How does SonicWall SSO Agent software work?

Feature/Application:

The SonicWall SSO Agent can be installed on any workstation with a Windows domain that can communicate with clients and the SonicWall security appliance directly using the IP address or using a path, such as VPN.

TIP: For installation instructions for the SonicWall SSO Agent, refer to the How To Install Single Sign On (SSO) Software And Configure The SSO Feature.

The SonicWall SSO Agent only communicates with clients and the SonicWall security appliance. SonicWall SSO Agent uses a shared key for encryption of messages between the SSO Agent and the SonicWall security appliance. The shared key is generated in the SSO Agent and the key entered in the SonicWall security appliance during SSO configuration must match the SSO Agent-generated key exactly.

The SonicWall security appliance queries the SonicWall SSO Agent over the default port 2258. The SSO Agent then communicates between the client and the SonicWall security appliance to determine the client’s user ID. The SonicWall SSO Agent is polled, at a rate that is configurable by the administrator, by the SonicWall security appliance to continually confirm a user’s login status.

NOTE: SonicWall SSO agent tries to identify the logged in user by querying the workstations using NETAPI or WMI protocols. NETAPI and WMI require file & print sharing enabled on the end workstations.

Logging

• The SonicWall SSO Agent sends log event messages to the Windows Event Log based on administrator-selected logging levels.
• The SonicWall security appliance also logs SSO Agent-specific events in its event log. The following is a list of SSO Agent-specific log event messages from the SonicWall security appliance:

1. User login denied - not allowed by policy rule: The user has been identified and does not belong to any user groups allowed by the policy blocking the user’s traffic.
2. User login denied - not found locally: The user has not been found locally, and Allow only users listed locally is selected in the SonicWall security appliance.
3. User login denied - SSO Agent agent timeout: Attempts to contact the SonicWall SSO Agent have timed out.
4. User login denied - SSO Agent configuration error: The SSO Agent is not properly configured to allow access for this user.
5. User login denied - SSO Agent communication problem: There is a problem communicating with the workstation running the SonicWall SSO Agent.
6. User login denied - SSO Agent agent name resolution failed: The SonicWall SSO Agent is unable to resolve the user name.
   SSO Agent returned user name too long: The user name is too long.
7. SSO Agent returned domain name too long: The domain name is too long.
   
   

   NOTE: The notes field of log messages specific to the SSO Agent will contain the text , authentication by SSO Agent.