Source Tab Configuration: LDIF

A typical synchronization uses one connection to read your Source LDAP directory and generate an LDIF file, then LDAP writes data from that file to sync to your Destination directory. For whatever reason, there may be instances when you may not be able to use one connection. It may be for security reasons or when the network connectivity is interrupted between your directory the UnitySync server. UnitySync can process any valid LDIF file as input. It need not have been originally generated by UnitySync.

Using UnitySync to IMPORT an LDIF File

UnitySync can use any valid LDIF file as input. This LDIF file may have been generated by another UnitySync installation, or by any other means of creating an LDIF format file.

When creating a connection to use your LDIF file as input, you will specify LDIF as the Source Sync Engine and specify the directory format that generated the LDIF file as the Destination Map Template.

By default, UnitySync will look for a file called ldif.txt in the connection folder for your new LDIF connection (…\UnitySync-vX.0\Connections\MyConnection\ldif.txt). Alternatively, the General tab includes an option to specify an alternate LDIF file location and name. You must handle getting the file into place and then removing it after it has been processed (if desired).

IMPORTANT NOTE: Processing the same file more than once will not cause a problem. Subsequent processing of the same LDIF file will result in a sync that makes no changes to the Destination.

There isn’t a specific map template for an LDIF Source. Rather, you will need to select the map template that best corresponds with the Source that generated your LDIF, and change the sync engine to ldif rather than the default ldap.

Object Types

This is the only option that needs to be configured when reading from an LDIF Source. The available object types will differ depending on the original directory where the LDIF was created (identified by your Source Map Template).

For example, if your original Source is AD, the available Object Types will include Users, Contacts, Groups, Public Folders, and Hidden, whereas if your original Source is Notes, the available Object Types will include just Users and Groups.

When pulling from an ldif.txt file, you can identify the ldif.txt file in one of two ways:

• Copy the ldif.txt file to the root of your connections directory (i.e., …\unitysync-vX.0\ connections\yourconnectionname\ldif.txt)

  OR

• On the General tab, specify the LDIF (Optional) location to point to the ldif.txt file you want to use as your Source.

Optional - Source Context

Just as with standard LDAP directories, you may use the Source Context field to limit the scope of items discovered from within the Source LDIF. By default, the sync will read from the root of the Source directory; in this case, all available objects in the ldif.txt file. You may choose to pull from a specific subset of this data by entering the complete DN syntax of a Source container here. For example, if your specified ldif.txt is created from the OU for Europe but you only want to sync contacts from the London Office, you’d use a format like this in the Source Context field: ou=Contacts,ou=London Office,ou=Europe,dc=domain,dc=com

Encryption of LDIF file

If your Source LDIF file is encrypted, you will need to enter the encryption password on the General tab of this connection.

If encryption of your LDIF file is necessary before moving it from Source to Destination or the reverse, you can use your own methodology. To use UnitySync’s encryption feature, simply specify an encryption password on the General tab of the connection that exports the LDIF file.

Assuming you have done this on your Source connection when creating the LDIF file, you then do the same on your Destination connection and be sure to enter the same password. This will allow UnitySync to unlock and decrypt the file for processing.

Creating your own LDIF

For Active Directory/Exchange you can use the ldifde utility by Microsoft. For other directories, we suggest ldapsearch. Of course, you can also generate an ldif.txt file using an additional copy of UnitySync.