Is it possible to show usernames instead of IP addresses in the Monitoring section of GFI WebMonitor?

The information in this article applies to:

  • GFI WebMonitor 2009 for ISA
  • GFI WebMonitor for ISA Server 3
  • GFI WebMonitor for ISA Server 4

Article ID: KBID002526

Query keywords: Active Connections, authenticate, authentication, IP, IP addresses, Last Web Access, monitor, URL History, user history, usernames

Issue encountered:

In the Monitoring section of GFI WebMonitor, an IP address is shown instead of the username in the ‘User’ column.


Solution:

It is possible to view the user name in the Monitoring section of GFI WebMonitor by enforcing user authentication from the Microsoft ISA Server configuration. GFI WebMonitor will show an ip address for un-authenticated users; however it will display the username for authenticated users.


More information:

GFI WebMonitor gets the IP and username (if authenticated) directly from Microsoft ISA server. If the Microsoft ISA Server logs the username in its proxy log, GFI WebMonitor will have access to the username.

To enable Microsoft ISA server authentication, the following steps need to be done:

On Microsoft ISA 2006:

  1. Open the Microsoft ISA Server Management.
  2. Go to ‘Configuration’ -> ‘Networks’.
  3. In the Networks Tab, Right Click on 'Internal' -> Properties.
  4. Go to the Web Proxy tab and click on 'Authentication...'
  5. Enable 'Require all users to authenticate'.  
  6. Repeat the same procedure for ‘Local Host’ in the Networks Tab.
  7. Apply the changes.
     

On Microsoft ISA 2004:

  1. Open the Microsoft ISA Server Management.
  2. Go to ‘Configuration’ -> ‘Networks’.
  3. In the Networks Tab, Right Click on 'Internal' -> Properties.
  4. Go to the Web Proxy tab and click on 'Authentication...'
  5. Enable 'Require all users to authenticate'.  
  6. Repeat the same procedure for ‘Local Host’ in the Networks Tab.
  7. Apply the changes.


On Microsoft ISA 2000:

  1. Open the Microsoft  ISA Server Management.
  2. Select Servers and Arrays.
  3. Right click on ISA-server name from the MMC -> ‘Properties’.
  4. Click on ‘Outgoing web requests’.
  5. Enable ‘Ask unauthenticated users for identification’.
  6. Apply the changes.
  7. Select the users that should be authenticated for Site and Content Rules. This can be done from ‘Access policy’ -> ‘Site and content rules’.
  8. In the ‘Allow rule’ properties, Select the ‘Applies to’ tab. Users that should be authenticated have to be added to the list.

Note: Microsoft ISA server performs all authentication: The authenticated users’ information is passed on to GFI WebMonitor which is able to display this in the Monitoring functions.