Installing and configuring Microsoft Active Directory

Learn how to install Microsoft™ Active Directory in your environment.

Active Directory is a directory server created by Microsoft™. You can use Active Directory as your LDAP server for IBM RPA on premises.

In this tutorial, you will install the Microsoft™ Active Directory in your Windows™ operating system. You can also use Active Directory in the cloud with Azure™ Active Directory🡥.

Before you begin

  • You must run Windows™ Server 2016 or later.
  • See the Open ports section to open the necessary ports for Active Directory.

Installing Active Directory Services

  1. Go to the Windows search and type Turn Windows features on or off.
  2. In Before You Begin, click Next.
  3. In Installation Type, select Role-based or feature-based installation, and click Next.
  4. In Server Selection, mark the Select a server from the server pool and select your server from the list. Click Next to proceed.
  5. In Server Roles, select the Active Directory Domain Services.
  6. In the prompt window, click Add Features and then click Next.
  7. In Features, click Next to proceed.
  8. Click Next in both the AD DS and DNS Server pages.
  9. In Confirmation, click Install to activate both features.
  10. Wait until the services are installed, and then click the Promote this server to domain controller link.

Configuring the Active Directory service

  1. In the Deployment Configuration, select Add a new forest.
  2. In the Root domain field enter your root domain, such as rpa.ibm.com, and click Next to proceed.
  3. Wait until the configuration is done, set up a password for the Directory Services Restore Mode (DRSM), and click Next.
  4. In DNS Options, click Next.
  5. In Additional Options, review your NetBIOS domain name and change it if necessary.
  6. In Paths, review the paths to the folders where your files and logs are stored, and click Next.
  7. In Review Options, see the details of your directory service, and click Next.
  8. In Prerequisistes Check, see if your computer meets all the requirements, and check for any warnings or errors that might block the installation. Click Install to install the service.
  9. You get prompted that you're about to be signed out. Click Close and sign back in to your user account to confirm that Active Directory is installed.

Registering users

  1. Open Active Directory Users and Computers.
  2. Go to your Active Directory domain, right-click > New... > User.
  3. Fill in the user information and click Next.
  4. Enter the user password, unmark the User must change password at next logon option and click Next.
  5. Click Finish to create the user.
  6. Right-click the user and go to Properties.
  7. In the General tab, add an E-mail to the user.
  8. Click Ok to confirm.

What to do next

The Active Directory environment is ready for the IBM RPA server. Proceed to Install the server.

After you install the server you must configure IBM RPA to use your Active Directory data. See Configuring UMS to connect with LDAP for details.