Linux Servers

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Last updated: Aug 17, 2018 by Kim Landis (Unlicensed)
/wiki/spaces/E2D/pages/29982926  /  Installation and Configuration  /  Connecting to Directory Systems  /  Current: Connecting to Linux Servers

Connecting to Linux Servers

EmpowerID Linux connector allows organizations to bring the user and group data in their Linux systems to EmpowerID, where it can be managed and synchronized with data in any connected back-end user directories. Once connected, you can manage this data from EmpowerID in the following ways:

  • Create new users
  • Edit user attributes
  • Delete users
  • Create new groups
  • Manage group membership
  • Delete groups

Additionally, EmpowerID provides Provisioning policies or Resource Entitlements that allow you to automatically provision Linux accounts for any person within your organization based on your policy requirements. For more information on Resource Entitlements, see Configuring Provisioning Policies.


This topic demonstrates how to connect EmpowerID to Linux and is divided into the following activities:

  • Connecting EmpowerID to your Linux Server
  • Configuring the Linux Account Store

Before connecting EmpowerID to a directory system, you should determine whether you want EmpowerID to provision Person objects from the user accounts it discovers in the account store. If you do, then you should be able to answer the following questions before turning on inventory.

  1. When do you want EmpowerID to provision Person objects for those user accounts? At inventory or at a later point in time using the Account Inbox (recommended)?
  2. If inventory provisioning is desired, in what Business Role and Location should those Person objects be placed?
  3. How many user accounts can one Person have in the account store?
  4. If people can have more than one user account in the account store, do you want EmpowerID to attempt to automatically join any user accounts meeting the conditions of your Join rules to an existing Person during inventory?
  5. Do you want attribute flow to occur between EmpowerID and the account store? If so, what rules do you want to apply?
  6. If you have Resource Entitlement policies in place, do you want EmpowerID to apply them to the account store?


To connect EmpowerID to your Linux Server

  1. Log in to the EmpowerID Management Console as an administrator.
  2. Click the application icon and select Configuration Manager from the menu.

  3. In Configuration Manager, select the Account Stores node and then click the Add New button above the grid.


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  4. In the Add New Security Boundary window that opens, select Linux from the Security Boundary drop-down and then click OK.




  5. In the Add Linux Connection window that appears, do the following:
    1. Type the IP address or FQDN for the server in the Server field.
    2. Type a name for the Account Store in the AccountStoreName field.
    3. In the UserName field, type the user name for the account EmpowerID should use to connect to the Linux server. This account should be a super user.
    4. Select the appropriate authentication option EmpowerID should use to connect to the Linux Server. When doing so, you have two options: You can type the password for the account in the Password (Option 1) field, or you can upload a Putty Key by clicking the Upload button and browsing for the appropriate key.
    5. Optionally, type the password for the private key in the Private Key Password (Optional) field.
    6. Click OK when ready.

  6. Back in the main screen of Configuration Manager, search for the account store you just created and then double-click it or right-click it and select Edit from the context menu.

    This opens the Account Store Details screen for the Linux connector. The use of this screen is discussed in the next section.

To configure the Linux account store

The Account Store Details screen contains three panes—the General pane, the Inventory pane, and the Group Membership Reconciliation pane—each with settings for configuring a different aspect of the Linux account store you just created. To view reference information about a particular pane, expand the drop-down for that pane.

  1. From the General pane of the Account Store Details screen, enable each desired feature by toggling the icon to the right of each feature from a red sphere to a green check box. For example, if you want EmpowerID to provision an EmpowerID Person for each Linux user, toggle the red sphere to the right of Allow Person Provisioning to a green check box.

  2. In the Inventory pane of the Account Store Details screen for the account store, toggle the icon to the right of the Allow Automatic Person Provision On Inventory setting from a red sphere to a green check box if you enabled Allow Person Provisioning in the General pane and you want EmpowerID to automatically create a linked EmpowerID Person object for each new, unique Linux user discovered during the inventory process.

  3. If you are allowing automatic person provision on inventory, Click the Edit button to the right of Business Role for New Inventory Provision and select an appropriate Business Role for each new Person provisioned during inventory.

  4. Click OK to close the Business Role Selector.

  5. If you are allowing automatic person provision on inventory, Click the Edit button to the right of Location For New Inventory Provision and select an appropriate Location for each Person EmpowerID provisions during inventory.

  6. Click OK to close the Location Selector.

  7. The last step is to enable inventory. To do so, toggle the red sphere to the left of Enable Inventory so that it becomes a green check box.

  8. After several minutes, refresh the account store data by pressing the Refresh Data button located a the top of the Account Store Details screen. You should see that EmpowerID has inventoried the user and groups in your Linux server and provisioned the requisite number of EmpowerID Persons for those accounts (if you selected the provisioning options discussed above).