Using the Accounting Log File

RADIUS accounting events are recorded in the accounting log file. Accounting events include START messages, which indicate the beginning of a connection; STOP messages, which indicate the termination of a connection; and INTERIM messages, which indicate a connection is ongoing.

Accounting log files use comma-delimited, ASCII format, and are intended for import into a spreadsheet or database program. Accounting log files are located in the RADIUS database directory area by default, although you can specify an alternate destination directory in the [Configuration] section of the account.ini file. Accounting log files are named yyyymmdd.ACT, where yyyy is the four-digit year, mm is the month, and dd is the day on which the log file was created.

Accounting log files are kept for the number of days specified in the Settings page (described in Configuring the Log Retention Period), and are deleted after that to conserve disk space.

The current log file can be opened while SBR Carrier is running.

By default, SBR Carrier truncates a line in the accounting log when a non-printing character is encountered. You can set the ReplaceUnprintables parameter in the [Logging] section of radius.ini with a printable character which is used instead of non-printing characters when SBR Carrier writes messages to the accounting log file.

Accounting Log File Format

Accounting Log File Format

The first six fields in every accounting log entry are provided by SBR Carrier for your convenience in reading and sorting the file:

• Date—The date when the event occurred

• Time—The time when the event occurred

• RAS-Client—The name or IP address of the RADIUS client sending the accounting record

• Record-Type—START, STOP, INTERIM, ON, or OFF, the standard RADIUS accounting packet types

• Full-Name—The fully distinguished name of the user, based on the authentication performed by the RADIUS server

• Auth-Type—A number that indicates the class of authentication performed:

By default, the standard RADIUS attributes follow the Auth-Type identifier. See Standard RADIUS Accounting Attributes.

You can include vendor-specific attributes if the device sending the accounting packet supports them. For more information, see Vendor-Specific Attributes.

You can edit the account.ini initialization file to add, remove or reorder the standard RADIUS or vendor-specific attributes that are logged. For information about account.ini, refer to the SBR Carrier Reference Guide.

First Line Headings

First Line Headings

The first line of the accounting log file is a file header that lists the attributes that have been enabled for logging in the order in which they are logged. The following example of a first line shows standard RADIUS headings in bold, and vendor-specific headings in regular text:

Comma Placeholders

Comma Placeholders

SBR Carrier writes accounting events to the accounting log file, If an event recorded in the accounting log file does not have data for every attribute, a comma placeholder marks the empty entry, so that all entries remain correctly aligned with their headings. For example, based on the first line of headings described above, the following is a valid accounting log entry, in which the value of the Acct-Status-Type attribute is 7:

Standard RADIUS Accounting Attributes

Standard RADIUS Accounting Attributes

Table 123 lists the standard RADIUS accounting attributes defined in RFC 2866, RADIUS Accounting.