Active Directory Integration

The Microsoft® Windows® 2000 Active Directory™ operates as a secure central resource for storing information about the users, devices, and services available on a Windows 2000 network. Microsoft SQL Server™ 2000 supports registering instances of the SQL Server relational engine, databases, replication publications, and Analysis servers in the Active Directory. The SQL Server tools also provide a dialog box that supports browsing for replication publications registered in the Active Directory.

SQL Server Objects in the Active Directory Hierarchy

The Active Directory uses a hierarchy to represent the relationships between network entities such as users, services, and devices (such as computers, scanners, or printers). The hierarchy starts from a single root node at the top and branches down to leaf nodes representing individual entities in the network. The intermediate nodes in the hierarchy are containers that hold references to multiple entities. For example, several Windows users can be collected into a group for administrative purposes. Each node is implemented as an Active Directory object that represents the specific entity for that node.

When you register an instance of the SQL Server relational database engine in the Active Directory, an MS-SQL-SQLServer object is added as a Service Connection Point (SCP) object in the container for the computer on which the instance is running. An SCP is the type of Active Directory object that represents services available on the network. An SCP object records information about the service, such as connection information. An Analysis server is also registered as an SCP of the computer on which the Analysis server is running.

After registering an instance of the SQL Server relational database engine in the Active Directory, you can also register the replication publications that reside in the instance. The publications are registered as children of the instance. After registering replication publications in the Active Directory, the Create Pull Subscription Wizard supports a dialog box that allows users to search for registered publications in the Active Directory. For more information, see Active Directory Services.

After registering an instance of the relational database engine in the Active Directory, you can also register any databases in that instance. In SQL Server Enterprise Manager, right-click the database and select Properties. The Options tab has a check box at the bottom that controls whether the database is registered in the Active Directory. When you select the checkbox, the database is registered in the Active Directory when you close the Properties dialog box. After the check box is selected, the database object in the Active Directory is refreshed each time you close the Properties dialog box, provided the check box is selected when you open the Properties dialog box and remains checked when you click OK to close the dialog box. You can also use the sp_ActiveDirectory_Obj stored procedure to register databases from Transact-SQL scripts or applications.

You can register Analysis servers in the Active Directory. For more information, see Using Active Directory with Analysis Services. The SQL Server 2000 tools do not provide any facilities for browsing the Active Directory for instances of the relational database engine, Analysis servers, or relational databases. Applications can be coded to browse the Active Directory for the objects used to register these SQL Server entities.

The Active Directory class objects supported by SQL Server 2000 are defined in the Windows 2000 Active Directory schema:

Active Directory Object Name	SQL Server Entity
MS-SQL-SQLServer	An instance of SQL Server
MS-SQL-SQLPublication	A replication publication defined in an instance of SQL Server.
MS-SQL-SQLDatabase	A database in an instance of SQL Server.
MS-SQL-OLAPServer	An instance of the SQL Server Analysis server.

SQL Server 2000 makes no extensions to the definitions of these objects; SQL Server uses the objects as defined in the Windows 2000 Active Directory schema. Users can also code Active Directory Service Interfaces (ADSI) applications that browse the Active Directory for registered instances of SQL Server, Analysis servers, publications, and databases, For more information about ADSI and the structure of Active Directory schema objects, see the MSDN® Library at Microsoft Web site.

Note  SQL Server 2000 does not use the MS-SQL-OLAPCube, MS-SQL-OLAPDatabase, or MS-SQL-SQLRepository class objects defined in the Windows 2000 Active Directory schema.

See Also

MSSQLServerADHelper Service_mssqlserveradhelper_service

sp_ActiveDirectory_SCP_sp_activedirectory_scp