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🏡 / Support / Knowledge Base Article

Article Number: 000126268 📠 Print 🖂 Email 🌐 English

Isilon: Using the PowerScale OneFS isi_auth_expert command to

manage authentication issues
Summary: This article explains how to use the Isilon OneFS isi_auth_expert command to manage
authentication.

Article Content

Symptoms

n/a

Cause

n/a

Resolution

NOTE: This topic is part of the Uptime Information Hub.

Introduction
The isi_auth_expert command was introduced in OneFS 7.1.1.9, OneFS 7.2.1.3, OneFS 8.0.0.1,
and OneFS 8.0.1.0. The command can also be installed on clusters running OneFS 7.1.1.0 through
7.1.1.8 and OneFS 7.2.1.0 through 7.2.1.2 by installing patch-164666 which is available for download
from the Dell EMC Online Support site.

You can run the isi_auth_expert command to examine an PowerScale OneFS cluster's
authentication environment to help ensure that it is properly configured and to identify conditions that
could be causing data access latency due to the authentication configuration issues.
The isi_auth_expert command runs a series of tests, including network and port connectivity and
latency, binding, and clock skew. These results can be used to isolate a problematic configuration or
network path that is causing data access issues.

You may want to run this tool:

When existing or new users experience connection latency or are prompted to enter login
crednetials when accessing data.
When the cluster is reporting events regarding Active Directory or LDAP offline status.
After making changes to authentication provider setup.

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After configuration changes have affected network paths between a cluster and its
authenticiation providers.

NOTE: New checks and parameters were added to the isi_auth_expert command in OneFS
7.2.1.5. See the Additional checks and parameters in OneFS 7.2.1.5 and later section of this article for
more information.

Instructions
To run the isi_auth_expert command on clusters running OneFS 7.1.1.9, OneFS 7.2.1.3, OneFS 8.0.0.1,
OneFS 8.0.1.0 or later, run the following command:
isi_auth_expert
To run the isi_auth_expert command on a cluster to which the patch has been applied, run the
following command:
/usr/local/isi_auth_expert/isi_auth_expert

You can also run the command with one or more of the options listed in the table below:

Option Explanation
-h, --help Show the syntax for this command
-h, --debug Display debugging messages
-v, --verbose Enable verbose (more robust) output
--no-color Disable colored output

Example output
wcvirt1-1# isi_auth_expert

Checking authentication process health ... done

Checking LDAP provider 'ldaptest' server connectivity ... done
Checking LDAP provider 'ldaptest' base dn ... done
Checking LDAP provider 'ldaptest' object enumeration support ... done
Checking LDAP provider 'ldaptest' group base dn ... done
Checking LDAP provider 'ldaptest' user base dn ... done
[ERROR] The configured base user dn 'ou=dne,dc=isilon,dc=com' in LDAP provider
'ldaptest' was not found on LDAP server ldaptest.west.isilon.com.
Checking AD provider 'WMC-ADA.WEST.ISILON.COM' DC connectivity ... done
Checking AD provider 'WMC-ADA.WEST.ISILON.COM' auth related ports ... done
[ERROR] Failed to establish a connection to the AD domain controller wmc-ada-dc1
.wmc-ada.west.isilon.com on port 3268.

Implemented tests
When you run the isi_auth_expert command, the following checks are performed.
Process checks
This test confirms that the authentication-related processes (lsass, lwio & netlogon) are running. If
any of the processes are not running, an error is returned.

Active Directory
The following section describes the tests that the isi_auth_expert command performs for each

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Active Directory (AD) provider.

Check Domain Controller connectiviy

Determine whether the cluster has basic network connectivity to at least one domain controller
(DC) in the AD domain.

Check DC ports
Verify that for every DC, the cluster can connect to the AD-related ports, and that the ports are
accepting connections.

Port Explanation AD Usage Traffic Type

User and Computer
Port 88 is used for Kerberos
88 Authentication, Forest Level Kerberos
authentication traffic.
Trusts
Port 139 is used for NetBIOS and User and Computer DFSN, NetBIOS Session
139
NetLogon traffic. Authentication, Replication Service, NetLogon
Directory, Replication, User
389 Port 389 is used for LDAP queries. and Computer Authentication, LDAP
Group Policy, Trusts
SMB, CIFS, SMB2, DFSN,
Replication, User and
LSARPC, NbtSS,
445 Port 445 is used for replication. Computer Authentication,
NetLogonR, SamR,
Group Policy, Trusts.
SrvSvc
Port 3268 is used for global catalog
Directory, Replication, User
LDAP queries. (used if you want the
3268 and Computer Authentication, LDAP GC
global catalog in the AD provider
Group Policy, Trusts
enabled)

LDAP
The following section describes the tests that the isi_auth_expert command performs for each
LDAP provider.
LDAP connectivity

Check LDAP server connectivity by making an anonymous LDAP bind and checking the results.

LDAP enumerated objects support

Confirm that each LDAP server supports enumerated objects by checking the LDAP servers'
supported controls. OneFS requires either the paged results controls or both the virtual list view
and server-side sorting controls.

Validate configured base-dn

Perform a test query against the configured base-dn to ensure configuration compatibility with
the LDAP server.

Validate configured user-base-dn

Perform a test query against the configured user-base-dn to ensure configuration compatibility
with the LDAP server.
Validate configured group-base-dn

Perform a test query against the configured group-base-dn to ensure configuration compatibility
with the LDAP server.

Additional checks and parameters in OneFS 7.2.1.5 and later

The following checks were added in OneFS 7.2.1.5.

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Active Directory

Domain Controllers latency check

Clock Skew and latency check
Global Catalog service for user (SFU) check
LDAP - User check
Kerberos - SPN checks for SmartConnect zones and aliases

The isi_auth_expert command can calculate two types of latencies: ping latency and LDAP
latency for all of the domain controllers. If the clock skew is less than five minutes, the command will
return: "There is minimal or no skew between the AD provider and your machine."

The following parameters were also added.

Option Explanation
--ldap-user Checks the LDAP provider for a specified user
--sfu-user Checks the Active Directory Global Catalog for a specified user
--admin- Enables you to supply the credentials that are required when checking the Active
creds Directory Global Catalog

LDAP user attribute check

To run the LDAP user attribute check, you must run the isi_auth_expert command with the --
ldap-user=<user> parameter where <user> is the user you want to check. The user name has to be
of the form "plain name" for the search to work. The LDAP user attribute check connects to an LDAP
server and queries it for the specified user. We can then check the results of the query to ensure that
the user has all necessary attributes needed to be authenticated in any domain.

Active Directory Global Catalog SFU check

A global catalog server is a domain controller that has information not only about the domain it is
associated with but also all the other domains in the forest. Much like an LDAP server, the global
catalog has a list of data associated with the domain it control in addition to a partial copy of the data
it gets from other domain controllers. If it doesn't have all of the data that the domain controllers are
sharing, there could be authentication issues.

To run the Active Directory Global Catalog SFU check, you must run the isi_auth_expert command with
the --sfu-user=<user> and --admin-creds="[('<Domain>', '<User>',
'<password>')]" parameters where <user> is the SFU user you want to check and "
[('<Domain>', '<User>', '<password>')]" are the credentials the isi_auth_expert
command must provide to perform the Global Catalog lookup in the domain controller. Note that we
currently have the following limitation when checking the global catalog: You must provide
administrator credentials.

Server principal name (SPN) check

SPNs may cause authentication failures if they are not present when you join a Kerberos provider, or if
you change the name of a SmartConnect zone. The isi_auth_expert command determines if
SPNs are missing, stale, or incorrect. This feature will automatically run whenever the
isi_auth_expert command is executed.

This feature is used to check for missing SPNs in both Kerberos providers and also in SmartConnect
zones. The command collects all of the SPNs associated with the providers and SmartConnect zones
and ensures that the required SPNs are present.

If you are using SmartConnect aliases, it also checks against those aliases. You can use the isi
auth ads spn or isi auth krb5 spn commands to list, check, or fix reported missing SPNs.

Article Properties

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Affected Product
Isilon, PowerScale OneFS

Last Published Date

23 Aug 2022

Version
4

Article Type
Solution

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