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The Active Directory ODBC Driver is a powerful tool that allows you to connect with live Active Directory, directly from any applications that support ODBC connectivity.

Access Active Directory objects like you would a database - access Users, Groups, Roles, and Contacts, or define custom tables for any ObjectClass, and then perform SQL queries through a standard ODBC Driver interface.

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How to Use a Microsoft Access Database to Update Active Directory Data in Real Time


Update Active Directory data by creating a linked table in Microsoft Access with the CData Active Directory ODBC Driver.

CData ODBC drivers connect your data to any database management tool that supports Open Database Connectivity (ODBC). This includes many of the most popular productivity tools, adding new capabilities for document sharing and collaboration. Using the CData ODBC driver for Active Directory, you can update live Active Directory data in Microsoft Access; for example, you can make updates that can be immediately seen by other users.

Connect to Active Directory as an ODBC Data Source

If you have not already, first specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (data source name). This is the last step of the driver installation. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.

To establish a connection, set the following properties:

  • Valid User and Password credentials (e.g., Domain\BobF or cn=Bob F,ou=Employees,dc=Domain).
  • Server information, including the IP or host name of the Server, as well as the Port.

  • BaseDN: This will limit the scope of LDAP searches to the height of the distinguished name provided.

    Note: Specifying a narrow BaseDN may greatly increase performance; for example, cn=users,dc=domain will only return results contained within cn=users and its children.

Create a Linked Table to User Data

Follow the steps below to create a linked table, which enables you to access live User data.

  1. On the External Data tab in Access, click ODBC Database.
  2. Select the option to link to the data source. A linked table will enable you to read from and write data to the User table.

  3. Select the CData Active Directory data source from the Machine Data Source tab.

  4. Select the User table. For more information on this table, see the "Data Model" chapter in the help documentation.

  5. Double-click the linked table to make edits. The linked table will always have up-to-date data and any changes will be reflected back to the underlying table.