Import Agent
Configuration options are available after you install the Active Directory Integration (ADI) import agent. These configuration options are in a JSON config file named jcadimportagent.config.json. You can find the config options in the file鈥檚 "MainLoop" section.
Prerequisites
- The AD Import agent is installed per that section of the Configure ADI article
Changing default configurations for a domain controller
- Go to the 探花大神 folder where the AD Import agent is installed on a domain controller.
- Open the jcadimportagent.config.json file.
- Edit the configurations in the "MainLoop" section of the file.
You鈥檒l need to edit the jcadimportagent.config.json file for every server on which the ADI import agent is installed.
Optional Configurations
This is the amount of time the agent waits before attempting to reconnect to the password filter DLL when there was an error.聽
We don鈥檛 recommend changing this setting without direction from 探花大神 support.
Controls the behavior of syncing additional work-related user attributes from AD to 探花大神. The value can be true or false; the default is true.
- true (Default): Syncs Display Name, Description, JobTitle, Department, Company, Location, EmployeeType, PhoneNumbers, Addresses, and Manager
- false: No additional attributes are synced. Only the core attributes: First Name, Last Name, Username, and Email
This setting overrides the UserDisableAction configuration if their values are not identical.
Controls the behavior of user dissociations - or what happens when a user is deleted, disabled, or removed from the 探花大神 ADI security group in AD. The value can be remove or unbind; the default is remove.
- remove (Default): the user's 探花大神 account will be deleted.
- unbind: the user's 探花大神 account will remain but will be disconnected from the AD domain within 探花大神. 探花大神 will continue to manage the user's identity.
Controls the mapping of 闯耻尘辫颁濒辞耻诲鈥檚 username field from AD on import. This can be set to either map 探花大神 usernames to 鈥渟础惭础肠肠辞耻苍迟狈补尘别鈥 or 鈥涡蝉别谤笔谤颈苍肠颈辫补濒狈补尘别鈥. The default setting for all new installations of AD Import is to map the 探花大神 username to 鈥渟础惭础肠肠辞耻苍迟狈补尘别鈥.
Controls the behavior of user take over - or what happens when an existing 探花大神 user account is taken over from AD. This can be set to deactivate or retain. The default setting is deactivate.
- deactivate (Default): the password status for the user's 探花大神 account is changed to "Password Pending". These users are directed to reset their passwords in AD to ensure their passwords are in sync between AD and 探花大神
- retain: the password status for the user's 探花大神 account remains unchanged
Password Reset Required for Existing 探花大神 Users in Two-Way Sync
AD requires a password to be set upon user creation. In a two-way sync deployment, passwords for existing 探花大神 users cannot be synced as part of this process. A system-generated password will be set for these users in AD, which will overwrite the user's existing 探花大神 password on the sync back from AD to 探花大神. As a result, these users must reset their password in either 探花大神 or AD to regain access regardless of what this setting is.
The UserDissociationAction setting will override this configuration if their values are not identical.
Controls the behavior in 探花大神 when a user is disabled in AD and the behavior in AD when a user is suspended in 探花大神. Learn about suspending users in 探花大神.
For this setting to control what happens to a user in 探花大神 after the user is disabled in AD, the user must be a member of the 探花大神 Integration Security Group.
UserDisableAction can be set to the following:
- suspend: when a user is disabled in AD, the corresponding JC user is suspended
- remove: when a user is disabled in AD, the corresponding 探花大神 user is deleted
- unbind: when a user is disabled in AD, the corresponding user is no longer managed externally
About UserDisableAction鈥檚 default settings:
- For new installs of the Import agent, the default setting for this option is suspend
- An upgrade of the Import agent retains the UserDisableAction setting
- An upgrade of the Import agent with a value for UserDissociateAction will have UserDisableAction set to the same value
- An upgrade of the Import agent without a value for userDissociateAction will have UserDisableAction set to remove
- The value for userDisableAction takes precedence over the value for UserDissociateAction
Suspend Actions on the Sync Agent
- When an active 探花大神 user with a corresponding AD user is suspended in 探花大神, the user is disabled in AD. The 探花大神 user remains suspended
- When an active 探花大神 user without a corresponding AD user is suspended, the user is created and then disabled in AD. The user remains suspended in 探花大神
Suspend Actions on the Import Agent
- When the AD Import agent has no UserDisableAction property, or has UserDisableAction set to suspend, and a user is disabled in AD:
- If a user doesn鈥檛 exist in 探花大神, a user is created in 探花大神 according to current AD Import rules
- If a user exists in 探花大神: unsuspend the existing or created user if the AD user isn鈥檛 disabled
- When the AD Import agent has UserDisableAction set to unbind and a user is disabled in AD:
- If a user doesn鈥檛 exist, or isn鈥檛 owned by this AD Import agent, a new user isn鈥檛 created in 探花大神
- If a user owned by this AD Import agent exists in 探花大神, externally managed fields are cleared
- When the AD Import agent has UserDisableAction set to remove and a user is disabled in AD:
- If a user doesn鈥檛 exist in 探花大神, or isn鈥檛 owned by this AD Import agent, a user isn鈥檛 created in 探花大神
- If a user owned by this AD Import agent exists in 探花大神, the user is deleted from 探花大神
The following tables describe the actions taken in AD and 探花大神 for existing and new users for UserDisableAction settings.
UserDisableAction Setting | Action in AD | Action in 探花大神 |
---|---|---|
suspend | Disabled | Suspend |
Enabled | Not suspended / active | |
remove | Disabled | Deleted from 探花大神 |
Enabled | N/A | |
unbind | Disabled | Externally managed fields are cleared, user is removed from groups |
Enabled | N/A |
UserDisableAction Setting | Action in AD | Action in 探花大神 |
---|---|---|
suspend | Disabled | Suspended |
Enabled | Not suspended / active | |
remove | Disabled | N/A |
Enabled | User is created | |
unbind | Disabled | N/A |
Enabled | User is created |
Disable Scenarios
The following scenarios describe the UserDisableAction setting you should apply to achieve a desired behavior when a user is disabled in AD.
Import Only
- If you want disabled users to be retained and suspended in 探花大神, set UserDisableAction to suspend.
- If you want disabled users to be removed from 探花大神 and all associated AD groups and external directories, set UserDisableAction to remove.
- If you want disabled users to be removed from the domain in 探花大神 and all associated AD groups, set UserDisableAction to unbind.
Suspend Scenarios
The following scenarios describe the UserDisableAction setting you should apply to achieve a desired behavior when a user is suspended in 探花大神.
Sync and Import Agents
- If you want users that are suspended in 探花大神 to remain in 探花大神 with all associated group and directory associations, set UserDisableAction to suspend
- If you want users that are suspended in 探花大神 to be removed from 探花大神 and all associated groups and external directories, set UserDisableAction to remove
- If you want users that are suspended in 探花大神 to be removed from all associated groups and external directories, but remain in 探花大神, set UserDisableAction to unbind
Controls the behavior in 探花大神 when an AD user鈥檚 password expires.
UserExpireAction can be set to the following:
- expire: when an AD user鈥檚 password expires, the corresponding 探花大神 user鈥檚 password is expired
- maintain: when an AD user鈥檚 password expires, the corresponding 探花大神 user鈥檚 password remains active
About UserExpireAction鈥檚 default settings:
- For new installs of the Import agent, the default setting for this option is expire
- An upgrade of the Import agent retains the UserExpireAction setting, if it is set
- An update of the Import agent without a setting for UserExpireAction sets this option to maintain
Expire actions on the Sync Agent
- If a user鈥檚 password expires in 探花大神, their password expires in AD
Expire Actions on the Import Agent
- When the Import agent has no specified setting for UserExpireAction, or has UserExpireAction set to expire:
- An existing 探花大神 user with an expired password in AD immediately expires in 探花大神
- 闯耻尘辫颁濒辞耻诲鈥檚 external_password_expiration_date field is set to the value in AD
- If a user doesn鈥檛 exist in 探花大神 and isn鈥檛 owned by the AD Import agent, a new user is created in 探花大神 and then expires
- When the AD Import agent has UserExpireAction set to maintain:
- Nothing happens in 探花大神; the user鈥檚 password stays active
- 闯耻尘辫颁濒辞耻诲鈥檚 external_password_expiration_date field is cleared
- If a user doesn鈥檛 exist in 探花大神 and isn鈥檛 owned by the AD Import agent, a new user is created in 探花大神
Sync Agent
Active Directory (AD) Sync provides one-way synchronization of passwords and other attributes from 探花大神 to AD. This agent allows password updates to be written back to AD from the 探花大神 Admin Portal, the 探花大神 User Portal, or any 探花大神-managed device. Full bidirectional synchronization is facilitated by the use of both the AD Import and AD Sync agents.
Prerequisites
- Domain Controllers are prepared for Active Directory Integration (ADI):
- A 探花大神 ADI group has been created and is located in your designated Root User container in AD. This is needed for full bidirectional synchronization and management. This group is synced to your 探花大神 Administrator Portal and is indicated with an AD Integration icon
- An AD service account (standard domain user account) named "jcimport" has been created and has been granted Read all user information permissions using the Delegation of Control Wizard on the selected Root User container, or inherited from an OU further up in the hierarchy. This user cannot be a domain admin, have the user name of "探花大神" or be a member of the above-mentioned 探花大神 ADI security group
- See Configure ADI for this information
- The AD Import agent is installed. See Configure ADI
Recommendations
- We recommend creating a security group named 探花大神 Admins. This group isn鈥檛 synced to the 探花大神 Administrator Portal, but is used to identify any accounts that you want to be Global Administrators or Sudo users in 探花大神. Any user that is a member of this group and also a member of the 探花大神 group will be granted Admin/Sudo privileges on all device associations to which they are bound by default. This function doesn't support members of nested groups
- For full bidirectional synchronization, we recommend that all Users and Groups be synchronized with 探花大神, live under a single OU (Root User Container) in Active Directory. This can be the default CN=Users container in AD or an alternate custom OU within the directory
- To manage users in different OUs, we recommend that these OUs be located underneath the primary Root User container. Users or groups located in these containers that are made members of the 探花大神 ADI security group allow AD Sync to properly synchronize passwords and attributes associated with those users
- We recommend that you align password complexity requirements between AD and 探花大神 as closely as possible. Otherwise passwords may not replicate if they鈥檙e rejected by the destination directory鈥檚 complexity requirements
- We recommend that you set the service account you use to authorize AD Sync's access to AD with a password that doesn't expire if your security requirements allow this. If this isn't permissible with your security compliance levels, then we recommend scheduling a maintenance window to reinstall the AD sync agent every time the service account password changes
Considerations
- If you relocate users in AD, you could disrupt password synchronization
- If you remove users or groups from the 探花大神 ADI security group in AD they鈥檙e removed from the 探花大神 Admin Portal per the default AD Sync configuration options
- Managing privileged user accounts such as Domain Admins in AD isn't supported, see . Active Directory flags privileged accounts with 鈥渁dminCount=1鈥 in the directory, which results in any inherited permissions granted to the 探花大神 AD agent services to be removed. This prevents 探花大神 from being able to effectively manage those privileged accounts.
- Synchronization runs at approximately 90 second intervals
- If the password of the service account that is used to Authorize AD Sync's access to AD is changed, the AD Sync agent will need to be uninstalled and reinstalled with the updated password
- When using both AD Sync and AD Import agents, password expiration notifications are not sent to the end user or administrator. This can be counterintuitive due to the fact that AD Sync gives 探花大神 control over the user attributes and password
User Attribute Synchronization
探花大神 AD Sync can manage the following data fields in AD:
- Password
- First Name
- Last Name
- Windows UserAccountControl flag for ACCOUNTDISABLE - this field is used for syncing the 探花大神 account status. Currently, 探花大神 only writes back a suspend status to AD. When a user is suspended in 探花大神, 探花大神 disables the user in AD through the Sync agent. Learn more about Configure ADI.
- MemberOf - this field is used to track group membership in AD. For this field to be synced, you need to install Sync agent v 2.26.0 or later. Learn how to Configure ADI.
探花大神 Users are associated with Active Directory Users based on the alignment of the Username and Email fields of users in 探花大神 and Active Directory. See Configure ADI for UserFieldMapping settings configured in the AD Import agent that define the username field of the AD User.
Group Attribute Synchronization
探花大神 syncs the following data fields with AD Sync for groups:
- Group Name
User and Group Management
To provision users to AD
The 探花大神 ADI security group that鈥檚 created during AD Import installation is the primary management group for AD integration. This group is used to define the scope of user management with AD and allows full bidirectional synchronization between AD and 探花大神.
User Creation
You can create users in 探花大神 and connect them to an AD Domain using AD Sync. You can connect users to an AD Domain from the following places in the Admin Portal:
- User panel Directories tab
- Directories panel User tab
When you connect a user to an AD Domain, 探花大神 determines if a user with the same username exists on the domain. If a user with the same username doesn't exist, 探花大神 creates a user with the 探花大神 username on the AD Domain and generates a random password for the user. If a user with the same username exists on the domain, 探花大神 takes over the account, but doesn't generate a random password for the user.
To add a user to an AD Domain from the Users panel
- Go to USER MANAGEMENT > Users.
- Select a user to view their details.
- Select the Directories tab.
- Select the AD Domain you want to connect the user to.
- Click save user.
To add a user to an AD Domain from the Directories panel
- Go to DIRECTORY INTEGRATIONS > Active Directory.
- Select an AD Domain to view its details.
- Select the Users tab.
- Select a user to connect to the AD Domain.
- Click save.
Group Synchronization: Managing Groups from AD
- Groups added to the 探花大神 ADI security group in AD are replicated to the 探花大神 Admin Portal along with all of the users that are a member of that group. Because 探花大神 doesn鈥檛 support nested groups directly, any groups in AD that are nested in another group are traversed recursively and their structure is flattened. Users are made a member of their primary group in 探花大神 and a member of the group in which they鈥檙e nested in in AD. For example, in AD, Group1 is a member of the 探花大神 group with members User1, User2 and Group2. Group2 is a member of Group1 and contains members User3 and User4. In 探花大神, Group2 is mirrored and User3 and User4 are bound. Group 1 is mirrored and User1, User2, User3 and User4 are bound
- To manage group membership from 探花大神 to AD, and assign the memberOf attribute to a user account in AD, the AD bound groups in 探花大神 are required to live under the configured Root User container as configured during AD Sync agent installation with the proper delegated controls and permissions
- Users that only exist in 探花大神 may also be bound to these groups in your 探花大神 Administrator Portal.
- For alternate authoritative scenarios or more details regarding synchronization use cases, see use cases in Get Started: ADI or contact 探花大神 for additional support
Service Details
The agent is registered as a service to start automatically.
- Display name: 探花大神 AD Sync Agent
- Service name: JCADSyncAgent
- Log located at C:\Program Files\探花大神\AD Sync\adsync.log
User Experience
Flow for Active Users
An active user is a user in an 'active' user state, has a password, and that password status is 'active'. After an administrator binds an active user to an external directory, the user receives an email telling them the directory they鈥檝e been added to, and to sync their password by logging into their User Portal.
Users That are Bound to More Than One External Directory
They will receive a new email for each individual external directory that they are bound to. The flow for users bound to more than one external directory is the same as for active users.
Flow for New Users
A new user is a user in an 'active' user state with a password status of 'password pending'. After an administrator binds a new user without a password to an external directory, the user receives a Welcome to 探花大神 (activation) email that takes them through how to register their new account. After the user registers their account, creates an account password, and logs in to their User Portal, their password is sent to the directories they鈥檙e bound to, and 探花大神 will manage their password.
Integration with Entra Connect
When AD Sync and/or AD Import tools are installed on the Windows Server that also has Entra Connect or Entra Connect cloud sync installed, your 探花大神 tenant can NOT be bound to your Entra ID or Microsoft O365 tenant. If Entra ID Connect is the only AD tool installed on the Windows Server this too will NOT work with an Entra ID tenant bound to a 探花大神 tenant.
When 探花大神 is bound to an Entra ID tenant, password syncing will not correctly propagate from 探花大神 to Entra ID. Additionally, it will cause unintended interference with Microsoft鈥檚 Entra ID password policy, which will prevent Microsoft users from resetting their own passwords using Microsoft鈥檚 Self Service Password Reset (SSPR) portal. Lastly, there will be two password authorities, (on-prem) Active Directory & 探花大神, constantly in conflict with one another鈥攖rying to write the same changes to Entra ID.
Bearing all of this in mind, you may have Microsoft and 探花大神 AD tools concurrently installed on a Windows Server on the premise 探花大神 is NOT bound to an Entra ID tenant.
If a Microsoft user and/or admin changes their Entra ID user password, the complexity of this password must match the password policy created in your 探花大神 Admin portal for the Entra ID or (on-prem) Active Directory initiated write back to be read and applied to your 探花大神 user鈥檚 password.
Lastly, we have confirmed that enabling both 鈥楶assword writeback鈥 and 鈥楽ync password hashes鈥 in Entra Connect & Entra Connect Cloud Sync tools does not prevent our AD Integration tools from updating passwords for user identities managed both in your on-prem AD domain and 探花大神 tenant.