ACS stops working following alerts

[bretcollins]

We have ACS 4 and we use a 4404 wireless lan controller. In the past month we've been experiencing outages for our wireless clients. We get alert messages from ACS like "Auth server down: Could not change Password" or "Test Timed out for service: CSRadius & Test Timed out for service: CSTacacs". Then users start calling in reporting that they are down.

I did a search and keep finding this "Error Message Auth server down: Could not change Password

Explanation CSMon could not change the password of the test account.

Recommended Action No action required."

Can anyone provide more information on what could be going on and why this alert which says no action required keeps showing up and then wireless goes down?

Thanks.

[dennischolmes]

Bret,

All authentication requests to the ACS from a client is performed by proxy from the controller. If the controller loses the ability to communicate with the ACS server you would see this error. Make sure you are not having ACS database/memory issues. If you can reboot the ACS and everything clears up the problem is on the ACS server. Either the above listed problem or a network connectivity issue would likely be the culprit. To verify that there are no problems on the WLC, run the AAA LWAPP debugs and trace the auth requests.