Web Help Desk 12.5 Import from AD specific groups/departments

My organization is currently in the process of implementing Web Help Desk 12.5 along with Dameware Remote Support. We are using a hosted solution provided by a technology group provided to us by the state. They have several site hosted on the same domain. Is there a way of drilling into the domain to pull specific departments out so I'm not importing 30,000 users only 200 of which are mine? Essentially we are not domain admins, but OU admins for our specific client within this large domain.

I've inserted an image that gives a basic idea of how we are situated in AD. What I want to do is pull the Departments highlighted in red that go from Domain>Hosted Clients>Client C>Department A, Department B, etc. I'd like to pull these individually so I can stagger the synchronization schedules to limit the network impact.

Domain Schema.jpg

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Accepted answers

justin.gray

Probably easiest to ask your Admin for the DN of your staff container(s). Spaces are not truncated, just spaces. The issue is, based on your org structure, some values may be 'cn=' where others will be 'ou='

If your domain is 'domain.com' yours most likely looks similar to: OU=client c,OU=hosted clients,DC=domain,DC=com

All comments

kellytice

Yep...

You can create one (or more) LDAP connections to your Active Directory environment. Each LDAP connection can be pointed to a particular container and can (optionally) pick up the users from the other containers below it.

When you define the LDAP connection (Setup -> Clients -> AD/LDAP Connections) there is a field called Users DN located under the Advanced section. That is the field that you can modify to point to your specific container.

ldap users dn.png

Side note: one level 'up' from this dialog there is a button you can click to "Sync now". That option is not enabled unless you have the "bulk synchronization" option enabled in LDAP connection settings (hence why i highlighted it in that screenshot).

If you decide you want to enable that, FIRST go up to Setup -> Clients -> Options and make sure that the "E-Mail Client When Account is Created" box is NOT CHECKED unless you want to email blast a bunch of people. The default is that the box is not checked, but I always like to double-check that to make sure.

kellytice

Other side note: the network impact of this pull of LDAP info is pretty minimal... as in i can sync several thousand accounts in less than a minute since it basically equates to a bit of text data but it's not pulling binary files or anything. I would think you would not need to stagger those (e.g. you could just pull in "Client C" and have the option to 'include subtrees' checked so you get 'em all at once)... but if you feel like it you could create individual LDAP connections for Department A, Department B, and Department C.

nickslo

So are you using the Browse button, next to the "Users DN" field to drill into the domain and find specific containers? Mine shows a few options, but when I expand the tree they remain blank. I'm not sure if there's a large delay after expanding the tree or it's just not populating due to an error on my part in entering my connection data.

Edit: Ok, I think after playing I have more of an idea how the syntax works. It seems to me that "cn=" stands for "container equals (value)". Is there a special way to truncate containers that have spaces in their name?

justin.gray

If your domain is 'domain.com' yours most likely looks similar to: OU=client c,OU=hosted clients,DC=domain,DC=com