NPS Accounting Server Test

Besides providing remote authentication services to clients, the NPS also provides a central accounting recording service for all accounting requests that are sent by the clients. Once the NPS server completes the connection process initiated by a client, the access server which processed the connection request sends an Accounting-Request message to the NPS server, where the message is logged. The NPS then sends an Accounting-Response to the access server. In addition, the access server also sends Accounting-Request messages for the following:

During the time in which the connection is established
When the access client connection is closed
When the access server is started and stopped

This test monitors the accounting-requests received and accounting-responses sent by the NPS to clients.

Target of the test : An NPS server

Agent deploying the test : An internal agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for every NPS server that is being monitored

Configurable parameters for the test
Parameters	Description
Test period	This indicates how often should the test be executed.
Host	The host for which the test is to be configured.
Port	The port at which the NPS server listens. The default is NULL.

Measurements made by the test
Measurement	Description	Measurement Unit	Interpretation
Packets sent	Indicates the rate at which packets were sent by the NPS server.	Packets/Sec
Packets received	Indicates the rate at which the NPS server received packets.	Packets/Sec	When viewed along with the Packets sent measure, this measure serves as a good indicator of the traffic on the server.
Packets dropped	Indicates the rate at which incoming packets were silently discarded for a reason other than being malformed, bad authenticators, or unknown types.	Packets/Sec	A consistent increase in the value of this measure is a cause for concern, and might warrant further investigation.
Invalid requests	Indicates the rate at which packets were received from an unknown address.	Reqs/Sec
Malformed packets	Indicates the rate at which malformed packets were received; bad authenticators or unknown types are not included in this count.	Packets/Sec
Unknown packets	Indicates the rate at which packets of an unknown type were received.	Packets/Sec
No record packets	Indicates the rate at which RADIUS Accounting-Request packets were received and responded to but not recorded.	Records/Sec
Accounting requests	Indicates the rate at which RADIUS Accounting-Requests were received from this client on the accounting port.	Reqs/Sec
Accounting responses	Indicates the rate at which RADIUS Accounting-Response packets were sent to this client on the accounting port.	Reqs/Sec	The Accounting requests and Accounting responses measures serve as effective indicators of the workload on the NPS server.
Duplicate requests	Indicates the rate at which duplicate RADIUS Accounting-Request packets were received from this client.	Reqs/Sec
Bad authenticators	Indicates the rate at which Accounting-Requests containing invalid signature attributes were received.	Reqs/Sec