We recently upgraded our ProClarity server to Windows Server 2008 and reinstalled ProClarity to version 6.3.2217
I currently have a 'usage' tool that starts with extracting the ProClarity events from the event log using an SSIS WMI Data Reader task
When we switched to Windows Server 2008, all I see now in the ProClarity Event log are events by users who are also administrators of that server. All 'normal' users accessing ProClarity briefing books etc just do not appear in the Event Log - only the admins
I have our IT guys looking at it but is also baffling them, so has anyone had a similar experience?
There are no filters on the ProClarity Event log, so it feels like a 'security thing' - any ideas?
thanks
Stuart

Hi Stuart,

Did you go into the Admin Tool server properties and check logging AND usage after your PAS reinstall?  Logging and NOT usage might be the default.  We've added this scenario to our test cases for the future to make sure it's not an issue.

-Joey

Thanks for the follow up Joey

Yes, the admin tool settings are set to 'logging AND usage'.  We can actually see the usage happening but only when a small handful of 'systems' guys test accessing the briefing books, but it only occurs for a select few of the sort of system admins who have the highest security priveledges.   For all of the everyday users, no usage appears as it used to before we reinstalled on Windows 2008. 

We've followed up trying to identify if there is anything different with the new location of the event logs, but still no success (was C:/windows/system32/config/ProClarity.evt with Windows 2003. In Windows 2008, they moved to C:/windows/system32/winevt/logs/ProClarity.evtx)

Its still an open issue for us and ironically I have been revisiting the investigation of this issue this week as we are desperate to see usage as we need to purge existing briefing books.

Are you aware if there are any particular security permissions that should be set on the folder C:/windows/system32/winevt/logs/ that holds the ProClarity.evtx?    or perhaps any other ideas why we still are not getting usage events?

many thanks

Stuart

Stuart

Sorry stuart, I don't have any insight into what might be happening.  I suggest opening a support case for this one.  I'll pass your information along to our test team.

Thanks,

-Joey

Hey Joey,

 

I'm glad I found this thread, I have the exact same problem. All the admin users and service accounts are showing in eventlog, but regular users don't. I've tried adding 'write' permissions for all domain users to the eventlog, but it didn't make any difference.

Thanks ahead for looking into this,

Peter

ps I'm using Windows 2008 Ent and Proclarity 6.3

Hey Joey,

Am seeing this exact issue here at a client as well. The first symptom was that only admins were showing up in the ProClarity event log. Now, we also get an error in the Admin Tool when we click on the Users folder: User Preferences Error: XML document must have a top level element.

PAS is working, we can connect to the web site, and browse views. But, we can't administer users, and user events are not being logged. Any idea as to what this problem is?

PDC log shows as error:

 

Failure - PACCESS.PAccessMgr

Error Message: Access is denied

If I run the Diagnostic Utility as Admin, I don't get this error. I did find another thread that seems related (http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/proclarity/thread/d76e3ff2-077f-4f54-8a10-71ac95d0b159), but this thread is for Windows Server 2003, and PAS was not working at all. In my case, we're on Windows Server 2008, PAS is working, we just can't see/administer users! Any ideas?

 

Hi Rex,

If you have a client that is a Microsoft customer and needs the Event Viewer issue fixed, please contact Microsoft support - or, call me directly. 

Regarding your "User Preferences Error: XML document must have a top level element" - this is often caused by invalid characters in the Users table (PAS DB) in the CreatedBy and Caption columns. 

The PACCESS.PAccessMgr issue might be more complicated.  Past cases seem to indicate this can be caused by installing on a domain controller, or, not having a web site with port 80 and an ID of 1, or, various misconfigurations of underlying ISA/Kerberos configuration. 

-Joey

 

Hi Joey,

Regarding the User Preferences Error, you were right there was an invalid special character in one of the rows in the Users table.

Thanks,
-Marvin

Glad to read it Marvin.  Best of luck.

-Joey

Hi Rex

did you happen to locate the symptom and fix as to why only admins were showing up in your ProClarity event log, as we didnt get to the bottom of this oursleves

many thanks

Stuart

Hi Stuart,

The issue where only admins show up in the event log is currently being investigated.  Our hope is that with the correct circumstances, we can get a fix into our Cumulative Update - tenatively scheduled for early September. 

-Joey

Thanks Joey, thats good to know that it appears as a general problem and it wasnt something we had overlooked or particular to us

I'll keep an eye out for any progress you make, as it will be great to get my ProClarity 'usage monitor' working again (based on the event logs) as we desperatley need a clean up of unused briefing books/pages etc to eliminate the clutter thats been published over time, and to help us focus our efforts on underperforming MDX queries

regards

Stuart

Good and bad news.  First, the bad news - a fix didn't make it into our August CU (due mid-September).  The fix for this and the testing requirements were much greater than anticipated.  The good news is that our product group will continue to investigate this issue and we are tentatively planning another CU in about two months.  We will also be working to find other ideas and workarounds.

Thanks,

-Joey

Anything further on this?  I've taken over Stuart's role at our company and this is still an issue for us.

Thanks,
Matt

Hi Matt,

This is reported as fixed in a build 6.3.2231.  I cannot see a public release of this specific build at this time.  However, since all builds are cumulative, the fix should also be in our latest code 6.3.2234 - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2539396.

Please try out the latest cumulative hotfix and let us know your findings.

Thanks,

-Joey

 

 

 

Hey Joey,

We've now implemented hotfix 6.3.2234 and rebooted the server, but still no luck.

It strikes me that because admins are still being logged and the problem only came up in W2k8 that this is a permissions issue of some sort.  I tried tweaking a couple of things (before installing the hotfix), but I wasn't able to find anything that worked.  I may try again not that the hotfix is in place, but if anyone has specific ideas of what I should try along these lines, that would be great.  Any other ideas also welcome.

Thanks,

Matt

Matt,

You are correct - build 2233 and 2234 are not logging users in all scenarios.  I've reopened the issue internally with our product group to find out what happened.  I'm sorry you're still bumping into this.

-Joey