Active Directory Users Accessing Their Home Directory without VPN

One of the use case for CentreStack is to allow users to access network shares and their home directories without using VPN (virtual private network) and access the network shares and home directories from mobile devices and remote locations.

This article discuss two different ways to setup Active Directory user access to their home directory.

First, you will need to connect the Active Directory. After connect the Active Directory via LDAP, the Active Directory users will be able to access their storage locations using their own AD credentials.



Method #1 - Using Active Directory Profile Setting
In the Active Directory, user profile has a home folder section.

 

During the Active Directory user creation in CentreStack, we can specify the "publish Home Directory" option to connect this home folder to user's centrestack home folder.



The above method can be the easiest to get it done.

Method #2 - using PowerShell to connect Active Directory Home Directory
Powershell is more flexible, it allows you to connect any folder location to any Active Directory user.

For example, here is a sample PowerShell session:
PS C:\> Import-Module .\GCEAutomation.dll

PS C:\> $storcfg = Get-GceLocalStorageConfigPassthrough -StorageLocation \\WIN-BBMJA0135VT\home01\t1u10 -IsTeamUser $True

PS C:\> $storcfg = Get-GceLocalStorageConfigPassthrough -StorageLocation \\WIN-BBMJA0135VT\home01\t1u0405 -IsTeamUser $True

PS C:\> $login = Get-GceLogin -UserName joe@gladinet.com -Password dddddddd -ServerUrl http://192.168.2.11

PS C:\> $login


Cookie                 : zkBkLTpUy9PCeDle3s2bWY8frs8RwI7yL7yb9Ygeeolrk8KUAOMVAVg6sr1RvWMioLCyxAdT/Hok1+DPaKEQ8TElY6MYYi2Tdr2JMnATV8lRaSvg
NSEndPoint             : http://192.168.2.11/namespace/n.svc/
LSEndPoint             : http://localhost:8080/localstor/n.svc/
RelayServer            : 192.168.2.11:8888
Hours                  : 4
User                   : user.SingleUser
PortalServer           : http://192.168.2.11/portal/
BrandingProductName    :
KeepCmdChannel         : False
SupportSetLastModified : True
WCVersion              :
ForceVersioned         : False
Success                : True
Reason                 :
Context                :
Context1               :




PS C:\> $user = Add-GceAdUserByUPN -LoginToken $login.Cookie -StorageConfigure $storcfg -StoragePlan 1000 -UserUPN t1u0405@tsys.gladinet.com -ServerUrl http://192.168.2.11

PS C:\> $user


Guid         : 8ce4bdba-7c32-4f4a-afe1-8d923897454a
LapseSeconds : 0
Success      : True
Reason       :
Context      :
Context1     :


Here is a video documenting the PowerShell way.