WSS 3.0/MOSS 2007 Active Directory Forms Based Authentication PeoplePicker no users found
After finding these steps online from http://dattard.blogspot.com/2008/11/active-directory-forms-based.html in order to setup Active Directory Forms Based Authentication I was all set to complete this task, except for one problem. These steps are missing one very important vital step in order for FBA to work with Active Directory.
A supplement to step 3 before granting access in step 5 through
the people picker. You need to specify
the Active Directory Provider Name to
the people picker, otherwise you will not be able specify users through
the Policy for Web Application.
<PeoplePickerWildcards>
<clear />
<add key="ADMembershipProvider" value="%" />
</PeoplePickerWildcards>
Recently we needed to use Forms Based Authentication with Active Directory from an Extranet. This is how we got it to work.
1. Extend
the Web Application
Instead of tweaking
the internal web app, Extend
the web application you want to expose to
the Extranet, giving it
the required host headers etc.
2. Configure SharePoint Central Admin to use FBA for
the "new" Web Applications
Login to SharePoint Central Admin
Go to Application Management / Application Security / Authentication Providers and Change
the Web Application to
the one which needs to be configured for Forms Based Authentication
Click
zone / default, change authentication type to forms and enter ActiveDirectoryMemebershipProvider under membership provider name ( for example , "ADMembershipProvider") and save this change
3. Update
the web.config of SharePoint Central admin site
under configuration node
<connectionStrings>
<add name="ADConnectionString" connectionString="LDAP://DynamicsAX.local/CN=Users,DC=DynamicsAX,DC=local />
</connectionStrings>
under system.web node
<membership defaultProvider="ADMembershipProvider">
<providers>
<add name="ADMembershipProvider"
type="System.Web.Security.ActiveDirectoryMembershipProvider,System.Web,Version=2.0.0.0,Culture=neutral,PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a" connectionStringName="ADConnectionString"
connectionUsername="xxx" connectionPassword="yyy"
enableSearchMethods="true"
attributeMapUsername="sAMAccountName"/>
</providers>
</membership>
4.Update
the web.config of SharePoint Web application
Repeat step 3 for
the web.config of
the SharePoint webapplication to be configured for Forms Based Authentication
Change
the authentication in web.config to
<authentication mode="Forms">
<forms loginUrl="/_layouts/login.aspx"></forms>
</authentication>
5. Grant Access on
the extended Web Application
Your extranet web application is now configured to use FBA. However, until users, who will be accessing
the site via FBA, are given permissions for
the site, it will be inaccessible to them.
To get started, open your browser and navigate to your farm’s Central Administration site. Click on Application Management and then click on Policy for Web Application. Make sure that you are working on
the extranet web application. Do
the following steps:
Click on Add Users.
In
the Zones drop down, select
the appropriate Extranet
zone. IMPORTANT: If you select
the incorrect
zone, you may not be able to resolve user names. Hence,
the zone you select must match
the zone of
the web application that is configured to use FBA.
Click
the Next button.
In
the Users edit box, type
the name of
the FBA user whom you wish to have full control for
the site.
Click
the Resolve link next to
the Users edit box. If
the web application's FBA information has been configured correctly,
the name will resolve and become underlined.
Check
the Full Control checkbox.
Click
the Finish button.
