Deploy the CyberArk Identity Connector to add Active Directory users

This topic describes how to install the CyberArk Identity Connector to integrate your Active Directory/LDAP service with CyberArk Identity. The CyberArk Identity Connector adds AD as a directory service by enabling secure communication between CyberArk Identity and your AD domain.

The CyberArk Identity Connector is installed on your network inside the firewall, runs on domain-joined Windows server, and monitors AD for changes to users and groups. AD changes are synced to CyberArk Identity every 10 minutes by default.

CyberArk Identity Connector load balancing guidelines

To ensure the CyberArk Identity Connector is installed properly, you must adhere to the following guidelines.

This section describes connector installation guidelines by use case.

Guidelines for all use cases

Guidelines for all use cases

Consider

Guidelines

Host machine

  • Install this connector on a connector host machine that is either domain-joined, or able to resolve FQDNs in the network.

  • Industry best practice recommends that you do not install the connector on the same server as the domain controller. Domain controllers are single-purpose systems.

Load balancing and failover

We recommend installing at least two connectors to ensure high availability. The CyberArk Identity tenant detects if a connector becomes unavailable and automatically switches to an available connector. There is no need to build a server cluster architecture. The CyberArk Identity tenant automatically chooses the connector that has the lowest latency.

Each connector that you install is listed in the Identity Administration portal in Settings > Network > CyberArk Identity Connector.

Automatic updates

CyberArk recommends enable automatic updates to keep up-to-date with the current version of the connector; however, we understand that in some environments it might not be possible to update software that has gone into production environments. Therefore, connector installations are supported up to the last two previous versions.

Guidelines for Active Directory (AD) integration

Consider the following guidelines if you are installing the connector to integrate with an AD environment.

  • Install the connector on at least two domain-joined servers.

  • If you have multiple domain controller (DC) locations, then install at least two connectors per physical location.

Guidelines for RADIUS authentication

For increased capacity and high availability, a load balancer can be deployed in front of multiple RADIUS-enabled connectors.

Guidelines for LDAP integration

Install at least two connectors on the same subnet as the LDAP server.

Install the CyberArk Identity Connector

Industry best practice recommends that you do not install the connector on the same server as the domain controller. Domain controllers are single-purpose systems.

You should configure one or more connectors to provide continuous up time for CyberArk Identity services. Each connector you add is listed in the Identity Administration portal in Settings > Network > CyberArk Identity Connector.

CyberArk Identity provides load balancing among all connectors with the same services installed. For example, when a request comes in, CyberArk Identity routes the request among the available connectors. If one connector becomes unavailable, the request is routed among the other available connectors providing automatic failover.

View the following video to learn how to install the CyberArk Identity Connector and then perform the steps described in the following procedure.

To install a connector on a host computer

  1. Log in to the host computer with an account that has sufficient permissions to install and run the connector.

  2. Sign in to the Identity Administration portal, then go to Settings > Network > CyberArk Identity Connectors > Add CyberArk Identity Connector and click 64-bit in the Download pane.

    The download begins.

  3. Extract the files, then double-click the installation program: CyberArk Installer.

    In the file name, rr.r indicates the release version and aa indicates the processor architecture (64-bit).

    Click Yes to continue if the User Account Control warning displays.

  4. Click through the installation wizard to install the CyberArk Identity Connector, then click Finish to launch the CyberArk Connector Configuration wizard.

  5. Type the installeruser user name and password for your CyberArk Identity account, then click Next.

  6. (Optional) If you are using a web proxy service, select the associated check box and specify the IP address, port, user name, and password to use.

    The web proxy server must support HTTP1.1 chunked encoding.

  7. (Optional) Assign connector permissions for user delete activities, then click Next.

    To synchronize deleted objects in AD with CyberArk Identity, you must select an account that has permission to grant the connector computer with Read permission to the Deleted Objects container. You can use an account that is a member of the Domain Admins group, or you can delegate read permissions to the connector computer for the deleted objects container, outside of the wizard through the DSACLS command.

    If you are deleting users in multiple domains, make sure that you are the domain administrator for all those domains.

    To specify an account with grant permission to the Deleted Objects container, you have the following options:

    Option Description

    Use current user credential

    Use the credentials for the account you are currently logged into to install the connector.

    Specify alternate user credential

    Use credentials for a different account. Consider this option if the account you are currently using does not have grant permission to the Deleted Objects container.

    If you do not grant the connector computer with read permission to the Deleted Objects container, then users deleted in Active Directory will remain on the Users page in the Identity Administration portal until you manually delete them. However, these deleted users will not have access to any CyberArk Identity functionality.

    After you click Next, the configuration wizard performs several tests to ensure connectivity.

  8. Click Next after the tests complete to register the connector with your tenant.

  9. Click Finish to complete the configuration. The connector configuration panel displays, showing the status of the connection and your customer ID.

    If you have pending Windows updates that require a restart, a prompt displays asking if you want to restart now or manually restart later. You can choose to restart later without any impact to connector functionality.

    After you have installed and configured at least one connector, the following changes appear in your tenant.

    • You can add AD objects to roles.

      AD users and groups are not visible in Core Services > Users until they sign in; however, you can still search for them to add them to roles.

    • You can review connector details in the Identity Administration portal at Settings > Network > CyberArk Identity Connectors.

      Refer to the following table for a description of the column headings associated with each connector:

      Column header Indicates

      CyberArk Identity Connector

      The name of the computer.

      Forest

      The domain name for the domain controller to which the connector is joined.

      Version

      The version of the connector software.

      You can configure the connector to update automatically—see Update the Identity Connector.

      Last ping

      The last time CyberArk Identity successfully pinged the connector.

      Hostname

      The DNS short name. You can also enter a fully qualified domain name to the IE local intranet zone.

      See Manage Integrated Windows Authentication (IWA) to change this name.

      Enabled Services

      Service

      Description

      AD Proxy

      Displays if the Active Directory proxy service is enabled on the connector. If enabled, it means you use the Active Directory proxy service to authenticate CyberArk Identity users who have Active Directory accounts.

      LDAP Proxy

      Displays if the LDAP proxy service is enabled on the connector. If enabled, it means you use the LDAP proxy service to authenticate CyberArk Identity users who have LDAP accounts.

      App Gateway

      Displays if App Gateway service is enabled on the connector. The App Gateway service provides remote access and single sign on to web applications provided by internal web servers.

      RADIUS Client

      Displays if the connector is enabled for use as a RADIUS client.

      RADIUS Server

      Displays if the connector is enabled for use as a RADIUS server for customers who support RADIUS authentication.

      Web Server (IWA) -- Displays if the connector is configured to accept an Integrated Windows authentication (IWA) connection as sufficient authentication for users with Active Directory accounts. IWA is not available to CyberArk Identity account users.

      Status

      Active indicates that CyberArk Identity can communicate with the connector.

      Inactive indicates that CyberArk Identity cannot communicate with the connector.

Install additional connectors

You use the same procedure to download the installation wizard to the host computer and then run the wizard to install and register additional connectors. After you install and register the connector, it is added to the CyberArk Identity Connector page.

For Active Directory integrations, the host computer must be joined to the same Active Directory domain controller as the first connector in the same trust domain or forest.