RADIUS Accounting

Applies To: Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2

There are three types of logging for Network Policy Server (NPS):

  • Event logging.

    Used primarily for auditing and troubleshooting connection attempts. You can configure NPS event logging by obtaining the NPS server properties in the NPS console.

  • Logging user authentication and accounting requests to a local file.

    Used primarily for connection analysis and billing purposes. Also useful as a security investigation tool because it provides you with a method of tracking the activity of a malicious user after an attack. You can configure local file logging using the Accounting Configuration wizard.

  • Logging user authentication and accounting requests to a Microsoft® SQL Server™ XML-compliant database.

    Used to allow multiple servers running NPS to have one data source. Also provides the advantages of using a relational database. You can configure SQL Server logging by using the Accounting Configuration wizard.

Accounting Configuration wizard

By using the Accounting Configuration wizard in the NPS console, you can configure the following four accounting settings:

  • SQL logging only . By using this setting, you can configure a data link to a SQL Server that allows NPS to connect to and send accounting data to the SQL server. In addition, the wizard can configure the database on the SQL Server to ensure that the database is compatible with NPS SQL server logging.

  • Text logging only . By using this setting, you can configure NPS to log accounting data to a text file.

  • Parallel logging . By using this setting, you can configure the SQL Server data link and database. You can also configure text file logging so that NPS logs simultaneously to the text file and the SQL Server database.

  • SQL logging with backup . By using this setting, you can configure the SQL Server data link and database. In addition, you can configure text file logging that NPS uses if SQL Server logging fails.

In addition to these settings, both SQL Server logging and text logging allow you to specify whether NPS continues to process connection requests if logging fails. You can specify this in Logging failure action section in local file logging properties, in SQL Server logging properties, and while you are running the Accounting Configuration wizard.

To run the Accounting Configuration Wizard, complete the following steps:

  1. Open the NPS console or the NPS Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in.

  2. In the console tree, click Accounting .

  3. In the details pane, in Accounting , click Configure Accounting .

See Also

Concepts

Configure Log File Properties
Configure SQL Server Logging in NPS