Escape character needed in LDAP Connection user name string

srosewall

This caught me out so I thought it worth posting.

If you're integrating with MS Active Directory and the ADS domain has containers which include characters like # in their names then you need to make sure that the distinguished name you use in the LDAP connection has a "\" to escape the character otherwise it wont work.

Your userID string should look something like this:

cn=WorkSiteMP,ou=Server Accounts,ou=\#SystemAdmin,dc=some,dc=domain,dc=com

You can see what the proper distinguished name should be (and test your ability to access ADS) by using a Windows Support Tool called ADSIEdit (available on the Windows Server Support Tools CD).

Hope that helps.

Cheers
Stuart Rosewall
Senior Technical Consultant