Directories in Creator | Zoho Creator Help

Directories in Creator

This help page is for users in Creator 6. If you are in the older version (Creator 5), click here. Know your Creator version.

1. What Does This Page Cover?

Learn how you can sync an external directory to Zoho Directory. This enables a one-way sync of users' profiles and identities from the external directory to Zoho Directory and allows ease of management.  This is one of the features offered in Zoho Creator under Governance.

2. Availability

  1. Active Directory can be accessed only in the paid plans of Creator.
  2. Only the super admin and admins can access Active Directory.

3. Overview

A directory is an organizational database containing information about employees, their data access, their access to network resources, available company devices, etc. It also ensures autonomy over managing employee details. Using a directory structures files, user identities, and metadata, using a tree-like system. Each file within can be identified using unique paths. To achieve efficiency, directories use multiple established standards and protocols such as SCIM, in-built tools, and more.

Maintaining directories ensures updated user data across multiple domain controllers, enhancing fault tolerance and preventing traffic concentration. To achieve this, each DC will have a copy of the same user database that comprises of the organization's user identities. Changes made in one directory automatically reflect in all other DCs, promoting consistency.

4. Directories in Creator

In Creator, Zoho Directory enables a one-way sync from your external directory to within Zoho. After configuring this, Zoho Directory will act as a medium through which you can access the database stored in your external directory. This eliminates the need to add and manage every user identity in Zoho Directory.

Directories securely stores information, such as the employees' positions, their access-related information, their work credentials, and more exclusive information, such as their GUID. Therefore, the directory acts as a federal repository that stores user details and their authorization particulars in a classified system.

Important:
  1. To perform actions in Zoho Directory, you will have to be an admin in ZD or be set up with a custom role who can make changes to ZD.
  2. For the configurations made in Zoho Directory to be applicable to the users in Creator, they will have to be assigned to the Creator application from the Users module in Zoho Directory. Learn more

4.1. Supported Directories

For now, Directory Stores gives organizations the support of two renowned directories that can be set up to store the external databases in Zoho Directory. Users can be imported from these directories and a one-way sync from the external directory to Zoho Directory can be established. The two implementation methods available for installation of these directories are:
  1. SCIM - This is an open-standard protocol that is designed to manage user identities.
  2. Zoho Directory Sync Tool - This tool needs to be downloaded from Zoho Directory to sync user identities. The Password Sync Tool needs to be downloaded to sync passwords.
Directory Name
Concept
Implementation Method
Software
Azure Active Directory (Azure AD), part of Microsoft Entra, is an enterprise identity service that provides single sign-on, multi-factor authentication, and conditional access.
SCIM
On-cloud
Jump Cloud
An Open Directory Platform to Connect All IT Resources.
SCIM
On-cloud
Okta
A cloud-based identity access management solution that lets you access all your applications in one place with a single set of credentials.
SCIM
On-cloud
Active Directory(AD) is a Microsoft product that consists of several services that run on Windows server to manage permissions and access to networked resources.
On-premise
OpenLDAP is not just a protocol and is more of a light LDAP directory software that can be used in your organization.
On-premise
Note : You can edit and deactivate a directory but not delete it.

4.2. Use Case

Say your organization uses Microsoft's Active Directory to store all employees' information such as their credentials, official phone numbers, their job titles, and more. If you are newly using Zoho Creator for business management, you will have to add all existing users to Zoho. Syncing all user identities from Active Directory to Zoho Directory will enable the swift addition and easy onboarding of users. The added users can then be assigned to Zoho Creator to start using the applications.

4.3. Navigation Guide

Once you sign in to your Creator account, you can find Governance under the MANAGE section on the left-side pane of your dashboard. Once there, you can navigate to the Active Directory tab.
Clicking Configure Active Directory here will take you to Zoho Directory's Admin Panel from where you can add and manage directories.

5. Configuration of Directories

The documentation to the detailed configuration of a directory is present in Zoho Directory's resources. Refer to Zoho Directory's:
  1. Add Microsoft Azure to Zoho Directory
  2. Sync from Active Directory

6. Points to Note

  1. The number of active directories that can be added to your account depends on your Directory plan.
  2. When a user is added to Zoho Directory from an external directory (except Microsoft AD):
    1. if the domain has already been added and verified in Zoho Directory, they are added as a confirmed user.
    2. If not, they are added as a pending user. The user then needs to accept the invitation to change into a confirmed user.
  3. In Microsoft AD, if the domain of a user who is to be synced with Zoho Directory is not verified in ZD, the sync does not take place and an error message is displayed.
  4. When the new users create their Zoho account passwords, they will need to follow the default security policy if they aren't assigned with any other policy till then.
Users
  1. For the configurations made in Zoho Directory to be applied to the users in Creator, they need to be assigned to the Creator application from the Users module in Zoho Directory.
  2. All users added in Creator will be listed In Zoho Directory. New users can also be created from Zoho Directory and be assigned to Creator. They will be added automatically in Creator's Users module.
  3. A two-way bridge exists between Creator and Zoho Directory. Actions done with Creator users such as addition, renaming, deletion, deactivation, activation, etc., get synced in the other product automatically.
  4. Users can be assigned to Creator from Zoho Directory only until the Creator plan's user limit is attained.
  1. Undderstand Governance
  2. Security Policies in Zoho Creator
  3. Custom Authentication in Zoho Creator
  4. Domains in Zoho Creator

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