Specify the groups to be displayed when the maximum number of groups has been reached in Dameware Central Server

DameWare Central Server has a default limit on the number of groups that can be displayed in the Admin Console. This protects it from becoming unstable in very large AD environments. When this limit is reached, a warning message is displayed, and only a limited number of groups are shown. 

By design, the numbers of groups limit are 50,000.

There are two ways to specify which groups are displayed.

Option 1: Use custom base (Base DN) 

By default, the central server is connecting to the root of the active directory tree and searches for groups from there. This entry point is called the Base and is specified by Distinguished Name (DN). For example, if you specify an organization unit as the base it will search only groups in that organization unit.

Suppose you want to show all the groups in the example.com domain. You would use the following Base DN:

(DC=example,DC=com)

Then, to specify only groups in the organization unit Sales within this domain:

OU=Sales,DC=example,DC=com

For more information about domains and organization units, see msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc756901.

To override the default base

1. Open the DameWare Central Server executables directory. Usually this is: C:\Program Files (x86)\SolarWinds\Dameware Server\
2. Make a backup copy of the configuration file
   version12.3 and below -  Dameware.Server.Service.exe.config 
   version12.4 and above -  appsettings.json
   and save to a safe location.
3. Open the file above for editing using Notepad or some other text editor.
4. Add the line, 

   <add key="LDAPCustomBaseDN" value=""/>

5. Enter the value for your required Base DN, e.g. value="OU=Sales,DC=example,DC=com", and save the file.
6. Restart the service, and then try the search groups in Admin Console again.

   It is required to restart the Central Server service for the custom configuration settings to take effect.

Use a custom LDAP filter string 

You can override the default filter used for the group search in central server service configuration.

By default, DameWare uses following filter, which displays available groups:

(&(objectCategory=group))

To show only groups with name starting with 'a', for example, you would use the following filter:

(&(objectCategory=group)(name=a*))

For more information on using LDAP search filters, see msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa746475. 

To assign your own filter

1. Open the DameWare Central Server executables directory. Usually this is: C:\Program Files (x86)\SolarWinds\Dameware Server\
2. Make a backup copy of the configuration file
   version12.3 and below -  Dameware.Server.Service.exe.config 
   version12.4 and above -  appsettings.json
   and save to a safe location.
3. Open for editing using Notepad or some other text editor.
4. Add the line, 

   <add key="LDAPCustomFilterString" value=""/>

5. Enter the required filter, e.g. value="&(objectCategory=group)(name=a*)", and save the file.
6. Restart the service, and then try the search groups in Admin Console again.

   It is required to restart the Central Server service for the custom configuration settings to take effect.

Characters escaping in the configuration file

The config file is in XML format and therefore subject to special character escaping, so certain characters you may want to use nside the value fields will need to be replaced with the corresponding XML value as shown below

For more information on XML characters escaping, see msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms748250.

Option 2: Change the group limit 

In some cases, the Admin Console may appear to be stuck at the loading screen. This may mean that you need to lower the maximum group limit.

SolarWinds recommends that you do not use this method to make the limit larger as this can make the Central Server service unstable in some cases.

To change the group limit

1. Open the DameWare Central Server executables directory. Usually this is: C:\Program Files (x86)\SolarWinds\DameWare Server\
2. Make a backup copy of the configuration file 
   version12.3 and below -  Dameware.Server.Service.exe.config 
   version12.4 and above -  appsettings.json
   and save to a safe location.
3. Open the file above for editing using Notepad or some other text editor.
4. Add the line, 

   <add key="LDAPGroupSearchLimit" value="50000"/>

5. Edit the value to a new limit and save the file.
6. Restart the service, and then try the search groups in Admin Console again.

It is required to restart the Central Server service for the custom configuration settings to take effect.