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 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 Linking Policy Objects to directory 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 that 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 specified type.
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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 that you have selected.
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Complete configuring workflow start conditions.
For more information about workflows, see Workflows.
AD LDS data management
Active Roles provides the ability to manage directory data in Microsoft Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS), an independent mode of Active Directory formerly known as Active Directory Application Mode (ADAM).
A running copy of the AD LDS directory service is referred to as a service instance (or, simply, instance). To use Active Roles for managing data hosted by the AD LDS directory service, you first need to register the instance that holds the data to manage.
Once an instance has been registered, the Active Roles client interfaces—Console, Web Interface and ADSI Provider—can be used to access, view and modify directory data in the application and configuration partitions found on the instance. The instances registered with Active Roles are referred to as managed AD LDS instances.
To register an AD LDS instance with Active Roles
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Open the Active Roles Console.
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In the Console tree, expand Configuration > Server Configuration, right-click Managed AD LDS Instances (ADAM), and select New > Managed AD LDS Instance (ADAM) to start the Add Managed AD LDS Instance Wizard.
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Follow the instructions on the wizard pages.
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On the AD LDS Instance to Register page, specify the server name and port number of the AD LDS instance you want to register with Active Roles.
In Server, type the fully qualified DNS name (for example, server.company.com) of the computer on which the instance is running. In LDAP port, type the number of the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) communication port in use by the instance (the default communication port for LDAP is 389). You can also click Select to locate and select the AD LDS instance you want to register.
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On the Active Roles Credentials page, specify the credentials that Active Roles will use to access the instance.
If you want each Administration Service to connect to the instance in the security context of its own service account, click The service account information the Administration Service uses to log on. With this option, different Administration Services may have different levels of access to the instance (the service account of one Service may have administrative rights on the instance while the service account of another Service may not). As a result, switching from one Administration Service to another may cause Active Roles to lose access to the instance.
If you want each Administration Service to connect to the instance using the same user account, click The Windows user account information specified below and type in the user name, password, and domain name. In this way, you specify a so-called override account, thereby causing the access rights of Active Roles on the instance to be determined by the access rights of that user account (rather than by those of the service account of the Administration Service).
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On the completion page, click Finish to start the registration process.
The override account you specify in Step 5 must, at a minimum, be a member of the following groups in the AD LDS instance:
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Instances (CN=Instances,CN=Roles) in the configuration partition.
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Readers (CN=Readers,CN=Roles) in the configuration partition and in each application partition.
If you choose not to specify an override account, you should add the service account to these groups.
To allow Active Roles full access to the AD LDS instance, add the service account or, if specified, the override account to the following group:
If you add the account to the Administrators group, you don’t need to add it to the Instances or Readers group.
Use the AD LDS ADSI Edit console to add the account to the appropriate groups prior to registering the instance with Active Roles.
After an AD LDS instance is registered, you can view or change its registration settings by using the Properties command on the object representing that instance in the Managed AD LDS Instances (ADAM) container. Thus, you can make changes to the choices that were made in Step 5 of the above procedure.
If you no longer want to manage an AD LDS instance with Active Roles, you can unregister the instance by using the Delete command on the object representing that instance in the Managed AD LDS Instances (ADAM) container. Unregistering an instance only removes the registration information from Active Roles, without making any changes to the directory data within that instance.
Managing AD LDS objects
The application and configuration partitions found in the managed AD LDS instances are grouped together in a top-level container, thus making it easy to locate the AD LDS data. Each partition is represented by a separate container (node) so you can browse the partition tree the same way you do for an Active Directory domain.
The Active Roles console supports a wide range of administrative operations on AD LDS users, groups and other objects, so you can create, view, modify, and delete directory objects, such as users, groups and Organizational Units, in the managed AD LDS instances the same way you do for directory objects in Active Directory domains.
To browse the directory tree and manage AD LDS objects
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In the Console tree under the Console tree root, double-click the AD LDS (ADAM) container.
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In the Console tree under AD LDS (ADAM), double-click a directory partition object to view its top-level containers.
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In the Console tree, double-click a top-level container to view the next level of objects in that container.
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Do one of the following:
In the AD LDS (ADAM) container, each directory partition is identified by a label that is composed of the name of the partition, the DNS name of the computer running the AD LDS instance that hosts the partition, and the number of the LDAP port in use by the instance.
Normally, the console only displays the application directory partitions. To view the configuration partition, switch into Raw view mode: select View > Mode, click Raw Mode, and then click OK.
You can only perform the data management tasks to which you are assigned in Active Roles. Thus, you are only shown the commands you are authorized to use and the objects you are authorized to view or modify.
In addition to access control, Active Roles provides for policy enforcement on directory data. Policies may restrict access to certain portions of directory objects, causing data entry to be limited with choice constraints, auto-generating data without the ability to modify the data, or requiring data entry. The Console provides a visual indication of the data entries that are controlled by policies: the labels of such data entries are underlined on the dialog boxes so that the user can examine policy constraints by clicking a label.
