EDirectory Protocol Test

This test provides summary statistics on the accesses, operations and errors for each application protocol interface of a directory server.

Target of the test : An eDirectory server

Agent deploying the test : An internal agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for every application protocol interface of the eDirectory server being monitored.

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.
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 SHA224 - Secure Hash Algorithm 224 bit SHA256 - Secure Hash Algorithm 256 bit SHA384 - Secure Hash Algorithm 384 bit SHA512 - Secure Hash Algorithm 512 bit
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 the 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 3DES - Triple Data Encryption Standard AES - Advanced Encryption Standard AES128 - Advanced Encryption Standard 128 bit AES192 - Advanced Encryption Standard 192 bit AES256 - Advanced Encryption Standard 256 bit
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
Unauthenticated bind requests received	Indicates the number of unauthenticated/anonymous bind requests received since the last measurement period.	Number	All LDAP clients bind (connect) to Novell eDirectory as one of the following types of users: [Public] User (Anonymous Bind) Proxy User (Proxy User Anonymous Bind) NDS or eDirectory User (NDS User Bind) The type of bind the user authenticates with determines the content that the LDAP client can access. An anonymous bind is a connection that does not contain a username or password. If an LDAP client without a name and password binds to LDAP Services for eDirectory and the service is not configured to use a Proxy User, the user is authenticated to eDirectory as user [Public]. By default, user [Public] is assigned the Browse right to the objects in the eDirectory tree. The default Browse right for user [Public] allows users to browse eDirectory objects, but blocks user access to the majority of object attributes. This measure provides a fair idea of the number of [Public] users who are attempting to connect to Novell eDirectory.
Bind requests that have been rejected	Indicates the number of bind requests that have been rejected due to inappropriate authentication or invalid credentials, since the last measurement period.	Number	This is a good indicator of the health of the security mechanism. If the value of this measure is unusually high, then you might have to investigate further to determine whether all rejects are genuine.
Read requests received	Indicates the number of read requests received by the eDirectory server since the last measurement period.	Number
Add-entry requests received	Indicates the number of addEntry requests received by the eDirectory server since the last measurement period.	Number	addEntry requests attempt to create a new object - for example, adding a user object using ConsoleOne.
Remove-entry requests received	Indicates the number of removeEntry requests received by the eDirectory server since the last measurement period.	Number	A removeEntry request attempts to remove an entry from the eDirectory server - for example, deleting a user using ConsoleOne.
Modify-entry requests received	Indicates the number of modifyEntry requests received by the eDirectory server since the last measurement period.	Number	A non-zero value for this measure indicates the number of requests received for modifying one/more eDirectory entries - for example, modifying the attributes of any user using ConsoleOne.
Search requests received	Indicates the number of search requests received since the last measurement period - this includes baseObject searches, oneLevel searches, and whole subtree searches.	Number
Operations forwarded by this eDirectory server	Indicates the number of operations forwarded by this eDirectory server to other eDirectory servers since the last measurement period.	Number	An LDAP client issues a request to an LDAP server, but the server cannot find the target entry of the operation locally. Using the knowledge references that it has about partitions and other servers in the eDirectory tree, the LDAP server identifies another LDAP server that knows more about the DN. The first LDAP server then contacts the identified (second) LDAP server. If necessary, this process continues until the first server contacts a server that holds a replica of the entry. eDirectory then handles all the details to complete the operation. Unaware of the server-to-server operations, the client assumes that the first server completed the request. This process is called chaining. While chaining has a fair share of advantages, a high value of this measure could also mean: One/more clients might have to wait for feedback while the server chains to resolve the same If the operation requires the LDAP server to send many entries across a WAN link, the operation might be very time consuming. If several servers are equally capable of progressing the operation, different servers might process two requests to operate on the same entry.
Requests that could not serviced because of errors	Indicates the number of requests that could not be serviced due to errors other than security errors, and referrals since the last measurement period.	Number	A partially serviced operation will not be counted as an error. The errors include naming-related, update-related, attribute related, and service-related errors. Ideally, the value of this measure should be 0.
Replication updates in	Indicates the number of replication updates fetched or received from eDirectory servers since the last measurement period.	Number	The Novell Import Conversion Export utility uses the LDAP Bulk Update/Replication Protocol (LBURP) to send asynchronous requests to an LDAP server. This guarantees that the requests are processed in the order specified by the protocol and not in an arbitrary order influenced by multiprocessor interactions or the operating system's scheduler. LBURP also lets the Novell Import Conversion Export utility send several update operations in a single request and receive the response for all of those update operations in a single response. This adds to the network efficiency of the protocol. The LBURP processor in eDirectory also commits update operations to the database in groups to gain further efficiency in processing the update operations. LBURP can greatly improve the efficiency of your LDIF imports over a traditional synchronous approach.
Replication updates out	Indicates the number of replication updates sent to or taken by eDirectory servers since the last measurement period.	Number
Incoming traffic	Indicates the incoming traffic on the interface. This will include requests from DUAs as well as responses from other eDirectory servers.	KB	This is a good indicator of the level of activity on the eDirectory server.
Outgoing traffic	Indicates the outgoing traffic on the interface. This will include responses to DUAs and eDirectory servers as well as requests to other eDirectory servers.	KB