Viewing connection data in real time is useful, but you're probably going to need to view data historically as well (if you don't, we're sure some executive will convince you). For this, URA allows you to produce reports for specific periods of time.
To use URA's reporting capabilities
, you need to enable accounting; the process of storing connection information somewhere, that is. URA offers two options—one is using a RADIUS server, and the other is using Windows' built-in WID (Windows Internal Database) service. WID, also known as SQL Server Embedded Edition, is a service that is included with the operating system (has been there since Windows Server 2008) and several other Microsoft products. When you install the URA role, it automatically adds this service (you can see it in c:\windows\WID\Binn\sqlserver.exe
) so that it can be used to store data. Note that WID, although based on SQL technology, is not a full SQL server. This means that you cannot access it using...