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Windows Domain Controller

Create an integration to manage access to a Windows Domain Controller

A Windows Domain Controller (DC) authenticates and authorizes users, enforcing security policies for computers within the domain. Through centralized user management and access control, the DC ensures that users can log into computers and access resources like applications and files based on their permissions.

With this integration, Apono enables you to manage access to a Windows Domain Controller with Connect permission or a custom permissions group, so that only specific users or groups can provide remote access to resources in your environment on a temporary, as-needed basis.​

Prerequisites

Item

Description

Apono Connector

On-prem connection serving as a bridge between a Windows DC server and Apono:

User

Windows Domain Controller user for Apono The Windows Domain Controller user must be one of the following:

  • Admin user

  • Custom role user with the following permissions:

    • GenericRead

    • ListChildren

    • CreateChild

    • DeleteChild

    • ListObject

    • WriteMember

    • ResetPassword

    • Delete

Secret

Value generated with the credentials of the user you create Create your secret based on the connector you are using. ​

Apono does not store credentials. The Apono Connector uses the secret to communicate with services in your environment and separates the Apono web app from the environment for maximal security.

​

Configure the Windows Domain Controller

Before you begin integrating Windows Domain Controller with Apono, you must allow remote access with the Windows Remote Management (WinRM) service on your Windows machine.

You can allow unencrypted or encrypted communication.

Unencrypted Communication

Follow these steps to configure the Windows Domain Controller:

  1. Add the WinRM port 5985 to the allowlist in the server firewall.

  2. Turn on the WinRM firewall rule in the Windows server.

  3. Analyze and configure the WinRM service to allow remote management on the local machine.

If a confirmation prompt appears after running the following command, enter y.

winrm quickconfig

  1. Set the WinRM service configuration to allow unencrypted traffic.

winrm set winrm/config/service @{AllowUnencrypted="true"}

  1. Enable basic authentication for the WinRM service. Basic authentication transmits credentials in cleartext.

winrm set winrm/config/service/Auth @{Basic="true"}

You can now integrate the Windows Domain Controller.

Encrypted Communication

Follow these steps to configure the Windows Domain Controller:

  1. Add the WinRM port 5985 to the allowlist in the server firewall.

  2. Turn on the WinRM firewall rule in the Windows server.

  3. Analyze and configure the WinRM service to allow remote management on the local machine.

If a confirmation prompt appears after running the following command, enter y.

winrm quickconfig

  1. Enable basic authentication for the WinRM service. Basic authentication transmits credentials in cleartext.Shell

winrm set winrm/config/service/Auth @{Basic="true"}

  1. Configure WinRM HTTPS access on the target machine.

Configuring WinRM to use HTTPS encrypts data transmitted between the client and server, protecting sensitive information from interception. To enable HTTPS, ensure a valid server authentication certificate is installed on the target machine.

You can now integrate the Windows Domain Controller.

Integrate a Windows Domain Controller

WinRM HTTPS requires a local computer Server Authentication certificate with a CN matching the hostname to be installed. The certificate must not be expired, revoked, or self-signed.

Follow these steps to complete the integration:

  1. On the Catalog tab, click Windows Domain Controller. The Connect Integration page appears.

  2. Under Discovery, select one or multiple resource types for Apono to discover in all instances of the environment.

  3. Click Next. The Apono connector section expands.

  4. From the dropdown menu, select a connector.

If the desired connector is not listed, click + Add new connector and follow the instructions for creating a connector (AWS, Azure, GCP, Kubernetes).

  1. Click Next. The Integration Config page appears.

  2. Define the Integration Config settings.

    SettingDescription

    Integration Name

    Unique, alphanumeric, user-friendly name used to identify this integration when constructing an access flow

    Host

    DNS name or IP address of the RDP server to connect

    WinRM Port

    WinRM port value for the server By default, Apono sets this value to 5985.

    RDP Port

    (Optional) RDP port value By default, Apono sets this value to 3389.

    Use SSL connection

    Encrypted or unencrypted connection indicator Possible Values:

    • false: Unencrypted (unsecure) connection

    • true: Encrypted (secure) connection

  3. Click Next. The Secret Store section expands.

  4. Associate the secret or credentials.

  5. Click Next. The Get more with Apono section expands.

  6. Define the Get more with Apono settings.

    SettingDescription

    Custom Access Details

    (Optional) Instructions explaining how to access this integration's resources Upon accessing an integration, a message with these instructions will be displayed to end users in the User Portal. The message may include up to 400 characters. To view the message as it appears to end users, click Preview. NOTE: You can also add the custom_access_details parameter to the apono_integration schema using Terraform. For more information, learn how to integrate with Apono in the Terraform Registry.

    Integration Owner

    (Optional) Fallback approver if no resource owner is found Follow these steps to define one or several integration owners:

    1. From the Attribute dropdown menu, select User or Group under the relevant identity provider (IdP) platform.

    2. From the Value dropdown menu, select one or multiple users or groups.

    NOTE: When Resource Owner is defined, an Integration Owner must be defined.

    Resource Owner

    (Optional) Group or role responsible for managing access approvals or rejections for the resource Follow these steps to define one or several resource owners:

    1. Enter a Key name. This value is the name of the tag created in your cloud environment.

    2. From the Attribute dropdown menu, select an attribute under the IdP platform to which the key name is associated. Apono will use the value associated with the key (tag) to identify the resource owner. When you update the membership of the group or role in your IdP platform, this change is also reflected in Apono.

    NOTE: When this setting is defined, an Integration Owner must also be defined.

  7. Click Confirm.

Now that you have completed this integration, you can create access flows that grant permission to your Windows Domain Controller.

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