separate log files. When a log file reaches 10 MB in size, CiscoSecure ACS starts a new log file. CiscoSecure ACS retains the most recent 30 log files for each service.

The most recent debug log is named as follows:

SERVICE.log

where SERVICE is the name of the applicable service.

Older debug logs are named with the year, month, and date they were created. For example, a file created on July13, 2003, would be named as follows:

SERVICE 2003-07-13.log

where SERVICE is the name of the applicable service.

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

SERVICE 13-07-2003.log

Configuring Service Log Detail

You can configure the level of detail with which CiscoSecure ACS generates service log files. You can set the service log file to contain one of three levels of detail:

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 CiscoSecure ACS generates and manages the service log file, follow these steps:


Step1 In the navigation bar, click System Configuration .

Step2 Click Service Control .

The status of the services appears in the CiscoSecure ACS on hostname table, where hostname is the name of the CiscoSecure ACS appliance.

Step3 If you want to disable the service log file, under Level of detail, select the None option.

After you click Restart, CiscoSecure ACS does not generate new service logs file.

Step4 If you want to enable service logging, under Level of detail, select the Low or Full option, as applicable.

After you click Restart, CiscoSecure ACS generates service logs with the level of detail you specified.

Step5 Click Restart .

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