Wrong timezone when importing users from Active Directory

[hermod]

Hi.

We are running Qlik NPrinting June 2019 Version: 19.19.4.0.

I have configured some import tasks for import of users from Active Directory.
Import of users and groups are working fine.
The problem is that it convert all users to timezone UTC. 
In the import log file it says: 
"The not supported time zone has been automatically converted to UTC."
And the user is set to UTC timezone. What i want is Europe/Oslo or CET+1.

Any hot tips?

Regards,

Hermod

[Frank_S]

Hi @hermod 

I think we need more information about your import.

• Are you using an xlsx source in addition to your ldap source?
• If not, you will need to do so. I've performed the import test using sample available in this link below and it works as expected.

• Perhaps there is a problem with the formatting of your excel file. You can find a copy of the recipient import file with best practices here: https://support.qlik.com/articles/000082531

Kind regards...fs

[hermod]

Hi.

I am using only LDAP import. No Excel file. 

I have made 4 AD groups.

• App-Nprinting_Administrator
• App-Nprinting_Developer
• App-Nprinting_NewsStand_User
• App-Nprinting_User

Also made 4 roles in Nprinting with the same as the group names. When importing from AD, all users  are getting the right role in Nprinting.

I run 4 import tasks. One for each group.

I have set a alternative group path that points to the OU where the 4 groups are located.

• OU=Nprinting,OU=Application,OU=Groups,DC=domain,DC=no

Then I do a additional user filter as this one.

• (&(objectClass=User)(objectCategory=Person)(MemberOf=CN=App-Nprinting_User,OU=Nprinting,OU=Application,OU=Groups,DC=domain,DC=no))

This is working just grate except for this problem with timezone.
See attached logfile (anonymized).

Regards,

Hermod

[Frank_S]

Hi @hermod 

I checked with our R&D team today just to be certain.

Unfortunately it is not possible to import user specific time zone using only the LDAP import.

You will need to also use the xlsx file I mentioned to perform time zone import function in conjunction with your LDAP import.

Kind regards...

[hermod]

Hi

Thank you for your answer. Anyway i still do not understand how to combine LDAP import and Excel import to get the result i need. Do I need to export all user into this Excel document and then import the users and TimeZOne?

Strange that on simple settings like TimeZone is not implemented into LDAP import. That would probably take a developer about 10 minutes to implement.

Regards,

Hermod

[Frank_S]

Please check the following link which talks about the recipient import and specifically the merge policy which will allow you to merge and xlsx with the imported LDAP information.

https://help.qlik.com/en-US/nprinting/June2019/Content/NPrinting/DeployingQVNprinting/Import-Users-F...

I recommend however, reviewing the entire page that includes the information above to get a greater overview of the recipient import process.

Just a bit of history...the recipient imports for NP 17+ platform began with the xlsx import only. LDAP import became available since Sept. 2018 release of NPrinting. LDAP import allows you to import large volumes of users into NPrinting. Since it is not possible insert NPrinting filters,  NP App, Connection, time zone information etc into Active Directory, it is necessary to use a recipient import file to insert this information into NPrinting. The only alternative to the recipient import file is to manually enter each user record in the NP web console one at a time.

I'm sorry if this is not what you were hoping for but hopefully this above information sheds more light on the requirements of the Qlik NPrinting recipient import process and some of the reasons why it works as it currently does.

If you required detailed implementation support for this requirement, we can put you in touch with our Qlik Consulting group or one of our trusted partners. Otherwise I am hopeful the above and guided you in the right direction.

Kind regards...

[hermod]

Hi.

So basically it's better to use Excel. I have a Powershell script I made, to get some groups, and members of those groups, from ad, and place them into a excel document with headers. It's a small fix to change it for NPrinting, and i can run it in Task Scheduler that will make this file on the local server. 

Regards,
Hermod

[Ruggero_Piccoli]

Hi,

When you import user from LDAP (like Active Directory) the time zone is not available but it is a mandatory field in Qlik NPrinting so it is filled by default with the UTC. 

Until June 2019 every time you import the same user the time zone was reset to UTC also if you manually changed it.

Starting from September 2019 instead we introduced the following improvement (from the September 2019 official Release Notes):

Users time zone and locale persist after an import user task
When importing users from LDAP, locale and time zone values are not available. Users imported this way will default to English and UTC. You can set different locale and time zone values by importing users from an Excel file, or changing them manually. Importing the same users again via LDAP will not overwrite locale and time zone values.

Best Regards,

Ruggero

[hermod]

Hi,

I will try this.

But still i think that one field in the import job could be hardcoded dropdown menu with a selection of timezone.
If there is users with different timezones, make more import jobs.

Regards,

Hermod

[Ruggero_Piccoli]

Hi,

If you import users from an Excel file you can set the locale and the timezone. Those fields are not available in LDAP sources so they are not imported. I add your idea about a drop down menu on the requested features list. If it will be implemented it will set a single combination of locale and time zone for each import so you will also need to create many imports one for each group of users with the same locale and time zone. 

A user can seti its locale and time zone by opening the admin menu in the top right corner and clicking on settings. So you could import all users and send them instructions about how to set the two parameters. It is very easy.

Best Regards,

Ruggero