What is it for?

Active Directory is a Microsoft service and it's a directory service that uses the LDAP protocol. Many organizations are using it for the ease of use and for the ease of integration with other Microsoft products. 

Note: OutSystems already allows AD login out of the box, but you can use this component to create your own custom login if necessary.

Why should you use it?

If you have heard of LDAP then you know how stressful it can be at times. You have to work with paths, username and password and go over an entire list of attributes to find the information you're looking for.

OutSystems supports authentication through both LDAP and Active Directory.

If you have Active Directory configured then go with it instead of using LDAP. It will provide easy access to groups and users (without the use of username/password), manage your directory, import users, groups with detailed information.

What’s included?

Installing just the component has everything necessary to make your connections to your AD, the “demo” includes some screens to help set token configurations (for security reasons and ease of use) and other screens to showcase the application.

The Component

The component has all the logical elements that will allow you to connect to your AD and get user and group information. It works by using tokens and setting the global domain based on the credentials defined in the ADToken table.

Tokens represent a connection to the AD with optional credentials (depending on if your connection requires an authenticated user to access the AD contents). 

The Demo

Inside the demo application, there are screens to help you manage the tokens and also test the AD itself. By using one of your tokens directly in the ADConfigurations eSpace, setting the value in service center, you can test search for users or groups and even manage users, if your connection credentials allow it.

Setup

Create the type of connections for your AD in the screen https://<server>/ADConfigurations

Create a new ADAccess:

Name your connection and add the domain, container (optional), username and password (optional, if you require to write access).

This will generate a Token which you then use in the API calls to the AD (actions in the ActiveDirectoryCore).

The module ADConfigurations also uses the token approach for you to quickly test the users and groups, you'll need to go to Service Center in the ADConfigurations module and set the site property ADToken to one of the ADAccess Tokens you've created.