Genealogy tracking module fails LDAP sync after corporate password policy change

MES AVEVA MES
, , , , , , , ,
1

We recently implemented a new corporate password policy requiring 16-character minimum with special characters and 90-day rotation. Since the rollback, our genealogy tracking module’s LDAP connector is throwing bind failures during user authentication. The service account credentials were updated to comply with the new policy, but we’re still seeing intermittent authentication errors.

The error logs show:


LDAP bind failed: error code 49 - Invalid Credentials
at com.aveva.mes.ldap.LDAPAuthenticator.bind(LDAPAuthenticator.java:187)
Caused by: javax.naming.AuthenticationException [LDAP: error code 49]

I suspect it might be related to character encoding in the connector configuration or how the password policy compliance is being validated. Has anyone encountered LDAP sync issues after tightening password requirements? Our user provisioning workflow is completely blocked.

2

Another thing to check - some password policies enforce complexity rules that include dictionary checks or prevent certain character sequences. If your service account password was auto-generated, make sure it doesn’t violate any hidden policy rules. I’d recommend testing the service account credentials directly using ldapsearch or a similar tool outside of Aveva MES to isolate whether it’s an LDAP issue or connector configuration issue. That will tell you if the bind works at the protocol level before involving the application layer.

3

Sarah makes an excellent point about testing outside the application. Also worth noting - if you’re using SSL/TLS for LDAP (which you should be), certificate validation might be failing if the policy change coincided with any infrastructure updates. Verify your trust store contains the correct CA certificates.

4

I want to provide a comprehensive solution addressing all the aspects we’ve discussed. Here’s the systematic approach to resolve your LDAP sync issues:

1. LDAP Password Policy Compliance: First, verify your service account meets all new policy requirements without triggering any hidden complexity rules. Test the credentials directly:


ldapsearch -H ldaps://your-dc.company.com:636 -D "CN=mes_service,OU=Service Accounts,DC=company,DC=com" -W -b "DC=company,DC=com" "(objectClass=user)"

This confirms the credentials work at the protocol level.

2. Connector Encoding Support: Update your ldap-config.xml to properly encode special characters. If your password contains special XML characters, use CDATA sections:

<ldap-connection>
  <bind-dn>CN=mes_service,OU=Service Accounts,DC=company,DC=com</bind-dn>
  <bind-password><![CDATA[YourP@ssw0rd&Special!]]></bind-password>
</ldap-connection>

Alternatively, use XML entity encoding: & for &, < for <, > for >, " for ", ' for '.

3. Service Account Credential Update: Update credentials in ALL locations:

  • LDAP connector configuration file (ldap-config.xml or equivalent)
  • Aveva MES Security Administration console
  • Connection pool settings if using database-backed credential storage
  • Any cached credential stores or keystores

After updating, restart the genealogy tracking service to clear any cached authentication attempts:


net stop "Aveva MES Genealogy Service"
net start "Aveva MES Genealogy Service"

4. Account Lockout Prevention: Check AD for account lockout status and reset if needed. Set up monitoring to alert on failed bind attempts before lockout threshold is reached. In your LDAP connector, configure appropriate retry logic with exponential backoff to prevent rapid lockout.

5. SSL/TLS Certificate Validation: If using LDAPS (port 636), verify certificate trust chain. Import the CA certificate into the Java trust store used by Aveva MES:


keytool -import -trustcacerts -alias company-ca -file company-ca.crt -keystore $JAVA_HOME/jre/lib/security/cacerts

6. Testing & Validation: After making changes, test with a single user account first before rolling out to production. Monitor the genealogy tracking logs for successful authentication events. Enable debug logging temporarily to capture detailed LDAP bind sequences.

This systematic approach addresses password policy compliance, encoding issues, and credential synchronization across all components. The key is ensuring consistency between what AD expects and what the connector provides, with proper encoding handling throughout.