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SPAA: Scan Scoping Options

The Scan Scoping Options page provides scoping options to specify the list of URLs to be scanned. It is a wizard page for the categories of:

  • Scan SharePoint Access
  • Scan For Sensitive Content

Scan Scoping Options page

The options on the Scan Scoping Options page are:

  • Add – When a URL is entered in the text box, adds the URL to the Scope box

    • To scope for a SharePoint Host Named Site Collections, use the text box to enter the URL for both the Web App and the HNSC with custom non-existent URL extensions added. See the Scoping to SharePoint Host Named Site Collections topic for additional information.

    NOTE: If sites are included in the Scope box, all other sites are excluded from the scan.

  • Import CSV – Opens a file explorer to browse for a CSV file

  • Scope box – Lists all added URLs

  • Scope drop-down list – Select include to include a URL in the scan. Select exclude to exclude a URL from the scan.

  • Remove – Removes the selected URL from the Scope box

Scoping to SharePoint Host Named Site Collections​

In order to scope to objects within host named site collections, add a scope line which includes the URL of the web application containing the host named site collection. To scope the host named site collection URL http://sample.com/documents/ for a host named site collection that exists under the web application URL http://example.com, follow the steps:

Step 1 – Navigate to the Scan Scoping Options page.

Enter URL on Scan Scoping Options page example

Step 2 – In the text box, enter an invalid URL prefixed with the Web App URL which contains the HNSCs. Click Add.

  • In the example the invalid Web App URL is: http://example.com/hnsc_indicator/

Step 3 – In the text box, enter the HNSC URL to scope for. Click Add.

  • In the example, the HNSC URL entered to filter for is: http://sample.com/documents/

Scan Scoping Options example

Step 4 – The Web App URL must appear above the HNSC URL, as depicted in the example above.

Step 5 – The SharePoint Access Auditor Data Collector Wizard is now configured to filter for the URL inside the SharePoint Host Named Site Collections.

Virtual Hosts​

In order to decrease the scan time in large SharePoint Online environments, it is possible to break Site Collections for a single host down into subsets, or Virtual Hosts, that are treated as separate hosts by Access Analyzer. This allows multiple scans of a single host to be run concurrently. Follow the steps to configure this.

CSV file with host and site collection information

Step 1 – Create a new CSV file. Add into rows the information for the host and site collection URLs you want to scan in the format HOSTNAME#DESIGNATOR;URL.

  • Each unique DESIGNATOR is treated as a separate host comprised of the specified URLs.

Host List for targeting the Virtual Hosts

Step 2 – Configure the Host List for SPAA or SPSEEK scans to target these Virtual Hosts using the format HOSTNAME#DESIGNATOR.

SPAA Data Collector Wizard Scan Scoping Options page

Step 3 – On the Scan Scoping Options page of the SharePoint Access Auditor Data Collector Wizard, use the Import CSV button to import the information from the CSV file created in Step 1.

Step 4 – Click Next to continue through the other pages of the SharePoint Access Auditor Data Collector Wizard. Then click Finish on the Summary Page.

Access Analyzer is now configured to scan multiple site collections for the same host concurrently.

A new host folder is created for each Virtual Host in Jobs/SA_CommonData/SHAREPOINTACCESS. You will also see a separate line on the Running Instances tab for each Virtual Host included in the scan.

NOTE: The Host List for Bulk Import should be configured to contain each Virtual Host included in the above scan using the HOSTNAME#DESIGNATOR format. After Bulk Import, the data contained in Tier 1 Database tables and views will resemble a scan run against multiple hosts.