Troubleshoot AppInsight for Active Directory

This topic describes issues you may encounter when using AppInsight for Active Directory in SAM. Before proceeding, here are some tips:

• Review AppInsight for Active Directory requirements and also Best practices.
• Check your configuration.
• Click here to learn about the AppInsight for Active Directory template.

Multiple instances of this database-intensive feature can impact performance. Consider limiting usage to a few key domain controllers. You can also adjust Advanced settings on individual nodes to boost performance by polling for LDAP data on a single domain controller in a domain, while continuing to gather replication details for all domain controllers in that domain.

Issue: AppInsight for Active Directory widgets do not display polled data.

After configuring AppInsight for Active Directory, you may not see active data in widgets or receive alerts immediately because polling may occur at different intervals, ranging from minutes to hours. After 24 hours, widgets and alerts should start reporting data.

The default polling interval for AppInsight for Active Directory is 10 minutes.

You can also check AppInsight for Active Directory logs located in this default location: c:\ProgramData\SolarWinds\Logs\APM\ApplicationLogs.

Issue: Domain Controller Details and Site Details widgets don't appear on Application Details pages.

Check settings in the application monitor for the domain controller. These widgets are hidden if the Enable Domain Components option is disabled.

Issue: Node status does not appear in AppInsight for Active Directory widgets, and Active Directory widgets display IP addresses instead of node names.

To ensure that node status appears in AppInsight for Active Directory widgets with proper node names, configure nodes to support both WMI and ICMP polling. ICMP-only nodes cannot supply DNS or SysName values required to compute replications for destination domain controller FQDN names. Alternatively, edit the name of an ICMP node on the Node Details > Edit Properties page.

Issue: Domain controllers display "Unknown" for several custom performance counters.

Check the server to make sure the Windows NT Directory Service (NTDS) category of performance counters is present. If the base set of performance counter libraries is corrupt, you may need to rebuild it. See also Performance Counter Monitor - Bad Input Parameter (THWACK).

Issue: Components display Unknown status after initial poll.

Generic application monitors like Windows Event Log Monitor and Performance Counter Monitor may have an Unknown status after the first round of polling. Wait 10 minutes for the next successful poll.

If the status of a domain controller remains Unknown after polling, make sure that a node exists for the domain controller and that AppInsight for Active Directory is assigned to the node. See Configure AppInsight for Active Directory on nodes.

Issue: After enabling Total counters in the AppInsight for Active Directory template, the AppInsight application appears Down and warnings occur in SAM logs.

Enabling and disabling components for AppInsight applications can place the SolarWinds Collector service in an unsynchronized state. Use the SolarWinds Platform Service Manager to restart that service and clear its cache. See Configure AppInsight for Active Directory on nodes.

Issue: Domain Controllers display Unknown status in AppInsight for Active Directory widgets.

Make sure the node is being monitored and that the AppInsight for Active Directory template is assigned to the node. See Assign the AppInsight for Active Directory template to domain controllers.

Windows SQL Server locking causes the SolarWinds Platform database to grow after assigning AppInsight for Active Directory to nodes.

SQL Server locks may occur if you exceed recommended limits for AppInsight for Active Directory monitoring; see Best practices for AppInsight for Active Directory. Locks can prevent rows from being deleted during daily database maintenance jobs, so the number of rows grows as polling continues.

Delete rows from the database manually, or remove AppInsight for Active Directory from nodes, wait for daily database maintenance to finish, and add AppInsight back to the nodes. Click here for details.

Issue: The Replication widget shows only a few domain controllers.

The Replication widget displays domain controllers (shown on the right, below) that replicate with the monitored domain controller (shown on the left) in the same domain, by design.

Issue: The Trust Summary widget does not display expected data.

If expected data does not appear in the Trust Summary widget, here are some ways to investigate:

• Navigate to My Dashboards > Applications > Active Directory to check the status of the AppInsight for Active Directory application.
• Verify that domain controllers are assigned the Global Catalog (GC) role. You can use PowerShell to check if the IsGlobalCatalog flag is set to True:
  

  Get-ADDomainController-Filter {Site-eq 'Default-First-Site-Name'}} | FT Name,IsGlobalCatalog

  Get-ADDomainController | ft Name,IsGlobalCatalog

• Verify that domain controllers configured as GC servers use port 3268, the default port to collect trust data. If domain controllers use port 3269 instead, update that setting. See Configure AppInsight for Active Directory on nodes.
• Check SAM logs and AppInsight for Active Directory logs located in this default location: c:\ProgramData\SolarWinds\Logs\APM\ApplicationLogs.

Active Directory applications appear as Down in the SolarWinds Platform Web Console and warnings appear in application logs, or

If AppInsight monitors multiple domain controllers in the same domain, each domain controller will report the same LDAP domain data, such as sites and trusts. Starting in SAM 2020.2.1, you can adjust Advanced settings for individual domain controllers to poll LDAP data for only a single domain controller, while polling replication details for all domain controllers in the domain.

If applications appear Down after adjusting those settings, use the SolarWinds Platform Service Manager to restart the SolarWinds Collector Service.