A settings profile is a way to group applications settings and values under one name.  For example, in AD HelpDesk preferences you can set your domain controller for connection, username, login domain, and bunch of search settings (like search bases, timeout, etc.).   You save a specific set of values for these settings under one easy to remember name (like a domain name for example), and you have created a settings profile.  Of course having only one settings profile doesn’t make much sense.  It isn’t until you have more than one that it really proves useful.  It is the ability to switch with a couple of taps between two or more different application configurations that really makes this feature useful.

 

A number of users told us that the biggest challenge that they have using AD HelpDesk is the fact that they must administer more than one domain.  Why is that a problem?  Well it probably wouldn’t be TOO bad if all you had to do was punch in your domain and password to switch between domains, but as many users know they often times need to include domain controller IP addresses and hostnames in the settings configuration before they can connect to their domain (for various reasons).    What this feature will really mean to a lot of people is that they can now EASILY manage more than one domain.   Additionally once you have authenticated to a domain you can switch your profile to manage a new domain and switch right back without needing to enter your password again.   This is a huge improvement over the way things worked with previous versions of AD HelpDesk (No AD HelpDesk does not store you AD password anywhere.  We employ the black art of Kerberos to enable this wondrous magic).

 

You can set any of AD HelpDesk’s settings in a profile, but most of these settings are optional.  The only required settings for a new profile will be display name, login domain, and username.  All other settings are only to be added as needed.  Here is what the creation of new profile would look like:



Once you have all the necessary settings in, click SAVE and you will be able to select which of the profiles in the application you would like to use:

The astute observer will notice that here I have created 3 settings profiles for the same domain “example.com”.  You might be asking, “Wasn’t the purpose of a settings profile to enable the administration of multiple domains?”  

 

ANSWER: No not entirely, there might be other good reasons to create settings profiles.  Another good reason that I am demonstrating here would be to specify different search bases. 

 

In the above example I have created 3 profiles and given then names that will remind me that one of them is searching in the U.S. OU, one in the EUROPE OU, and the last in the APAC OU. 

 

There could be other good reasons to create multiple settings profiles, for example you might need to specifically connect to different domain controllers or connect with different usernames.  Settings profiles enable simple management of multiple domains, but it really allows for easily switching between application settings for any purpose at all.

To make it easy to choose a settings profile at login, the login page now has a profile selector UI element:

You can expect AD HelpDesk to be available in the AppStore within the next two weeks (barring any unforeseen app review process hiccups).  This feature is a direct result of all your feedback.  So keep it coming.  What would you like to see in AD HelpDesk next?

-John