Considerations for configuring AD/LDAP
The Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) is the protocol used to communicate with LDAP servers. LDAP can be used as a directory service for user management. The LDAP server that is present outside the NetBackup Flex Scale cluster is responsible for authentication of users. For sites that use an LDAP server for access or authentication, NetBackup Flex Scale provides a simple LDAP client configuration interface. The NetBackup Flex Scale cluster acts as an LDAP client talking to the LDAP server.
Active Directory (AD) is a technology created by Microsoft that provides a variety of network services including LDAP directory services, Kerberos-based authentication, Domain Name System (DNS) naming, secure access to resources, and more.
You can configure AD/LDAP using the NetBackup Flex Scale GUI.
You can configure or add only one AD/LDAP server at a time. But you can add multiple AD/LDAP servers to the NetBackup Flex Scale cluster.
You can delete an existing AD/LDAP configuration.
You cannot modify an existing AD/LDAP configuration. To modify any aspect of the AD/LDAP configuration, you have to delete the existing configuration and add it back with the updated parameters.
When disaster recovery is configured between two NetBackup Flex Scale clusters, the AD/LDAP configuration and management must be done from the cluster on which NetBackup primary service is running
When you configure LDAP from the GUI, the domain ID is added as LDAP_Server_FQDN/IP. So, if you add LDAP user from the NetBackup GUI, you have to add the domain name as <user_name>@LDAP_Server_FQDN/IP.
If you have upgraded to NetBackup Flex Scale 3.5.100 from an earlier version in which the cluster was deployed with both primary server and media servers, the AD/LDAP servers which were already configured in the previous version will have the same name. For AD/LDAP servers which are newly configured on the upgraded cluster can have one of the following domain names:
<user name>@AD/LDAP server IP/FQDN
<user name>@10.221.xx.xx
<user name>@fqdn.domain
Consider the following while configuring AD/LDAP in your NetBackup Flex Scale cluster:
In a deployment with both primary and media servers:
Role assignment for AD/LDAP users should be done from the NetBackup web UI.
Domain users should use the [<AD/LDAP_serverIP|FQDN|domainname>\username] to login to NetBackup UI. Domain name can be used only if it was provided during AD/LDAP configuration.
Domain user login to the management IP of the node and console IP over SSH is not supported.
Domain user login to the public Appliance/Infrastructure APIs is not supported.
AD/LDAP domains can be added using FQDN as well as IP addresses.
AD/LDAP servers should be reachable through the data network.
Do not create domain user with same name as local user as creating duplicate users may cause ambiguity.
Do not configure more than one AD/LDAP server with the same domain as it may cause ambiguity in fetching and displaying information about domain users.
AD/LDAP users and groups should have UID and GID assigned in the AD/LDAP server. Role assignment does not work for domain users who do not have UID or GID. If multiple AD/LDAP servers are configured, make sure that none of the servers have conflicting UIDs or GIDs.
In a deployment with only media servers:
Domain users should use the [<AD/LDAP_serverIP|FQDN|domainname>\username] to login to NetBackup Flex Scale UI. Domain name can be used only if it was provided during AD/LDAP configuration.
AD/LDAP users should use only the [username@< AD/LDAP_serverIP/FQDN>] to login to public Appliance/Infrastructure APIs.
AD/LDAP domains can be added using FQDN as well as IP addresses.
AD/LDAP users should use only the AD/LDAP username to log on to the management IP of the node and console IP using SSH.
AD/LDAP servers should be reachable through the management network.
Do not create domain user with same name as local user as creating duplicate users may cause ambiguity.
Role assignment is not allowed for a domain user who has a space character in the username. For an AD user, the username is considered as the logon name.
Do not configure more than one AD/LDAP server with the same domain as it may cause ambiguity in fetching and displaying information about domain users.
In a non-DNS environment:
If you want to add a domain using FQDN, the IP to FQDN mapping for that domain should be added using the option in the Appliance UI. If multiple VLANs are configured on the cluster, AD/LDAP servers should be configured with the correct VLAN. Only then the AD/LDAP servers can communicate with the multi-VLAN cluster.
When configuring AD/LDAP servers for NetBackup Services on a deployment with both NetBackup primary and media servers, the custom hosts entries must be applied to .
When configuring AD/LDAP servers for NetBackup Services on a deployment with only media servers, the custom hosts entries must be applied to .
When configuring AD/LDAP servers for Universal share/Instant Access, the custom hosts entries must be applied to .