Connect to Active Directory Data in RapidMiner

This article shows how you can easily integrate the CData JDBC driver for Active Directory into your processes in RapidMiner. This article uses the CData JDBC Driver for Active Directory to transfer Active Directory data to a process in RapidMiner.

Connect to Active Directory in RapidMiner as a JDBC Data Source

You can follow the procedure below to establish a JDBC connection to Active Directory:

1. Add a new database driver for Active Directory: Click Connections -> Manage Database Drivers.
2. In the resulting wizard, click the Add button and enter a name for the connection.
3. Enter the prefix for the JDBC URL: jdbc:activedirectory:
4. Enter the path to the cdata.jdbc.activedirectory.jar file, located in the lib subfolder of the installation directory.
5. Enter the driver class: cdata.jdbc.activedirectory.ActiveDirectoryDriver
6. Create a new Active Directory connection: Click Connections -> Manage Database Connections.
7. Enter a name for your connection.
8. For Database System, select the Active Directory driver you configured previously.
9. Enter your connection string in the Host box.

   To establish a connection, set the following properties:

   • Valid User and Password credentials (e.g., Domain\BobF or cn=Bob F,ou=Employees,dc=Domain).
   • Server information, including the IP or host name of the Server, as well as the Port.

   • BaseDN: This will limit the scope of LDAP searches to the height of the distinguished name provided.

     Note: Specifying a narrow BaseDN may greatly increase performance; for example, cn=users,dc=domain will only return results contained within cn=users and its children.

   Built-in Connection String Designer

   For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the Active Directory JDBC Driver. Either double-click the JAR file or execute the jar file from the command-line.

   java -jar cdata.jdbc.activedirectory.jar

   Fill in the connection properties and copy the connection string to the clipboard.

   A typical connection string is below:

   User=cn=Bob F,ou=Employees,dc=Domain;Password=bob123;Server=10.0.1.2;Port=389;
10. Enter your username and password if necessary.

You can now use your Active Directory connection with the various RapidMiner operators in your process. To retrieve Active Directory data, drag the Retrieve operator from the Operators view. With the Retrieve operator selected, you can then define which table to retrieve in the Parameters view by clicking the folder icon next to the "repository entry." In the resulting Repository Browser, you can expand your connection node to select the desired example set.

Finally, wire the output to the Retrieve process to a result, and run the process to see the Active Directory data.