Tag: provisioning

Global Password Reset

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The recent DNS challenges for a large organization that impacted their worldwide customers bring to mind a project we completed this year, a global password reset redundancy solution.

We worked with a client who desired to manage unplanned WAN outages to their five (5) data centers for three (3) independent MS Active Directory Domains with integration to various on-prem applications/ endpoints. The business requirement was for self-service password sync, where the users’ password change process is initialed/managed by the two (2) different MS Active Directory Password Policies.

Without the WAN outage requirement, any IAM/IAG solution may manage this request within a single data center. A reverse password sync agent process is enabled on all writable MS Active Directory domain controllers (DC). All the world-wide MS ADS domain controllers would communicate to the single data center to validate and resend this password change to all of the users’ managed endpoint/application accounts, e.g. SAP, Mainframe (ACF2/RACF/TSS), AS/400, Unix, SaaS, Database, LDAP, Certs, etc.

With the WAN outage requirement, however, a queue or components must be deployed/enabled at each global data center, so that password changes are allowed to sync locally to avoid work-stoppage and async-queued to avoid out-of-sync password to the other endpoint/applications that may be in other data centers.

We were able to work with the client to determine that their current IAM/IAG solution would have the means to meet this requirement, but we wished to confirm no issues with WAN latency and the async process. The WAN latency was measured at less than 300 msec between remote data centers that were opposite globally. The WAN latency measured is the global distance and any intermediate devices that the network traffic may pass through.

To review the solution’s ability to meet the latency issues, we introduced a test environment to emulate the global latency for deployment use-cases, change password use-cases, and standard CrUD use-cases. There is a feature within VMWare Workstation, that allows emulation of degraded network traffic. This process was a very useful planning/validation tool to lower rollback risk during production deployment.

VMWare Workstation Network Adapter Advance Settings for WAN latency emulation

The solution used for the Global Password Rest solution was Symantec Identity Suite Virtual Appliance r14.3cp2. This solution has many tiers, where select components may be globally deployed and others may not.

We avoided any changes to the J2EE tier (Wildfly) or Database for our architecture as these components are not supported for WAN latency by the Vendor. Note: We have worked with other clients that have deployment at two (2) remote data centers within 1000 km, that have reported minimal challenges for these tiers.

We focused our efforts on the Provisioning Tier and Connector Tier. The Provisioning Tier consists of the Provisioning Server and Provisioning Directory.

The Provisioning Server has no shared knowledge with other Provisioning Servers. The Provisioning Directory (Symantec Directory) is where the provisioning data may be set up in a multi-write peer model. Symantec Directory is a proper X.500 directory with high redundancy and is designed to manage WAN latency between remote data centers and recovery after an outage. See example provided below.

https://techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/symantec-security-software/identity-security/directory/14-1/ca-directory-concepts/directory-replication/multiwrite-mw-replication.html

The Connector Tier consists of the Java Connector Server and C++ Connector Server, which may be deployed on MS Windows as an independent component. There is no shared knowledge between Connector Servers, which works in our favor.

Requirement:

Three (3) independent MS Active Directory domain in five (5) remote data centers need to allow self-service password change & allow local password sync during a WAN outage. Passwords changes are driven by MS ADS Password Policies (every N days). The IME Password Policy for IAG/IAM solution is not enabled, IME authentication is redirected to an ADS domain, and the IMPS IM Callback Feature is disabled.

Below is an image that outlines the topology for five (5) global data centers in AMER, EMEA, and APAC.

The flow diagram below captures the password change use-case (self-service or delegated), the expected data flow to the user’s managed endpoints/applications, and the eventual peer sync of the MS Active Directory domain local to the user.

Observation(s):

The standalone solution of Symantec IAG/IAM has no expected challenges with configurations, but the Virtual Appliance offers pre-canned configurations that may impact a WAN deployment.

During this project, we identified three (3) challenges using the virtual appliance.

Two (2) items needed the assistance of the Broadcom Support and Engineering teams. They were able to work with us to address deployment configuration challenges with the “check_cluster_clock_sync -v ” process that incorrectly increments time delays between servers instead of resetting a value of zero between testing between servers.

Why this is important? The “check_cluster_clock_sync” alias is used during auto-deployment of vApp nodes. If the time reported between servers is > 15 seconds then replication may fail. This time check issue was addressed with a hotfix. After the hot-fix was deployed, all clock differences were resolved.

The second challenge was a deployment challenge of the IMPS component for its embedded “registry files/folders”. The prior embedded copy process was observed to be using standard “scp”. With a WAN latency, the scp copy operation may take more than 30 seconds. Our testing with the Virtual Appliance showed that a simple copy would take over two (2) minutes for multiple small files. After reviewing with CA support/engineering, they provided an updated copy process using “rsync” that speeds up copy performance by >100x. Before this update, the impact was provisioning tier deployment would fail and partial rollback would occur.

The last challenge we identified was using the Symantec Directory’s embedded features to manage WAN latency via multi-write HUB groups. The Virtual Appliance cannot automatically manage this feature when enabled in the knowledge files of the provisioning data DSAs. Symantec Directory will fail to start after auto-deployment.

Fortunately, on the Virtual appliance, we have full access to the ‘dsa’ service ID and can modify these knowledge files before/after deployment. Suppose we wish to roll back or add a new Provisioning Server Virtual Appliance. In that case, we must disable the multi-write HUB group configuration temporarily, e.g. comment out the configuration parameter and re-init the DATA DSAs.

Six (6) Steps for Global Password Reset Solution Deployment

We were able to refine our list of steps for deployment using pre-built knowledge files and deployment of the vApp nodes in blank slates with the base components of Provisioning Server (PS) and Provisioning Directory) with a remote MS Windows server for the Connector Server (JCS/CCS).

Step 1: Update Symantec Directory DATA DSA’s knowledge configuration files to use the multiple group HUB model. Note that multi-write group configuration is enabled within the DATA DSA’s *.dxc files. One Directory servers in each data center will be defined as a “HUB”.

Ref: https://techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/symantec-security-software/identity-security/directory/14-1/ca-directory-concepts/directory-replication/multiwrite-mw-groups-hubs/topology-sample-and-disaster-recovery.html

To assist this configuration effort, we leveraged a serials of bash shell scripts that could be pasted into multiple putty/ssh sessions on each vApp to replace the “HUB” string with a “sed” command.

After the HUB model is enabled (stop/start the DATA DSAs), confirm that delayed WAN latency has no challenge with Symantec Directory sync processes. By monitoring the Symantec Directory logs during replication, we can see that sync operation with the WAN latency is captured with the delay > 1 msecs between data centers AMER1 and APAC1.

Step 2: Update IMPS configurations to avoid delays with Global Password Reset solution.

Note for this architecture, we do not use external IME Password Policies. We ensure that each AD endpoint has the checkbox enabled for “Password synchronization agent is installed” & each Global User (GU) has “Enable Password Synchronization Agent” checkbox enabled to prevent data looping. To ensure this GU attribute is always enabled, we updated an attribute under “Create Users Default Attributes”.

Step 3a: Update the Connector Tier (CCS Component)

Ensure that the MS Windows Environmental variables for the CCS connector are defined for Failover (ADS_FAILOVER) and Retry (ADS_RETRY).

Step 3b: Update the CCS DNS knowledge file of ADS DCs hostnames.

Important Note: Avoid using the refresh feature “Refresh DC List” within the IMPS GUI for the ADS Endpoint. If this feature is used, then a “merge” will be processed from the local CCS DNS file contents and what is defined within the IMPS GUI refresh process. If we wish to manage the redirection to local MS ADS Domain Controllers, we need to control this behavior. If this step is done, we can clean out the Symantec Directory of extra entries. The only negative aspect is the local password change may attempt to communicate to one of the remote MS ADS Domain Controllers that are not within the local data center. During a WAN outage, a user would notice a delay during the password change event while the CCS connector timed out the connection until it connected to the local MS ADS DC.

Step 3c: CCS ADS Failover

If using SSL over TCP 636 confirm the ADS Domain Root Certificate is deployed to the MS Windows Server where the CCS service is deployed. If using SASL over TCP 389 (if available), then no additional effort is required.

If using SSL over TCP 636, use the MS tool certlm.msc to export the public root CA Certificate for this ADS Domain. Export to base64 format for import to the MS Windows host (if not already part of the ADS Domain) with the same MS tool certlm.msc.

Step 4a: Update the Connector Tier for the JCS component.

Add the stabilization parameter “maxWait” to the JCS/CCS configuration file. Recommend 10-30 seconds.

Step 4b: Update JCS registration to the IMPS Tier

You may use the Virtual Appliance Console, but this has a delay when pulling the list of any JCS connector that may be down at this time of the check/submission. If we use the Connector Xpress UI, we can accomplish the same process much faster with additional flexibility for routing rules to the exact MS ADS Endpoints in the local data center.

Step 4c: Observe the IMPS routing to JCS via etatrans log during any transaction.

If any JCS service is unavailable (TCP 20411), then the routing rules process will report a value of 999.00, instead of a low value of 0.00-1.00.

Step 5: Update the Remote Password Change Agent (DLL) on MS ADS Domain Controllers (writable)

Step 6a: Validation of Self-Service Password Change to selected MS ADS Domain Controller.

Using various MS Active Directory processes, we can emulate a delegated or self-service password change early during the configuration cycle, to confirm deployment is correct. The below example uses MS Powershell to select a writable MS ADS Domain Controller to update a user’s password. We can then monitor the logs at all tiers for completion of this password change event.

A view of the password change event from the Reverse Password Sync Agent log file on the exact MS Domain Controller.

Step 6b: Validation of password change event via CCS ADS Log.

Step 6c: Validation of password change event via IMPS etatrans log

Note: Below screenshot showcases alias/function to assist with monitoring the etatrans logs on the Virtual Appliance.

Below screen shot showcases using ldapsearch to check timestamps for before/after of password change event within MS Active Directory Domain.

We hope these notes are of some value to your business and projects.

Appendix

Using the MS Windows Server for CCS Server 

Get current status of AD account on select DC server before Password Change:

PowerShell Example:

get-aduser -Server dc2012.exchange2020.lab   "idmpwtest"  -properties passwordlastset, passwordneverexpires | ft name, passwordlastset

LdapSearch Example:  (using ldapsearch.exe from CCS bin folder - as the user with current password.)

C:\> & "C:\Program Files (x86)\CA\Identity Manager\Connector Server\ccs\bin\ldapsearch.exe" -LLL -h dc2012.exchange2012.lab -p 389 -D "cn=idmpwtest,cn=Users,DC=exchange2012,DC=lab" -w "Password05" -b "CN=idmpwtest,CN=Users,DC=exchange2012,DC=lab" -s base pwdLastSet

Change AD account's password via Powershell:
PowerShell Example:

Set-ADAccountPassword -Identity "idmpwtest" -Reset -NewPassword (ConvertTo-SecureString -AsPlainText "Password06" -Force) -Server dc2016.exchange.lab

Get current status of AD account on select DC server after Password Change:

PowerShell Example:

get-aduser -Server dc2012.exchange2020.lab   "idmpwtest"  -properties passwordlastset, passwordneverexpires | ft name, passwordlastset

LdapSearch Example:  (using ldapsearch.exe from CCS bin folder - as the user with NEW password)

C:\> & "C:\Program Files (x86)\CA\Identity Manager\Connector Server\ccs\bin\ldapsearch.exe" -LLL -h dc2012.exchange2012.lab -p 389 -D "cn=idmpwtest,cn=Users,DC=exchange2012,DC=lab" -w "Password06" -b "CN=idmpwtest,CN=Users,DC=exchange2012,DC=lab" -s base pwdLastSet


Using the Provisioning Server for password change event

Get current status of AD account on select DC server before Password Change:
LDAPSearch Example:   (From IMPS server - as user with current password)

LDAPTLS_REQCERT=never  ldapsearch -LLL -H ldaps://192.168.242.154:636 -D 'CN=idmpwtest,OU=People,dc=exchange2012,dc=lab'  -w  Password05   -b "CN=idmpwtest,OU=People,dc=exchange2012,dc=lab" -s sub dn pwdLastSet whenChanged


Change AD account's password via ldapmodify & base64 conversion process:
LDAPModify Example:

BASE64PWD=`echo -n '"Password06"' | iconv -f utf8 -t utf16le | base64 -w 0`
ADSHOST='192.168.242.154'
ADSUSERDN='CN=Administrator,CN=Users,DC=exchange2012,DC=lab'
ADSPWD='Password01!’

ldapmodify -v -a -H ldaps://$ADSHOST:636 -D "$ADSUSERDN" -w "$ADSPWD" << EOF
dn: CN=idmpwtest,OU=People,dc=exchange2012,dc=lab 
changetype: modify
replace: unicodePwd
unicodePwd::$BASE64PWD
EOF

Get current status of AD account on select DC server after Password Change:
LDAPSearch Example:   (From IMPS server - with user's account and new password)

LDAPTLS_REQCERT=never  ldapsearch -LLL -H ldaps://192.168.242.154:636 -D 'CN=idmpwtest,OU=People,dc=exchange2012,dc=lab' -w  Password06   -b "CN=idmpwtest,OU=People,dc=exchange2012,dc=lab" -s sub dn pwdLastSet whenChanged

vApp IMPS PAM AD Authentication “Jump Server”

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The virtual appliance and standalone deployment of Symantec (CA) Identity Suite allow for redirecting authentication for the J2EE tier application through Symantec SSO or directly to an Active Directory domain, instead of the existing userstore for the solution.

Challenge:

The standalone deployment of Symantec (CA) Identity Suite on MS Windows OS allowed for the mid-tier component to utilize PAM modules to redirect to AD authentication for the Global User.

However this PAM feature does not exist for Provisioning Servers on the virtual appliance.

To be clear, there are no expectations this feature will be introduced in the future roadmap for the solution, as the primary UI will be the web browser.

Review:

Symantec (CA) Identity Suite architecture for virtual appliance versus standalone deployment architecture.

  • The standalone deployment architecture has both MS Windows and Linux components of all tiers.
  • The vApp deployment architecture has primary Linux components and few MS Windows components.
    • The vApp MS Windows components do not include the IMPS (Provisioning Server)

Proposal:

To address this requirement of enabling AD authentication to the vApp Provisioning Server, we will introduce the concept of a “jump server”.

The “jump server” will utilize the standalone deployment of Symantec Identity Provisioning Server on an MS Windows OS. This “jump server” will be deployed as an “alternative server” integrated into the existing vApp Provisioning Directory deployment.

We will select deployment configuration ONLY of the Provisioning Server itself. We do not require the embedded CCS Service.

We will integrate this “jump server” deployment with the existing Symantec Identity solution.

Ensure the imps_datakey encryption seed file is in sync between all components vApp and standalone.

To avoid impacting the existing vApp deployment, we will NOT integrate the “jump server” deployment to the IME. The IME’s Directory XML for the Provisioning Directory will not be updated.

Important Note: The Symantec/CA Directory solution is required as a pre-step.

Summary of deployment steps:

  • Select a MS Window OS workstation (clean or with JCS/CCS Services) that may be part of the MS AD Domain
    • Option 1: [RECOMMENDED & PREFERRED] If using a clean OS, install MS .NetFramework 3.5.1 for the provisioning component.
      • Open cmd as administrator to deploy:  DISM /Online /Enable-Feature /All /FeatureName:NetFx3
    • Option 2: [MED-HIGH RISK] If using “side-deployment” on an existing JCS/CCS server (MS Win OS), we will need to make modifications to this server.
      • Will need to rename the file  C:\Windows\vpd.properties   to avoid conflict with the JCS/CCS component naming convention in this “registry” file. (see below screen shot)
      • Will require a post-install execution of the IMPS pwdmgr tool to address an MS Registry path conflict between the CCS and IMPS components.
  • Ensure all CA Directory hostnames are in DNS or in the MS Windows local host file (C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts ) otherwise this “jump server” deployment will fail when it tries to validate all possible directory nodes’ hostnames and build the respective Directory knowledge files.
  • Create a reference file for the new IMPS router dxc file on at least one of the existing vApp Identity Suite Directory Server otherwise this “jump server” deployment will fail due to trust issue when testing connections to other directory nodes’ hostnames.
  • Deploy Symantec/CA Directory (if not already done) – default configurations. Otherwise, you will see this error message
  • Deploy IMPS MS Windows – Only IMPS (no CCS) with Alternative Server Selection Configuration & update to latest CP patches. Note: For “side-deployment” only: If the vpd.properties file was not renamed, then a name collision will occur due to this registry file, if using the JCS/CCS server to side-deploy. It is low risk to change this file, as it is used to prevent deployments of lower release version of components over the prior installed higher release versions of the same component. If there is a concern, all components can be reinstalled as needed. Do not forget to install the latest CP patches to ensure this “jump server” is the same binary level as the vApp solution.
  • Review of additional notes during deployment of “jump server”. Note: For “side-deployment” only: On the page that ask for the Identity Suite Directory connection information, you will see the solution attempt to load env variables that do not exist. Override these value and enter the Directory hostname, Port 20394, and the default bind DN credentials for a Directory userID: eTDSAContainerName=DSAs,eTNamespaceName=CommonObjects,dc=im,dc=etadb
  • Deploy IMPM Manager GUI if needed.
  • Post-Deployment – Update IMPM Manager GUI preference to ONLY connect to the new IMPS server on MS Windows. Use the “Enable Failover” checkbox and place the IP/hostname first in the list. Hint: Remove the other IMPS servers from this list or you may add an extra digit to the IMPS servers entries you wish to save, but prevent auto-connectivity to them. Confirm able to authenticate directly through the solution using prior credentials for your service ID: etaadmin or imadmin. This will validate connectivity to the existing vApp Identity Suite solution.
  • On the “jump server” under the Provisioning Server\pam\ADS folder copy the etapam.dll to the IMPS \bin folder. Then copy the etapam_id.conf configuration file to the \pam parent folder. Update the parameters in this file. Set the enable= parameter to yes. Set the domain= to either the MS AD Domain or use the FQDN hostname of the ADS Domain Controller (DC). If we use the FQDN hostname of the DC the “jump server” does NOT have to be made a member of the MS AD Domain. Save the file and restart the “CA Identity Manager – Provisioning Server”
  • Validate PAM functionality in the IMPS etatrans log is enabled. We will see two (2) entries: PAM: Initialization started (same for all use-cases) and PAM: Not enabled or No PAM managed endpoint. We want “PAM: No PAM managed endpoint” – That is an extra feature we could enable, but do not require for the “jump server” scenario.
  • Validate PAM functionality with MS Sysinternals. Ensure that we copied the etapam.dll to the bin folder and that the configuration file is being read.
  • Test authentication using IMPM Manager login as IMPS Manager Global User that has same userID format as AD sAMAccountName. Negative Use-Case testing: Create a new AD domain user that does NOT exist as a Global User and attempt to authentication. Test with etaadmin or other Global User that does NOT have a match AD sAMAcccount name entry. Review the IMPS etatrans logs on the “jump server”

Update the IMPS encrypted seed file imps_datakey as needed.

Note: The MS Win version of IMPS encrypted seed file may be different than the vApp seed.

If this step is skipped, there will be no obvious error message with the exception that a bind has failed for communication to the JCS/CCS services.

After this file is updated, we will need to re-install IMPS service to ensure that all prior encryption passwords are replaced with new passwords using the new seed file. Basically, we need to install the MS Win version of IMPS Server twice, e.g. standard install, change the seed file value, re-install with update all components and updated passwords.

CCS Service conflict with “side-loading” IMPS Service {“side-loading” methodology}

The “side loading “process of deploying the “jump server” IMPS Provisioning Server on the JCS/CCS Server will impact starting of the CCS service. The installation will update the MS Registry with extra branches and updated shared attribute values between the CCS service and IMPS service, e.g. ETAHOME.

This challenge is a strong reason why we may choose the “clean” installation methodology, to avoid this conflict and possible support challenge.

To address this concern, update the new registry values that store the embedded reversible encrypted password for the CCS Service. Use the password reset tool “pwdmgr” and reset the “Connector Server” for both “eta” & “im” domain to the prior stored password. If the imps_datakey file is not in sync between all provisioning servers (& ccs service), then we will see failed bind connections error messages in the logs.

We will now be able to stop/start the JCS service, and see the embedded CCS service stop and start as well.

Example of challenge and error messages if imps_datakey is not updated and in sync.

Use the following command, csfconfig.exe, under the newly deployed IMPS bin folder to view the JCS connectors defined to the solution stack.

C:\Program Files (x86)\CA\Identity Manager\Provisioning Server\bin>csfconfig.exe auth=etaadmin show
EtaSSL.initialize: CRYPTO_library_init: 1
EtaSSL.initialize: SSL_library_init: 1
Enter your authentication password:


C:\Program Files (x86)\CA\Identity Manager\Provisioning Server\bin>echo Password01 > c:\imps.pwd


C:\Program Files (x86)\CA\Identity Manager\Provisioning Server\bin>csfconfig.exe auth=etaadmin add name=pamjcs host=192.168.242.143 pass=c:\imps.pwd br-add=@ debug=yes port=20411
EtaSSL.initialize: CRYPTO_library_init: 1
EtaSSL.initialize: SSL_library_init: 1
Enter your authentication password:
Created CS object with name = pamjcs

C:\Program Files (x86)\CA\Identity Manager\Provisioning Server\bin>csfconfig.exe auth=etaadmin remove name=pamjcs 
EtaSSL.initialize: CRYPTO_library_init: 1
EtaSSL.initialize: SSL_library_init: 1
Enter your authentication password:

We will see both error status when the imps_datakey file is out-of-sync with others. Please ensure the Linux & MS Win versions are in sync.

You may view the file imps_datakey being referenced with the pwdmgr tool: 

su - imps
strace -e trace=open,openat  pwdmrg

open(“/opt/CA/IdentityManager/ProvisioningServer/data/tls/keymgmt/imps_datakey”, O_RDONLY) = 5

You wish to monitor what accounts (embedded) are updated with the IMPS pwdmgr tool: su – imps and execute the two commands in a different SSH shell to monitor the pwdmgr.log that was enabled.

eta-env action=set name=eta_pwdmgr_log type=string value=true
tail -f $ETAHOME/bin/pwdmgr.log

Enablement of extra functionality (bypass the no-sync option on Global User password update)

You may wish to keep the Global User and AD password in sync. If they are not, then you will have two passwords that will work for the Global User account. The newer PAM AD authentication credentials, and the older Global User password. The etapam.dll module data path appears to check for PAM AD first, and if it fails, then it will check the Global User eTPassword field as well.

Enable the AD endpoint in the etapam_id.conf file. The type and domain will be as shown, e.g. Active Directory and im (for the vApp). The endpoint-name will be free-form and whatever you may have named your AD endpoint in the IMPS GUI.

Monitor the startup of the PAM module within the IMPS etatrans*.log

Perform a use-case test with changing a Global User account without correlation to an AD endpoint; and then retest with a Global User that is correlated to an AD endpoint. Do both test with NO SYNC operation

If the Global User is already correlated to an AD endpoint account, then we will see a “Child Modify” operation to the correlated AD endpoint account’s Password within the IMPS etatrans*.log.

One “gotcha”. There appears to be a check against the AD password policy. If the new password does not fit the AD password policy, the following error message will appear, “ETA_E_0007 <MGU>, Global user XXXXXXX modification failed: PAM account password updated failed: Account password must match global user password.

Avoid the noise – IMPS etatrans alias/function “tap”

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Monitoring use-cases within solutions that use various logs can be onerous when there is “noise” or low-value events in the logs. For provisioning use-cases, we prefer to focus on the “CrUD” use-cases and actions.

The CA/Symantec Identity Manager solution has a mid-tier component, IM Provisioning Server, that captures quite a bit of information useful for monitoring for success/failure. The default Log Level of the primary log file, etatrans*.log, is log level = 7. This log level will capture all possible searches and information of activity within the Provisioning Server’s service and transactions to its connector tier.

We can reduce some of the “noise” of searches/information and focus on the “CRuD” actions of “add/mod/del” by reducing the log level to level = 3.

This help as well to reduce the impact to the disk spaces and roll-over of the etatrans*.log file during bulk tasks or feed tasks.

Challenges:

However, even with log level = 3, we still have some “noise” in the etatrans*.log.

Additional “pain points”, the etatrans*.log file is renamed upon every restart of the IMPS service and during rollover at a size of 1 MB.

Resolution:

To assist with “finding” the current file, and to remove the noise, we have created the following “function/alias” for the IMPS user ID.

  1. Log into the IMPS service ID: sudo su – imps {Ensure you use the “dash” character to ensure the .profile is sourced when you switch IDs}
  2. Edit the .profile file: vi .profile
  3. The current file will only have one line, that sources the primary IMPS environmental information: . /etc/.profile_imps

4. Add the following body after the IMPS environmental profile line

function tap () {
cd $ETAHOME/logs
a=$(ls -rt $ETAHOME/logs | grep etatrans | tail -1)
pwd
echo "Tail current log file with exclusions: "$a
tail -F $a | grep -v -e ":LDAP" -e ":Config" -e "AUDITCONFIG" -e ":EtaServer" -e ":Bind " -e ":Unbind " -e ":Search "
}
export -f tap

This new “function/alias” will cd to the correct folder of logs, then tail the correct etatrans*.log file, and exclude the noise of non-CrUD activity. Using the new alias of “tap” on all provisioning servers, will allow us to isolate any challenges during use-case validation.

5. Exit out of the IMPS user ID account; then re-sudo back into this account, and test the “tap” alias.

6. While using the “tap” alias, exercise use-cases within the IM Provisioning Manager (GUI) and the IM User Console (browser); monitor the “Add/Mod/Deletes”. You will also be able to see the “Child” updates to endpoints and updates to the IMPS notification queue (IME Callback).

Restart remote IMPD DATA DSAs after long outage

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“DSA is attempting to start after a long outage, perform a recovery procedure before starting”

Challenge:   The IMPD (Identity Manager Provisioning Directory) Data DSAs have been offline for a while, e.g. 7 days+ (> 1 week), and the Symantec/CA Directory solution will, to protect the data, refuse to allow the DATA DSAs to start unless there is manual intervention to prevent the possibility of production data (Live DATA DSAs) being synced with older data (Offline DATA DSAs).

If we were concern, we would follow best practices and remove the offline DATA DSAs’ *.db & *.dp files, and replace the *.db with current copies of the Live DATA DSAs’ *.db files; generate temporary time files of *.dx and allow the time files of *.dp to rebuild themselves upon startup of the offline DATA DSAs.

Example to recover from an outage: https://anapartner.com/2020/08/21/directory-backup-and-restore-dar-scenarios/

However, if we are NOT concern, or the environment is non-production we can avoid the multiple shells, multiple commands to resync by using a combinations of bash shell commands. The proposal below outlines using the Symantec/CA Identity Suite virtual appliance, where both the IMPD and IMPS (Identity Manager Provisioning Server) components reside on the same servers.

Proposal:   Use a single Linux host to send remote commands as a single user ID; sudo to the ‘dsa’ and ‘imps’ service IDs, and issue commands to address the restart process.

Pre-Work:   For the Identity Suite vApp, recommend that .ssh keys be used to avoid using a password for the ‘config’ user IDs on all vApp nodes.

Example to setup .SSH keys for ‘config’ user ID: https://anapartner.com/2020/05/01/avoid-locking-a-userid-in-a-virtual-appliance/

If using .SSH keys, do not forget to use this shortcut to cache the local session: eval `ssh-agent` && ssh-add

Steps:   Issue the following bash commands with the correct IPs or hostnames.  

If possible, wrap the remote commands in a for-loop. The below example uses the local ‘config’ user ID, to ssh to remote servers, then issues a local su to the ‘dsa’ service ID. The ‘dsa’ commands may need to be wrapped as shown below to allow multiple commands to be executed together. We have a quick hostname check, stop all IMPD DATA DSAs, find the time-stamp file that is preventing the startup of the IMPD DATA DSAs and remove it, restart all IMPD DATA DSA, and then move on to the next server with the for-loop. The ‘imps’ commands are similar with a quick hostname check, status check, stop and start process, another status check, then move on to the next server in the for-loop.

for i in {136..141}; do ssh  -t config@192.168.242.$i "su - dsa -c \"hostname;dxserver stop all;pwd;find ./data/ -type f \( -name '*.dp' \) -delete  ;dxserver start all \" "; done

for i in {136..141}; do ssh  -t config@192.168.242.$i "su - imps -c \"hostname;imps status;imps stop;imps start;imps status \" "; done

View of for-loop commands output:

Additional: Process to assist with decision to sync or not sync.

Check if the number of total entries in each individual IMPD DATA DSA match with their peers (Multi-Write groups). Goal: Avoid any deltas > 1% between peers. The IMPD “main”, “co”, “inc” DATA DSA should be 100% in sync. We may see some minor flux in the “notify” DATA DSA, as this is temporary data used by the IMPS server to store data to be sent to the IME via the IME Call Back Process.

If there are any deltas, then we may export the IMPD DATA DSAs to LDIF files and then use the Symantec/CA Directory ldifdelta process to isolate and triage the deltas.

su - dsa    OR [ sudo -iu dsa ]
export HISTIGNORE=' *'             {USE THIS LINE TO FORCE HISTORY TO IGNORE ANY COMMANDS WITH A LEADING SPACE CHARACTER}
 echo -n Password01 > .impd.pwd ; chmod 600 .impd.pwd     {USE SPACE CHARACTER IN FRONT TO AVOID HISTORY USAGE}


# NOTIFY BRANCH (TCP 20404) 

for i in {135..140}; do echo "##########  192.168.242.$i IMPD NOTIFY DATA DSA ##########";LDAPTLS_REQCERT=never  dxsearch -LLL -H ldaps://192.168.242.$i:20404 -D 'eTDSAContainerName=DSAs,eTNamespaceName=CommonObjects,dc=etadb' -y .impd.pwd -s sub -b 'dc=notify,dc=etadb' '(objectClass=*)' dxTotalEntryCount  |  perl -p00e 's/\r?\n //g' ; done

# INC BRANCH (TCP 20398)

for i in {135..140}; do echo "##########  192.168.242.$i IMPD INC DATA DSA ##########";LDAPTLS_REQCERT=never  dxsearch -LLL -H ldaps://192.168.242.$i:20398 -D 'eTDSAContainerName=DSAs,eTNamespaceName=CommonObjects,dc=etadb' -y .impd.pwd -s sub -b 'eTInclusionContainerName=Inclusions,eTNamespaceName=CommonObjects,dc=im,dc=etadb' '(objectClass=*)' dxTotalEntryCount  |  perl -p00e 's/\r?\n //g' ; done

# CO BRANCH (TCP 20396)

for i in {135..140}; do echo "##########  192.168.242.$i IMPD CO DATA DSA ##########";LDAPTLS_REQCERT=never  dxsearch -LLL -H ldaps://192.168.242.$i:20396 -D 'eTDSAContainerName=DSAs,eTNamespaceName=CommonObjects,dc=etadb' -y .impd.pwd -s sub -b 'eTNamespaceName=CommonObjects,dc=im,dc=etadb' '(objectClass=*)' dxTotalEntryCount  |  perl -p00e 's/\r?\n //g' ; done

# MAIN BRANCH (TCP 20394)

for i in {135..140}; do echo "##########  192.168.242.$i IMPD MAIN DATA DSA ##########";LDAPTLS_REQCERT=never  dxsearch -LLL -H ldaps://192.168.242.$i:20394 -D 'eTDSAContainerName=DSAs,eTNamespaceName=CommonObjects,dc=etadb' -y .impd.pwd -s sub -b 'dc=im,dc=etadb' '(objectClass=*)' dxTotalEntryCount  |  perl -p00e 's/\r?\n //g' ; done
NOTIFY DSA is temporary data and will have deltas. This DSA is used for the IME CALL BACK process.

Parallel provisioning for Active Directory and MS Exchange mailboxes – Improve Birthright/DayOne Access

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One of the challenges that IAM/IAG solutions may have is using single thread processing for select endpoints. For the CA/Symantec Identity Management solution, before IM r14.3cp2, we lived with a single-threaded connector to managed MS Active Directory endpoints.

To address this challenge, we deployed multiple connector servers. We allowed the IM Provisioning Server (IMPS) to use a built-in round-robin approach of load-balancing separate transactions to different connector servers, which would service the same Active Directory endpoints.

The IME may be running as fast as it can with its clustered deployment, but as soon as a task has MS Active Directory, and there is a bottleneck with the CCS Service. We begin to see the IME JMS queue reporting that it is stuck and the IME View Submitted Task reporting “In Progress” for all tasks. If the CCS service is restarted, all IME tasks are then reported as “Failed.”

This is/was the bottleneck for the solution for sites that have MS Active Directory for Birthright/DayOne Access.

We can now avoid this bottleneck. [*** (5/24/2021) – There is an enhancement to CP2 to address im_ccs.exe crashes during peak loads discovered using this testing process. ]

Via the newly delivered enhancement https://community.broadcom.com/participate/ideation-home/viewidea?IdeationKey=7154e15b-085d-469e-bff0-ac588ff6bd5b .

We now have full parallel provisioning to MS Active Directory from a single connector server (JCS/CCS).

The new attribute that regulates this behavior is eTADSMaxConnectionsInPool. This attribute will be applied on every existing ADS endpoint that is currently being managed by the IM Provisioning Server after CP2 is deployed. Note: The default value is 10, but we recommend after much testing, to match the value of the IMPS-> JCS and JCS->CCS to equal 200.

During testing within the IME using Bulk Tasks or the IM BLC, we can see that the CCS-> ADS traffic will reach 20-30 connections if allowed. You may set this attribute to a value of 200 via Jxplorer and/or an ldapmodify/dxmodify script.

echo "############### SET ADS MAX CONNECTIONS IN POOL SIZE ##################"
IMPS_HOST=192.168.242.135
IMPS_PORT=20389
IMPS_USER='eTGlobalUserName=etaadmin,eTGlobalUserContainerName=Global Users,eTNamespaceName=CommonObjects,dc=im,dc=eta'
IMPS_PWD="Password01"
NAMESPACE=exchange2016
LDAPTLS_REQCERT=never dxmodify -H ldap://$IMPS_HOST:$IMPS_PORT -c -x -D "$IMPS_USER" -w "$IMPS_PWD" << EOF
dn: eTADSDirectoryName=$NAMESPACE,eTNamespaceName=ActiveDirectory,dc=im,dc=eta
changetype: modify
eTADSMaxConnectionsInPool: 200
EOF
LDAPTLS_REQCERT=never dxsearch -LLL -H ldap://$IMPS_HOST:$IMPS_PORT -x -D "$IMPS_USER" -w "$IMPS_PWD" -b "eTADSDirectoryName=$NAMESPACE,eTNamespaceName=ActiveDirectory,dc=im,dc=eta" -s base eTADSMaxConnectionsInPool | perl -p00e 's/\r?\n //g'

To confirm the number of open connections is greater than one (1), we can issue a Bulk IM Task or use a performance tool like CA Directory dxsoak.

In this example, we will show case using CA Directory dxsoak to execute 100 parallel threads to create 100 ADS Accounts with MS Exchange Mailboxes. We will also enclose this script for download for others to review and use.

Performance Lab:

Pre-Steps:

  1. Leverage CA Directory samples’ dxsoak binary (performance testing). You may wish to use CA Directory on an existing IM Provisioning Server (Linux OS) or you may deploy CA Directory (MS Windows version) to the JCS/CCS connector. Examples are provided for both OSes.
  2. Create LDIF files for IM Provisioning Server and/or IM Connector Tier. This file is needed to ‘push’ the solution to-failure. The use of the IME Bulk Task and/or etautil scripts to the IM Provisioning Tier, will not provide the transaction speed we need to break the CCS service if possible.
  3. Within the IM Provisioning Manager enable the ADS Endpoint TXT Logs on the Logging TAB, for all checkboxes.
  4. Monitor the IMPS etatrans* logs, monitor the JCS ADS logs, monitor the CCS ADS logs, monitor the number of CCS-> ADS (LDAP/S – TCP 389/636) threads. [Suggest using MS Sysinternals Process Explorer and select im_ccs.exe & then TCP/IP TAB]
  5. Monitor the MS ADS Domain via MS ADUC (AD Users & Computers UI) and MS Exchange Mailbox (Mailbox UI via Browser)

Execution:

6. Perform a UNIT TEST with dxmodify/ldapmodify to confirm the LDIF file input is correct with the correct suffix.

time dxmodify -H ldap://192.168.242.135:20389 -c -x -D "eTGlobalUserName=etaadmin,eTGlobalUserContainerName=Global Users,eTNamespaceName=CommonObjects,dc=im,dc=eta" -w Password01 -f ads_user_with_exchange_dc_eta.ldif

7. Perform the PERFORMANCE TEST with dxsoak binary with the same LDIF file & correct suffix. Rate observed = 23 K ids/hr

./dxsoak -c -l 60 -t 100 -h 192.168.242.135:20389 -D "eTGlobalUserName=etaadmin,eTGlobalUserContainerName=Global Users,eTNamespaceName=CommonObjects,dc=im,dc=eta" -w Password01 -f ads_user_with_exchange_dc_eta.ldif

Observations:

8. IMPS etatrans*.log – Count the number of operations per second. Note any RACE and/or data collisions, e.g. ADS accounts deleted prior to add via 100 threads or ADS account created multiple times attempted in different threads.

9. IM CCS ADS <endpoint>.log – Will only have useful data if the ADS Endpoint Logging TAB has been checked for TXT logs.

10. Finally, validate directly in MS Active Domain with the ADUC or similar tool & MS Exchange mailboxes being created/deleted.

11. Count the number of threads from im_ccs.exe to ADS – Suggest using MS Sysinternals Process Explorer tool and/or Powershell to count the number of connections.

MS Powershell Script to count the number of LDAP (TCP 389) connection from im_ccs.exe. [Note: TCP 389 is used more if the ADS Endpoint is setup to use SASL authentication. TCP 636 is used more if the ADS Endpoint is using the older TLS authentication]

$i=1
Do {
cls
(Get-NetTCPConnection -State Established -OwningProcess (Get-Process -name im_ccs).id -RemotePort 389).count
Start-Sleep -s 1
$i++
}
while ($i -le 5)

Direct Performance Testing to JCS/CCS Service

While this testing has limited value, it can offer satisfaction and assistance to troubleshoot any challenges. We can use the prior LDIF files with a slightly different suffix, dc=etasa (instead of dc=eta), to use dxsoak to push the connector tier to failure. This step helped provide memory dumps back to CA/Symantec Engineering teams to help isolate challenges within the parallel processing. CCS Service is only exposed via localhost. If you wish to test the CCS Service remotely, then update the MS Registry key for the CCS service to use the external IP address of the JCS/CCS Server. Rate observed = 25 K ids/hr

Script to generate 100 ADS Accounts with MS Exchange Mailbox Creation

You may wish to review this script and adjust it for your ADS / MS Exchange domains for testing. You can also create a simple LDIF file with password resets or ADS group membership adds. Just remember that the IMPS Service (TCP 20389/20390) uses the suffix dc=eta, and the IM JCS/CCS Services (TCP 20410/20411) & (TCP 20402/20403) use the suffix dc=etasa. Additionally, if using CA Directory dxsoak, only use the non-TLS ports, as this binary is not equipped for using TLS certs.

generate_ads_users_ldif.sh_Download
#!/bin/bash
#######################################################################################################################
# Name:  Generate ADS Feed Files for IM Solution Provisioning/Connector Tiers
#
# Goal:  Validate the new parallel processes from the IM Connector Tier to Active Directory with MS Exchange
#
#
# Generate ADS User LDIF file(s) for use with unit (dxmodify) and performance testing (dxsoak) to:
#  - {Note: dxsoak will only work with non-TLS ports}
#
# IM JCS (20410)  "dc=etasa"    {Ensure MS Windows Firewall allows this port to be exposed}
# IM CCS (20402)  "dc=etasa"    {This port is localhost only, may open to network traffic via registry update}
# IMPS (20389)    "dc=eta"
#
#
# Monitor:  
#
# The IMPS etatrans*.log  {exclude searches}
# The JCS daily log
# The JCS ADS log {Enable the ADS Endpoint TXT logging for all checkboxes}
# The CCS ADS log {Enable the ADS Endpoint TXT logging for all checkboxes}
#
# Execute per the examples provided during run of this file
#
#
# ANA 05/2021
#######################################################################################################################

# Unique Variables for an ADS Domain
NAMESPACE=exchange2016
ADSDOMAIN=exchange.lab
DCDOMAIN="DC=exchange,DC=lab"
OU=People

#######################################################################################################################


MAX=100
start=00001
counter=$start
echo "###############################################################"
echo "###############################################################"
START=`/bin/date --utc +%Y%m%d%H%M%S,%3N.0Z`
echo `/bin/date --utc +%Y%m%d%H%M%S,%3N.0Z`" = Current OS UTC time stamp"
echo "###############################################################"
FILE1=ads_user_with_exchange_dc_etasa.ldif
FILE2=ads_user_with_exchange_dc_eta.ldif
echo "" > $FILE1
while [ $counter -le $MAX ]
do
    n=$((10000+counter)); n=${n#1}
    tz=`/bin/date --utc +%Y%m%d%H%M%S,3%N.0Z`
   echo "Counter with leading zeros = $n   at time:  $tz"


cat << EOF >> $FILE1
dn:  eTADSAccountName=firstname$n aaalastname$n,eTADSOrgUnitName=$OU,eTADSDirectoryName=$NAMESPACE,eTNamespaceName=ActiveDirectory,dc=im,dc=etasa
changetype: add
objectClass:  eTADSAccount
eTADSobjectClass:  user
eTADSAccountName:  firstname$n aaalastname$n
eTADSgivenName:  firstname$n
eTADSsn:  aaalastname$n
eTADSdisplayName:  firstname$n aaalastname$n
eTADSuserPrincipalName:  aaatestuser$n@$ADSDOMAIN
eTADSsAMAccountName:  aaatestuser$n
eTPassword:  Password01
eTADSpwdLastSet:  -1
eTSuspended:  0
eTADSuserAccountControl:  0000000512
eTADSDescription:  description $tz
eTADSphysicalDeliveryOfficeName:  office
eTADStelephoneNumber:  111-222-3333
eTADSmail:  aaatestuser$n@$ADSDOMAIN
eTADSwwwHomePage:  web.page.lab
eTADSotherTelephone:  111-222-3333
eTADSurl:  other.web.page.lab
eTADSstreetAddress:  street address line01
eTADSpostOfficeBox:  pobox 111
eTADSl:  city
eTADSst:  state
eTADSpostalCode:  11111
eTADSco:  UNITED STATES
eTADSc:  US
eTADScountryCode:  840
eTADSscriptPath:  loginscript.cmd
eTADSprofilePath:  \profile\path\here
eTADShomePhone:  111-222-3333
eTADSpager:  111-222-3333
eTADSmobile:  111-222-3333
eTADSfacsimileTelephoneNumber:  111-222-3333
eTADSipPhone:  111-222-3333
eTADSinfo:  Notes Here
eTADSotherHomePhone:  111-222-3333
eTADSotherPager:  111-222-3333
eTADSotherMobile:  111-222-3333
eTADSotherFacsimileTelephoneNumber:  111-222-3333
eTADSotherIpPhone:  111-222-3333
eTADStitle:  title
eTADSdepartment:  department
eTADScompany:  company
eTADSmanager:  CN=manager_fn manager_ln,OU=$OU,$DCDOMAIN
eTADSmemberOf:  CN=Backup Operators,CN=Builtin,$DCDOMAIN
eTADSlyncSIPAddressOption: 0000000000
eTADSdisplayNamePrintable: aaatestuser$n
eTADSmailNickname: aaatestuser$n
eTADShomeMDB: (Automatic Mailbox Distribution)
eTADShomeMTA: CN=DC001,CN=Servers,CN=Exchange Administrative Group (FYDIBOHF23SPDLT),CN=Administrative Groups,CN=First Organization,CN=Microsoft Exchange,CN=Services,CN=Configuration,$DCDOMAIN
eTAccountStatus: A
eTADSmsExchRecipientTypeDetails: 0000000001
eTADSmDBUseDefaults: TRUE
eTADSinitials: A
eTADSaccountExpires: 9223372036854775807

EOF
 counter=$(( $counter + 00001 ))
done


#  Create the delete ADS Process
start=00001
counter=$start
while [ $counter -le $MAX ]
do
    n=$((10000+counter)); n=${n#1}
    tz=`/bin/date --utc +%Y%m%d%H%M%S,3%N.0Z`
   echo "Counter with leading zeros = $n   at time:  $tz"


cat << EOF >> $FILE1
dn:  eTADSAccountName=firstname$n aaalastname$n,eTADSOrgUnitName=$OU,eTADSDirectoryName=$NAMESPACE,eTNamespaceName=ActiveDirectory,dc=im,dc=etasa
changetype: delete

EOF
 counter=$(( $counter + 00001 ))
done

echo ""
echo "################################### ADS USER OBJECT STATS ################################################################"
echo "Number of add objects: `grep "changetype: add" $FILE1 | wc -l`"
echo "Number of delete objects: `grep "changetype: delete" $FILE1 | wc -l`"
rm -rf $FILE2
cp -r -p $FILE1 $FILE2
sed -i 's|,dc=im,dc=etasa|,dc=im,dc=eta|g' $FILE2
ls -lart $FILE1
ls -lart $FILE2

echo ""
echo "################################### SET ADS MAX CONNECTIONS IN POOL SIZE ################################################################"
IMPS_HOST=192.168.242.135
IMPS_PORT=20389
IMPS_USER='eTGlobalUserName=etaadmin,eTGlobalUserContainerName=Global Users,eTNamespaceName=CommonObjects,dc=im,dc=eta'
IMPS_PWD="Password01"
LDAPTLS_REQCERT=never dxmodify  -H ldap://$IMPS_HOST:$IMPS_PORT -c -x -D "$IMPS_USER" -w "$IMPS_PWD"  << EOF
dn: eTADSDirectoryName=$NAMESPACE,eTNamespaceName=ActiveDirectory,dc=im,dc=eta
changetype: modify
eTADSMaxConnectionsInPool: 200
EOF
LDAPTLS_REQCERT=never dxsearch -LLL  -H ldap://$IMPS_HOST:$IMPS_PORT -x -D "$IMPS_USER" -w "$IMPS_PWD" -b "eTADSDirectoryName=$NAMESPACE,eTNamespaceName=ActiveDirectory,dc=im,dc=eta" -s base eTADSMaxConnectionsInPool | perl -p00e 's/\r?\n //g'

echo ""
echo "################################### CCS UNIT & PERF TEST ################################################################"
CCS_HOST=192.168.242.80
CCS_PORT=20402
CCS_USER="cn=root,dc=etasa"
CCS_PWD="Password01"
echo "Execute this command to the CCS Service to test single thread with dxmodify or ldapmodify"
echo "dxmodify  -H ldap://$CCS_HOST:$CCS_PORT -c -x -D $CCS_USER -w $CCS_PWD -f $FILE1 "
echo "Execute this command to the CCS Service to test 100 threads with dxsoak "
echo "./dxsoak -c -l 60 -t 100 -h $CCS_HOST:$CCS_PORT -D $CCS_USER -w $CCS_PWD -f $FILE1 "

echo ""
echo "################################### JCS UNIT & PERF TEST ################################################################"
CCS_HOST=192.168.242.80
CCS_PORT=20410
CCS_USER="cn=root,dc=etasa"
CCS_PWD="Password01"
echo "Execute this command to the JCS Service to test single thread with dxmodify or ldapmodify "
echo "dxmodify  -H ldap://$CCS_HOST:$CCS_PORT -c -x -D $CCS_USER -w $CCS_PWD -f $FILE1 "
echo "Execute this command to the JCS Service to test 100 threads with dxsoak "
echo "./dxsoak -c -l 60 -t 100 -h $CCS_HOST:$CCS_PORT -D $CCS_USER -w $CCS_PWD -f $FILE1 "


echo ""
echo "################################### IMPS UNIT & PERF TEST ################################################################"
IMPS_HOST=192.168.242.135
IMPS_PORT=20389
IMPS_USER='eTGlobalUserName=etaadmin,eTGlobalUserContainerName=Global Users,eTNamespaceName=CommonObjects,dc=im,dc=eta'
IMPS_PWD="Password01"
echo "Execute this command to the IMPS Service to test single thread with dxmodify or ldapmodify "
echo "dxmodify  -H ldap://$IMPS_HOST:$IMPS_PORT -c -x -D \"$IMPS_USER\" -w $IMPS_PWD -f $FILE2 "
echo "Execute this command to the IMPS Service to test 100 threads with dxsoak "
echo "./dxsoak -c -l 60 -t 100 -h $IMPS_HOST:$IMPS_PORT -D \"$IMPS_USER\" -w $IMPS_PWD -f $FILE2 "

Address the new bottleneck of MS Exchange / O365 Provisioning.

After parallel provisioning has been introduced with the new im_ccs.exe service, you may noticed that the number of transactions is still being throttled during performance testing.

Out-of-the-box MS Active Directory Global Throttling Policy has the parameter of PowerShellMaxConcurrency set to a default of 18 connection. Any provisioning that uses MS Powershell for MS Exchange and/or MS O365 will be impacted by this default parameter.

To address this bottleneck, we can create a new Throttling Policy and only assign the service ID that will be managing identities, to avoid a global change.

Example: New-ThrottlingPolicy MaxPowershell -PowerShellMaxConcurrency 100 & Set-Mailbox “User Name” -ThrottlingPolicy MaxPowershell

After this change has been made, restart the IM JCS/CCS Services, and retest again with your performance tools. Review the CCS ADS log for # of creations in 60 seconds, and you will be pleasantly surprise at the rate. The logs are the strong confirmation we are looking for.

Performance test (947 ADS accounts w/Exchange mailboxes in 60 seconds, 08:59:54 to  09:00:53) => Rate of 15 ids/second   (or 54 K ids/hr) with updated MaxPowershell = 100 thottlingpolicy.

The last bottleneck appears to be CPU availability to MS Exchange Supporting Services, w3wp.exe, the MS IIS Service. Which appears to be managing MS Powershell connections per its startup string of 

" c:\windows\system32\inetsrv\w3wp.exe -ap "MSExchangePowerShellAppPool" -v "v4.0" -c "C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\bin\GenericAppPoolConfigWithGCServerEnabledFalse.config" -a \.\pipe\iisipme304c50e-6b42-4b26-83a4-229ee037be5d -h "C:\inetpub\temp\apppools\MSExchangePowerShellAppPool\MSExchangePowerShellAppPool.config" -w "" -m 0"

Load Balancing Provisioning Tier

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The prior releases of CA Identity Manager / Identity Suite have a bottleneck with the provisioning tier.

The top tier of the solution stack, Identity Manager Environment (IME/J2EE Application), may communicate to multiple Provisioning Servers (IMPS), but this configuration only has value for fail-over high availability.

This default deployment means we will have a “many-to-one” challenge, multiple IMEs experiencing a bottleneck with provisioning communication to a single IMPS server.

If this IMPS server is busy, then transactions for one or more IMEs are paused or may timeout. Unfortunately, the IME (J2EE) error messages or delays are not clear that this is a provisioning bottleneck challenge. Clients may attempt to resolve this challenge by increasing the number of IME and IMPS servers but will still be impacted by the provisioning bottleneck.

Two (2) prior methods used to overcome this bottleneck challenge were:


a) Pseudo hostname(s) entries, on the J2EE servers, for the Provisioning Tier, then rotate the order pseudo hostname(s) on the local J2EE host file to have their IP addresses access other IMPS. This methodology would give us a 1:1 configuration where one (1) IME is now locked to one (1) IMPS (by the pseudo hostname/IP address). This method is not perfect but ensures that all IMPS servers will be utilized if the number of IMPS servers equals IME (J2EE) servers. Noteworthy, this method is used by the CA identity Suite virtual appliance, where the pseudo hostname(s) are ca-prov-srv-01, ca-prov-srv-02, ca-prov-03, etc. (see image above)

<Connection
  host="ca-prov-srv-primary" port="20390"
  failover="ca-prov-srv-01:20390,ca-prov-srv-02:20390,ca-prov-srv-03:20390,ca-prov-srv-04:20390“
/>

b) A Router placed in-front of the IMPS (TCP 20389/20390), that contains “stickiness” to ensure that when round-robin model is used, that the same IMPS server is used for the IME that submitted a transaction, to avoid any concerns/challenges of possible”RACE” conditions, where a modify operations may occur before the create operation.


The “RACE” challenge is a concern of both of the methods above, but this risk is low, and can be managed with additional business rules that include pre-conditional checks, e.g., does the account exist before any modifications.

Ref: RACE https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_condition

Example of one type of RACE condition that may be seen.

Ref: PX Rule Engine: https://techdocs.broadcom.com/content/broadcom/techdocs/us/en/ca-enterprise-software/layer7-identity-and-access-management/identity-manager/14-3/Release-Notes/Cumulative-Patches/Latest-Cumulative-Patch-14_3-CP2.html

New CP2 Loading Balance Feature – No more bottleneck.

Identity Manager can now use round-robin load balancing support, without any restrictions on either type of provisioning operations or existing runtime limitations. This load balancing approach distributes client requests across a group of Provisioning servers.

https://techdocs.broadcom.com/content/broadcom/techdocs/us/en/ca-enterprise-software/layer7-identity-and-access-management/identity-manager/14-3/Release-Notes/release-features-and-enhancement/Identity-Manager-14_3-CP2.html#concept.dita_b51ab03e-6e77-49be-8235-e50ee477247a_LoadBalancing

This feature is managed in the IME tier, and will also address any RACE conditions/concerns.


No configuration changes are required on the IMPS tier. After updates of CP2, we can now use the IME Management console to export the directory.xml for the IMPS servers and update the XML tag for <Connection. This configuration may also be deployed to the Virtual Appliances.

<Connection   
  host="ca-prov-srv-primary" port="20390”   
  loadbalance="ca-prov-srv-02:20390,ca-prov-srv-03:20390,ca-prov-srv-04:20390“   
  failover="ca-prov-srv-01:20390,ca-prov-srv-02:20390,ca-prov-srv-03:20390,ca-prov-srv-04:20390“ 
/>

View of CP2 to download.

https://techdocs.broadcom.com/content/broadcom/techdocs/us/en/ca-enterprise-software/layer7-identity-and-access-management/identity-manager/14-3/Release-Notes/Cumulative-Patches/Latest-Cumulative-Patch-14_3-CP2.html

Before applying this patch, we recommend collecting your metrics for feed operations that include multiple create operations, and modify operations to minimal of 1000 IDS, Monitor the IMPS etatrans logs as well; and the JCS/CCS logs. After the patch, run the same feed operations to determine the value of provisioning load-balance feature; and any provisioning delays that have been addressed. You may wish to increase the # of JCS/CCS servers (MS Windows) to speed up provisioning to Active Directory and other endpoints.

Be safe and automate your backups for CA Directory Data DSAs to LDIF

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The CA Directory solution provides a mechanism to automate daily on-line backups, via one simple parameter:

dump dxgrid-db period 0 86400;

Where the first number is the offset from GMT/UTC (in seconds) and the second number is how often to run the backup (in seconds), e.g. Once a day = 86400 sec = 24 hr x 60 min/hr x 60 sec/min

Two Gaps/Challenge(s):

History: The automated backup process will overwrite the existing offline file(s) (*.zdb) for the Data DSA. Any requirement or need to perform a RCA is lost due to this fact. What was the data like 10 days ago? With the current state process, only the CA Directory or IM logs would be of assistance.

Size: The automated backup will create an offline file (*.zdb) footprint of the same size as the data (*.db) file. If your Data DSA (*.db) is 10 GB, then your offline (*.zdb) will be 10 GB. The Identity Provisioning User store has four (4) Data DSAs, that would multiple this number , e.g. four (4) db files + four (4) offline zdb files at 10 GB each, will require minimal of 80 GB disk space free. If we attempt to retain a history of these files for fourteen (14) days, this would be four (4) db + fourteen (14) zdb = eighteen (18) x 10 GB = 180 GB disk space required.

Resolutions:

Leverage the CA Directory tool (dxdumpdb) to convert from the binary data (*.db/*.zdb) to LDIF and the OS crontab for the ‘dsa’ account to automate a post ‘online backup’ export and conversion process.

Step 1: Validate the ‘dsa’ user ID has access to crontab (to avoid using root for this effort). cat /etc/cron.allow

If access is missing, append the ‘dsa’ user ID to this file.

Step 2: Validate that online backup process have been scheduled for your Data DSA. Use a find command to identify the offline files (*.zdb ). Note the size of the offline Data DSA files (*.zdb).

Step 3: Identify the online backup process start time, as defined in the Data DSA settings DXC file or perhaps DXI file. Convert this GMT offset time to the local time on the CA Directory server. (See references to assist)

Step 4: Use crontab -e as ‘dsa’ user ID, to create a new entry: (may use crontab -l to view any entries). Use the dxdumpdb -z switch with the DSA_NAME to create the exported LDIF file. Redirect this output to gzip to automatically bypass any need for temporary files. Note: Crontab has limited variable expansion, and any % characters must be escaped.

Example of the crontab for ‘dsa’ to run 30 minutes after (at 2 am CST) the online backup process is scheduled (at 1:30 am CST). 

# Goal:  Export and compress the daily DSA offline backup to ldif.gz at 2 AM every day
# - Ensure this crontab runs AFTER the daily automated backup (zdb) of the CA Directory Data DSAs
# - Review these two (2) tokens for DATA DSAs:  ($DXHOME/config/settings/impd.dxc  or ./impd_backup.dxc)
#   a)   Location:  set dxgrid-backup-location = "/opt/CA/Directory/dxserver/backup/";
#   b)   Online Backup Period:   dump dxgrid-db period 0 86400;
#
# Note1: The 'N' start time of the 'dump dxgrid-db period N M' is the offset in seconds from midnight of UTC
#   For 24 hr clock, 0130 (AM) CST calculate the following in UTC/GMT =>  0130 CST + 6 hours = 0730 UTC
#   Due to the six (6) hour difference between CST and UTC TZ:  7.5 * 3600 = 27000 seconds
# Example(s):
#   dump dxgrid-db period 19800 86400;   [Once a day at 2330 CST]
#   dump dxgrid-db period 27000 86400;   [Once a day at 0130 CST]
#
# Note2:  Alternatively, may force an online backup using this line:
#               dump dxgrid-db;
#        & issuing this command:  dxserver init all
#
#####################################################################
#        1      2         3       4       5        6
#       min     hr      d-o-m   month   d-o-w   command(s)
#####################################################################
#####
#####  Testing Backup Every Five (5) Minutes ####
#*/5 * * * *  . $HOME/.profile && dxdumpdb -z `dxserver status | grep "impd-main" | awk "{print $1}"` | gzip -9 > /tmp/`hostname`_`dxserver status | grep "impd-main" | awk '{print $1}'`_`/bin/date --utc +\%Y\%m\%d\%H\%M\%S.0Z`.ldif.gz
#####
#####  Backup daily at 2 AM CST  -  30 minutes after the online backup at 1:30 AM CST #####
#####
0 2 * * *    . $HOME/.profile &&  dxdumpdb -z `dxserver status | grep "impd-main"   | awk "{print $1}"` | gzip -9 > /tmp/`hostname`_`dxserver status | grep "impd-main"   | awk '{print $1}'`_`/bin/date --utc +\%Y\%m\%d\%H\%M\%S.0Z`.ldif.gz
0 2 * * *    . $HOME/.profile &&  dxdumpdb -z `dxserver status | grep "impd-co"     | awk "{print $1}"` | gzip -9 > /tmp/`hostname`_`dxserver status | grep "impd-co"     | awk '{print $1}'`_`/bin/date --utc +\%Y\%m\%d\%H\%M\%S.0Z`.ldif.gz
0 2 * * *    . $HOME/.profile &&  dxdumpdb -z `dxserver status | grep "impd-inc"    | awk "{print $1}"` | gzip -9 > /tmp/`hostname`_`dxserver status | grep "impd-inc"    | awk '{print $1}'`_`/bin/date --utc +\%Y\%m\%d\%H\%M\%S.0Z`.ldif.gz
0 2 * * *    . $HOME/.profile &&  dxdumpdb -z `dxserver status | grep "impd-notify" | awk "{print $1}"` | gzip -9 > /tmp/`hostname`_`dxserver status | grep "impd-notify" | awk '{print $1}'`_`/bin/date --utc +\%Y\%m\%d\%H\%M\%S.0Z`.ldif.gz

Example of the above lines that can be placed in a bash shell, instead of called directly via crontab. Note: Able to use variables and no need to escape the `date % characters `

# set DSA=main &&   dxdumpdb -z `dxserver status | grep "impd-$DSA" | awk '{print $1}'` | gzip -9 > /tmp/`hostname`_`dxserver status | grep "impd-$DSA" | awk '{print $1}'`_`/bin/date --utc +%Y%m%d%H%M%S.0Z`.ldif.gz
# set DSA=co &&     dxdumpdb -z `dxserver status | grep "impd-$DSA" | awk '{print $1}'` | gzip -9 > /tmp/`hostname`_`dxserver status | grep "impd-$DSA" | awk '{print $1}'`_`/bin/date --utc +%Y%m%d%H%M%S.0Z`.ldif.gz
# set DSA=inc &&    dxdumpdb -z `dxserver status | grep "impd-$DSA" | awk '{print $1}'` | gzip -9 > /tmp/`hostname`_`dxserver status | grep "impd-$DSA" | awk '{print $1}'`_`/bin/date --utc +%Y%m%d%H%M%S.0Z`.ldif.gz
# set DSA=notify && dxdumpdb -z `dxserver status | grep "impd-$DSA" | awk '{print $1}'` | gzip -9 > /tmp/`hostname`_`dxserver status | grep "impd-$DSA" | awk '{print $1}'`_`/bin/date --utc +%Y%m%d%H%M%S.0Z`.ldif.gz
#

Example of the output:

Monitor with tail -f /var/log/cron (or syslog depending on your OS version), when the crontab is executed for your ‘dsa’ account

View the output folder for the newly created gzip LDIF files. The files may be extracted back to LDIF format, via gzip -d file.ldif.gz. Compare these file sizes with the original (*.zdb) files of 2GB.

Recommendation(s):

Implement a similar process and retain this data for fourteen (14) days, to assist with any RCA or similar analysis that may be needed for historical data. Avoid copied the (*.db or *.zdb) files for backup, unless using this process to force a clean sync between peer MW Data DSAs.

The Data DSAs may be reloaded (dxloadb) from these LDIF snapshots; the LDIF files do not have the same file size impact as the binary db files; and as LDIF files, they may be quickly search for prior data using standard tools such as grep “text string” filename.ldif.

This process will assist in site preparation for a DAR (disaster and recovery) scenario. Protect your data.

References:

dxdumpdb

https://techdocs.broadcom.com/content/broadcom/techdocs/us/en/ca-enterprise-software/layer7-identity-and-access-management/directory/14-1/administrating/tools-to-manage-ca-directory/dxtools/dxdumpdb-tool-export-data-from-a-datastore-to-an-ldif-file.html

dump dxgrid-db

https://techdocs.broadcom.com/content/broadcom/techdocs/us/en/ca-enterprise-software/layer7-identity-and-access-management/directory/14-1/reference/commands-reference/dump-dxgrid-db-command-take-a-consistent-snapshot-copy-of-a-datastore.html

If you wish to learn more or need assistance, contact us.