Active Directory Synchronizer questions
I'm currently evaluating RDM 10, and after working with the Active Directory Synchronizer feature, I have a couple questions:
1. There's a "Synchronize automatically" check box selected by default. How does this work? Do the domains re-sync periodically in the background, or every time somebody launches the application? Or are scheduled tasks required to actually automate the sync? I have 100+ domains I need to sync with, so would need this to be manageable.
2. It does not appear that the sync actually does anything other than a one-time RDP setup of any computer account it finds given its filtering criteria. For example, I have it set to import descriptions, but changing a description on a computer account and re-running the sync just says "No new computer found" and does not update the descriptions already set on the RDP connections already in RDM. It seems this data is not compared and updated as needed during every sync. Also, I have not tested this yet, but my guess is that if a computer changes parent OUs, that will also not be reflected in RDM, even when configured to create groups that match the OU structure of the domain. Are these features not feasible to implement, or have they simply not been thought of and/or requested? Or is this functionality already supposed to exist, and just doesn't work for me for some reason?
edited by ivorycruncher on 6/30/2015
All Comments (3)
Hello,
1. If the auto-sync feature is enabled, 30 seconds after each data source refresh there will be a sync done. If you prefer to have it run manually, unchek the option. You will have to double-click on a synchronizer to have it run. You could also use the desktop shortcut in the advanced tab. We could imagine creating a batch file with all of the shortcuts you mean to run and have it scheduled.
2. you are correct, one-time session creation. If you change the parent OU, and have elected to have duplicate checks performed at the destination folder level, another session for the same host may appear in another destination folder.
I would say that the most requested feature is to delete sessions when they are not the source anymore. We are truly community driven and always create features in a "light" fashion then wait for input. Our feature request forum is the best tool for that purpose.
Maurice
Thanks for the info. Just to clarify on point 1, does the 30-second sync happen within every active RDM session? If so, that seems excessive, so we may want to instead schedule that. Also, does the auto-sync still happen even when the Silent option is not enabled?
On point 2, that's what I was afraid of. I also was hoping for the auto-delete functionality, but rather than delete/recreate when a computer is moved to a different OU, I would prefer it be moved in RDM as well, because there could be custom settings set on specific connections that would then be lost. Given that the parent OU path and description are read on initial import, I would think they could be read and have action taken to update existing connections as needed. I guess I'm basically looking for the ability to have the synchronizer fully manage the connection list. I realize that's out of the scope of this forum though, so I will re-post in the feature request forum. Thanks!
It happens for the whole data source, so for 100+ domains you definitely do not want them to auto-sync.
The silent option is simply no to display the messages as to the number of sessions created and so on, it doesn't control the sync process itself.
Best regards
Maurice