When attaching to external ODBC sources via import or ESS, a routine procedure is to store authentication credentials in the database to avoid users having to enter them. However, in my company, security policies require changing the passwords on those credentials every 90 days. This creates a bit of a nuisance, especially when the accounts are spread across multiple FM databases.

A colleague has asked if there is a way to store the credentials in an external database (for example, Active Directory) and then have FileMaker query that external source instead of storing the credentials inside the FM file. Are there any plug-ins or other methods for doing this that anyone is aware of?

Thanks!

Mike Mitchell

Savannah River Nuclear Solutions

First, welcome to FM Forums.

Second, yes. This is called External Server Authentication.

Third, new in Server 10 is the ability for the credentials to the ESS file to come from Active Directory.

HTH

Steven

I believe that this can be done with FMP10 and MS SQL Server.

Thanks for the reply. I did find single-sign on to SQL Server in the Help. But I can't find anything about Active Directory. Can you point me in the direction of some information on how to configure that?

Well the SSO requires that there be Accounts and groups in Active Directory. But that is not something set up in FileMaker.

Steven