User linking is used when you want to create a user account based on an existing user in your company's directory service, for example, Microsoft's Active Directory. With this method you add user accounts for one user at a time, according to your global user account settings, with links to the appropriate user storage location. The user storage must have been set up first. Linking can also be automatically done when a new user logs in to the system at the first time, depending on an authentication method.
Automatic linking When a user tries to access a resource using a Hybrid Access Gateway authentication method, and no matching Hybrid Access Gateway user account exists, a Hybrid Access Gateway user account is created and the user information is linked from the user storage location to the new user account.
Manual linking This is performed by the Hybrid Access Gateway system administrator, using user linking to create user accounts in Hybrid Access Gateway Administrator, see Link users to a directory service like Active Directory.
Default global settings for user linking are configured per Hybrid Access Gateway authentication method. See Global user account settings.
What is user link repair?
If users are moved in or deleted from the user storage location, established links between Hybrid Access Gateway user accounts and your company's directory service will be broken. When this occurs, these users cannot be authenticated. To repair broken links, missing users are searched for in the user storage location and when found the link is re-established.
Link repair can be performed using two methods:
Use the User Link Repair wizard to check directory links, and repair or delete user accounts with broken links, see User link repair.
Use the default global setting Auto Repair to repair user links automatically when users access the system, see Global user account settings.
When Auto Repair is used, the directory link is automatically updated when the user attempts to access the system.
