After successfully connecting to the EasyAccess server and logging in to the configuration manager WebUI, one of the first basic tasks to perform will be to set up an EasyAccess connection to a user store that holds the credentials of authenticating users. Connections define the way EasyAccess communicates with external devices and servers. They can be either outgoing (LDAP, JDBC, HTTP), incoming (RADIUS) or the HTTP management connection (one of which is already predefined).

In this section, it is assumed that a connection is required to a user store which is an LDAP server. This LDAP server connection will be used later in Section 5.2, RADIUS with Token Scenario Setup.

First, the EasyAccess guide for new connections must be started. The term guide is used in EasyAccess to refer to what Windows would call a wizard. Each guide consists of a sequence of steps which ask for the required input data. Forward and back links at the bottom of each step are used for navigation.

Start the guide for a new connection by going to Scenarios > Connections and selecting the plus button on the LDAP option.

The initial step in the guide asks for a name for this connection.

Next, specify how to connect to the server. The value localhost is used if the LDAP server is on the same computer. Otherwise, an IP address or FQDN can be specified. Multiple servers for failovers can be specified as a comma separated list.

In the next step, specify the distinguished name (DN) of the account performing the lookup along with the server password. The account must have read/write access.

The final step in defining the LDAP server is to specify if the connection should be encrypted and use SSL/TLS. If enabled, SSL/TLS must also be enabled on the LDAP server. To establish trust between the EasyAccess and the LDAP server, the LDAP server SSL certificate chain must be added to the EasyAccess server trust store (doing this is not described here).

Enable Trust all to skip trust checking.

Before leaving the guide to finish setup, the connection to the LDAP server can be tested. If the connection fails, the previous steps in the guide can be reviewed for errors.

If communication with the server is successful then the next step will summarize this connection's parameters and the Create option at the bottom can be selected to save the connection.

The saved connection now appears in the navigation menu under Scenarios > Connections.

This saved LDAP connection will be used in later scenarios, such as Section 5.2, RADIUS with Token Scenario Setup, where a simple OTP scenario is set up.