Active Directory Module System Configuration 

The following requirements must be met in order to get the Active Directory module service running on a machine.

Configuring SQL Server 2005 to access Active Directory via OLE Automation

When the HelpMaster Active Directory service queries the Active Directory, it does so via SQL Server.  This means that your SQL Server will need to be part of your network, and correctly configured to execute and open an LDAP query.  In order to do this, you will need to enable OLE Automation on your SQL Server instance.  You can do this by performing the following.

1. Open the SQL Server 2005 Surface Area Configuration utility
2. Click on "Surface area configuration for features"
3. In the "Surface area configuration feature" screen, click on OLE Automation from the list on the left
4. Check the checkbox entitled "Enable OLE Automation"
5. Restart your SQL Server service to complete this task

Configuring SQL Server 2008 (R2) to access Active Directory via OLE Automation

1. Open SQL Server 2008 Management Studio.
2. Right click on the root level of your SQL Server Instance, e.g. '(local)\HelpMaster' and select the Facets menu option.
   
   
   
3. Select "Surface Area Configuration" from the Facet list.
   
   
   
4.  Click on OLEAutomationEnabled from the list and select the value "True" to enable it.
   
   
   
5. Click "OK" and restart your SQL Server service to complete this task.

The final stage in enabling OLE Automation is to grant the Windows user account that the Active Directory service will use to have SQL Server "execute" permission on certain OLE stored procedures.  To grant this privilege you can execute the following SQL Script in SQL Server Management Studio.  In the script below replace "[HelpMaster Active Directory service account]" with the name of the Windows user account that the Active Directory service will log in as.

Before this script will run, the [HelpMaster Active Directory service account]will need to be added to your SQL Server instance as a valid login and user of your HelpMaster database.

USE [master]
GO
GRANT EXECUTE ON [sys].[sp_OACreate] TO [HelpMaster Active Directory service account]
GO
use [master]
GO
GRANT EXECUTE ON [sys].[sp_OADestroy] TO [HelpMaster Active Directory service account]
GO
use [master]
GO
GRANT EXECUTE ON [sys].[sp_OAGetErrorInfo] TO [HelpMaster Active Directory service account]
GO
use [master]
GO
GRANT EXECUTE ON [sys].[sp_OAGetProperty] TO [HelpMaster Active Directory service account]
GO
use [master]
GO
GRANT EXECUTE ON [sys].[sp_OAMethod] TO [HelpMaster Active Directory service account]
GO
use [master]
GO
GRANT EXECUTE ON [sys].[sp_OASetProperty] TO [HelpMaster Active Directory service account]
GO

SQL Server collation settings

As the AD module makes use of open query, the database collation setting in SQL Server will need to match between the HelpMaster database and the Temp database on the SQL server. This will be automatic for new HelpMaster database installations, as it will select the Database’s collation settings to use. However, in the case of porting an older HelpMaster database to a new server, there may be a collation mismatch.

Note: If possible, to avoid difficulties, it is recommended to set the server up using the same collation settings that the HelpMaster database used. If, however, this is not an option, it is possible to convert the HelpMaster database to a different collation format.   In such a case, you are advised to speak to our support staff you can assist in this process.

Configuring the HelpMaster Active Directory service

The HelpMaster Active Directory service will need to run in the context of a domain network account that has permissions to query the Active Directory for the Forest. This means that a local account (even with Administrator privileges) is not suitable.