Guide: Connecting Banyan to an on-prem AD in under 30 minutes (spoiler: it took 2 hours)

Just followed the official docs to connect our Banyan instance to an on-prem Active Directory server. The guide promises a 30-minute setup... let's just say my experience was a bit different. 😅

Here’s what actually happened and what I learned, so you can hopefully avoid my pitfalls.

**The Gotchas:**
* **Service Account Permissions:** The docs list the required AD permissions, but they don't emphasize that the account needs **"Replicating Directory Changes"** on the *entire domain root*, not just the OU you're syncing. This one cost me an hour of troubleshooting why no users were appearing.
* **LDAPS Certificate:** Your AD LDAPS certificate needs to be valid and trusted. Banyan's connector runs on a Linux host, so you can't just rely on the Windows certificate store. You'll likely need to export the root CA cert and add it to the connector's trust store. This was the second 30-minute hurdle.
* **Defining Your User Scope:** Be very precise with your Base DN and User Filter. I used a test OU first, which saved me from syncing thousands of users during the config phase.

**My Realistic Timeline:**
1. Prep (Reading, creating service account): **20 mins**
2. Figuring out the correct permissions & LDAPS cert issue: **1 hour**
3. Actual configuration in Banyan and first successful sync: **40 mins**

The process itself, once you have the prerequisites *exactly* right, is smooth. The Banyan console is clear. But those prerequisites are crucial.

**My advice:**
* Budget more time for the service account and certificate steps.
* Test connectivity from your planned connector host using `ldp.exe` or `ldapsearch` *before* you start the Banyan setup.
* Start with a tiny, test OU to confirm your filters work.

It works great now, but that "under 30 minutes" is definitely a best-case scenario for a seasoned AD/LDAP admin. For the rest of us, plan accordingly.

Anyone else run into different hurdles? Would love to compare notes.

— Mason