Sitecore Active Directory:SitecoreADMembershipProvider Initialize and add provider at runtime in application_start

Key : Know and how

These are the following set of queries may be asked once we able to roll out , design or implement sitecore ldap module.

• Whether Membership, role or profile provider required. Choose wisely, if membership is required just use that. 
• The project requirement might be to use sitecore custom or out box role so active directory ldap role might not be worth to include.
• Ensure you don't allow admin to action delete , edit of active directory users from sitecore. This may have implications. The rational: There could be service account or group created for content author and administrator user will be different from centralized security team. Let one team handle the removal of users from active directory server rather handle through sitecore.(Ensure you give read only permission to service account that is created in active directory server) This will allow one direction add and delete of users. This will help avoid accidental deletion from sitecore.
• Understand Role and profile provider does not support SSL whereas membership support SSL only when it is trusted and known. (Need to explore more.) Therefore sometimes port 636 will not accept ssl certificate however sign and seal options are available with port 389 check ConnectionProtection attribute of LightLdap SitecoreAdMembership membership provider., the LDAPS connection should use a certificate which is properly validated by a Root CA:
• This should be validated as per environment ‘sign-and-seal’ only works if the client (Web App VM) is on the same domain as the Server (AD Domain Controller) .Check below article web post by microsoft.
• Consider credentials to be stored in key vault for azure environment. Downside the ldap membership provider of sitecore stores it in custom configuration unlike connectionstring or appsettings. For this to overcome you have to configure and initialize the sitecore membership provider at runtime in Application_start. I have given some reference code block to help you get around this.

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/2980.ldap-over-ssl-ldaps-certificate.aspx


Anton Jason, Has helped me with below solution reference. Later it helped me integrate this further.



Remember to add reference LightLdap.dll

public class ApplicationStartup
{
      
        public static void Startup()
        {
           
        }

        public virtual void Process(object args)
        {          
                SitecoreADMembershipProvider provider = new SitecoreADMembershipProvider();
                NameValueCollection config = new NameValueCollection();
                SitecoreADMembershipProvider provider = new SitecoreADMembershipProvider();
                 NameValueCollection config = new NameValueCollection();
                 // Configure your provider here. 
                 config["type"] = "LightLDAP.SitecoreADMembershipProvider";
                 config["name"] = "SomeProviderName";
 
                 config["connectionStringName"] = "LDAPConnString";
                 config["applicationName"] = "sitecore";
 
                 config["connectionUsername"] = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["AppSettingKeys-UserName"];
                 config["connectionPassword"] = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["AppSettingKeys-Password"];
 
                 config["minRequiredPasswordLength"] = "1";
                 config["minRequiredNonalphanumericCharacters"] = "0";
                 config["requiresQuestionAndAnswer"] = "false";
 
                 config["requiresUniqueEmail"] = "false";
                 config["connectionProtection"] = "secure";
 
                 config["attributeMapUsername"] = "sAMAccountName";
                 config["enableSearchMethods"] = "true";
 
                 config["customFilter"] = "(memberOf=Your org custom filter)";
 
                 provider.Initialize("SomeProviderName", config);
                 provider.AddTo(Membership.Providers);
        }
}

I used jetbrains dotpeek to look into sitecore LightLdap and it helped me understand how sitecore has created a custom wrapper

to implement its membership, role and profile.

Remember one thing there is struct MembershipProviderSettings which has all the above configuration defined.

This is protected if you planning to extend create custom class and inherit SitecoreADMembership provider. This is the only way out.

namespace LightLDAP
{
  public class SitecoreADMembershipProvider : MembershipProvider
  {
    protected bool initialized;
    protected MembershipProviderSettings settings;
    protected PartialDataSource source;

    public override string ApplicationName { get; set; }


    public SitecoreADMembershipProvider()
      : this((IAdMembershipProvider) new AdMembershipProvider())
    {
    }

    public SitecoreADMembershipProvider(IAdMembershipProvider innerProvider)
    {
      this.InnerProvider = innerProvider;
      this.settings = new MembershipProviderSettings();
    }

    public override void Initialize(string name, NameValueCollection config)
    {
      try
      {
        this.ApplicationName = config["applicationName"];
        this.settings.Initialize(config);
        config.Remove("serverPageTimeLimit");
        config.Remove("useNotification");
        try
        {
          bool isInnerFailed = false;
          try
          {
            this.InnerProvider.Initialize(name, config);
          }
          catch (Exception ex)
          {
            isInnerFailed = true;
          }
          try
          {
            this.settings.InitializeHidden(this.InnerProvider, isInnerFailed);
            this.source = DataStorageContainer.GetPartialSource(this.settings.AdsPath, this.settings.UserName, this.settings.Password, this.settings.AttributeMapUsername, this.settings.UseNotification);
            this.initialized = true;
          }
          catch (Exception ex)
          {
          }
          base.Initialize(name, config);
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
          Log.Error("The AD membership provider couldn't be initialized: " + ex.Message, ex, (object) this);
        }
      }
      catch (Exception ex)
      {
        Log.Error("AD:", ex, (object) this);
        throw;
      }
    }
  }
}