Auto Sync

The Auto Sync settings control options related to synchronizing the User Table (Sentinel’s own internal database of users) with external resources, such as the AD (Active Directory) or external SQL databases.

Rather than having to manually enter information for each user, you can easily synchronize with existing information.  This is particularly useful as many organizations maintain detailed user information in their Windows AD.

For most activities, synchronization is one way — from the LDAP to the Sentinel database, particularly when adding users to the Sentinel database.  Bidirectional synchronization usually occurs once a day when a script is run.  For example, if a user has been deleted from LDAP, the script deletes them from the Sentinel database as well.

NOTE: Users are added into the system once they print. (Users do not appear automatically unless they send a print job.)

 

Caution! Sentinel is designed specifically to work with LDAP settings.  While you can synchronize the Sentinel database with an SQL database, this may require some trial and error to get the correct results.  SPS and your Sentinel vendor are not responsible for the results.

 

 To keep your changes, click Save.

 

Value

Explanation

  

Enable Auto Sync

Allows the auto sync options to work.

NOTE: You must select this option to be able to change the configurations on this screen.

 Select one of the four Auto Sync options (LDAP, SQL server, AD and SQL sync, or random ID generation).

  

Use LDAP to get users from active directory

This option causes Sentinel to connect to the Active Directory (AD) using LDAP for each new user printing through the system. The user’s card number is retrieved from a specific field in the AD.

To use this feature, you must complete the parameters within this group (Domain Name, Card ID, Field Name, etc.).

  

  • Domain Name

The domain name with permission to access the AD.

  

  • Card ID field name

Mandatory field. Use any LDAP field; for example, if your organization doesn’t use pagers, the Pager field (from AD) can be used as a Card ID field, so type Pager here.

  

  • AD user

The user name with permission to access the AD.

  

  • AD Password

The password associated with this user name.

  

  • From LDAP field and To Field

You can synchronize more AD fields with fields from the User Table in Sentinel. For example, you can synchronize the Department field of the user in the AD with the Department field in Sentinel. To do so, specify the LDAP field to use in From LDAP field, and the Sentinel field to which it will be mapped in the To field.

Options for the To field:

Desc

Description of the user.

KeypadCode

A convenient, often short, alternative to the Card ID.

TempCardID

An alternate card ID for this user, for example, a temporary card for a user who must replace a lost card.

Mail

The user’s email address for receiving scanned documents and directly printing email messages and attached files

ScanToFolder

The path (local or network) of the folder to which scanned documents for this user are sent.

DefaultPrinter

On which printer to print jobs if the printing is automatic .

AlternateUser

An alternate user name for the same user, commonly the ERP user name.

Secretary

The secretary’s user name. Typically required by managers who want their secretaries to release print jobs for them.

RemoveJobAfter

After this number of hours has elapsed, if the sender does not pull the job, Sentinel deletes it.

Budget

The budget allocated to this user.
 

Use SQL Server to get users

If this option is selected, Sentinel compares the user name retrieved from the metadata of the print job with the one specified in User Field Name.  If they match, the data in Card ID, First Name, and Last Name is updated in the internal User Table SQL Server.

Caution!

Using SQL data may require trial and error to get the desired results.
 

  • User field name

Mandatory field. The name of the field in the SQL database containing the user name to use for matching.

  

  • Card ID field name

The name of the field in the SQL database containing data to map to the card ID.

  

  • First name field

The name of the field in the SQL database containing data to map to the user’s first name.

  

  • Last name field

The name of the field in the SQL database containing data to map to the user’s last name.

  

  • Table field name

The name of the table where the users are listed.

  

  • Connection String

The connection string to the SQL server.

  

AD and SQL Sync

Allows you to perform more complex synchronization with a call to an external DLL. For details and assistance, contact your Sentinel vendor.

  

Generate Random Card ID for New Users

Allows each new user printing request to be added automatically to the User Table, and a random card ID to be issued for each user. This is useful when Sentinel is installed with no physical devices (with virtual 0.0.0.0 devices intended only for monitoring purposes without physical release).