Trying to dev a script to calculate Active Directory Authentication Time

[DavidLago]

Hello. 

I have 5 DCs, and I need to create a scheduled task to run a script that will test the authentication time for each one of them, once every minute. (Then I'll use it within a log analyser to create graphics).

I came up with a script using the great AD UDF (by water). First I tried using "for" and an array, but something was messing up the results, then I went for the dumb old fashioned way:

expandcollapse popup

#Include <ad.au3>
#include <MsgBoxConstants.au3>

Global $AdTestTime = ""
Global $Timer1, $Timer2, $Timer3, $Timer4, $Timer5 = ""
Global $sAD1 = "MYSERVER109"
Global $sAD2 = "MYSERVER110"
Global $sAD3 = "MYSERVER111"
Global $sAD4 = "MYSERVER112"
Global $sAD5 = "MYSERVER113"

$Timer1 = Timerinit()
_AD_Open("", "", $sAD1)
_AD_Close()
Local $fDiff1 = TimerDiff($Timer1)

$Timer2 = Timerinit()
_AD_Open("", "", $sAD2)
_AD_Close()
Local $fDiff2 = TimerDiff($Timer2)

$Timer3 = Timerinit()
_AD_Open("", "", $sAD3)
_AD_Close()
Local $fDiff3 = TimerDiff($Timer3)

$Timer4 = Timerinit()
_AD_Open("", "", $sAD4)
_AD_Close()
Local $fDiff4 = TimerDiff($Timer4)

$Timer5 = Timerinit()
_AD_Open("", "", $sAD5)
_AD_Close()
Local $fDiff5 = TimerDiff($Timer5)

MsgBox(0,"", "MYSERVER109=" & $fDiff1)
MsgBox(0,"", "MYSERVER110=" & $fDiff2)
MsgBox(0,"", "MYSERVER111=" & $fDiff3)
MsgBox(0,"", "MYSERVER112=" & $fDiff4)
MsgBox(0,"", "MYSERVER113=" & $fDiff5)

Still, something is off here. 

The first AD to be tested is always the slowest one, by far, like 20 times slower. Then I started to suspect that the first one starts the "negotiation", and the following ones ride the gravy train.

If I repeat the first code twice, All servers seem to have a similar result.

$Timer1 = Timerinit()
_AD_Open("", "", $sAD1)
_AD_Close()
Local $fDiff1 = TimerDiff($Timer1)

$Timer1 = Timerinit()
_AD_Open("", "", $sAD1)
_AD_Close()
Local $fDiff1 = TimerDiff($Timer1)

$Timer2....

Am I right?

Also, is there a better way to test the authentication time?

Thanks for the help.

- Dave

Edited September 9, 2016 by DavidLago

[Surf243]

I'm not sure about a "better" way, but this is how I would do it. I do have a lot of DCs so listing them out would be hassle for me.

#include <AD.au3>

Global $iResult, $aDCs, $time, $timediff

$iResult = _AD_Open("", "", "", "", "", 1)
$aDCs = _AD_ListDomainControllers()
_AD_Close()
;_ArrayDisplay($aDCs, "", "|0:2") ; Display All DC's in Array
For $iIndex = 1 to $aDCs[0][0]
    $time = Timerinit()
    _AD_Open("", "", "", $aDCs[$iIndex][2])
    _AD_Close()
    $timediff = TimerDiff($time)
    ConsoleWrite($iIndex & " DC = " & $aDCs[$iIndex][2] & " | Time = " & $timediff & @CRLF)
Next

 

[DavidLago]

Thanks, Surf. 

Actually I have more than 40 DCs, but I just want to test 5 of them, specifically. This "_AD_ListDomainControllers" function won't work with any parameters of filters, so, all of them will come to the array.

Also, The first one still comes with a higher latency. 

I think it's not because of the token thing, probably, calling up the include...

[AutoBert]

1 hour ago, DavidLago said:

Actually I have more than 40 DCs, but I just want to test 5 of them, specifically. This "_AD_ListDomainControllers" function won't work with any parameters of filters, so, all of them will come to the array.

And why not deleting the 35 from array, where you know their is no need to control?

[DavidLago]

Just now, AutoBert said:

And why not deleting the 35 from array, where you know their is no need to control?

Thought about doing this:

Dim $aArray = ["DC1", "DC2", "DC3", "DC4", "DC5"]

 

[AutoBert]

1 minute ago, DavidLago said:

Thought about doing this:

Dim $aArray = ["DC1", "DC2", "DC3", "DC4", "DC5"]

 

seems this is the shorter way.

[jguinch]

Each time you call _Ad_Open, the function creates a "ADODB.Connection" object.

Maybe it's slow the first time, then faster next

Can you check for this ?

Local $hTimer1 = TimerInit()
ObjCreate("ADODB.Connection")
ConsoleWrite(TimerDiff($hTimer1) & @CRLF)

Local $hTimer2 = TimerInit()
ObjCreate("ADODB.Connection")
ConsoleWrite(TimerDiff($hTimer2) & @CRLF)

I cannot check it for now...

[DavidLago]

On 09/09/2016 at 5:09 PM, jguinch said:

Each time you call _Ad_Open, the function creates a "ADODB.Connection" object.

Maybe it's slow the first time, then faster next

Can you check for this ?

Local $hTimer1 = TimerInit()
ObjCreate("ADODB.Connection")
ConsoleWrite(TimerDiff($hTimer1) & @CRLF)

Local $hTimer2 = TimerInit()
ObjCreate("ADODB.Connection")
ConsoleWrite(TimerDiff($hTimer2) & @CRLF)

I cannot check it for now...

Thanks jguinch. It's exactly what happens here.

The first one always gets a lot of delay.

I increased the number of tests to 5, and ran a lot of them. It also seems to keep getting faster every execution. Look at the console outputs:

EXEC1:

--> Press Ctrl+Alt+Break to Restart or Ctrl+Break to Stop
2.93141843646089
0.0276548909100084
0.0210975456426868
0.0196720358019648
0.00627224329917717

EXEC2:

--> Press Ctrl+Alt+Break to Restart or Ctrl+Break to Stop
2.26912656446141
0.0159657102160873
0.00912326298062133
0.00912326298062133
0.00570203936288833

EXEC3:

--> Press Ctrl+Alt+Break to Restart or Ctrl+Break to Stop
3.12699838660796
0.0290804007507305
0.0188167298975315
0.0153955062797985
0.0131146905346432

 

Maybe it's not a trustable test?

I'd like to see water's opinion on this too, since he was the one who came up with the UDF.

[water]

We discussed a similar "problem" on the German forum.
It seems that on the first run it takes some time for Windows to load the needed modules.

[DavidLago]

I inserted the line "ObjCreate("ADODB.Connection")" before the script, and it didn't change the situation. The first one comes with a lot of delay.

So far, the only way I could come up with decent results was creating a _AD_OPEN line to "open the path" before the 'for' statement:

 

Global $time, $timediff
Dim $aArray = ["5", "MYSERVER109", "MYSERVER110", "MYSERVER111", "MYSERVER112", "MYSERVER113"]

; Function to "load up" the include
_AD_Open("", "", "MYSERVER109")
_AD_Close()

ObjCreate("ADODB.Connection")

For $i = 1 to 5 step 1
    Global $time = ""
    $time = Timerinit()
    _AD_Open("", "", $aArray[$i])
    _AD_Close()
    $timediff = TimerDiff($time)
    ConsoleWrite($aArray[$i] & "=" & $timediff & @CRLF)
Next

@water Do you think that _AD_OPEN could "simulate" some kind of authentication response?

[water]

Maybe if you directly measure in function _AD_Open before and after

; ADO Open Method: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms676505.aspx
    $__oAD_Connection.Open() ; Open connection to AD

 

[nikink]

Suggestion/workaround - test 6 DCs, with the first being one you DON'T want to measure.

 

Ie: DC75, DC1, DC2,DC3,DC4,DC5

That way the delay only affects a DC you don't care about.

Another option is to run the script 5 times, with a different DC in the first position each time, thus they all get affected by the slow connection equally (which could be important if the latency is what you're trying to measure).

 

[DavidLago]

3 hours ago, nikink said:

Suggestion/workaround - test 6 DCs, with the first being one you DON'T want to measure.

 

Ie: DC75, DC1, DC2,DC3,DC4,DC5

That way the delay only affects a DC you don't care about.

Another option is to run the script 5 times, with a different DC in the first position each time, thus they all get affected by the slow connection equally (which could be important if the latency is what you're trying to measure).

 

That's exactly what I'm doing, @nikink, though, you outta agree this is a great jury-rig

I got the script running and getting me results already. I would like to find a solution, though. Or at least understand that behavior.