| Microsoft Active Directory Service (ADS) |  |
| Introduction This chapter describes Microsoft’s Active Directory Service management in ERP LN, and includes the following: An overview of Microsoft’s Active Directory Service ADS in ERP LN To find the ERP LN environment information in ADS To publish a UNIX server in the Infor BW Environment and Configuration Selector ( BECS) To maintain the ERP LN Windows configuration properties An overview of Microsoft’s Active Directory Service Microsoft’s Active Directory is the directory service for Microsoft’s Windows 200x Server. Microsoft’s Active Directory stores information about objects on the network and makes this information easy for administrators and users to find and use. Active Directory service (ADS) uses a structured data store as the basis for a logical, hierarchical organization of directory information. Network security is integrated with ADS through logon authentication and access control to objects in the directory. With a single network logon, administrators can manage directory data and organization throughout their network, and authorized network users can access resources anywhere on the network. ADS directory services In ADS, a directory is a hierarchical structure that stores information about objects on the network. ADS provides the methods to store directory data and to make this data available to network users and administrators. For example, Active Directory stores information about user accounts, such as names, passwords, phone numbers, and so on, and enables other authorized users on the same network to access this information. Microsoft’s Active Directory Service has the following features: A data store, also known as the directory, which stores information about Active Directory objects. These objects typically include shared resources such as servers, files, printers, and the network user and computer accounts A set of rules, the schema that defines the classes of objects and attributes contained in the directory, the constraints and limits on instances of these objects, and the format of their names. A global catalogue that contains information about every object in the directory. This enables users and administrators to find directory information regardless of which domain in the directory actually contains the data A query and index mechanism, so that objects and their properties can be published and found by network users or applications. A replication service that distributes directory data across a network. All domain controllers in a domain participate in replication and contain a complete copy of all directory information for their domain. Any change to directory data is replicated to all domain controllers in the domain. Integration with the security subsystem for a secure logon process to a network, as well as access control on both directory data queries and data modifications. For more information about Microsoft’s ADS, refer to the Microsoft documentation. ADS in ERP LN ERP LN uses ADS for the following reasons: ADS stores the client configuration settings. The ERP LN Logic Service publishes the connection points to the ERP LN software environments (BSE) in ADS. In ERP LN, the Active Directory Service (ADS) is a directory that you can use to store the client configuration settings that are available to all systems connected to a network. This enables you use the client configuration settings on other systems in the network. With ADS, users can access information on any system in the network. In other words, the network users are no longer tied to using their own client, with their own settings, in the network. The ERP LN Logic Service publishes the connection points to the BSE environments in ADS. Infor BW uses these connection points to connect to these environments. The Infor BW Environment and Configuration Selector ( BECS) uses these connection points to display information about all available environments. Integration of ADS in ERP LN For the integration of ADS in ERP LN, the following components are used: The Windows registry The ERP LN Logic Service Infor BW The Infor BW Environment and Configuration Selector ( BECS) A library with abstraction functions The ES Logic Service receives information about the available environments from the Windows registry, and publishes this information as connection points to the BSE environment in ADS. BW uses these connection points to connect to that environment, and BECS uses the connection points to display the available environments. The following figure provides a schematic overview of the integration in ERP LN: The ERP LN Logic Service publishes the services without any user interaction. Note To make sure that the directory is always available for a UNIX environment, you must at least use one Windows system as a directory server. Functionality ADS in ERP LN At startup, the ERP LN Logic service publishes the connection points in ADS for each environment on the server with information, such as the name of the server to connect to and the name of the BSE-environment. BW uses this information to set up a connection to the server. The information is no longer stored on the clients. In other words, if the name of the server changes, the name is updated in the directory object that the clients use, therefore, all clients are automatically connected to the new server. Without the directory, every client system must be reconfigured to use the new server. For each environment on a server, the ERP LN Logic Service creates an object in ADS. This object is of class serviceConnectionPoint. The objects are smaller than 1 KB. The objects in ADS are automatically updated at startup when the configuration of an ERP LN Software Environment (BSE) changes, for example, if you change the name of the server or the logon protocols. The ERP LN Logic Service uses the following string attributes: cn You can use this string attribute to store the name of the environment that is published. serviceDNSName Use this string attribute to store the name of the server on which the environment is located. serviceBindingInformation Use this multivalued string attribute to store additional connection information. Currently, the port-number, protocol, portingset number, and the BSE-path is stored in this attribute, for example: Port: 512 BSE: c:\BaanV Protocol: EXEC Portingset: 7.1b keywords Administrators can use this multivalued string to perform queries. The ES Logic Service stores the company name ( Infor) and the product name ( Infor ERP LN) in this attribute. The names of classes and attributes must be unique in a company that uses ADS in ERP LN, which reduces the chance of clashes. However, this does not, however, guarantee that name clashes will never occur. To find the ERP LN environment information in ADS At startup, the ERP LN Logic service publishes the connection points in ADS for each environment on the server with information, such as the name of the server to connect to and the name of the BSE environment. BW uses this information to set up a connection to the server. The ES Logic Service publishes the services without any user interaction. In this example, the NTDEV.baan.com domain is used to explain ADSs features in ERP LN. To find the environments in ADS, take the following steps: Log on as an administrator Click Start, Programs, Administrative Tools, Active Directory Users and Computers. Note The server names in a domain must be unique. To publish a UNIX server in BECS Typically, ADS is used for Windows servers. However, you can use the ERP LN Active Directory Service set-up utility to publish UNIX servers in the Infor BW Environment and Configuration Selector ( BECS). To publish UNIX servers, take the following steps: Log on as an administrator Start the Command Prompt Type: dssetup –publish [ ERP LN server description] [server name] [BSE directory] Start BECS – Infor BW Environment and Configuration Selector, to view the published ERP LN server To maintain the Infor BW configuration properties You can use the Infor BW Environment and Configuration Selector ( BECS) to run various Infor BW versions on a single client. You can also use BECS to start the BW Configuration Properties dialog box, which you can use to maintain the configuration settings of the ERP LN environments on the client. To maintain the client’s ERP LN environment properties, take the following steps: Start BECS – Infor BW Environment and Configuration Selector Select an environment and start the BW Configuration Properties dialog Under Baan Service, you can choose to use an environment for which the connection points are published in ADS. You can also choose to use an environment for which the connection points are not published in ADS. Click Published to use an environment for which the ES Logic Service has published the connection points in the ADS database. In the Published list, you can select an environment for which the connection points are stored in the ADS database. The Hostname, BSE, Protocol, and Portnumber fields are automatically filled with the information retrieved from the ADS database. Click Private to use an environment for which the connection points are not published in ADS. You must now enter the data in the Hostname, BSE, Protocol, and Portnumber fields yourself. |