AX 2012 - Using Active Directory Groups for Security

I wanted to spend a little time in this post, to focus in on somthing that I don't think has had a lot of coverage, but is somthing worth while to note. You have seen me post, in the past about security for AX 2012, with the following.:

• AX 2012 - Security Development Tool (Beta)
• Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 and the use of Claims Based Security
• Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 - Security Architecture Overview
• AX 2012 and the use of the new Extensible Data Security Framework
• AX 2012 - Security Model Design Considerations
• Ax 2012 and the impact of Design with the new Security Model
• AX 2012 - Hiding a form control withut code
• AX 2012 - Security Tools Review

Well today, I wanted to spend time on this topic again, and focus back on the fact that you can make use of Active Directory Groups when creating user accounts inside Dynamics AX 2012. I'm not talking about the import process by AD Group, which is possible and speeds things up a bit. No, I'm talking about assigning a User Account Type of Active Directory Group.

We start by going to the System Administration module, Common, users, Users form. In doing this, we need to click on the new user button that you see in the image below.:



In doing this, we should see a screen similar to what you see below, which is from the Public Sector, demo image for AX 2012.



Now that we have this form openned, we are ready to add our AD group, user account type. It's important to point out, that you must start with changing the account type on the form to Active Directory group as shown below.



Now that we have this, and have selected the desired starting legal entity, we can move to setting the user id, which is the internal user id used in AX 2012 that is assiocated to every transaction done by someone within this group from Active Directory.

Filling this out, next we want to enter in the Network Domain, and finally the Alias that is used within AD to identify the group. Since we are using the Demo image, we will make use of a group from Contoso.com. I'm going to make the choice of CSHelpDesk, in this case. In doing this, and filling out the form, you should see something similar to the below.



Notice, that the user id for this AD Group is set, along with I've assgined a Security Role to this AD Group. This Security Role not is applied to all users within the Active Directory Group. Further, what needs to be understood, is that user options as well as Role Center profile assoication is now tied to the AD Group vs. specific AD users.



With this, we can see how an Active Directory Group can be assigned security rights within AX 2012. However as you can see from the above, things like internal user id for AX, user options & Role Center profiles are not actually AD user specific in this setup. Further, user relations as it relates to employee information, becomes disconnected and not possible. So you have some considerations to keep in mind when you make the choice of using Account Type of Active Directory group vs. Active Directory user.

Well that's all for now, check back soon as more to come. Till Next Time!



Top 100 Update: I did want to take this time, at this end of this post and say I'm Honored to have been listed again in the DynamicsWorld.co.uk Top 100 most influential people in the world for Microsoft Dynamics. This year I was ranked 19! Congrats to everyone on the list and it's my honor to be listed among such great people. The work that everyone does to build this community, always encourages me! A direct link to the ranking can be found here.: Top 100 - Brandon George - 19


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DynamicsWorld - 2010 Top 100 - Voting

You may or may not recall, DynamicsWorld.co.uk launched and one of the first things they did was create a top A DynamicsWorld top 100 list of people, for Microsoft Dynamics in 2009.

Well this list is back, and they have over 250 people that have made the cut. What DynamicsWorld is asking your help now, is voting.

Voting counts, along with many different measures that they use, including a panel of judges.

To vote, just go to the following link.:
2010 Voting Link

Keep in mind, that there are 20 people per mini-poll. So if you want to continue voiting through the entire 250 people, vote, then hit refresh and the next random set of 20 will appear for you to vote on. Once you have votes your good.

The folks at DynamicsWorld.co.uk told me they added the voting aspect to help the Dynamics Community have a bigger say in the top 100 list.

I actually think this is a very interesting experiment, and wanting to see how the voting aspect affects this years list.

That's all for now, have a great weekend and check back soon as more post are coming next week!




"Visit the Dynamics AX Community Page today!"

Dynamicsworld - Microsoft Dynamics Top 100 Influential People

Well,

I just came across something very interesting. There is a new website called DynamicsWorld

This site, as part of it's launch, has created a list of the top 100 Microsoft Dynamics most influential people in the world. How this was done is briefly talked about, and I am not sure the science behind it, as the actual data for the final ranking is not provided.

However I found that I was listed on there, at number 83.:

83

Brandon George

Microsoft Technical Evangilist Evangelist, promoting the Microsoft platforms, focused on the Dynamics AX platform, SQL Server 2005, SharePoint Services. Most famous for the blog dynamics-ax.blogspot.com which now is regularly read by 2000 people.


Here is the direct link to that page: The list continues with those from number 61 through to number 100

I also focus on a lot of other things that surrond Dynamics AX, and SQL Server 2008, not just SQL Server 2005. Plus not sure how they got the 2000 people being regular readers? This blog, has on average, of over 7k+ unique vistors a month now for 2009, and growing! (Thanks to all the readers!)

Either way I feel honored to be listed, there are a lot of "big" names on this list that I am next too. Thank you DynamicsWorld.co.uk!

:-)

The following is listed on the page as how this list was compiled.:

1) How many people are affected in Microsoft Dynamics by their decisions.

2) How many people do they have regular contact with in the Microsoft Dynamics Community.

3) How long have they been involved in the Microsoft Dynamics Community.

4) How many certifications do they have.

5) How much positive feedback we got from our forums and voting phonelines

"Our list editors were Ashen Ali, Steven Alspberg, Wiraiwan Changhai,Trevor Ishmail, Callum Murray and Harry Patterson."


Well lets see what this site ends up being about. Interesting start their DynamicsWorld.co.uk, and good luck!

Check back soon, as more great post are coming.




"Visit the Dynamics AX Community Page today!"