Firepower User Agent Configuration Guide v2 5
Firepower User Agent Configuration Guide v2 5
THE SPECIFICATIONS AND INFORMATION REGARDING THE PRODUCTS IN THIS MANUAL ARE SUBJECT TO
CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE. ALL STATEMENTS, INFORMATION, AND RECOMMENDATIONS IN THIS
MANUAL ARE BELIEVED TO BE ACCURATE BUT ARE PRESENTED WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. USERS MUST TAKE FULL RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEIR APPLICATION OF ANY
PRODUCTS.
Version 2.5 of the user agent work in conjunction with version 6.4 or later of the Firepower System
managed devices to gather user data. The user agent is also essential to implementing user access
control.
A user agent monitors up to five Microsoft Active Directory servers and reports logins and logoffs
authenticated by Active Directory. The Firepower System integrates these records with the information
it collects using traffic-based detection on managed devices.
Note Version 2.5 of the user agent works only with the Firepower Management Center version 6.4 or later. If
you have issues with the user agent and your version of the Firepower Management Center, you can
replace the version 2.5 user agent with an earlier user agent version as discussed in Troubleshoot the
User Agent, page 2-33.
Note To perform user control, your organization must use Microsoft Active Directory. The Firepower System
uses user agents that monitor Active Directory servers to associate users with IP addresses, which is what
allows access control rules to trigger.
Installing and using the user agent enables you to perform user control; the agent associates a user name
with one or more IP addresses, and this information can trigger access control rules with user conditions.
A complete user agent configuration for user control includes the following:
• A computer with the agent installed.
• A connection between a Management Center and the user agent computer.
• A connection between each Management Center to the monitored Active Directory servers.
• This version of the user agent is supported by Firepower Management Center 6.2.3 and later.
For more information about user control, see the configuration guide for your system.
You can install the user agent on any Microsoft Windows Vista, Microsoft Windows 7, Microsoft
Windows 8, Microsoft Windows Server 2008, or Microsoft Windows Server 2012 computer with TCP/IP
access to the Microsoft Active Directory servers to monitor. You can also install the agent on an Active
Directory server running one of the supported operating systems; however, doing so is less secure.
Note If you install the user agent on Windows Server 2003 or an older operating system, the user agent cannot
collect real time statistics from an Active Directory computer.
The Management Center connection not only enables you to retrieve metadata for the users whose logins
and logoffs were detected by user agents, but also is used to specify the users and groups you want to
use in access control rules. If the agent is configured to exclude specific user names, login data for those
user names are not reported to the Management Center.
Note If multiple users are logged into a host using remote sessions, the agent might not detect logins from that
host properly. See Enable Idle Session Timeouts, page 2-5 for more information on how to prevent this.
Concept Notes
Login detection The agent reports user logins to hosts with IPv6 addresses to Firepower Management Center
running Version 6.2.3 or later.
The agent reports non authoritative user logins and NetBIOS logins to Firepower Management
Center running Version 6.2.3 or later.
To detect logins to an Active Directory server, you must configure the Active Directory server
connection with the server IP address. See Configure User Agent Active Directory Server
Connections, page 2-22 for more information.
Logoff detection The agent reports detected logoffs to Firepower Management Center version 6.2.3 or later.
Logoffs might not be immediately detected. The timestamp associated with a logoff is the time the
agent detected the user was no longer mapped to the host IP address, which might not correspond
with the time the user logged off of the host.
Real Time data The Active Directory server must run Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2012.
retrieval The user agent computer must run Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10, or a Windows Server
version more recent than Server 2003.
Note The Management Center might not correctly display user names with Unicode characters.
Note If a user uses a Linux computer to log in using Remote Desktop to a Windows computer, after the agent
detects the login, it reports the Windows computer’s IP address, not the Linux computer’s IP address, to
the Management Center.
The Management Center records login and logoff information in the user activity database and user data
in the user database. When a user agent reports user data from a user login or logoff, the reported user
is checked against the list of users in the users database. If the reported user matches an existing user
reported by an agent, the reported data is assigned to the user. Reported users that do not match existing
users cause a new user to be created.
Even though the user activity associated with an excluded user name is not reported, related user activity
might still be reported. If the agent detects a user login to a computer, then the agent detects a second
user login, and you have excluded the user name associated with the second user login from reporting,
the agent reports a logoff for the original user. However, no login for the second user is reported. As a
result, no user is mapped to the IP address, even though the excluded user is logged into the host.
Note the following limitations on user names detected by the agent:
• User names ending with a dollar sign character are not reported to any other versions of Management
Centers.
• Management Center display of user names containing Unicode characters might have limitations.
The total number of detected users the Management Center can store depends on the following:
• In Version 6.x, your Management Center model
After you reach the user limit, in most cases the system stops adding new users to the database. To add
new users, you must either manually delete old or inactive users from the database, or delete all users
from the database.
Note You must configure each user agent to communicate with the fully qualified hostname or IP address of
the domain controller. In a multi-domain system, it’s common for each domain controller to have a
different IP address or hostname.
About the User Agent, ISE, and Access Control in Version 6.x
Version 6.0 introduced support for the Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE), an alternative to the user
agent. The user agent and ISE are passive identity sources that gather data for user access control. To
perform user control in Version 6.x, you must configure an identity realm for your monitored Active
Directory servers on the Management Center connected to the agent or ISE device. For more information
about realms, identity sources, and ISE/ISE-PIC, see the configuration guide for your system.
To use Version 2.5 of the user agent to collect user login data from up to five Microsoft Active Directory
servers and send it to Management Centers, you must install it, connect it to each Management Center
and Microsoft Active Directory server, and configure general settings. For more information, see the
following sections:
• Set Up a User Agent, page 2-1
• Management Center Configurations, page 2-3
• Configure the Active Directory Server, page 2-4
• Configure the User Agent Computers, page 2-6
• Install the User Agent, page 2-20
• Configure the User Agent, page 2-22
• Troubleshoot the User Agent, page 2-34
• Replace the Version 2.4 or Later User Agent with Version 2.3, page 2-40
Step 5 If you have a previous user agent installation, optionally back up the agent database to retain
configuration settings. For more information, see Back Up User Agent Configurations, page 2-19.
Step 6 Configure permissions necessary to allow the agent to connect to an Active Directory server. For more
information, see:
• Give Limited Privileges to a Domain User (Summary), page 2-10
• Give Privileges to a Local User, page 2-9
Step 7 Install the agent on the computer.
• For more information, see Install the User Agent, page 2-20.
• To optionally install more than one user agent, see Deploy Multiple User Agents, page 1-6.
Step 8 Configure connections to one or more Microsoft Active Directory servers.
Step 9 (Optional.) Configure a polling interval and maximum poll length for the agent. For more information,
see Configure User Agent Active Directory Server Connections, page 2-23.
Step 10 Make sure you have an available DNS server to resolve the user agent’s host before you set up the user
agent identity source on the FMC.
Failure to set up DNS properly prevents the FMC from connecting to a user agent using its host name.
Step 11 Configure connections to up to five Management Centers. For more information, see Configure User
Agent Management Center Connections, page 2-26.
Step 12 (Optional.) Configure a list of user names and IP addresses to exclude from polling for login and logoff
data. For more information, see:
• Configure User Agent Excluded Username Settings, page 2-27
• Configure User Agent Excluded Addresses Settings, page 2-29
Step 13 (Optional.) Configure the agent logging settings. For more information, see Configure User Agent
Logging Settings, page 2-30.
Step 14 (Optional.) Configure the agent name, start and stop the service, and view the service’s current status.
For more information, see Configure General User Agent Settings, page 2-32.
Step 15 Click Save to save the user agent configuration.
Caution Do not modify the user agent maintenance settings unless Cisco TAC directs you to do so.
Note Version 2.4 of the user agent works only with the Firepower Management Center version 6.2.3 or later.
If you have issues with the user agent and your version of the Firepower Management Center, you can
replace the version 2.4 user agent with the version 2.3 user agent as discussed in Troubleshoot the User
Agent, page 2-34.
Step 1 On the Active Directory server, click Start > [All Programs] > Administrative Tools > Event Viewer.
Step 2 Click Windows Logs > Security.
If logging is enabled, the Security log is displayed. If logging is disabled, see How to configure Active
Directory and LDS diagnostic event logging on MSDN for information on enabling security logging.
Step 3 Allow WMI through the firewall on the Active Directory server. If the Active Directory server is running
Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2012, see Setting up a Remote WMI Connection on MSDN
or more information.
Step 1 Click Start > Administrative Tools > Group Policy Management.
Step 2 In the navigation pane, expand Forest: YourForestName, expand Domains > YourDomainName > Group Policy
Objects.
Step 3 Right-click Default Domain Policy and click Edit.
Step 4 Browse to Computer Configuration > Policies > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Advanced Audit Policy
Configuration > Audit Policies > Logon/Logoff.
Step 5 In the right pane, double-click Audit Logoff.
Step 6 In the Edit Logoff Properties dialog box, check Configure the following audit events and Success.
Step 7 Click OK.
Step 8 Repeat the same task for Audit Logon.
Note The user agent does not report logoff events identified by Windows Security Log event 4634.
The user agent uses a remote Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) call to query
domain computers for logoffs.
Remote Desktop timeout. For more information on configuring the logoff check frequency, see
Configure General User Agent Settings, page 2-32.
The path in the Group Policy Object editor is:
User Configuration\Policies\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Remote Desktop
Services\Remote Desktop Session Host\Session Time Limits
When you’re done, continue with Configure the User Agent Computers, page 2-6.
Note For the user agent to provide visibility for logins and logoffs for all computers in your Active Directory
domain, you must configure the user agent on every domain controller. For example, if your Active
Directory domain has five domain controllers—each installed on a different host—you must install and
configure the user agent software five times, one on each domain controller.
Computer Configurations
The computer can be any of the following:
• (Recommended.) A computer on a trusted network that can access the Active Directory server. This
computer should be available only to network administrators.
We recommend this installation method because it’s the most secure.
• The Active Directory server.
Note If you do not have the .NET Framework, when you start the agent executable file (setup.exe),
it prompts you to download it. See Install the User Agent, page 2-20 for more information.
• Create a user to run the user agent as discussed in Create a User for the User Agent, page 2-9.
• The computer has TCP/IP access to the Active Directory servers you want to monitor, and uses the
same version of the Internet Protocol as the Active Directory servers. If the agent is monitoring the
Active Directory servers real time, the computer’s TCP/IP access must be on at all times to retrieve
login data.
Note If you install the user agent on Windows Server 2003 or an older operating system, the user agent
cannot collect real time statistics from an Active Directory computer.
• The computer has TCP/IP access to the Management Centers where you want to report data and an
IPv4 address.
• The computer has an IPv6 address, to detect logoffs from hosts with IPv6 addresses, or an IPv4
address, to detect logoffs from hosts with IPv4 addresses.
• The computer does not have a legacy agent or Version 2.x agent already installed. Because these
agents do not automatically uninstall, to uninstall an existing agent, use Add/Remove Programs in the
Windows Control Panel.
Caution If you have a previous version of the user agent installed, you must back up the database to retain
configuration settings.
Continue with Create a User for the User Agent, page 2-9.
To create a user:
Step 1 Log in to the Active Directory server as a member of the Domain Admins group.
Step 2 To run the user agent on the Active Directory server, create a local user account. (This account must be
in the Domain Admins group but the user does not need to be in the Administrators group.)
Skip the remaining steps in this section and continue with Give the User Privileges, page 2-9.
Step 3 To create a domain user so you can run the user agent on a separate computer, click Start > Active Directory
Users and Computers.
Step 4 In the left pane, expand the domain and folder in which to add the user.
Step 5 Right-click the folder in which to add the user.
Step 6 From the pop-up menu, click New > User.
Step 7 Follow the prompts on your screen to create the domain user and to give the user a strong password.
Caution For security reasons, make sure this user account is known only to network administrators.
Step 1 Log in to the Active Directory server as a member of the Domain Admins group.
Step 2 Add the user agent user to the following groups:
• Distributed COM Users
• Event Log Readers
Step 3 Use the Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) Control console to give the user the following
permissions to the Root\CIMV2 node as discussed on Microsoft TechNet:
• Execute Methods
• Enable Account
• Remote Enable
• Read Security
Step 4 Enable the user agent to use real time processing of the Active Directory server.
• Create a Group Policy Object (GPO) security policy for the Windows firewall rule to allow inbound
network traffic to Remote Procedure Call (RPC) Endpoint Mapper service as discussed on Microsoft
TechNet.
• Create a GPO security policy for the Windows firewall rule to allow inbound traffic on random RPC
ports as discussed on Microsoft TechNet.
For more information about real time processing, see Configure User Agent Active Directory Server
Connections, page 2-23.
Step 5 Update your Group Policy Object (GPO) policies using the gupdate /force command or an equivalent
method.
This section discusses how to give the domain user WMI privileges to the Root > CIMV2 node on the
Active Directory server so the user can retrieve logoff events from domain computers.
Step 1 Log in to the Active Directory server as a member of the Domain Admins group.
Step 2 Add the user agent user to the following groups:
• Distributed COM Users
• Event Log Readers
Step 3 Click Start and enter wmimgmt.msc.
Step 4 Right-click Console Root > WMI Control (Local) and click Properties.
Step 5 In the WMI Control (Local) Properties dialog box, click the Security tab.
Step 6 Click Root > CIMV2.
Step 7 Click Security.
Step 8 In the Security for ROOT\CIMV2 dialog box, click Add.
Step 9 In the Enter object names to select field, enter limited.ua and click Check Names.
Windows locates the user name and displays it in the field.
Step 10 Click OK.
Step 11 Give the user the following permissions:
• Execute Methods
• Enable Account
• Remote Enable
• Read Security
Step 12 In the Security for Root\CIMV2 dialog box, click OK.
Step 13 In the WMI Control Properties dialog box, click OK.
After giving the user agent user WMI permissions on the Active Directory server, you should test the
permissions from the computer on which you will install the user agent.
Step 1 Log in to the domain computer on which you’ll install the user agent.
Step 2 In the search field, enter wbemtest. (In some versions of Windows, you must click Start first.)
Step 3 In the Windows Management Instrumentation Tester dialog box, click Connect.
If the connection is successful, the Windows Management Instrumentation Tester dialog box is displayed
as follows.
For example, to query from May 1, 2017 at midnight in the US Central time zone (UTC - 6 hours), enter
the following:
select * from Win32_NTLogEvent where Logfile = 'Security' and (EventCode=672 or
EventCode=4768 or EventCode=538 or EventCode=4364 or EventCode=528 or EventCode=4624 or
EventCode=4634) and TimeGenerated > "20170501000000.000000-600"
Allow the User Agent to Access Distributed Component Object Management (DCOM)
This section discusses how to allow DCOM access so the user agent can remotely access objects on the
Active Directory server.
Step 1 Log in to the Active Directory server as member of the Domain Admins group.
Step 2 Click Start > [Run], and enter dcomcnfg, then press Enter.
Step 3 In the Component Services window, click Component Services > Computers.
Step 4 Right-click My Computer and click Properties.
Step 5 In the My Computer Properties dialog box, click the COM Security tab.
Step 6 Under Launch and Activation Permissions, click Edit Limits.
Step 7 In the Launch and Activation Permissions dialog box, click Add.
Step 8 In the Enter the object names to select field, enter limited.ua and click Check Names.
Step 9 If the name matches, click OK.
Step 10 Grant the user the Remote Launch and Remote Activation permissions.
Step 11 In the Launch and Activation Permissions dialog box, click OK.
Step 12 In the My Computer Properties dialog box, click OK.
To update Group Object Policy to allow access to the Active Directory security log:
Step 1 Click Start > [All Programs] > Administrative Tools > Group Policy Management.
Step 2 In the navigation pane, expand Forest: YourForestName, expand Domains > YourDomainName > Group Policy
Objects.
Step 3 Right-click Default Domain Policy and click Edit.
Step 4 Browse to Computer Configuration > Policies > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Local Policies > User Rights
Assignment.
Step 5 In the right pane, double-click Manage auditing and security log.
This section is required for the user agent to use real time event processing for the Active Directory
server. For more information about real time event processing, see Configure User Agent Active
Directory Server Connections, page 2-23.
To allow inbound remote procedure call (RPC) network traffic, use the Windows Firewall with Advanced
Security node in Group Policy Management to create two firewall rules:
• The first rule allows incoming traffic to the RPC Endpoint Mapper service, which responds with a
dynamically assigned port number that the client must use to communicate with the service.
• The second rule allows network traffic that is sent to the dynamically assigned port number.
Using the two rules helps to protect your computer by allowing network traffic only from computers that
have received RPC dynamic port redirection and to only those port numbers assigned by the RPC
Endpoint Mapper.
Perform the tasks discussed in the following procedures on every Active Directory server to which the
user agent requires access.
Step 1 If you haven’t done so already, log in to your Active Directory server as a member of the Domain Admins
group.
Step 2 Choose Start > Administrative Tools.
Step 3 In the Administrative Tools window, double-click Group Policy Management.
Step 4 In the navigation pane, expand Forest: YourForestName, expand Domains, > YourDomainName > Group Policy
Objects, right-click the GPO you want to modify, and then click Edit.
Typically, you should edit the Default Domain Policy.
Step 5 In the left pane, expand Computer Configuration > Policies > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Windows
Firewall with Advanced Security > Windows Firewall with Advanced Security.
The following figure shows an example.
Step 10 In the Customize Service Settings dialog box, click Apply to this service, select Remote Procedure Call (RPC)
with a short name of RpcSs, and click OK.
Step 11 Click Next. You are required to confirm the action.
Step 12 On the Protocol and Ports dialog box, for Protocol type, click TCP.
Step 13 For Local port, choose RPC Endpoint Mapper, and then click Next.
Step 14 On the Scope page, in the Which remote IP addresses does this rule apply to? section, choose These IP
addresses, click Add, and enter the user agent computer’s IP address.
Step 15 Click Next.
Step 16 On the Action page, select Allow the connection, and then click Next.
Step 17 On the Profiles page, check only Domain and click Next.
Step 18 On the Name page, enter a name to identify this rule and click Finish.
Step 1 Complete steps 1 through 4 in Create Group Policy Object Rules for the Windows Firewall, page 2-15.
Step 2 In the New Inbound Rule Wizard dialog box, click Custom and click Next.
Step 3 Click This program path, and then enter %systemroot%\system32\svchost.exe
Step 4 Next to Services, click Customize.
Step 5 In the Customize Service Settings dialog box, click Apply to this service, select Windows Event Log with a
short name of EventLog, and click OK.
Step 6 Click Next. You are required to confirm the action.
Step 7 On the Protocol and Ports dialog box, for Protocol type, click TCP.
Step 8 For Local port, click RPC Dynamic Ports, and then click Next.
Step 9 On the Scope page, click These IP addresses, click Add, and enter the user agent computer’s IP address.
Step 10 Click Next.
Step 11 On the Action page, click Allow the connection and click Next.
Step 12 On the Profiles page, check only Domain and click Next.
Step 13 On the Name page, enter a name to identify this rule and click Finish.
Step 1 Apply the new GPO policies using the command gpupdate /force or an equivalent method.
For more information about applying GPO policies, see the following references:
• GPO Policy for Beginners on Microsoft TechNet
• Policy Processing on Microsoft TechNet
Note You must run the gpupdate /force command using elevated permissions. Either log in to the Active
Directory server as Administrator or run the command prompt as administrator. (Right-click the
command prompt shortcut and click Run as Administrator.)
Note If you have Version 2.2 or later of the user agent installed, you do not need to back up the database.
Configuration settings are automatically imported when you install a newer version of the user agent.
Continue with Install the User Agent, page 2-20.
Step 1 On the computer where you installed the agent, click Start > Programs > Cisco > Configure Cisco Firepower
User Agent for Active Directory.
Step 2 Click the stop button ( ) to stop the agent service.
Step 3 Locate CiscoUserAgent.sdf on the computer where the agent is installed, and copy the file locally.
Note If you are updating from Version 2.2 or before, locate and copy SourcefireUserAgent.sdf.
Make copy of the file and rename the copy to CiscoUserAgent.sdf.
Step 4 Uninstall the Cisco User Agent using the Control Panel’s Add/Remove Programs option. Remove the agent.
Step 5 Install the latest version of the user agent. See Install the User Agent, page 2-20 for more information.
Step 6 On the computer where the agent is installed, select Start > Programs > Cisco > Configure Cisco Firepower User
Agent for Active Directory.
Step 7 Click the stop button ( ) to stop the agent service.
Step 8 Locate CiscoUserAgent.sdf on the computer where the latest version of the agent is installed. Replace
the current file with the local backup made from the previous version of the agent.
Step 9 On the computer where the latest version of the agent is installed, select Start > Programs > Cisco > Configure
Cisco Firepower User Agent for Active Directory.
Step 10 Click to start the service.
Continue with Install the User Agent, page 2-20.
Caution If you have a previous version of the user agent installed, to retain configuration settings, you must
complete a backup of the database before installation. For more information, see Back Up User Agent
Configurations, page 2-19.
By default, the agent runs as a service using the Local System account. If the Windows computer where
the agent is running is connected to the network, the service continues to poll and send user data even if
a user is not actively logged in to the computer.
For each agent, you can configure connections to one or more Active Directory servers and up to five
Management Centers. Before you add a Management Center connection, make sure you add the agent
to the Management Center configuration. For more information, see:
• Configure a Version 6.2.3 or Later Management Center to Connect to User Agents, page 2-3
For more information about deploying more than one user agent, see Deploy Multiple User Agents,
page 1-6.
In a high availability configuration, add both Management Centers to the agent to enable update of user
login data to both the primary and the secondary so the data remains current on both.
Step 1 Log in as the user you created in Create a User for the User Agent, page 2-9 to the Windows computer
on which to install the user agent:
• If you are upgrading an older version of the user agent, log in to the same computer.
• (Recommended.) To install the user agent on a computer separate from the Active Directory server,
log in to that computer.
• To install the user agent on the Active Directory server, log in to the Active directory server as a
member of the Domain Admins group, and, optionally the Administrators group.
Step 2 Download the User Agent setup file
(Cisco_Firepower_User_Agent_for_Active_Directory_2.4-TBD.zip) from the Support Site.
Note Download the compressed archive containing the user agent setup files directly from the Support
Site. Do not transfer the file over email because it might become corrupted.
Note Double-click setup.exe and not setup.msi. setup.msi does not check for prerequisite software
before installing the user agent, which could result in errors installing or running the agent.
Tip If you are using an account that is not a member of the Administrators group and do not have
permissions to install new applications on the Windows computer, you must elevate to a user that
does belong to the Administrators group to have the appropriate permissions to start the
installation. To access the escalation option, right click the setup.exe file and click Run As.
Select an appropriate user and supply the password for that user.
Step 6 You must accept the license agreements to continue the installation.
Step 7 If you do not have the Microsoft .NET Framework Version 4.0 Client Profile and SQL Server Compact
4.0 on the Windows computer where you install the agent, you are prompted to download the appropriate
files. Download and install the files.
Step 8 Follow the prompts in the wizard to install the agent.
If User Account Control is enabled on the computer, you must answer Yes to every prompt requesting
permission to make changes.
Step 9 To begin configuring the agent, see Configure the User Agent, page 2-22.
Step 1 On the computer where you installed the agent, select Start > All Programs > Cisco > Configure Cisco Firepower
User Agent for Active Directory.
The following table describes the actions you can take when configuring the agent and where to
configure them.
Table 2-1 User Agent Configuration Actions
Tip If your user agent retrieves significant amounts of user activity, We recommend configuring polling
instead of real time data retrieval. In a high-activity environment, configure a 1 minute polling interval
and no more than a 10 minute maximum polling length.
Note that real time monitoring requires an Active Directory server running Windows Server 2008 or
later.
Note If you install the user agent on Windows Server 2003 or an older operating system, the user agent cannot
collect real time statistics from an Active Directory computer.
From the user agent, you can view the current Active Directory server polling status at the time the tab
is selected, the last login reported to the agent, and the last time the agent polled an Active Directory
server.
You can also view whether the agent is polling an Active Directory server in real time, and the real time
data retrieval status at the time the tab is selected. See the following table for more information on server
statuses.
Table 2-2 Active Directory Server Statuses
Active Directory
Server Status Polling Availability Real Time Availability
available The server is available for The server is available for real time data
polling. retrieval.
unavailable The server is not available for The server is not available for real time data
polling. retrieval, or the server is configured for polling.
Active Directory
Server Status Polling Availability Real Time Availability
pending The server configuration is It takes some time after you add and save a
added, but communication hasn’t server configuration for it to start
started yet. communicating with the user agent. If the
pending status persists, check communication
between the user agent and the server.
unknown The agent has started and a status The agent has started and a status is not yet
is not yet available, or the agent available, or the agent has not yet checked the
has not yet checked the Active Active Directory server.
Directory server.
Note You should not connect more than one user agent to the same Active Directory domain controller
because the user agent reports extraneous logins as each detects the other's connections. If you do,
configure each user agent to exclude the IP address of every other host running an agent that is polling
the same Active Directory server and the user name the agent uses to log in. For more information, see
Configure User Agent Excluded Addresses Settings, page 2-29.
Step 1 If necessary, log in to the computer on which the user agent is installed.
Step 2 Click Start > [All] Programs > Cisco > Configure Cisco Firepower Agent for Active Directory.
Step 3 Click the Active Directory Servers tab.
Step 4 You have the following options:
• To add a new connection to a server, click Add.
• To modify an existing connection, double-click the server name.
• To remove an existing connection, click the server name and click Remove.
Step 5 In the Server Name/IP Address field, enter the Active Directory server or domain controller’s fully qualified
server name or IP address. To detect logins to the Active Directory server, enter the IP address.
If the agent is installed on an Active Directory server, to add the server where you installed the agent,
enter localhost as the server name. You have the option to add a user name and password. If you omit
that information, you cannot detect logoffs for users authenticating to the Active Directory server. You
can poll the server regardless of whether you enter a user name and password.
Note If your Active Directory system has multiple domain controllers, enter the host name or IP
address of the domain controller with which you want the user agent to communicate. (Active
Directory domain controllers don’t share their security logs so you must have a separate user
agent connection to each controller.) In a distributed or heavily trafficked system, you can
optionally install more than one user agent as discussed in Deploy Multiple User Agents,
page 1-6.
Step 6 In the Authorized User and Password fields, enter a user name and password with rights to query for user
login and logoff data on the Active Directory server.
To authenticate using a proxy, enter a fully qualified user name.
By default, the domain for the account you used to log into the computer where you installed the agent
auto populates the Domain field.
Note If your user password contains 65 or more characters, you cannot configure new server
connections. To regain this functionality, shorten your password.
Step 7 In the Domain field, enter the name of the Active Directory domain.
Step 8 To detect logins to the Active Directory server, select an IP address from the Local Login IP Address field.
The agent automatically populates this field with all IP addresses associated with the server specified in
the Server Name/IP Address field.
If the Server Name/IP Address field is blank or contains localhost, this field is populated with all IP
addresses associated with the local host.
Step 9 Check Process real time events to enable the user agent to retrieve login events from this Active Directory
server real time.
Step 10 Click Add to add a new server or click Save to save changes to an existing server.
The server connection definition is displayed in the list of Active Directory servers. If you have more
than one server connection configured, you can sort on Host, Last Reported, Polling Status, Last Polled, Real
Time Status, or Real Time by clicking the respective column headers.
Note If the user agent cannot connect to the Active Directory server at configuration time, you cannot
add the server. Check that the agent has TCP/IP access to the server, that the credentials you used
can connect, and that you correctly configured the connection to the Active Directory server. See
Configure the Active Directory Server, page 2-4 for more information.
Step 11 (Optional.) Change the interval at which the agent automatically polls the Active Directory server for
user login data, select a time from the Active Directory Server Polling Interval list.
After you save the settings, the next poll occurs after the selected number of minutes elapse, and recurs
at that interval. If a poll takes longer than the selected interval, the next poll starts in the next interval
after the poll ends.
If real time event processing is enabled for an Active Directory server, and the user agent loses
connectivity with the server, the agent keeps attempting polls until it receives a response and real time
data retrieval is available. After the connection is established, real time data retrieval resumes.
Step 12 (Optional.) Change the maximum time span polled when the agent first establishes or reestablishes a
connection to poll an Active Directory server for user login data, select a time from the Active Directory
Server Max Poll Length list.
Note The user agent does not allow saving a configuration that would skip user activity data in each
poll. Therefore, you cannot save a value in the Active Directory Server Max Poll Length list less than
the value selected from the Active Directory Server Polling Interval list.
Step 13 To save and apply configuration changes to the agent, click Save.
Before you add a connection, make sure you add the user agent to the Management Center configuration.
For more information, see Configure a Version 6.2.3 or Later Management Center to Connect to User
Agents, page 2-3.
In a high availability configuration, add both Management Centers to the agent to enable update of user
login and logoff data to both the primary and the secondary so the data remains current on both.
Step 1 If necessary, log in to the computer on which the user agent is installed.
Step 2 Click Start > [All] Programs > Cisco > Configure Cisco Firepower Agent for Active Directory.
Step 3 Click the Firepower Management Centers tab.
Step 4 In the Server Name/IP Address field, enter the hostname or IP address of the Management Center you want
to add.
Step 5 In the Password field, enter the password you configured for the user agent to log in to the Firepower
Management Center. If you did not configure a password, leave the field blank. For more information
about configuring a password, see the chapter on the Firepower Management Center CLI Reference in
the Firepower Management Center Configuration Guide.
To change the user agent password, see Change the User Agent Password, page 2-27.
Step 6 Click Add.
The Management Center connection configuration is added. You cannot add a hostname or IP address
more than once. You should not add a Management Center by both hostname and IP address. If the
Management Center has more than one network adapter, you should not add it multiple times using
different IP addresses.
If you have more than one Management Center connection configured, you can sort on Host, Status, or
Last Reported by clicking the respective column headers.
Note If the user agent cannot connect to a Management Center at configuration time, it cannot add
that Management Center. Check that the agent has TCP/IP access to the Management Center.
Step 7 To save and apply configuration changes to the agent, click Save. The updated settings are applied to the
agent.
Step 1 If necessary, log in to the computer on which the user agent is installed.
Step 2 Click Start > [All] Programs > Cisco > Configure Cisco Firepower Agent for Active Directory.
Step 3 Click the Firepower Management Centers tab.
Step 4 Remove the Firepower Management Center from the user agent.
Step 5 Add the Firepower Management Center with the password you set on the FMC. See the preceding section
for more information.
Step 6 Restart the user agent service. See Configure General User Agent Settings, page 2-32.
Step 1 If necessary, log in to the computer on which the user agent is installed.
Step 2 Click Start > [All] Programs > Cisco > Configure Cisco Firepower Agent for Active Directory.Select the Excluded
Usernames tab.
Step 3 In the next available row, enter a user name you want to exclude in the Username column.
Excluded user names cannot include the dollar sign character ($) or the quotation mark character (").
Step 4 (Optional.) Enter the domain associated with the user name in the Domain column.
You can define only one domain per row. If you do not specify a domain, the user name in every domain
is excluded.
Step 5 Repeat steps 3 and 4 to add additional user names. If you have more than one excluded user name
configured, you can sort on Username or Domain by clicking the respective column headers.
Note If you use both the user agent and TS Agent in the same network, you should exclude the TS Agent’s IP
address to prevent non-critical errors from being logged to the Firepower Management Center. When
both the TS Agent and user agent detect the same user logging in, non-critical errors are written to the
logs.
Step 1 If necessary, log in to the computer on which the user agent is installed.
Step 2 Click Start > [All] Programs > Cisco > Configure Cisco Firepower Agent for Active Directory.Select the Excluded
Addresses tab.
Step 3 In the next available row, enter an IP address you want to exclude in the Address column. Repeat this to
add additional IP addresses.
If you have more than one excluded IP address configured, you can sort on Address by clicking the
respective column headers.
If you enter an invalid IP address, an exclamation mark icon ( ) is displayed in the row header. You
cannot enter another address without fixing the invalid address.
Step 4 To remove an IP address, highlight the row and press the Delete key.
The IP address is removed. To remove multiple rows, Control+click to select multiple rows and press the
Delete key.
Step 5 To export the list of IP addresses to a comma-separated value file, click Export List. Select a file path to
save the file.
The file is saved. By default, the file is named Cisco_user_agent_excluded_addresses.csv.
Step 6 To import a list of IP addresses from a comma-separated value file, click Import List. Select a file to
upload.
The existing IP addresses are cleared, and the IP addresses in the file are loaded. You cannot upload a
file that contains duplicate IP addresses. If there are any syntax errors in the file, you cannot upload the
file.
Step 7 Click Save to save and apply configuration changes to the agent.
Step 8 You have the following options:
• To view the log message and configure logging, select the Logs tab. For more information, see
Configure User Agent Logging Settings, page 2-30.
• To configure the agent, you can take any of the actions described in Table 2-1 on page 2-22.
The agent logs each status message with a timestamp and the severity level. The following table
describes the possible severity levels by increasing severity.
Table 2-3 User Agent Logging Severity Levels
The agent can log status messages to Windows application logs in addition to the local event log. The
agent can also export the local event log contents to a comma-separated value file.
You can configure whether status messages are stored, how long they are stored, and you can clear the
event log of all status messages. You can also configure maintenance options, such as viewing debug
status messages and accessing the Maintenance tab.
Note Debug status messages are stored for seven days before being removed from the event log. Configuring
how long status messages are stored and clearing the event log does not affect debug status message
storage.
Step 1 If necessary, log in to the computer on which the user agent is installed.
Step 2 Click Start > [All] Programs > Cisco > Configure Cisco Firepower Agent for Active Directory.
Step 3 Click the Logs tab.
Step 4 If directed to do so by Cisco TAC, select Show Debug Messages in Log to view debug status messages in
the event log and enable the Maintenance tab page.
Note Select this option only if Cisco TAC directs you to do so.
Step 5 Select Log Messages to Windows Application Log to log non debug status messages to both the Windows
application logs and to the local event logs.
To view the Windows application logs, open the Windows Event Viewer.
Step 6 Select a time period from the Message Cache Size drop-down list to configure how long status messages
are saved before they are automatically deleted from the local event log.
Status messages, once logged to the local event log, are saved for the time period selected in the Message
Cache Size drop-down list, then deleted.
Note The Message Cache Size setting affects only the local event log, not the Windows application logs,
even if you select Log Messages to Windows Application Log.
Step 7 Click Refresh to view new status messages logged since the last refresh.
If new status messages have been logged since the last refresh, a message is displayed stating there are
new status messages available. If the refresh results in more than 250 messages, the oldest status
messages are removed from the Logs tab page. To view more than 250 messages, export the logs. See step
8 for more information.
Step 8 Click Export Logs to export the local event log contents to a comma-separated value file.
The comma-separated value file contains all event log status messages and debug messages.
Step 9 Click Clear Event Log to remove all non-debug status messages from the local event log.
The local event is cleared, except for a status message stating the agent removed the messages.
Step 10 To save and apply configuration changes to the agent, click Save.
Step 11 You have the following options:
• To configure general agent settings, select the General tab. For more information, see Configure
General User Agent Settings, page 2-32.
• To configure the agent, you can take any of the actions described in Table 2-1 on page 2-22.
Step 1 On the computer where you installed the agent, select Start > Programs > Cisco > Configure Cisco Firepower
User Agent for Active Directory.
Step 2 Click start ( ) to start the agent service.
Step 3 Click stop ( ) to stop the agent service.
Step 4 (Optional.) Modify the Agent Name for the agent, which defaults to Cisco FUAfAD. You can enter letters,
numbers, underscores (_), and dashes (-).
Step 5 (Optional.) Change the frequency the agent checks for logoff data, select a time period from the Logout
Check Frequency list. Select 0 to disable checking for logoff data.
Step 6 (Optional.) Change the agent scheduling priority, choose a level from the Priority list. Choose High only
if your agent monitors and retrieves significant amounts of user activity and it is affecting performance.
Step 7 To save settings, click Save.
Step 8 To configure the agent, you can take any of the actions described in Table 2-1 on page 2-22.
Caution Do not change any settings on the Maintenance tab page unless Support directs you to do so.
Step 1 On the computer where you installed the agent, select Start > Programs > Cisco > Configure Cisco Firepower
User Agent for Active Directory.
Step 2 Click the Logs tab.
Step 3 Click Show Debug Messages in Log to enable the Maintenance tab.
Step 4 Click the Maintenance tab.
Step 5 Click Clear user mapping data cache to clear all stored user-to-IP-address mapping data.
The agent deletes all stored user-to-IP-address mapping data from the local agent database. Stored
user-to-IP-address mapping data in the Management Center database is not affected by clearing the local
agent database.
Step 6 Click Clear logon event log cache to clear all stored login event data.
Step 7 Click Clear reporting state cache to clear data related to the last time the agent reported login and logoff
information to the configured Management Centers.
The agent deletes all information related to the last time it reported login and logoff information to the
configured Management Centers. At the start of the next polling interval, the agent manually polls all
configured Active Directory Servers, retrieving information within the time span defined in the Active
Directory Server Max Poll Length field. See Configure User Agent Active Directory Server Connections,
page 2-23 for more information.
Step 8 Select a level of logging granularity from the Debug Log Level list to configure how detailed the logged
debug messages are.
Step 9 To configure the agent, you can take any of the actions described in Table 2-1 on page 2-22.
To verify the user agent identity source in a version 6.X Management Center:
If the Management Center is configured properly and you still can’t connect, try the following:
• Double-check the Management Center’s hostname or IP address you’ve configured in the user agent.
• If you’re accessing the Management Center by hostname, use the nslookup hostname command to
verify the hostname resolves to an IP address.
• If you’re accessing the Management Center by IP address, use the ping ip-address command to
verify it is reachable by the user agent computer.
The Firepower Management Center supports the following ciphers for connecting with the user agent.
The ciphers are shown in OpenSSL format. Windows ciphers are usually listed in RFC format. To
translate the cipher names, see the RFC mapping list on the https://testssl.sh site.
Caution Use caution when deciding which ciphers to select because not all ciphers are secure. For information
about secure ciphers, consult a resource such as the Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP).
For example, you can refer to their TLS Cipher String Cheat Sheet.
Supported ciphers:
AES256-GCM-SHA384
AES256-SHA
AES256-SHA256
CAMELLIA256-SHA
DES-CBC3-SHA
ECDH-ECDSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384
ECDH-ECDSA-AES256-SHA
ECDH-ECDSA-AES256-SHA384
ECDH-ECDSA-DES-CBC3-SHA
ECDH-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384
ECDH-RSA-AES256-SHA
ECDH-RSA-AES256-SHA384
ECDH-RSA-DES-CBC3-SHA
ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256
ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-SHA
ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-SHA256
ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384
ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-SHA
ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-SHA384
ECDHE-ECDSA-DES-CBC3-SHA
ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256
ECDHE-RSA-AES128-SHA
ECDHE-RSA-AES128-SHA256
ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384
ECDHE-RSA-AES256-SHA
ECDHE-RSA-AES256-SHA384
ECDHE-RSA-DES-CBC3-SHA
EDH-DSS-DES-CBC3-SHA
EDH-RSA-DES-CBC3-SHA
PSK-3DES-EDE-CBC-SHA
PSK-AES256-CBC-SHA
SRP-DSS-3DES-EDE-CBC-SHA
SRP-DSS-AES-128-CBC-SHA
SRP-DSS-AES-256-CBC-SHA
SRP-RSA-3DES-EDE-CBC-SHA
SRP-RSA-AES-128-CBC-SHA
SRP-RSA-AES-256-CBC-SHA
Step 1 Log in to the Management Center as a user with Administrator or Maintenance User privileges.
Step 2 Click System > Health > Policy.
Step 3 Click Create Policy.
Step 4 On the Create Policy page, enter the following information:
• Copy Policy list: Choose any policy, such as Default Health Policy.
• New Policy Name field: Enter a name to identify this policy.
• New Policy Description field: Enter an optional policy description.
The new policy is displayed.
Step 5 Click (edit).
Step 6 In the left column, click User Agent Status Monitor.
Step 7 In the right column, click On.
Step 8 At the bottom of the page, click Save Policy and Exit.
Step 9 Click (apply) next to the name of the policy.
Step 10 Follow the prompts on your screen to apply the policy to managed devices.
Step 11 To monitor user agents at any time, click Health > Monitor or watch the Management Center’s
(monitor) icon for messages.
A message similar to the following is displayed if the user agent heartbeat isn’t detected by a managed
device:
Some user agents are not up-to-date
Step 1 If necessary, log in to the computer where the user agent is installed.
Step 2 Click Start > Programs > Cisco > Configure Cisco Firepower User Agent for Active Directory
Step 3 Click the Logs tab.
Step 4 Check Show debug messages in log.
Step 5 Observe the log messages or click Export logs to export log messages to a file.
Step 6 Look for messages like the following:
“error”,”[2317] - Unable to attach event listener to host or IP address. Check firewall
settings on AD server. RPC server is unavailable
The preceding message indicates a configuration issue with the Active Directory Server’s firewall.
Review the instructions in Allow the User Agent to Access Distributed Component Object Management
(DCOM), page 2-14 and try again.
To isolate the firewall as the issue, optionally disable the Active Directory Server’s firewall for a few
minutes and see if the user agent can process real time events.
Step 7 Try deleting the Active Directory Server configuration in the user agent and adding it back.
• The Windows Event Viewer, Application log, displays errors related to the user agent
To resolve the errors:
Step 1 Use the Windows Control Panel to uninstall the user agent.
Step 2 Install the user agent again using setup.exe.
Replace the Version 2.4 or Later User Agent with Version 2.3
If issues prevent you from using user agent version 2.4 or later, you can revert to version 2.3 using a
manual replacement method discussed in this section.
Note This procedure removes the user agent configuration. After installing the version 2.3 user agent, you
must configure the user agent again.
Step 1 Use the Programs and Features application in the Windows Control Panel to uninstall the user agent.
Step 2 Manually delete the following files from C:\:
• CiscoUserAgent.sdf
• UserAgentEncryptionBytes.bin
Step 3 Install the User Agent version 2.3
(Cisco_Firepower_User_Agent_for_Active_Directory_2.3-10.zip).