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Auditing SkyVault

SkyVault provides the ability to audit activity. This section describes how SkyVault generates, stores, and retrieves auditing information.
Note: The auditing mechanism prior to Version 3.4.0 has been removed but the old tables remain in the system. You can access the previous audit data but any new audit data will be directed to the new tables. Any customizations of the auditing feature must be rewritten using the new configuration files. All SQL-based queries used previously must be replaced by calls to the supplied APIs. The use of low-level SQL statements to retrieve data is not supported.

The architecture of the auditing features comprises the following components:

A data producer defines the components that produce data that might be audited. Data producers do not need to know anything about how the data is stored. Data is generated and sent to the AuditComponent.recordAuditValues component. The only requirement is that each packet of data is a Map of data keyed by logical path names, which are specific to the producers.

The AuditService search should be used for data retrieval; however, for completeness, the following tables are used:
  • Tables exclusive to the new audit (SkyVaultPostCreate-3.2-AuditTables.sql)
    • alf_audit_model: Contains the record of the audit configuration files.
    • alf_audit_application: Contains an entry for each logical application. There can be several audit applications defined in a single audit model.
    • alf_audit_entry: Contains an entry for each call to AuditComponent.recordAuditValues. There is a reference to a property.
  • Shared tables (SkyVaultPostCreate-3.2-PropertyValueTables.sql)
    • alf_prop_root: Entry point for properties: shared values are fully indexed; arbitrarily-deep collections; quick data query and reconstruction.
  • Audit configuration and environment This section describes the configuration and environment settings for auditing.
  • Audit filters This section describes how to use SkyVault global properties to filter audit data generated by any audit data producer.
  • Content auditing This section describes how to use SkyVault to audit actions performed on your content and folders, including a technical overview, and also examples of how to customize the standard configuration.
  • Audit sample files Audit sample files are distributed in the <TOMCAT_HOME>/classes/alfresco/extension/audit directory.
  • Enabling auditing Generation of audit data is disabled by default. To enable auditing permanently, settings must be added to the SkyVault global properties file as shown in the following text.
  • Auditing examples This section describes some auditing examples.
  • Audit configuration files This section describes the location and basic structure of the audit configuration files.
  • Built-in data producers The following are built-in data producers.
  • DataExtractors and DataGenerators This section provides a description of DataExtractors and DataGenerators.
  • Locating the audit code This section describes the location of audit code.
  • Defining the audit application This section describes the audit applications.
  • Simple audit query You can use or edit this simple audit query example.
  • Advanced audit query You can use or edit this advanced audit query example.
  • Understanding PathMappings To create an audit configuration file, it is necessary to know which data can be audited and how the data is mapped onto your application.
  • Audit recording values The RecordValue element makes use of the DataExtractor definitions, but specifies when to be activated (dataTrigger) and where to get the data from (dataSource). Both the dataTrigger and dataSource attributes default to the path of the RecordValue element. Data is always written to the path where the RecordValue is declared. So, it is possible to trigger the RecordValue when a data path is present (such as a null value) and then to read a value from a completely different location.
  • Using values that have changed in a post method call When using the org.alfresco.repo.audit.AuditMethodInterceptor Data Producer, which generates audit data for all public service API calls, it is sometimes useful to be able to audit before and after values in a 'post' call application, or to include values from before the call.
Parent topic: Administering

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