Longitude Statistics Server Account Permissions and Access Denied Error Messages for WMI Collections

WMI based collections require Local Administrator privileges on the target server. The Longitude Statistics Server Agent uses the permissions assigned to its service account to access WMI.

The following list displays the types of accounts that can be used to give the Statistics Server sufficient permissions to collect WMI data:

• Domain account that is a member of the Local Administrator group on the target server.
• Domain account that is a member of the Domain Administrator group, and will be a Local Administrator member on all domain servers by default.
• Pass-through authentication: Local account with the same username and password on both the target server and Longitude server, and a member of the Local Administrator group on both servers.
• Set up a Longitude Agent on the target server, and use that to collect data from the target server.

However, even with the permissions set up correctly, you may see "Access Denied" error messages in the following situations:

• Target server is a Windows 2003 domain member being monitored with a domain account
  • Check the time on the target server - if it is significantly different from the domain controller, domain authentication will not work correctly
• Target server is a Windows 2008 server being monitored with pass-through authentication
  • User Access Control (UAC) can cause WMI collections using pass-through authentication to fail. You can disable UAC as follows:
    1. Log on to the target server with an administrator account
    2. Enter "msconfig" at a command prompt
    3. Go to the Tools tab and select "Change UAC Settings", and then select the Launch button
    4. Adjust the slider to "Never notify", and click "OK"

    ****Please note:
    Microsoft does not recommend changing UAC access to the "Never notify" setting, however WMI pass-through authentication may not work if this is set.
    ****