11 Monitoring the Single Sign-On Server

This chapter explains how to use Oracle Enterprise Manager, the Oracle system management console, to monitor the single sign-on server.

The chapter contains the following topics:

• Setting the Database Monitoring Password

• Accessing the Monitoring Pages

• Interpreting and Using the Home Page on the Standalone Console

• Interpreting and Using the Details of Login Failures Page

• Updating the Port Property for the Single Sign-On Monitoring Target

• Using the OracleAS Web Cache Instance to Monitor the Server

• Monitoring a Single Sign-On Server Enabled for SSL

11.1 Setting the Database Monitoring Password

The data used for monitoring OracleAS Single Sign-On is stored in an Oracle database, and the Oracle Enterprise Manager provides the user interface for monitoring. The Oracle Enterprise Manager connects to the Oracle database using a user name and password. For single sign-on monitoring to work properly, you must set a database monitoring password in the Oracle Enterprise Manager.

See the section on specifying new target monitoring credentials in Oracle Enterprise Manager Advanced Configuration for details.

11.2 Accessing the Monitoring Pages

The single sign-on monitoring UI on the standalone console consists of two pages: the home page and the Details of Login Failures page. The first provides general information about server load and user activity. The second provides a login failure profile for a particular user.

To access the home page for single sign-on monitoring:

1. Go to the standalone console for the instance of Oracle Enterprise Manager that you want to administer.

   Enter the host name of the computer that hosts the OracleAS instance and the port number of Oracle Enterprise Manager. The default port number is 1156. You can find the instance-specific port number as follows:

   UNIX: ORACLE_HOME/install/setupinfo.txt

   Windows: ORACLE_HOME\install\setupinfo.txt

2. Log in using the credentials of an OracleAS administrator.

3. From the Standalone Instances section of the Farm page, choose the appropriate OracleAS instance.

4. From the System Components list of the Application Server page, choose the single sign-on server.

11.3 Interpreting and Using the Home Page on the Standalone Console

The home page, reproduced in Figure 11-1, displays the following metrics in the General section:

• Status

  A green up arrow signifies that the single sign-on server is running. A red down arrow signifies that the server is not running.

• Start Time

  The start time of the database serving the single sign-on schema.

• Database

  SID/instance name of the database serving the single sign-on schema.

• Database Version

  Version of the database serving the single sign-on schema.

The Last 24 Hours Status Details section contains the following metrics:

• Logins

• Successful Logins

• Failed Logins

As the heading implies, the statistics displayed are for the previous 24 hours.

The Login Failures During the Last 24 Hours section enables you to determine the number of login failures that have occurred during the previous 24 hours. You choose a name from the Login Failures During the Last 24 Hours table. You then choose the associated link under the Failures heading. When populated, this link contains the number of login failures for the user. Clicking it takes you to the Details of Login Failures page.

Figure 11-1 Monitoring Home Page for OracleAS Single Sign-On

Description of "Figure 11-1 Monitoring Home Page for OracleAS Single Sign-On"

The Related Links section contains the following links:

• HTTP Server

  Takes you to the monitoring home page for the Oracle HTTP Server

• Administer via Single Sign-On Web Application

  Takes you to the home page for single sign-on administration

11.4 Interpreting and Using the Details of Login Failures Page

Clicking a link in the Login Failures During the Last 24 Hours table takes you to the Details of Login Failures page (Figure 11-2). This page contains a table that displays login failure times and associated IP addresses for a particular user.

Figure 11-2 Details of Login Failures Page

Description of "Figure 11-2 Details of Login Failures Page"

11.5 Updating the Port Property for the Single Sign-On Monitoring Target

A change in the port number of the Oracle HTTP Server requires a change in the port property of the single sign-on monitoring target on that server. Perform these steps to effect the change:

1. Back up the targets.xml file:

   cp ORACLE_HOME/sysman/emd/targets.xml ORACLE_HOME/sysman/emd/
   targets.xml.backup
   
   

   This file is the configuration file for the various "targets" that Oracle Enterprise Manager monitors, one of which is OracleAS Single Sign-On.

2. In targets.xml, find the target type oracle_sso_server; then locate and edit the HTTP port value associated with this target type:

   <Property NAME="HTTPPort" VALUE="7777"/>
   
   

3. Save and close the file.

4. Reload the OracleAS Console:

   ORACLE_HOME/bin/emctl reload
   
   

   
   

   Note: For more information about port dependency changes, see the appendix about port numbers in Oracle Application Server Administrator's Guide.

   
   

11.6 Using the OracleAS Web Cache Instance to Monitor the Server

If you are using OracleAS Web Cache as a load balancer for multiple single sign-on instances, you can monitor the single sign-on server from the OracleAS Web Cache computer. At the same time, you can use the monitoring pages on any one of the single sign-on instances to monitor that instance.

Follow these steps to add a single sign-on target to the OracleAS Web Cache instance:

1. Back up the file ORACLE_HOME/sysman/emd/targets.xml located on the OracleAS Web Cache instance.

2. Copy the single sign-on target definition from a targets.xml file located on a single sign-on instance. Paste the definition to the end of the targets.xml file on the OracleAS Web Cache instance, inserting it just before the closing tag </Targets>.

3. In the Target TYPE tag, replace the name of the oracle_ias target for single sign-on instance with the name of the oracle_ias target for the OracleAS Web Cache instance.

4. Replace the single sign-on OracleHome value with the OracleAS Web Cache OracleHome value.

5. Change HTTPMachine, HTTPPort, and HTTPProtocol to values that correspond to the OracleAS Web Cache instance.

6. Run this command to incorporate the changes:

   ORACLE_HOME/bin/emctl reload
   

11.7 Monitoring a Single Sign-On Server Enabled for SSL

The following are guidelines if you are monitoring a single sign-on server enabled for SSL (whether or not you are using Grid Control monitoring):

• The oracle_sso_server target type in the ORACLE_HOME/sysman/emd/targets.xml file on the single sign-on middle tier must have the appropriate HTTP attributes.

  If, for example, you connect to an SSL-enabled single sign-on server with this URL:

  http://myhost.us.oracle.com:4443/sso

  then HTTPPort is 4443 and HTTPProtocol is https.

  For details, see "Update targets.xml" in Chapter 7.

• The certificate configuration file for Oracle Enterprise Manager must contain the certificate of the infrastructure server.

  To learn how to add the certificate to the configuration file, see the chapter about Oracle Enterprise Manager security in Oracle Enterprise Manager Advanced Configuration. See specifically the section about configuring beacons to monitor Web applications over HTTPS.