Using Microsoft Active Directory with IBM App Connect Enterprise

Microsoft Active Directory is a directory service that provides centralized management of users, computers, and other resources on a network. IBM® App Connect Enterprise provides Microsoft Active Directory Input and Microsoft Active Directory Request nodes, which you can use to interact with Microsoft Active Directory.

The following steps show you how to connect to a Microsoft Active Directory account and configure a Microsoft Active Directory Request node by using connector discovery. You can follow a similar procedure to configure a Microsoft Active Directory Input node to monitor Microsoft Active Directory for new or updated objects, by creating a flow containing a Microsoft Active Directory Input node and configuring it through connector discovery.

1. In the IBM App Connect Enterprise Toolkit, create a flow containing a Microsoft Active Directory Request node.
2. Select the Microsoft Active Directory Request node in the flow to show the node properties in the editor.
3. On the Basic tab, click Launch Connector Discovery.
   A panel is displayed in which you specify the name of the policy project and vault details to be used during connector discovery.
4. Specify the details of the policy project and vault to be used during connector discovery:
   1. In the Policy Project field, specify the policy project that is used to store the policies that are created during connector discovery.
      Alternatively, you can create a new policy project by clicking New and then specifying the name of the new policy project. Then click Finish.
   2. Specify the vault to be used during connector discovery. By default, credentials that are used during connector discovery are stored in an external directory vault, which is an App Connect Enterprise vault that can be used by any integration server. Alternatively, you can store the credentials in an integration server vault, which is created in the integration server's work directory and can be used only by that specific integration server.
      To specify the vault to be used for storing the credentials, complete the steps in the Using the Connector Discovery wizard section of one of the following topics:

      • Configuring a shared vault
      • Configuring an integration server vault
   3. In the Vault key field, enter the vault key that is used to access the credentials stored in the vault. The vault key must be at least 8 characters in length.
   4. Optional: By default, the specified vault location and vault key are saved as preferences in the Toolkit so that the values are preset when you launch Connector Discovery. If you do not want the preferences to be saved, deselect Save in vault preferences.
5. Click Launch Discovery to start the Connector Discovery wizard for the Microsoft Active Directory connector.
   The Connector Discovery window is displayed. If existing Microsoft Active Directory connections (accounts) are available, a list of those connections is displayed. If there are no existing connections, the status of the Microsoft Active Directory connector is shown as Not connected.
   • If one or more Microsoft Active Directory connections (accounts) are available, complete the following steps:
     1. Select the connection (account) that you want to use by clicking on it.
     2. Click the required object type and then select the action that you want to perform on the object. For example, to retrieve computers from Microsoft Active Directory, click Computers and then Retrieve computers.
   • If there are no existing connections (accounts), complete the following steps:
     1. Click the required object type and then select the action that you want to perform on that object. For example, to retrieve computers from Microsoft Active Directory, click Computers and then Retrieve computers.
     2. Click Connect.
        A window is displayed in which you enter the connection details for your Microsoft Active Directory account. Enter the following information:

        • Principal Distinguished Name: The distinguished name of the Microsoft Active Directory user; for example, CN=user,OU=organization,DC=mydomain,DC=com
        • Password: The password that is associated with the administrator distinguished name.
        • Microsoft Active Directory URL: A valid Microsoft Active Directory URL in the format ldap://<host or IP address>:<port>.

        For more information about connecting to Microsoft Active Directory, see How to use IBM App Connect with Microsoft Active Directory in the IBM App Connect Enterprise as a Service documentation.

     3. Click Connect.
6. Set the required connector properties in the wizard.
   For retrieve or update actions, you can add conditions for the retrieval of the data by clicking Add condition and then selecting the property that you want to filter on.

   If you add conditions for retrieve or update actions, you can optionally use condition filtering to refine the conditions that are applied. To use condition filtering, exit the Connector Discovery wizard by clicking the Close button (X) and then complete the instructions in Using condition filtering.

   For create actions, you can optionally use advanced mode. In the default edit view for an action, some applications have fields that are hidden because they are not required for general use cases. For more advanced use cases, you can switch to advanced mode editing, which provides extra capabilities for editing flows. To use advanced mode, exit the Connector Discovery wizard by clicking the Close button (X) and then complete the instructions in Using advanced mode.

   You can also set properties that specify the maximum number of records to retrieve and the action to be taken if that limit is exceeded.

7. When you have finished specifying the properties in the Connector Discovery wizard, click Save.
   The credential that is used for connecting to Microsoft Active Directory is stored in the vault, and the other connection details are saved in the Microsoft Active Directory policy. For more information, see Microsoft Active Directory policy. The values of the properties that you set in the wizard are returned to the Microsoft Active Directory Request node in the IBM App Connect Enterprise Toolkit.
8. When you have finished discovery and saved the property values, exit the Connector Discovery wizard by clicking the X in the upper-right corner of the window or by pressing Alt+F4.
9. Return to editing the Microsoft Active Directory Request node in the IBM App Connect Enterprise Toolkit.
   The connector properties that were set in the Connector Discovery wizard (in step 6) are now visible on the Microsoft Active Directory Request node. The Basic tab shows the values of the Action and Object properties that you set in the wizard. For example, if you selected Computers > Retrieve computers in the wizard, the following properties will be visible on the Basic tab of the node:

   • Action - RETRIEVEALL
   • Object - Computer

   The values of the Action and Object properties are displayed in read-only format. If you want to change these values, you can do so by clicking Launch Connector Discovery again and setting new values in the Connector Discovery wizard. You can modify other properties by clicking Edit next to the property.

   The Schema base name property specifies the base name of the schema files that describe the format of the request and response messages that are sent and received from the Microsoft Active Directory connector. The schema base name is set automatically the first time you run discovery for the node, and it is based on the current flow name and node name. If you set this property manually before running discovery for the first time, the value that you set will be used. If you rename the schemas after discovery, you must edit this property so that it matches the schema base name used by the renamed schemas in the project. If you change this property after discovery, you must either rename the schema names to match or run discovery again.

   Depending on the action that was selected during discovery, the Connector Discovery wizard generates either a request schema and a response schema, or a response schema only. A request schema is generated only if the selected action and object require a request message. The generated request schema is used for validation of the request message. If the action was RETRIEVE or DELETE, only the response schema is returned by the connector.

   The generated schema files are added to the project and can be used by a Mapping node for transforming input or output data. The full filename of the schema is derived from the schema base name (such as gen/MyMessageFlow.Microsoft_Active_Directory_Request), suffixed with either response.schema.json or request.schema.json. You can open the schema by clicking Open request schema or Open response schema.

10. Check that the property settings on the Microsoft Active Directory Request node are correct and then save the message flow.
11. On the Connection tab of the Microsoft Active Directory Request node, the Policy property shows the name of the policy that contains the details of the security identity to be used for the connection. The policy has a type of Microsoft Active Directory.
    For more information, see Microsoft Active Directory policy.
12. Optional: Set the Timeout property on the Connection tab to specify the time (in seconds) that the node waits for Microsoft Active Directory to process the operation.
13. The Filter tab of the Microsoft Active Directory Request node contains properties that control the way in which the message flow selects data. The initial values of these properties are taken from the property values that were set for the Microsoft Active Directory connector in the Connector Discovery wizard, including filter options properties, and any conditions that were specified (as described in step 6). If you subsequently return to the Connector Discovery wizard and change the values of any properties (by adding new conditions, for example) those updates are reflected in the properties set on the node.

    The Filter Options properties control which objects are to be operated upon when the Microsoft Active Directory Request node executes. The Filter Limit properties control the maximum number of items to be retrieved and the action to be taken if the limit is exceeded.

    You can modify the values by clicking Edit next to the value that you want to modify in the Filter Options section, and by changing the property values that have been set in the Filter Limit section.

    The property values can be either text values or ESQL or XPATH expressions that are resolved from the contents of the message that is passed to the Microsoft Active Directory Request node as it executes.

14. On the Request tab, set the Data location property to specify the location in the incoming message tree that contains the object data to be created in Microsoft Active Directory. This data forms the request that is sent from the Microsoft Active Directory Request node to the Microsoft Active Directory system.
15. On the Result tab, set the Output data location property to specify the location in the output message tree that will contain the data of the record that is created in Microsoft Active Directory.
16. By default, request messages are validated against the request schema that was generated during connector discovery. You can turn off request validation or change the validation settings by using the Validation properties of the Microsoft Active Directory Request node.
17. Save the message flow.