RSA Data Sources Test

An identity source is a repository that contains user and user group data. Each user and user group in a deployment is associated with an identity source. An identity source can store data in the internal database (which is installed within the RSA Authentication Manager), or one or more LDAP directories. If the internal database is used as an identity source, then, all users, applications, user group, policy, and token data are stored in the internal database. If the RSA Authentication Manager is integrated with identity sources such as Microsoft Active Directory, Sun Java System Directory Server or Oracle Directory Server, only the user and user group data reside in the external identity source. The policy and token data associated with the user and user group are stored only in the internal database. Each type of identity source manages and accesses data differently for processing the authentication requests. By continuously monitoring the identity sources, administrators can easily figure out the identity source that is currently experiencing processing bottlenecks thereby affecting the performance of the RSA Authentication Manager. The RSA Data Sources test helps administrators to figure out such identity sources so that the real reason behind processing bottlenecks can be analyzed and rectified at the earliest.

This test auto-discovers the identity sources in the target RSA Authentication Manager and reveals how well the authentication requests were processed. In addition, this test helps administrators figure out the identity source on which maximum authentication requests failed and the identity source that took too long to respond to the authentication requests. In the process, this test also throws light on the identity source that is active and busy processing the requests.

Target of the test : A RSA Authentication Manager

Agent deploying the test : An external agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for each identity source of the RSA Authentication Manager being monitored

The figure below depicts the test configuration page of this test. Click on the parameters in the figure below to know what they are and how to configure them.

Configurable parameters for the test
Parameter	Description
Test Period	How often should the test be executed.
Host	The IP address of the host for which this test is to be configured.
Port	The port at which the specified host listens. By default, this is NULL.
SNMPPort	The port at which the monitored target exposes its SNMP MIB; The default value is 161.
SNMPVersion	By default, the eG agent supports SNMP version 1. Accordingly, the default selection in the SNMPversion list is v1. However, if a different SNMP framework is in use in your environment, say SNMP v2 or v3, then select the corresponding option from this list.
SNMPCommunity	The SNMP community name that the test uses to communicate with the firewall. This parameter is specific to SNMP v1 and v2 only. Therefore, if the SNMPVersion chosen is v3, then this parameter will not appear.
UserName	This parameter appears only when v3 is selected as the SNMPVersion. SNMP version 3 (SNMPv3) is an extensible SNMP Framework which supplements the SNMPv2 Framework, by additionally supporting message security, access control, and remote SNMP configuration capabilities. To extract performance statistics from the MIB using the highly secure SNMP v3 protocol, the eG agent has to be configured with the required access privileges – in other words, the eG agent should connect to the MIB using the credentials of a user with access permissions to be MIB. Therefore, specify the name of such a user against this parameter.
Context	This parameter appears only when v3 is selected as the SNMPVersion. An SNMP context is a collection of management information accessible by an SNMP entity. An item of management information may exist in more than one context and an SNMP entity potentially has access to many contexts. A context is identified by the SNMPEngineID value of the entity hosting the management information (also called a contextEngineID) and a context name that identifies the specific context (also called a contextName). If the Username provided is associated with a context name, then the eG agent will be able to poll the MIB and collect metrics only if it is configured with the context name as well. In such cases therefore, specify the context name of the Username in the Context text box. By default, this parameter is set to none.
AuthPass	Specify the password that corresponds to the above-mentioned Username. This parameter once again appears only if the SNMPversion selected is v3.
Confirm Password	Confirm the AuthPass by retyping it here.
AuthType	This parameter too appears only if v3 is selected as the SNMPversion. From the Authtype list box, choose the authentication algorithm using which SNMP v3 converts the specified username and password into a 32-bit format to ensure security of SNMP transactions. You can choose between the following options: MD5 – Message Digest Algorithm SHA – Secure Hash Algorithm
EncryptFlag	This flag appears only when v3 is selected as the SNMPversion. By default, the eG agent does not encrypt SNMP requests. Accordingly, the this flag is set to No by default. To ensure that SNMP requests sent by the eG agent are encrypted, select the Yes option.
EncryptType	If this EncryptFlag is set to Yes, then you will have to mention the encryption type by selecting an option from the EncryptType list. SNMP v3 supports the following encryption types: DES – Data Encryption Standard AES – Advanced Encryption Standard
EncryptPassword	Specify the encryption password here.
Confirm Password	Confirm the encryption password by retyping it here.
Timeout	Specify the duration (in seconds) within which the SNMP query executed by this test should time out in this text box. The default is 10 seconds.
Data Over TCP	By default, in an IT environment, all data transmission occurs over UDP. Some environments however, may be specifically configured to offload a fraction of the data traffic – for instance, certain types of data traffic or traffic pertaining to specific components – to other protocols like TCP, so as to prevent UDP overloads. In such environments, you can instruct the eG agent to conduct the SNMP data traffic related to the monitored target over TCP (and not UDP). For this, set this flag to Yes. By default, this flag is set to No.

Measurements made by the test
Measurement	Description	Measurement Unit	Interpretation
Total requests	Indicates the total number of authentication requests that were processed for this identity source during the last measurement period.	Number	A high value of this measure could indicate a potential overload.
Request rate	Indicates the rate at which the authentication requests are serviced successfully for this identity source.	Requests/Sec	A high value is desired for this measure.
Failed requests	Indicates the number of authentication requests that failed for this identity source during the last measurement period.	Number	Ideally the value of this measure should be zero. Comparing the value of this measure against all the identity sources would reveal the identity source that failed to authenticate the maximum number of requests .
Average response time	Indicates the time taken by this identity source to respond to the authentication requests received.	Milliseconds	Ideally, the value of this measure should be low. Compare the value of this measure to figure out the identity source that takes too long to authenticate the requests.
Active connections	Indicates the number of connections that are currently active on this identity source.	Number	A high value is desired for this measure. A high value of this measure indicates that the identity source is busy processing the requests.