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Active Directory Sync doesn't update after first initial sync and account creation.

Ryan_Wakefield
World-Class Innovator
World-Class Innovator

Hello,

So while learning OnBase more and more here recently after becoming a certified SA, I was informed about a little nuance of an issue regarding our Active Directory Syncing. The nuance is that we can add a user to an Active Directory group and then that will then send the apporpriate information over to OnBase and create the account with all of the apporpiate security settings. However, this is where the nuance happens. Let's say that John Doe changes departments from Accounts Receivable to HR. If we change John Doe's AD group to the HR one and remove him from the Accounts Receivable one, OnBase won't update John Doe' permissions and information. Currently we have to go in and manually change the users permissions to reflect their new role.

I was told that this is because the Active Directory Sync is one-way and will only update one time. Now, I have a hard time believing this as I have been reading lots of other posts regarding some issues with Active Directory, but they talk about how the permissions are being updated based on group changes. So I am struggling to think that this is truly just a one-way one-time sync kind of thing.

Has anyone else had this issue? Does anyone know where we can look to see why this might be happening? My coworker said that he has called support and was told that it is functioning as expected and that the manual changing of permissions after a role change is normal. However, again, I am struggling to believe this due to the posts and information I am reading on here.

Thanks for any and all help, suggestions, and feedback.

1 ACCEPTED ANSWER

AdamShaneHyland
Employee
Employee

Hi Ryan.

If that is what you are experiencing where users are not updated in OnBase after changes are made to Active Directory, then please reach out to support as there appears to be an issue.  With both of the Active Directory authentication methods (Basic and Enhanced), the authentication process is the trigger to perform an updates to group assignments within OnBase.  Changes are "synced" outside of this process by a background service.  This means, if a user is a member of the Human Resources group and then moves to Accounts Receivable, once the user's user groups are updated within Active Directory, the next time they login to OnBase you will see the new groups having been assign (both adding to new user groups and removing from old user groups).

There are some caveats, but they are mostly based on configuration.  For instance, if you are using Basic, then all of the user group names in Active Directory must match the group names in OnBase.  The comparison is performed based on the name.  If the two don't match, then the user group comparison between OnBase and Active Directory will not be synced as OnBase will not be able to find the user group which further means the users assignment will not be updated.

With the Enhanced method, the user groups between Active Directory and OnBase have to be mapped to one another and further the OnBase user group can't be configured as "Manually Managed".  

A couple other items, the "Synchronize User Attributes on Auto-Logon" is only used to capture the users Display Name and E-mail Address from Active Directory when the user authenticates.  This applies for both methods.  The "Group Discovery Strategy" is only used with the Basic authentication method.  This setting is recommended to be set to Nested when using this method.  Further, the Enhanced authentication method is recommended over the Basic authentication method.

Take care.

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9 REPLIES 9

Alex_French
Elite Collaborator
Elite Collaborator
To help others- are you using the "Basic" AD integration, or the fancier, more-configurable one?

Ryan_Wakefield
World-Class Innovator
World-Class Innovator
I am honestly not 100% sure. Are you able to tell me the difference between the two? I would be interested as I think I might see where you are going. 🙂

Thanks.

Alex_French
Elite Collaborator
Elite Collaborator
In OnBase Configuration, Utils->Network Security.

"Active Directory - Basic" pretty much just maps AD groups to OnBase groups by name.

It has a checkbox in that dialog "Synchronize User Attributes on Auto-Logon, I'm not sure if that includes group info.

The "Settings" second-level dialog lets you choose "Group Discovery Strategy", which might also be relevant.

The more sophisticated option is "Active Directory - Enhanced", which I haven't directly worked with. It lets you make choices about mapping groups between AD and OnBase.

I'm pretty sure that Basic vs. Enhanced is a "change it once and you can never change it again" thing, so be careful poking around in that dialog.

Alex_French
Elite Collaborator
Elite Collaborator
In OnBase Configuration, Utils->Network Security.

"Active Directory - Basic" pretty much just maps AD groups to OnBase groups by name.

It has a checkbox in that dialog "Synchronize User Attributes on Auto-Logon, I'm not sure if that includes group info.

The "Settings" second-level dialog lets you choose "Group Discovery Strategy", which might also be relevant.

The more sophisticated option is "Active Directory - Enhanced", which I haven't directly worked with. It lets you make choices about mapping groups between AD and OnBase.

I'm pretty sure that Basic vs. Enhanced is a "change it once and you can never change it again" thing, so be careful poking around in that dialog.