Manage import connections
Applies To: Office SharePoint Server 2007
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Topic Last Modified: 2007-05-22
Personal information about the users in your organization is stored in directory services such as Active Directory and Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), or in line-of-business applications registered in the Business Data Catalog. This information must be imported to the user profile store before it can be used to present personalized or targeted content in sites, and to search for people in your organization. The information in user profiles is kept current and relevant by importing updated information from these sources by configuring and maintaining connections to each source.
As your organization changes over time, these connections can be maintained by adding connections to new sources of information about users in your organization, such as additional domain servers as your organization grows, or data in new line-of-business applications. You also remove connections to servers that are no longer in use, or changing the properties of existing connections.
By default, you can configure profile imports from the current domain or the entire forest in which the current domain is located. If this option is selected, no custom configuration of import connections is necessary. To manage connections for LDAP, the Business Data Catalog, or resources on multiple servers or across multiple forests, you must manage custom connections to one or more sources.
Before you manage connections, consult with the administrators of directory services and line-of-business applications in your organization to determine the considerations about which servers and settings to use for each connection. In many scenarios, a connection can simply use the default values on the Add Connection page. This connection only needs to change if the name or location of the server changes. In other scenarios, operational considerations such as domain server performance or security might suggest using a particular domain server or provider, or limiting a connection to a specific resource.
Additional steps are also required in multiple-forest scenarios. For more information about multiple-forest scenarios, see Manage connections across domains in multiple forests.
After you add or remove connections, or change the settings for an existing connection, you must import user profiles. User profile information is not updated until you perform a full import.
When import connections are properly managed, information about users in your organization is available in user profiles and My Sites, and can be used to target content such as links, SharePoint lists, and Web Parts. If any of this information is not available, you might need to change the settings for your import connections.
Task Requirements
The following are required to perform the procedures for this task:
Administrators must have access to the Shared Services Provider (SSP) administration site, and must have the Manage user profiles permission enabled.
The servers running directory services must be properly configured, and the location of directory service information must be known.
Line-of-business applications that store information that you plan to import must be registered in the Business Data Catalog. This is done by importing application definitions and configuring the settings for the relevant entities or business data types.
To manage import connections, you can perform the following procedures: