How To: Scope an Active Directory Data Store Connection to a Specific Site

Version Affected: All

 

Overview

When Active Directory is used as a data store and the domain name doesn't match the domain the IdP is joined to, SecureAuth performs a DNS SRV lookup for the connection string. Since that lookup isn't scoped to a specific Active Directory site, it can connect to any domain controller (DC) at that fully qualified domain name (FQDN) -- including ones on a suboptimal network path.

Scope the Connection String to a Site

1. Open the SecureAuth Admin Console.
2. Modify the datastore's connection string to include the site name, so lookups are scoped to DCs in that site instead of the whole domain. For example, if the connection string is currently:

LDAP://<domain>/DC=<domain-component>,DC=<domain-component>

and the site to connect to is named <site>, the connection string becomes:

LDAP://<site>._sites.<domain>/DC=<domain-component>,DC=<domain-component>

3. Save the change and test the connection.

Special Considerations

As long as more than one DC exists in the specified site, failover is preserved -- the connection just no longer reaches outside that site.


 

SecureAuth Knowledge Base Articles provide information based on specific use cases and may not apply to all appliances or configurations. Be advised that these instructions could cause harm to the environment if not followed correctly or if they do not apply to the current use case.

Customers are responsible for their own due diligence prior to utilizing this information and agree that SecureAuth is not liable for any issues caused by misconfiguration directly or indirectly related to SecureAuth products.