The Unix schema attributes are fully customizable in Safeguard Authentication Services. The Unix Attributes section allows you to see which LDAP attributes are mapped to Unix attributes. You can modify this mapping to enable Safeguard Authentication Services to work with any schema configuration. To customize the mapping, you select a schema template or specify your own custom attributes. A schema template is a pre-defined set of common mappings which adhere to common schema extensions for storing Unix data in Active Directory.
From the Control Center, select Preferences | Schema Attributes. Click the Unix Attributes link in the upper right to display the Customize Schema Attributes dialog.
Safeguard Authentication Services supports the following schema templates if the required schema is installed:
Table 18: Unix schema attributes
|
Schemaless |
A template that encodes Unix attribute data in an existing multi-valued attribute. |
|
Windows R2 |
A template that uses attributes from the Windows 2003 R2 schema extension. |
|
Services for Unix 2.0 |
A template that uses attributes from the SFU 2.0 schema extension. |
|
Services for Unix 3.0 |
A template that uses attributes from the SFU 3.0 schema extension. |
BEST PRACTICE: Use a schema designed for storing Unix data in Active Directory whenever possible. Schemas designed for storing Unix data in Active Directory include: Windows 2003 R2, SFU 2, and SFU 3. Only use "schemaless" or custom mappings if it is impossible to make schema extensions in your environment.
NOTE: If you are running Safeguard Authentication Services without an application configuration in your forest and your domain supports Windows R2, you can enable Safeguard Authentication Services to use the Windows R2 schema. However, note that some functionality provided by the Safeguard Authentication Services application configuration will be unavailable.
Safeguard Authentication Services stores Unix identity and login information in Active Directory. One Identity designed Safeguard Authentication Services to provide support for the following standard Active Directory schema extensions.
Table 19: Active Directory schema extensions
| Windows 2003 R2 Schema |
This schema extension is provided by Microsoft and adds support for the PosixAccount auxiliary class, used to store Unix attributes on user and group objects. |
| Services for Unix 2.0 |
Microsoft provides this schema extension with the Services for Unix 2.0 set of tools. It adds custom attributes to user and group objects, used to store Unix account information. |
| Services for Unix 3.0 |
Microsoft provides this schema extension with the Services for Unix 3.0 set of tools. It adds custom attributes to user and group objects, used to store Unix account information. |
It is possible to customize the schema setup to work with any schema configuration with Safeguard Authentication Services. No schema extensions are necessary with the new "schemaless" storage feature. When you configure Safeguard Authentication Services for the first time, Safeguard Authentication Services attempts to auto-detect the best schema configuration for your environment. The schema configuration is a global application setting that applies to all Safeguard Authentication Services management tools and Unix agents. You can change the detected settings at any time using Control Center.
If you do not have a schema that supports Unix data storage in Active Directory, you can configure Safeguard Authentication Services to use existing, unused attributes of users and groups to store Unix information in Active Directory.
To configure a custom schema mapping
- Open the Control Center and click Preferences then Schema Attributes on the left navigation pane.
- Click the Unix Attributes link in the upper right to display the Customize Schema Attributes dialog.
-
Type the LDAP display names of the attributes that you want to use for Unix data. All attributes must be string-type attributes except User ID Number, User Primary Group ID, and Group ID Number, which may be integers. If an attribute does not exist or is of the wrong type, the border will turn red indicating that the LDAP attribute is invalid.
- Click OK to validate and save the specified mappings in Active Directory.
Indexing certain attributes used by the Safeguard Authentication Services Unix agent can have a dramatic effect on the performance and scalability of your Unix and Active Directory integration project.
The Control Center, Preferences | Schema Attributes | Unix Attributes panel displays a warning if the Active Directory configuration is not optimized according to best practices.
One Identity recommends that you index the following attributes in Active Directory:
- User UID Number
- User Unix Name
- Group GID Number
- Group Unix Name
Note: LDAP display names vary depending on your Unix attribute mappings.
It is also a best practice to add all Unix identity attributes to the global catalog. This reduces the number of Active Directory lookups that need to be performed by Safeguard Authentication Services Unix agents.
Click the Optimize Schema link to run a script that updates these attributes as necessary. The Optimize Schema option is only available if you have not optimized the Unix schema attributes defined for use in Active Directory.
This operation requires administrative rights in Active Directory. If you do not have the necessary rights to optimize your schema, it generates a schema optimization script. You can send the script to an Active Directory administrator who has rights to make the necessary changes.
All schema optimizations are reversible and no schema extensions are applied in the process.
