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Active Roles 7.2 - Administration Guide

Introduction About Active Roles Getting Started Rule-based Administrative Views Role-based Administration
Access Templates as administrative roles Access Template management tasks Examples of use Deployment considerations Windows claims-based Access Rules
Rule-based AutoProvisioning and Deprovisioning
About Policy Objects Policy Object management tasks Policy configuration tasks
Property Generation and Validation User Logon Name Generation Group Membership AutoProvisioning E-mail Alias Generation Exchange Mailbox AutoProvisioning Home Folder AutoProvisioning Script Execution User Account Deprovisioning Group Membership Removal Exchange Mailbox Deprovisioning Home Folder Deprovisioning User Account Relocation User Account Permanent Deletion Group Object Deprovisioning Group Object Relocation Group Object Permanent Deletion Notification Distribution Report Distribution
Deployment considerations Checking for policy compliance Deprovisioning users or groups Restoring deprovisioned users or groups Container Deletion Prevention policy Picture management rules Policy extensions
Workflows
Understanding workflow Workflow activities overview Configuring a workflow
Creating a workflow definition Configuring workflow start conditions Configuring workflow parameters Adding activities to a workflow Configuring an Approval activity Configuring a Notification activity Configuring a Script activity Configuring an If-Else activity Configuring a Stop/Break activity Configuring an Add Report Section activity Configuring a Search activity Configuring CRUD activities Configuring a Save Object Properties activity Configuring a Modify Requested Changes activity Enabling or disabling an activity Enabling or disabling a workflow Using the initialization script
Example: Approval workflow E-mail based approval Automation workflow Activity extensions
Temporal Group Memberships Group Family Dynamic Groups Active Roles Reporting Management History
Understanding Management History Management History configuration Viewing change history
Workflow activity report sections Policy report items Active Roles internal policy report items
Examining user activity
Entitlement Profile Recycle Bin AD LDS Data Management Managing Configuration of Active Roles
Connecting to the Administration Service Adding and removing managed domains Using unmanaged domains Evaluating product usage Configuring replication Using AlwaysOn Availability Groups Using database mirroring Creating and using virtual attributes Examining client sessions Monitoring performance Customizing the console Using Configuration Center Changing the Active Roles Admin account Enabling or disabling diagnostic logs Active Roles Log Viewer
Using regular expressions Administrative Template Communication ports

Case 2: Management History data stored in a separate database

Managing Configuration of Active Roles > Using AlwaysOn Availability Groups > Availability Group setup in Active Roles > Case 2: Management History data stored in a separate database

Active Roles provides the option to store the Management History data in a separate database. If you use this option, then you have two databases, the Configuration database and the Management History database, each of which (or both) can belong an availability group. In this case:

  • If the Configuration database belongs to an availability group, specify the listener of that availability group in the SQL Server field on the Connection to Database page in the Change Active Roles Database wizard. Otherwise, leave the value data intact.
  • If the Management History database belongs to an availability group, specify the listener of that availability group in the SQL Server field on the Connection to Management History Database page in the Change Active Roles Database wizard. Otherwise, leave the value data intact.

To specify the listener

  1. Start Configuration Center on the computer running the Administration Service, or connect Configuration Center to that computer.

    You can start Configuration Center by selecting Active Roles Active Roles Configuration Center on the Apps page or Start menu, depending upon the version of your Windows operating system. For detailed instructions, see Running Configuration Center.

  1. On the Dashboard page in the Configuration Settings main window, click Manage Settings in the Administration Service area.
  2. On the Administration Service page that opens, click Change in the Active Roles databases area.
  3. On the Connection to Database page in the Change Active Roles Database wizard that appears, do the following:
    1. If the Configuration database belongs to an availability group, then, in the SQL Server field, supply the DNS host name and, optionally, the TCP port of the listener of that availability group. Otherwise, don’t change the value in the SQL Server field.
    2. If the Administration Service uses the SQL Server authentication option, type the password of the SQL login used for connection to the Configuration database.
    3. Click Next.
  4. On the Management History Database Options page, select the Existing Active Roles database option (if not already selected), and then click Next.
  5. On the Connection to Management History Database page, do the following:
    1. If the Management History database belongs to an availability group, then, in the SQL Server field, supply the DNS host name and, optionally, the TCP port of the listener of that availability group. Otherwise, don’t change the value in the SQL Server field.
    2. If the Administration Service uses the SQL Server authentication option, type the password of the SQL login used for connection to the Management History database.
    3. Click Next.
  6. Follow the instructions in the wizard to complete the configuration.

Using database mirroring

Managing Configuration of Active Roles > Using database mirroring

Active Roles can use the Microsoft SQL Server database mirroring technology to improve the availability of the Administration Service. Database mirroring provides a standby database server that supports failover. Once the current database server fails, the Administration Service can recover quickly by automatically reconnecting to the standby server.

Database mirroring increases database availability by supporting rapid failover. This technology can be used to maintain two copies of a single Active Roles database on different server instances of SQL Server Database Engine. One server instance serves the database to the Administration Service; this instance is referred to as the principal server. The other instance acts as a standby server; this instance is referred to as the mirror server.

Role switching

Managing Configuration of Active Roles > Using database mirroring > Role switching

Within the context of database mirroring, the mirror server acts as the failover partner for the principal server. In the event of a disaster, the mirror server takes over the role of the principal server, bringing the mirror copy of the database online as the new principal database. The former principal server, if available, then assumes the role of the mirror server. This process, known as role switching, can take the form of:

  • Automatic failover  If the principal server becomes unavailable, quickly brings the mirror copy of the database online as the new principal database.
  • Manual failover  Allows the database owner to reverse the roles of the failover partners, if necessary.
  • Forced service  If the principal server becomes unavailable, allows the database owner to restore access to the database by forcing the mirror server to take over the role of the principal server.

In any role-switching scenario, as soon as the new principal database comes online, the Administration Service can recover by automatically reconnecting to the database.

For more information about the database mirroring technology, and instructions on how to set up and administer database mirroring on SQL Server, see the “Database Mirroring” topics in the SQL Server product documentation at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb934127.aspx.

NOTE: The Active Roles replication function is not supported for the databases that have mirroring set up. If you attempt to perform the “Promote to Publisher” or “Add Subscriber” operation on such a database, you receive an error.

Database Mirroring setup in Active Roles

Managing Configuration of Active Roles > Using database mirroring > Database Mirroring setup in Active Roles

Database Mirroring setup in Active Roles

Here we assume that mirroring for the database of Active Roles is already set up on the SQL Server side in accord with the recommendations and instructions found in Microsoft’s documentation, so that the following conditions are fulfilled:

  • The Administration Service is connected to the Configuration database on the principal database server.
  • Replication is not configured for the Configuration database (the database server acts as a stand-alone server as applied to Active Roles replication).
  • The Administration Service is connected to the Management History database on the principal database server (by default, the Management History database is the same as the Configuration database).
  • Replication is not configured for the Management History database (the database server acts as a stand-alone server as applied to Active Roles replication).

Under these conditions, the Administration Service can be instructed to automatically connect to the new principal database in the event of database server role switching. On the computer running the Administration Service, add a string value to each of these two registry keys, and then restart the Administration Service:

  • Key: HKLM\SOFTWARE\One Identity\Active Roles\7.1\Service\DatabaseConnectionString\
    Value Name: Failover Partner
    Value Data: <Identifies the SQL Server instance that currently owns the mirror server role for the Configuration database>
  • Key: HKLM\SOFTWARE\One Identity\Active Roles\7.1\Service\CHDatabaseConnectionString\
    Value Name: Failover Partner
    Value Data: <Identifies the SQL Server instance that currently owns the mirror server role for the Management History database>

If the default instance is used, the value data is the short name of the computer running SQL Server. Otherwise, the value data is the short name of the computer, followed by a backslash, followed by the name of the instance (such as ComputerName\InstanceName).

By default, the same database is used for the Configuration and Management History data; therefore, the value data would be the same in the DatabaseConnectionString and CHDatabaseConnectionString keys.

To restart the Administration Service, open Configuration Center and click the Restart button at the top of the Administration Service page in the Configuration Center main window. For instructions on how to run Configuration Center, see Running Configuration Center later in this document.

In the Active Roles console, you can view the mirroring status of the Configuration or Management History database that is used by a particular instance of the Administration Service:

  1. In the console tree, select Configuration | Server Configuration | Administration Services.
  2. In the details pane, double-click the name of the Administration Service whose database you want to examine.
  3. In the Properties dialog box, click the Configuration Database or Management History Database tab, and observe the information in the Database mirroring area:
    • Role  Current role of the database in the database mirroring session (Principal or Mirror).
    • Partner  The instance name and computer name for the other partner in the database mirroring session.
    • State  Current state of the mirrored database and of the database mirroring session. For more information about this field, see the “Mirroring States” topic at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms189284.aspx

    If no information is displayed in the Database Mirroring area, then database mirroring is not configured.

You can also view the mirroring status of a Configuration database or a Management History database on the General tab in the Properties dialog box for the object representing that database in the Configuration/Server Configuration/Configuration Databases or Configuration/Server Configuration/Management History Databases container, respectively.

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