Specifications

Accounting
25-2
Accounting Description
Introduction
The configuration of the accounting feature is supported using SNMP and the
user interface. The accounting log itself is also accessible by both mechanisms.
There is also a facility for sending accounting events to the access server console
port as they occur.
Accounting Log File
The accounting component stores information about significant user events (for
example, logins) in an accounting log file. The size of the log file is defined by the
administrator (see the Defining the Accounting Log Size section in this chapter)
and if set to zero, no logging will occur. The log file can be viewed as a circular
buffer with entries added in chronological order. When the end of the buffer is
reached, a newly created entry will overwrite the oldest existing entry.
Since the access server offers limited mass storage, preserving the accounting
information requires the use of the console logging feature (see the Using the
Accounting Console Logging Feature section in this chapter) or a “harvester”
application running on a management station. To facilitate this harvest
application, the accounting component can be configured to send notifications
when checkpoints (thresholds) have been crossed in the log file. These
notifications are in the form of SNMP traps.