Audit management

An audit is a collection of rules that enable you to define what should be or what should not be in a server’s configuration. An audit contains rules, a source, target servers, and a schedule that defines when and how often the audit will run.

Audit rules allow you to define and check the state of various configurations or objects and files on a managed server, such as the state of server’s file system, registry settings, installed and registered software (patches and packages), events, software, application configurations, operating system settings, and so on.

If a configuration or object on the target server is different than the state you defined in the audit rules, or if an object or rule exists in the source server but not in the target server, the rule is considered Non-Compliant.

For example, you will not be able to run a successful audit or remediation if you add a group or user to the source server, but not to the target server. You will also get an error if you change a registry setting in the source server, but not in the target server.

When you view an audit’s results, you can remediate the object configuration to make sure the target server’s configuration is in compliance with the desired configuration.

You can audit server configuration values for a single server, multiple servers, or another server snapshot. You can schedule audits to run immediately or on a recurring schedule, and send email notifications when the audit has completed. You can also cancel an audit job while it is running.