Access Live Active Directory Data in TIBCO Data Virtualization

TIBCO Data Virtualization (TDV) is an enterprise data virtualization solution that orchestrates access to multiple and varied data sources. When paired with the CData TIBCO DV Adapter for Active Directory, you get federated access to live Active Directory data directly within TIBCO Data Virtualization. This article walks through deploying an adapter and creating a new data source based on Active Directory.

With built-in optimized data processing, the CData TIBCO DV Adapter offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Active Directory data. When you issue complex SQL queries to Active Directory, the adapter pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Active Directory. Its built-in dynamic metadata querying allows you to work with and analyze Active Directory data using native data types.

Deploy the Active Directory TIBCO DV Adapter

1. In a console, navigate to the bin folder in the TDV Server installation directory. If there is a current version of the adapter installed, you will need to undeploy it.

   .\server_util.bat -server localhost -user admin -password ******** -undeploy -version 1 -name ActiveDirectory
   

2. Extract the CData TIBCO DV Adapter to a local folder and deploy the JAR file (tdv.activedirectory.jar) to the server from the extract location.

   .\server_util.bat -server localhost -user admin -password ******** -deploy -package /PATH/TO/tdv.activedirectory.jar
   

You may need to restart the server to ensure the new JAR file is loaded properly, which can be accomplished by running the composite.bat script located at: C:\Program Files\TIBCO\TDV Server <version>\bin. Note that reauthenticating to the TDV Studio is required after restarting the server.

Sample Restart Call

.\composite.bat monitor restart

Create a Active Directory Data Source in TDV Studio

With the CData TIBCO DV Adapter for Active Directory, you can easily create a data source for Active Directory and introspect the data source to add resources to TDV.

Create the Data Source

1. Right-click on the folder you wish to add the data source to and select New -> New Data Source.
2. Scroll until you find the adapter (e.g. Active Directory) and click Next.
3. Name the data source (e.g. CData Active Directory Source).

4. Fill in the required connection properties.

   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.

5. Click Create & Close.

Introspect the Data Source

Once the data source is created, you can introspect the data source by right-clicking and selecting Open. In the dashboard, click Add/Remove Resources and select the Tables, Views, and Stored Procedures to include as part of the data source. Click Next and Finish to add the selected Active Directory tables, views, and stored procedures as resources.

After creating and introspecting the data source, you are ready to work with Active Directory data in TIBCO Data Virtualization just like you would any other relational data source. You can create views, query using SQL, publish the data source, and more.