Before going ahead, make sure that the prerequisites to add SharePoint Server are met. To find out more about prerequisites, refer to Section 2.1 Prerequisites to Audit SharePoint
To add a SharePoint Component:
From the Add Component section of the Component Management window, click on the icon which says SharePoint Server to add this component to the solution.
Component Management Window
The Add SharePoint Server wizard will start:
Add SharePoint Server
1.1 SharePoint Server Details
This step has two sections:
SharePoint Details: In the SharePoint Details section, you will need to provide Central Administration URL, IP Address, User Name and Password.
Provide the username in this format - Domain\User or Workgroup\User.
NOTE:
Required User Rights in Active Directory
The selected user should be a member of Administrators and Domain Admins group. Moreover, the user with which you are logged on to the computer running SharePoint and Auditing Agent, should be a member of Domain Admins group.
If the user is not having these rights, follow the given steps to assign the rights:
Go to Administrative Tools.
Open Active Directory Users and Computers.
Select User Properties.
Click Member Of.
Click Add Group.
Select the following Groups:
Administrators
Domain Admins
Click Apply and OK.
Required User Rights in SharePoint
The selected user should be a member of Farm Administrator Group in SharePoint. Perform the following steps to add the user in Farm Administrator Group.
Go to Central Administration → Security.
Click Manage the farm administrators group link under Users.
Check if the selected user is already added in the Farm Administrator Group or not.
If the selected user is not listed here, click New .
In Share 'Central Administration' pop-up, type the username. Once typed, SharePoint Server will recognize the name and show a list.
Select the username in the appeared list.
Click Share to add the user in Farm Administrator group.
The selected user must have the administrative rights over each Site Collection to be audited. For this, the user either should be the Site Collection Administrator or should have full control over the Web App.
Perform the following steps to add the user in Site Collection Administrators:
Open the Site Collection in the Web Browser, for which you need to enable the auditing.
Click Settings icon on the top right corner and click Site Settings.
In Site Settings, click Site Collection Administrators under Users and Permissions.
Check whether the selected user is listed as Site Collection Administrator or not.
If it is not listed, add the user.
If you want to enable the auditing of new sites that will be created in future, add the selected user as Primary or Secondary Site Collection Administrator while creating a new site.
Perform the following steps to assign the Full Control over Web App:
Go to Central Administration → Application Management → Manage Web Applications
Select the required Web Application.
Click User Policy button on the ribbon.
Select All Zones and click Next
Select Full Control - Has full control and click Next
Click Finish to complete the process.
Once these rights are assigned, the user attains the administrative rights over each Site Collection in the Web App.
Required User Rights in Local Security Policy
The selected user should be added in the security right of Log on as a service in Local Security Policy. If the user does not have this right, then follow the steps below on the Server computer, where SharePoint Server is installed, to assign the same.
Go to Administrative Tools → Local Security Policy.
In the left panel, go to Security Settings → Local Policies → User Rights Assignment. It displays the different policies in the right panel.
Select Log on as a service and double click on it to access its properties.
Make sure that the selected user is listed in Local Security Setting tab of Properties window.
If the selected user is not added, then click Add User or Group button. It shows Select Object dialog box.
Type the username and click Check Names button to validate the entry.
Click OK to add the user. It takes you back to the policy properties.
Click Apply and OK.
Required User Rights in SP SQL Server
A login of the selected SharePoint User with Windows Authentication and sysadmin role should exist in SQL Server for SharePoint Content Database.
Case 1: If the user login does not exist already, then follow the steps below to create it.
Open SQL Server Management Studio.
Select SQL or Windows Authentication.
Enter the name and password of an SQL Administrator in case of SQL Authentication.
Click Connect.
In the left tree panel, go to Security Logins.
Right click on Logins and select New Login.
Login – New wizard appears onscreen.
Enter the same login name as that of SharePoint user with which you are adding SharePoint Server for auditing.
Switch to Server Roles.
Select both sysAdmin and dbcreator roles.
Click OK.
Case 2: If the user exists, but no such rights are assigned, then follow these steps to assign the required rights:
Open SQL Server Management Studio.
Select SQL or Windows Authentication.
Enter the name and password of an SQL Server Administrator in case of SQL Authentication.
Click Connect.
In the left tree panel, go to Security Logins.
Expand Logins and select the required user.
Right click on the user and select Properties.
Switch to Server Roles.
Select both sysAdmin and dbcreator roles.
Click OK.
b. SQL Server Details: Enter the SQL Server Name manually or click the Installing Agent on SharePoint Server icon to enumerate all local and remote SQL Servers and select one from the list.
Select the authentication type and provide the credentials for the user.
Click the Test Connection button to check for a successful connection to SQL Server.
Click Next.
1.2 Install SharePoint Auditing Agent
The Solution starts installing the agent on SharePoint Server for auditing.
Error in Connecting to SharePoint
NOTE: You may receive an error at this stage if you have not installed Microsoft System CLR Types for SQL Server 2012 and Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Management Objects Setup at the server. Install them both from the Redist folder of program installation folder.
NOTE: If the following error appears on screen while trying to connect to SharePoint, then it means either the login of SharePoint user does not exist, or the sysadmin role is not assigned to it.
Select the Site Collection(s)
Create the login of SharePoint User with Windows Authentication and sysadmin role in SQL Server for the content database.
IP Settings
1.3 Site Collection Settings
In this dialog box, the list of all Sites on SharePoint is displayed. You can select the sites that you want to audit.
Include: this drop-down menu has the following options:
All: Select this option if you want to audit all Site Collection(s).
Exclude: Select this option if you want to audit all except the selected Site Collection(s).
Include: Select this option if you want to audit the selected Site Collections.
Follow the steps below to choose the site name(s):
Selecting the include or exclude option enables you to select the sites for auditing.
To add the site name directly, click the Database Settings icon and type the name into the Site Name box.
Click the Test Connection is Successful icon and check the boxes of the sites to Include or Exclude depending on the option selected in the drop-down box
To reduce the number of collections returned you can uncheck one or more of the following boxes:
Enable document View
Enable UPS Audit
Enable Site Collection creation changes
To add from a CSV file, click Add from CSV and choose the CSV file from the list
Click Next.
The IP Setting dialog box is displayed.
Asking to Restart the Solution
Click Next
The Database Settings dialog box is displayed.
1.3.1 Database Settings
In this step, you need to provide the details of SQL Server and database that will be used to store the audit data. The solution lets you connect both to a locally hosted or a networked SQL Server.
Enter the SQL Server name manually or click the button to show all SQL Servers on the network
Provide the SQL Server username and password to allow the solution to access SQL using these credentials.
NOTE: Here, the selected user should have dbcreator role in SQL Server.
You must test the connection between the solution and the selected SQL Server. This helps to authenticate the database connection.
Click Test Connection.
It displays either an error if failed to connect or the following message confirming the successful connection.
Provide the database name where the Lepide Data Security Platform will store the auditing logs.
NOTE: Lepide Data Security Platform connects to a database created by the solution itself. The solution alerts when you try to use an existing database.
If you are using the solution for the first time, you can provide a name for the new database that will be created with the solution. In the case of reinstallation, you can use a database created earlier by the solution.
Audit Remotely: Selecting this checkbox allows you to specify a server to host the process to insert the collected audit logs into the audit database.
Can't find what you're looking for? Access our previous PDF-based library.
8 min read
️ Updated Jan 09, 2026
