Searching for objects deleted from a certain OU or MU
To view and search a list of objects that were deleted from a particular Organizational Unit (OU) or Managed Unit (MU), you can use the View or Restore Deleted Objects command. The command opens a dialog box that lists the deleted objects that were direct children of the corresponding OU or MU at the time of deletion. The View or Restore Deleted Objects dialog can be used to search for deleted objects whose name matches a specific search string. It provides flexible matching by using support for ambiguous name resolution (ANR).
To search for objects deleted from a particular OU or MU
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Right-click the OU or MU and click View or Restore Deleted Objects.
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In Look for, type the search string that you want to use.
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Click Find Now to start the search.
When the search completes, the list in the dialog box is limited to the deleted objects whose name, first name, last name, display name, logon name, or any other property used for ANR begins with the specified search string. To clear the search results and display all the deleted objects, click Clear Search.
NOTE: The View or Restore Deleted Objects command is also available on domain and container objects, which allows you to find deleted objects that were direct children of a particular domain or container at the time of deletion.
Restoring a deleted object
For restoring deleted objects you can use the Restore command that is available from:
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The View or Restore Deleted Objects dialog.
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A list of search results prepared using the Deleted Objects search category in the Find dialog.
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A list of objects held in the Deleted Objects container, which is displayed in the details pane when you select the Deleted Objects container in the Console tree.
In the Active Roles Console the command can be found on the shortcut menu, which appears when you right-click a deleted object.
To restore a deleted object
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In the View or Restore Deleted Objects dialog, click the deleted object and then click Restore.
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In a list of search results prepared using the Deleted Objects search category, or in a list of objects held in the Deleted Objects container, right-click the deleted object and click Restore.
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Review and, if necessary, change the settings in the Restore Object dialog, and then click OK to start the restore process.
The Restore Object dialog prompts you to choose whether deleted child objects (descendants) of the deleted object should also be restored. The Restore child objects check box is selected by default, which ensures that the Restore command applied on a deleted container object restores the entire contents of the container.
To clarify, consider an example in which an administrator accidentally deletes an Organizational Unit (OU) called Sales_Department that contains a number of user accounts for sales persons along with another OU called Admins that, in turn, contains a user account for an administrative assistant. When applying the Restore command on the Sales_Department OU, with the option to restore child objects, Active Roles performs the following sequence of steps:
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Restore the Sales_Department OU.
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Restore all the deleted user accounts that were direct children of the Sales_Department OU.
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Restore the Admins OU in the Sales_Department OU.
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Restore all the deleted user accounts that were direct children of the Admins OU.
If you clear the Restore child objects check box, Active Roles performs only the first step, so the restored Sales_Department OU is empty.
IMPORTANT: When restoring a deleted object, ensure that its parent object is not deleted. You can identify the parent object by viewing properties of the deleted object: the canonical name of the parent object, preceded by the deleted from: label, is displayed beneath the name of the deleted object on the General tab in the Properties dialog. If the parent object is deleted, you need to restore it prior to restoring its children because deleted objects must be restored to a live parent.
Delegating operations on deleted objects
The delegation model based on the Active Roles Access Templates is fully applicable to the administrative tasks specific to deleted objects. A new Access Template called All Objects - View or Restore Deleted Objects makes it easy to delegate the following operations to selected users:
When applied to the Deleted Objects container, the Access Template gives the delegated users the right to view and restore any deleted object. With the Access Template applied to an Organizational Unit (OU) or a Managed Unit (MU), the delegated users are given the right to view and restore only those deleted objects that were located in that OU or MU at the time of deletion.
To delegate the operation of restoring deleted objects
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In the Console tree, select Configuration > Access Templates > Active Directory.
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In the details pane, right-click All Objects - View or Restore Deleted Objects and click Links.
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In the Links dialog, click Add.
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Click Next on the Welcome page in the Delegation of Control Wizard.
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On the Objects page in the wizard, click Add; then, select the container in which you want to delegate the operation of restoring deleted objects:
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To delegate restoring only those deleted objects that were in a particular Organizational Unit (OU) or Managed Unit (MU) at the time of deletion, select that OU or MU.
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To delegate restoring any deleted objects in a particular managed domain, select either the object representing that domain or the Deleted Objects container for that domain.
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To delegate restoring any deleted objects in any managed domain, select the Active Directory container.
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Follow the instructions on the wizard pages to complete the Delegation of Control Wizard.
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Click OK to close the Links dialog.
Although it is possible to delegate the operation of restoring deleted objects in any managed domain, OU or MU, a deleted object cannot be restored by using Active Roles unless the object belongs to a managed domain that has Active Directory Recycle Bin enabled. For more information on how to enable Recycle Bin, see Active Directory Recycle Bin Step-by-Step Guide.
Applying policy or workflow rules
In addition to the delegation of administrative tasks, Active Roles provides the ability to establish policy-based control over the process of restoring deleted objects. Policy rules can be used to perform additional verifications or custom script-based actions upon the restoration of deleted objects. Workflow rules can be applied so as to require approval for the restore operation or notify of the restore operation completion via email.
The policy or workflow rules to control the process of restoring or otherwise managing deleted objects can be defined on:
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The Active Directory node in the Active Roles Console - The rules defined in this way affect all deleted objects in any managed domain that has Recycle Bin enabled.
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The node representing a domain or the Deleted Objects container for that domain in the Active Roles Console - These rules affect all deleted objects in that domain only.
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An Organizational Unit (OU) or Managed Unit (MU) that held the object at the time of deletion. Although the deleted object no longer belongs to that OU or MU, Active Roles considers the former location of the object so that the rules applied on that location continue to affect the object after the deletion.
For example, an administrator could create a workflow to require approval for the restoration of any user account that was deleted from a certain Organizational Unit (OU). The workflow definition would contain an appropriate approval rule, and have that OU specified as the target container in the workflow start conditions.
Policy rules are defined by configuring and applying Policy Objects.
To apply a Policy Object to the Deleted Objects container
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Right-click the Deleted Objects container and click Enforce Policy.
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In the Active Roles Policy dialog, click Add.
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In the Select Policy Objects dialog, select the check box next to the Policy Object you want to apply, and then click OK.
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Click OK to close the Active Roles Policy dialog.
For more information on configuring and applying Policy Objects, see Applying Policy Objects.
Workflow rules are defined by configuring workflow definitions and specifying the appropriate workflow start conditions.
To apply a workflow to the Deleted Objects container
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In the Console tree, select the workflow you want to apply.
To select a workflow, expand Configuration > Policies > Workflow, and then click the workflow definition object under Workflow in the Console tree.
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In the details pane, click Workflow options and start conditions above the workflow process diagram, and then click Configure.
This displays the Workflow Options and Start Conditions page.
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Click Select Operation, select the Restore option, and then click Finish.
This will cause the workflow to start upon a request to restore a deleted object of the type specified.
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Click Add under Initiator Conditions.
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On the Add Initiator Condition page, click Browse and select the Deleted Objects container.
You could select a container other than Deleted Objects. If you do so, the workflow starts only upon the restoration of an object that was deleted from the container you have selected.
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Complete configuring workflow start conditions.