Configure log file properties
Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2
To configure log file properties
Open Internet Authentication Service.
In the console tree, click Remote Access Logging.
In the details pane, choose Local File or SQL Server, and then follow the appropriate directions below:
Local File
SQL Server
Local File
In the details pane, right-click Local File, and then click Properties.
On the Log File tab, in Directory, type the location where log files are to be stored. The default location is the systemroot\System32\LogFiles folder.
In Format, click Database-compatible. Or, to keep your log files in IAS format, click IAS.
To open new log files at specific intervals, click the interval that you want to use:
For heavy transaction volume and logging activity, click Daily.
For lesser transaction volumes and logging activity, click Weekly or Monthly.
To store all transactions in one log file, click Never (unlimited file size).
To limit the size of each log file, click When log file reaches this size, and then type a file size--after which a new log is created. The default size is 10 MB.
To automatically delete log files when the disk is full, click When disk is full delete older log files. If the oldest log file is the current log file, it is not deleted.
SQL Server
In the details pane, right-click SQL Server, and then click Properties.
In Log the following information, select the information that you want to log:
To log all accounting requests, click Accounting requests.
To log authentication requests, click Authentication requests.
To log periodic status, such as interim accounting requests, click Periodic status.
To configure the number of concurrent sessions allowed between the IAS server and the SQL Server database, type a number in Maximum number of concurrent sessions.
To configure the SQL Server data source, click Configure, and then, on the Connection tab, specify the following:
To specify the name of the server on which the database is stored, type or select a name in Select or enter a server name.
To specify the authentication method with which to log on to the server, click Use Windows NT integrated security. Or, click Use a specific user name and password, and then type credentials in User name and Password.
To allow a blank password, click Blank password.
To store the password, click Allow saving password.
To specify which database to connect to on the computer running SQL Server, click Select the database on the server, and then select a database name from the list.
To test the connection between the IAS server and the computer running SQL Server, click Test Connection.
Notes
To open Internet Authentication Service, click Start, click Control Panel, double-click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Internet Authentication Service.
To prevent the log files from filling the hard drive on which you are storing them, it is strongly recommended that you keep them on a partition that is separate from the system partition.
To send the log file data for collection by another process, you can configure IAS to write to a named pipe. To use named pipes, set the log file folder to \\.\pipe or \\ComputerName\pipe. The named pipe server program creates a named pipe called \\.\pipe\iaslog.log to accept the data. In the Local file properties dialog box, in Create a new log file, select Never (unlimited file size) when you use named pipes.
The log file directory can be created by using system environment variables (instead of user variables), such as %systemdrive%, %systemroot%, and %windir%. For example, the following path, using the environment variable %windir%, locates the log file at the system directory in the subfolder \System32\Logs (that is, %windir%\System32\Logs\).
Switching log file formats does not cause a new log to be created. If you change log file formats, the file that is active at the time of the change will contain a mixture of the two formats (records at the start of the log will have the previous format, and records at the end of the log will have the new format).
If you are administering an IAS server remotely, you cannot browse the directory structure. If you need to log accounting information to a remote server, specify the log file name by typing a Universal Naming Convention (UNC) name, such as \\MyLogServer\LogShare.
If you do not supply a full path statement in Log File Directory, the default path is used. For example, if you type IASLogFile in Log File Directory, the file is located at systemroot\System32\IASLogFile.
Information about functional differences
- Your server might function differently based on the version and edition of the operating system that is installed, your account permissions, and your menu settings. For more information, see Viewing Help on the Web.
See Also
Concepts
Disk quotas overview
Remote Access Logging
Logging user authentication and accounting requests
SQL Server database logging
Command shell overview