MicroStrategy ONE

Optimizing the Paxton Adapter for MicroStrategy Identity

After the Paxton physical access control system (PACS) adapter is installed, you can optimize it for MicroStrategy Identity. This is done by customizing configuration settings, many of which are not prompted when you install the adapter:

The sections below contain only the information required to use Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager to configure the PACS with MicroStrategy Identity. For the latest information, see Microsoft's documentation.

To Change These Settings

  1. Open Microsoft IIS Manager.
  2. Select the Lenel web service, double-click Application Settings.
  3. Double-click the setting name and change the value.

You can also use a text editor, such as Notepad, to modify the web.config file. It is recommended that you change the settings using Microsoft IIS Manager.

Configuring How Frequently Automatic Cache Refresh Occurs

The MaxCacheAge setting controls how long, in seconds, between automatic cache refreshes. The cache refresh causes user, portal, and permission changes to take effect in MicroStrategy Identity. The default is 1800 seconds (30 minutes).

To modify this setting, use Microsoft IIS Manager Application Settings for the Paxton adapter. For steps, see To Change These Settings.

The cache on the PACS adapter contains information about each user, door or portal, and permissions, such as whether a user has access to use a door. When that information changes in the Paxton Net2 PACS, it becomes active in the adapter and, therefore, the physical access points, after the cache is refreshed in the adapter. The cache refresh can take several minutes. For example, with this setting configured as 30 minutes, when a new user is added in the PACS and given access to five doors, the longest she would have to wait until she can begin accessing those doors is 30 minutes. If this is set to 0, the cache is not automatically refreshed.

You can force a cache refresh at any time. For the URL to use, see Refreshing the Paxton Adapter Cache.

Configuring How Many Requests to Paxton Net2 Can Be Made at a Time

The MaxConnectionToNet2 setting controls how many connections can be made to the Paxton Net2 server and, therefore, how many requests the Paxton Net2 can process at one time. The default is 10.

If too many connections are allowed, the Net2 server might not able to process them all within a short time. If this occurs, you can change this setting to fewer connections.

To modify this setting, use Microsoft IIS Manager Application Settings for the Paxton adapter. For steps, see To Change These Settings.

Configuring Certain Access Requests to Cause a Cache Refresh

The cache on the PACS adapter contains information about each user, door or portal, and permissions, such as whether a user has access to use a door. When that information changes in the PACS, it becomes active in the adapter and, therefore, the physical access points, after the cache is refreshed. The cache refresh can take several minutes.

The EnableUpdateOnCacheMiss setting controls whether the cache is refreshed if either of the following occurs:

  • A new user makes a request, and the user does not yet exist in the cache
  • An existing user tries to access a door that is not in his or her resource list

Both of those are called a cache miss. If this setting is true, a cache refresh is started with a cache miss. If the setting is false, a cache refresh is not started with a cache miss. The default is true.

If this type of refresh occurs frequently, the adapter's performance may drop because the cache is locked during a cache refresh, and when other requests fail, the user sees a message that the cache is updating. If you find many records in the log database or event log indicating that the cache is updating, change this setting to false for higher availability. Related to this setting is the MaxCacheAge setting, which controls how frequently the cache is refreshed (see Configuring How Frequently Automatic Cache Refresh Occurs). If the automatic refresh is frequent enough, you might be able to turn off this EnableUpdateOnCacheMiss.

To modify this setting, use Microsoft IIS Manager Application Settings for the Paxton adapter. For steps, see To Change These Settings.

Configuring How Much Detail to Record in the Log Database

You can control how much detail the adapter records in the log database. For example, if you are trying to find a problem, you can set it to record more detailed messages in the log. You control this by changing the LogLevel setting. The default is performance level.

The levels, in order of ascending detail, are as follows: error, warning, communication, info, performance, and debug. Each level includes all higher levels' messages. For example, error level includes only the errors or exceptions; the debug level includes all log entry levels.

To modify this setting, use Microsoft IIS Manager Application Settings for the Paxton adapter. For steps, see To Change These Settings.

Configuring Which Net2 Field is Used to Identify a User

The UserMappingKey setting determines which user property in Paxton Net2 is used to uniquely identify a user. The default is Field14_50, which is Personnel number in NET2 Access Control. It is recommended that you do not change this setting.

You can change this to another field, such as Email, which is Field9_50. For information about the fields in Net2 Access Control, see the NET2 documentation.

The Identity Gateway adapter for the Paxton Net2 supports email addresses of any case (upper-case, lower-case, mixed-case). This enhancement eliminates identity record mapping errors when ingesting or synchronizing from the Paxton PACS.

To modify this setting, use Microsoft IIS Manager Application Settings for the Paxton adapter. For steps, see To Change These Settings.

Configuring the Adapter to Be Available All the Time

You can configure the Application Pools settings to ensure that the adapter is available all the time, is reset (recycled) at a time you specify, and makes an entry in the Windows Event Log when it recycles.

In IIS Manager, in the Application Pools, right-click the Paxton web service and select Advanced Settings:

  • In Process Model, change the Idle Time-out to 0
  • In Recycling:
    • Change the Regular Time Interval to 0
    • In Specific Times, add a time when the service will not be busy, such as 2 A.M.
  • In Generate Recycle Event Log Entry, change the Specific Time to True

Related Topics

Integrating Paxton Net2 with MicroStrategy Identity

Verifying that the Paxton Adapter Installation is Correct

Diagnosing the Paxton Adapter Health

Refreshing the Paxton Adapter Cache

Viewing and Analyzing the Paxton Adapter Logs