After Installing the Connector you can connect and create a Data Source for data in LDAP.

Setting Up a Data Source

Complete the following steps to connect to the data:

1. Under Connect | To a Server, click More....
2. Select the data source called LDAP by CData.
3. Enter the information required for the connection.
4. Click Sign In.
5. If necessary, select a Database and Schema to discover what tables and views are available.

Using the Connection Builder

The connector makes the most common connection properties available directly in Tableau. However, it can be difficult to use if you need to use more advanced settings or need to troubleshoot connection issues. The connector includes a separate connection builder that allows you to create and test connections outside of Tableau.

There are two ways to access the connection builder:

• On Windows, use a shortcut called Connection Builder in the Start menu, under the CData Tableau Connector for LDAP folder.
• You can also start the connection builder by going to the driver install directory and running the .jar file in the lib directory.

In the connection builder, you can set values for connection properties and click Test Connection to validate that they work. You can also use the Copy to Clipboard button to save the connection string. This connection string can be given to the Connection String option included in the connector connection window in Tableau.

Connecting to LDAP

The CData driver for the LDAP supports connecting to LDAP server objects. To connect, set the required properties.

Required Properties

• Server: The domain name or IP of the LDAP server.
• Port: The port setting defaults to port=389. Specifying the port to a different setting is optional.
• BaseDN: This property is used for limiting results to specific subtrees. Specifying a narrow BaseDN (Base Distinguished Name) may greatly increase performance. For example, a value of cn=users,dc=domain only returns results contained within cn=users and its children.

Optional Properties

Optional properties can be used to further refine control of the returned results.

• FollowReferrals: This property follows referrals when TRUE. The returned response then becomes read only. To modify data returned by a referral server, open a new connection to the server by specifying server and port.
• Scope: This property enables more control over the search depth of the LDAP tree, starting with BaseDN. Limiting the Scope can greatly improve search performance. Set the Scope to one of the following values:
  • WholeSubtree: Limit the scope of the search to the BaseDN and all of its descendants.
  • SingleLevel: Limit the scope of the search to the BaseDN and its direct descendants.
  • BaseObject: Limit the scope of the search to the base object only.
• LDAPVersion: The LDAP version used to connect to and communicate with the server. Set this property to 2.

Authenticating to LDAP

To authenticate requests, set the User and Password properties to valid LDAP credentials. For example: set User to Domain\\BobF or cn=Bob F,ou=Employees,dc=Domain.

The AuthMechanism properties for the connector are as follows:

• SIMPLE: The default plaintext value of the authentication mechanism to login to the server.
• NEGOTIATE: Negotiates whether to use NTLN or Kerberos when authenticating to the server.

SSL Configuration

By default, the driver uses plaintext when communicating with the server set to port=389. The driver automatically switches to use SSL when talking to the LDAP on port=636. You can force the connection to use the SSL connection property when set to SSL=TRUE.

Customizing Tables

The connector surfaces the columns most often needed from LDAP entities. However, if you need to work with other data, the tables are easy to modify. Tables are defined in schema files, which have a simple format.

See Working with LDAP Tables for a guide to extending the default schemas or writing your own. To use custom schemas, set the Location property to the folder containing the schema files. For more on tables and views, see Data Model.

Next Step

See Using the Connector to create data visualizations.