LDAP Sources in Data Synchronization Tasks
When you configure a Data Synchronization task to use an LDAP source, you can configure the source properties.
The source properties appear on the Source page of the Data Synchronization Task wizard when you specify an LDAP connection.
The following table describes the LDAP source properties:
Source Property | Description |
|---|
Connection | Name of the source connection. |
Source Type | Type of the source object. Select Single as the source type. |
Source Object | Name of the source object. Select the source object for the task. |
LDAP Source Properties in Data Synchronization Tasks
You can configure the advanced source properties on the Schedule page of the Data Synchronization Task wizard.
The following table describes the LDAP advanced source properties:
Property | Description |
|---|
Page Size | Size of the page set to retrieve the maximum number of entries for each request. 0 indicates that all the entries are retrieved in one request. Default is 0. |
Parent DN | Required. The DN in an LDAP directory server namespace from where you want to fetch data. For example, you can specify the following DN to read data about people from Informatica: ou=people, o= infa.com |
Search Level | Searches for entries while reading from the LDAP directory server. You can select one of the following search options: - - One-level. Retrieves immediate children of a base object, but excludes the base object.
- - Subtree. Retrieves all objects subordinate to the base object including the base object.
Default is one-level. |
Use Object Category Filter | Fetches entries based on the object category value. When disabled, the Secure Agent fetches the entries based on the object class value. For example, when you disable the filter, the user object class fetches the entries from both the user and computer because computer is derived from the user object class. To fetch only the user entry, enable the object category filter as both user and computer have different object category values. |
CDC | Captures the changed data in Active Directory based on the time stamp or the last extracted point. Select CDC and configure the following options to capture changed data: - - Specify the start time and end time to capture changed data for that period.
- - Specify only the start time to capture changed data until the last change.
- - Do not specify a start time and end time to capture data from the last recorded update sequence number (USN).
- - Specify only the end time to capture changes from the beginning till the specified end time.
- - Reset the value of the CDC to capture changes by ignoring the values stored in the CDC file.
|
CDC Start Time | The start time from when you want the Secure Agent to capture the changed data. If you select CDC and specify a start time, but do not specify an end time, the Secure Agent captures the changed data until the last change. Use the following sample format to specify the start time: 20150312081001.0Z |
CDC End Time | The end time until when you want the Secure Agent to capture the changed data. When you specify only the end time, the Secure Agent captures the changed data from the beginning until the specified end time. Use the following sample format to specify the end time: 2050412081001.0Z |
CDC File Path | Absolute path of the file that stores the change number for the last read changed entry. |
Reset CDC | Ignores the CDC change number stored in the CDC file. After the reset, the Secure Agent captures the changes made to the LDAP directory server from the beginning. |
LDAP Source Data Synchronization Task Example
You work for the IT department and you have an LDAP directory server to store data of assets allotted to employees. You want to track the availability and utilization of virtual machines across employees in the organization.
You want to generate an analytic report in Tableau Server. Based on the report, you want to take decisions to allocate unused hardware effectively.
You perform the following Data Synchronization tasks:
- Define the Data Synchronization task.
- Configure a Data Synchronization task to use the insert operation.
- Use an LDAP source object.
- The source object for a Data Synchronization task is an LDAP computer class object that contains the asset details. Use the LDAP connection to connect to the LDAP directory server and read data. The LDAP object is a single source in the Data Synchronization task.
- The following table describes the fields for the computer source object that you can include:
Field | Description |
|---|
name | The name of the asset. |
description | Description of the asset. |
managedBy | Name of the employee who owns the asset. |
memberOf | Team or group that the employee belongs to. |
- Create a Tableau target.
- The target in a Data Synchronization task is Tableau Server. Use the Tableau connection to connect to Tableau Server. Use the target_write.tde as the target object in the Data Synchronization task.
- Include the name, description, mangedBy, and memberOf target fields from the source object that you want to insert into the target object.
- Configure a field mapping.
- Map the fields of the LDAP computer source object to the Tableau target object.
- The following image shows the mapping of the computer source with the Tableau target:
- Configure the advanced source and target properties.
- In the advanced source properties, you choose properties that are specific to LDAP. Specify OU=Platform_QA_Adapters,OU=R&D,OU=INFA,DC=ADPQATEST,DC=COM as the parent DN in the LDAP directory server namespace from where you want to fetch the data.
- In the advanced target properties, you choose properties that are specific to Tableau Server. Save and run the task. The Secure Agent retrieves the computer data from LDAP directory server and writes to Tableau Server based on the fields you mapped in the Data Synchronization task.
Open the project in Tableau Server to visualize the exported data.
The following image shows the data categorized by asset availability in Tableau Server:
IT managers can use the information to visualize and query the computer assets to make decisions.
