When using ONLYOFFICE DocSpace, the first thing that you need to do is to create accounts for all your company employees. But if it numbers more than 50 persons, the process of creating new DocSpace users will take a lot of time. The LDAP Settings option allows you to import the necessary users and groups from an LDAP Server (e.g. OpenLDAP Server or Microsoft Active Directory) to your DocSpace, literally, in several minutes. The newly created users, in turn, don't need to memorize new passwords and logins because they will sign in to DocSpace using their credentials stored on your LDAP Server.
Users will be imported immediately after the settings are saved. Users added later will be imported during their first authentication on the portal.
This is a Paid feature (available for the paid Business plan only).
Importing users and groups
Before you start importing
If you connect to Active Directory which has more than 1000 users, you will need to increase the AD limit
MaxPageSize = 1000
using the
ntdsutil. The detailed instructions on how this can be done are available
here.
- Log in to your ONLYOFFICE DocSpace.
- Use the
menu in the lower left corner and select the Settings option.
- Open the LDAP Settings page in the Integration section on the left sidebar.
- Click the LDAP Authentication switcher (use the Show link next to the LDAP Settings title to display the parameter form if it is not the first time you are altering the settings).
- Check the Enable StartTLS box if you want to secure your connections by using the StartTLS technology (in this case, the default port 389 is used). Check the Enable SSL box if you want to use the SSL protocol (in this case, port 636 is used).
- Fill out the fields necessary for user import (the obligatory fields are marked with an asterisk):
Warning
Please note that in case you have already imported some users and changed some of the settings (e.g. Server, User Filter, User DN, Group Filter, Group DN), the existing users and all their data, including documents, emails, etc. not matching these new settings will be DISABLED. We strongly recommend creating a backup before you change any settings.
- in the Server field, enter the LDAP server URL address in the form protocol://host, e.g. LDAP://example.com for a regular LDAP connection or LDAPS://example.com for a secure LDAP connection over SSL. You can also specify the server IP address instead of its DNS name: LDAP://192.168.3.202;
- specify a Port Number that is used to access LDAP server. The default port for regular LDAP connections is 389. If you have enabled the StartTLS option, the default port 389 is also used. If the SSL option is enabled, port 636 is used;
- in the User DN (User Distinguished Name) field, specify the absolute path to the top level directory containing users you want to import. This parameter defines the node where the search starts. You can specify the root directory, e.g.
dc=example,dc=com
, to search for users within the entire directory, or specify a certain search area, e.g. ou=groupname,dc=example,dc=com
, to search for users within the specified group;
- specify the Login Attribute value (an attribute in a user record that corresponds to the login that LDAP server users will use to log in to ONLYOFFICE);
For OpenLDAP Server, use the following settings:
- User Filter -
(uid=*)
- Login Attribute -
uid
For Active Directory, use the following settings:
- User Filter -
(userPrincipalName=*)
- Login Attribute -
sAMAccountName
- fill out the User Filter field if you need to import the users who correspond to the specified search criteria. The default filter value
(uid=*)
or (userPrincipalName=*)
allows importing all users;
You can find the search filter syntax examples
here.
- The Attribute Mapping section allows you to set up a correspondence between the user data fields on the DocSpace and the attributes in the LDAP server user record. Click the Add Attribute button, choose the necessary data field from the list and specify the user attribute used in your LDAP server. The following parameters are set by default, but you can change them if it's necessary:
- First Name (an attribute in a user record that corresponds to the user's first name)
- Second Name (an attribute in a user record that corresponds to the user's second name)
- Mail (an attribute in a user record that corresponds to the user's email address)
- Profile photo (an attribute in a user record that corresponds to the user's photo)
You can also add the following attributes:
- User quota - to set a storage quota for this user, enter an integer value for this attribute in the LDAP directory. It will display the quota value in bytes. This attribute will be applied only during the first setup and can be changed manually in the Accounts section.
- User Type - all users will be added to DocSpace with the selected type (user, power user, room admin, DocSpace admin). The User type is selected by default. Users can only access the rooms they are invited to by admins, and can't create own rooms, folders or files. Select another type to provide more permissions. Otherwise, you can change the type manually in the Accounts section.
- Click the Group membership switcher if you want to add groups from LDAP server to your DocSpace and fill out the necessary fields:
Please note that if you decide to add groups, only users who belong to at least one group will be added.
Warning
Please note that in case you have already imported some users and changed some of the settings (e.g. Server, User Filter, User DN, Group Filter, Group DN), the existing users and all their data, including documents, emails, etc. not matching these new settings will be DISABLED. We strongly recommend creating a backup before you change any settings.
- in the Group DN (Group Distinguished Name) field, specify the absolute path to the top level directory containing groups you want to import, e.g.
ou=Groups,dc=example,dc=com
.
- fill out the Group Filter field if you need to import the groups which correspond to the specified search criteria. The default filter value
(objectClass=posixGroup)
or (objectClass=group)
allows importing all groups.
- the following parameters are set by default, but you can change them if it's necessary:
- User Attribute (an attribute that determines whether this user is a member of the groups)
- Group Name Attribute (an attribute that corresponds to a name of the group where the user is included)
- Group Attribute (an attribute that specifies the users that the group includes)
For OpenLDAP Server, use the following settings:
- Group Filter -
(objectClass=posixGroup)
- User Attribute -
uid
- Group Attribute -
memberUid
For Active Directory, use the following settings:
- Group Filter -
(objectClass=group)
- User Attribute -
distinguishedName
- Group Attribute -
member
- Turn on the Authentication switcher> if the current Windows user does not have rights to read from LDAP server/Active Directory. In the Login and Password fields, enter the credentials of the user who have rights to read data from LDAP server (set to the current Windows session login and password by default).
- Check the Send welcome Letter box in the Advanced Settings section if you want to send invitations by email to all new users. The welcome message contains a button that allows users to go to the DocSpace login page and activate the email. This option is only available if the mail attribute mapping is configured.
- Click the Save button.
- In the 'Confirmation of import' window that appears click the OK button to start importing users.
The import process will take some time depending on the number of users, groups, computer specifications, etc.
Please note: the DocSpace user email will be taken from the
Mail Attribute setting. If it is missing, it will be formed in the following way:
Login Attribute + @ + LDAP Domain
.
- In case there is a previously created user with such email on the DocSpace, this user will be automatically synchronized with the LDAP user.
- In case such email does not exist, the user will not receive any DocSpace notifications.
There are some special features:
- the DocSpace owner is not affected by changing access rights via LDAP;
- if the DocSpace owner has been excluded from the user/group filter, he ceases to be an LDAP user but always remains active;
- when disabling LDAP, all access rights provided for users via LDAP are taken away;
- if the user who have disabled LDAP should lose admin rights, his admin rights are unaffected and the user receives a notification;
- if a user has been excluded from the user/group filter, he remains active and receives a notification that the LDAP password is no longer active and it should be changed at the profile settings page;
- if a user attempts to take away admin rights from himself (both via access rights settings and by excluding himself from the user/group filter), his admin rights are unaffected and the user receives a notification.
Authenticating LDAP users
Each imported user will be able to sign in to the DocSpace using the login that is formed according to the following schemes:
- Login Attribute, e.g.
Andrew.Stone
- Login Attribute + @ + LDAP Domain, e.g.
Andrew.Stone@example.com
- LDAP Domain + \ + Login Attribute (incomplete domain names are supported), e.g.
example\Andrew.Stone
On the authorization page, the Sign in to domain option is available which allows transferring a password in an explicit form. Portal users outside of the domain can uncheck this setting. In such a case, a password will be transferred in a hashed form.
Imported user profiles in the Accounts section will be marked with the
icon for the DocSpace administrator. The user profile fields that have been imported using LDAP are blocked for editing, excepting User Type, User Quota specified as initial ones.
Synchronizing LDAP data
If you change data in your LDAP server (e.g. add new users/groups, rename existing groups or edit some information in a user record), you can easily synchronize the DocSpace data with the new information from your LDAP server.
To adjust the synchronization options, turn on the Auto sync switcher and set the necessary time to perform the automatic synchronization: you can synchronize data every hour at specified minutes, or every day at a specified time, as well as every week or month at a specified day and time. Click Save to apply the settings. It's also possible to synchronize data manually by clicking the Sync users button at the bottom of the LDAP page. Alternatively, you can use the Save button below the LDAP Settings section.
The information about a separate user will also be synchronized after this user has logged in to DocSpace.