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Active Roles 8.1.2 - Administration Guide

Introduction 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
Provisioning Policy Objects Deprovisioning Policy Objects How Policy Objects work Policy Object management tasks Policy configuration tasks
Property Generation and Validation User Logon Name Generation Group Membership AutoProvisioning Exchange Mailbox AutoProvisioning AutoProvisioning in SaaS products OneDrive Provisioning Home Folder AutoProvisioning Script Execution Microsoft 365 and Azure Tenant Selection E-mail Alias Generation User Account Deprovisioning Office 365 Licenses Retention 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
Using rule-based and role-based tools for granular administration Workflows
Key workflow features and definitions About workflow processes Workflow processing overview Workflow activities overview Configuring a workflow
Creating a workflow definition for a workflow Configuring workflow start conditions Configuring workflow parameters Adding activities to a workflow Configure 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
Approval workflow Email-based approval Automation workflow Activity extensions
Temporal Group Memberships Group Family Dynamic groups Active Roles Reporting Management History Entitlement profile Recycle Bin AD LDS data management One Identity Starling Join and configuration through Active Roles Managing One Identity Starling Connect Configuring linked mailboxes with Exchange Resource Forest Management Configuring remote mailboxes for on-premises users Migrating Active Roles configuration with the Configuration Transfer Wizard Managing Skype for Business Server with Active Roles
About Skype for Business Server User Management Active Directory topologies supported by Skype for Business Server User Management User Management policy for Skype for Business Server User Management Master Account Management policy for Skype for Business Server User Management Access Templates for Skype for Business Server Configuring the Skype for Business Server User Management feature Managing Skype for Business Server users
Exchanging provisioning information with Active Roles SPML Provider Monitoring Active Roles with Management Pack for SCOM Azure AD, Microsoft 365, and Exchange Online Management
Configuring Active Roles to manage Hybrid AD objects Managing Hybrid AD users
Creating a new Azure AD user with the Web Interface Viewing or updating the Azure AD user properties with the Web Interface Viewing or modifying the manager of a hybrid Azure user Disabling an Azure AD user Enabling an Azure AD user Deprovisioning of an Azure AD user Undo deprovisioning of an Azure AD user Adding an Azure AD user to a group Removing an Azure AD user from a group View the change history and user activity for an Azure AD user Deleting an Azure AD user with the Web Interface Creating a new hybrid Azure user with the Active Roles Web Interface Converting an on-premises user with an Exchange mailbox to a hybrid Azure user Licensing a hybrid Azure user for an Exchange Online mailbox Viewing or modifying the Exchange Online properties of a hybrid Azure user Creating a new Azure AD user with Management Shell Updating the Azure AD user properties with the Management Shell Viewing the Azure AD user properties with the Management Shell Delete an Azure AD user with the Management Shell Assigning Microsoft 365 licenses to new hybrid users Assigning Microsoft 365 licenses to existing hybrid users Modifying or removing Microsoft 365 licenses assigned to hybrid users Updating Microsoft 365 licenses display names
Unified provisioning policy for Azure M365 Tenant Selection, Microsoft 365 License Selection, Microsoft 365 Roles Selection, and OneDrive provisioning Microsoft 365 roles management for hybrid environment users Managing Microsoft 365 contacts Managing Hybrid AD groups Managing Microsoft 365 Groups Managing cloud-only distribution groups Managing cloud-only dynamic distribution groups Managing Azure security groups Managing cloud-only Azure users Managing cloud-only Azure guest users Managing cloud-only Azure contacts Changes to Active Roles policies for cloud-only Azure objects Managing room mailboxes Managing cloud-only shared mailboxes
Managing the configuration of Active Roles
Connecting to the Administration Service Managed domains Using unmanaged domains Evaluating product usage 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
SQL Server replication Using regular expressions Administrative Template Communication ports Active Roles and supported Azure environments Integrating Active Roles with other products and services Active Roles Language Pack Active Roles Diagnostic Tools Active Roles Add-on Manager

SQL Server replication terminology

Replication

To replicate its configuration data, Active Roles employs the replication capabilities of Microsoft SQL Server. In SQL Server, the term replication refers to a process that copies and distributes data and database objects from one database to another and then synchronizes information between databases for consistency.

Publisher

The Publisher is a database server that makes data available for replication to other database servers. The Publisher can have one or more publications, each representing a logically related set of data. In the Active Roles replication model, the Publisher has only one publication.

Subscribers

Subscribers are database servers that receive replicated data. Depending on the type of replication, the Subscriber can propagate data changes back to the Publisher or republish the data to other Subscribers. In the Active Roles replication model, a Subscriber can propagate data changes to the Publisher and receive replicated data from the Publisher.

Distributor

The Distributor is a server that hosts the distribution database and stores history data, transactions, and metadata. In the Active Roles replication model, the same server is used as both the Publisher and Distributor.

Replication group

In the Active Roles replication model, the Publisher and its Subscribers are collectively referred to as the replication group, with each server in the replication group being referred to as the replication partner.

The replication group is comprised of replication partners that include a single Publisher and can include any number of Subscribers. When data in a replication partner’s database changes, replication ensures that the data changes are propagated to the databases maintained by all the other replication partners.

NOTE: In the SQL Server documentation, replication partners are referred to as synchronization partners.

Standalone database server

When it is initially set up, the Administration Service’s database server is configured as a standalone server that does not belong to any replication group.

Articles and publications

Articles are tables of data, partitions of data, or database objects that are specified for replication. Each publication is a collection of articles from one database. This grouping of multiple articles makes it easier to specify a logically related set of data that is to be replicated together. In the Active Roles replication model, each article is a table of data.

SQL Server Agent

SQL Server Agent hosts and schedules the agents used in replication, and provides a way to run Replication Agents. SQL Server Agent also controls and monitors several other operations outside of replication, including monitoring the SQL Server Agent service, maintaining error logs, running jobs, and starting other processes.

Replication Agents

Replication Agents used with Microsoft SQL Server replication carry out the tasks associated with copying and distributing data. The Active Roles replication model employs the Snapshot Agent and Merge Agents.

Snapshot Agent

The Snapshot Agent prepares schema and initial data files of published tables and stored procedures, stores the snapshot files, and records information about synchronization in the distribution database. In the Active Roles replication model, the Snapshot Agent runs at the Publisher.

Merge Agent

The Merge Agent applies the initial snapshot to the Subscriber, and moves and reconciles incremental data changes that occur. Each Subscriber has its own Merge Agent that connects to both the Publisher and the Subscriber and updates both.

In the Active Roles replication model, the Merge Agents run continuously at the Publisher. Each Merge Agent uploads data changes from its Subscriber to the Publisher, and downloads data changes from the Publisher to the Subscriber.

SQL Server replication model overview

NOTE: Operations related to replication are not supported by the Azure SQL databases.

Active Roles replication propagates the changes to configuration data to all replication partners whenever the data is modified on any one of replication partners. To achieve this goal, Active Roles relies on the merge replication provided by Microsoft SQL Server. For details on merge replication, refer to the content indexed under the Merge Replication topic in SQL Server Books Online.

In the Active Roles environment, the SQL Server replication function is used to propagate changes to configuration data to all the replication partners, as soon as data is modified on one of the replication partners. The replication process is initiated immediately after changes are committed to a replication partner. Active Roles does not offer the facility to change this behavior.

As there is usually a moderate volume of changes, and since replication only propagates modified data (merge replication model), the amount of replication traffic is manageable. Therefore, you do not need to schedule or manually force replication in Active Roles.

A merge replication model normally requires a means of resolving conflicts that could result from changing the same data on different replication partners. In the Active Roles replication model, the outcome of the conflict is decided on a “later wins” basis, that is, the last to modify the data wins the conflict.

In the Active Roles replication model, each Administration Service database server can have one of the following roles:

  • Publisher: The Publisher is the database server that makes data available for replication to other replication partners.

    The Administration Service that uses the Publisher database server is referred to as the Publisher Administration Service.

  • Subscriber: Subscribers are database servers that receive replicated data. Subscribers can receive data changes from the Publisher and propagate data changes back to the Publisher.

    The Administration Service that uses a Subscriber database server is referred to as the Subscriber Administration Service.

This section briefly discusses the following elements of the Active Roles replication model:

  • Replication group management

  • Data synchronization and conflict resolution

Replication group management

The tasks performed when managing a replication group include the Publisher-related tasks, such as Promote or Demote, and the Subscriber-related tasks, such as Add or Delete.

Promote

This task assigns the Publisher role to the Administration Service database server, thereby creating a replication group. When performing the Promote task, SQL Server creates the AelitaReplica publication, and starts the Snapshot Agent. The Agent creates an initial snapshot of schema and data, and saves it to the snapshot folder.

Active Roles automatically specifies and passes to SQL Server all replication settings, such as filters, type of replication, and retention period for subscriptions. For more information, see Viewing replication settings.

Add

This task adds the Administration Service database server to the replication group, thus assigning the Subscriber role to the database server. When performing the Add task, the SQL Server starts the Merge Agent. The Agent copies data from the Publisher’s snapshot folder to the Subscriber SQL Server. This process is referred to as applying the initial snapshot. For more information, see Create and Apply the Initial Snapshot.

Delete

This task removes the Subscriber from the replication group, causing the database server to revert to the standalone state. When performing the Delete task, the SQL Server deletes the subscription at the Publisher. The database of the former Subscriber retains the replicated data.

Demote

This task removes the Publisher from the replication group, causing the database server to revert to the standalone state. The Publisher can only be demoted after all of its Subscribers are deleted. When performing the Demote task, the SQL Server deletes the AelitaReplica publication, and erases data in the snapshot folder.

Data synchronization and conflict resolution

After applying the initial snapshot to Subscribers, SQL Server tracks changes to published data at the Publisher and at the Subscribers:

  • When data is modified at a Subscriber, the data changes are sent to the Publisher. Then, the Publisher propagates the data changes to the other Subscribers.

  • When data is modified at the Publisher, the data changes are propagated to the Subscribers.

These operations are performed by the Merge Agents running on the Publisher SQL Server.

The Merge Agents are configured so that once data changes are made at a given replication partner, it normally takes two minutes or less for SQL Server to start synchronizing the data changes with other replication partners. The time required for the synchronization process to be completed depends on SQL Server load and on the bandwidth of network connections. As there is normally a moderate volume of data changes, the replication traffic is manageable.

The synchronization process tracks data changes on both the Subscribers and the Publisher. At the Publisher, the changes are merged to form a single version of the data. During the merge, some conflicts might be found where multiple Subscribers modified the same data.

Any conflict between the arrived values is automatically resolved based on the Microsoft SQL Server DATETIME (Later Wins) Conflict Resolver: The winner of the conflict is chosen according to a “later wins” solution, with the last to modify the data winning the conflict. For information about conflict resolvers, see Microsoft COM-Based Resolvers in SQL Server Books Online.

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