Re: Fw: How useful is oracle internet directory server?

["Robert Klerer" <klerer@xhair.com>]

Clayton,

I would like to interject that your first sentence implies that there are no
other solutions to metadirectory.  The two most promoted solutions use the
architecture you describe, but that does not necessarily mean that it is the
only choice.

I can think of several other alternatives that don't need an additional
information store to solve the problem of having too many information
stores.

From: Clayton Donley <donley@wwa.com>

> Hi Giovanni,
>
> At its most basic level, a metadirectory basically has three major
> components.
>
> 1. Connector - Moves data from a particular connected data store to a
> central join component. Most vendors support LDAP out of the box and
> have various connectors for other types of data stores.
>
> 2. Join - Figures out that Joe in one connected data store is the same
> as Joe in another connected data store. When changes are made to one
> connected data store, the join component uses rules and policies to
> determine which other connected data stores should see these changes.
>
> 3. View - May be an integrated directory that shows the contents of
> metadirectory or may simply be another connected directory.
>
> The idea behind a metadirectory is that legacy applications will not go
> away and not all new applications and directories will support common
> schema and namespace, even if they do support LDAP. Using a
> metadirectory allows you to integrate these various directories without
> forcing you to make changes to major infrastructure pieces and
> applications that may be beyond your immediate control.
>
> One common example is to have HR as a connected directory responsible
> for people objects. A connector interfacing with PeopleSoft would read
> changes and forward them to the join component. The join would then read
> its configuration and make a determation as to what other directories
> need that person information.
>
> The benefit here is that you can do a one-to-one mapping between
> attributes in PeopleSoft and attributes in the metadirectory and not
> have to worry about the relation between a PeopleSoft field and various
> attributes in each directory. This is much easier to manage than
> point-to-point synchronization once you get beyond one or two connected
> directories.
>
> So basically the answer to your question is that yes, a metadirectory
> should be able to update a user table in Oracle if it is properly
> configured.
>
> Clayton
>
>
>
> Giovanni Baruzzi wrote:
> >
> > We had to maintain a Table of user entries in an Oracle DB; other
applications make use of this information.
> > Can a Metadirectory also update a table? I had the impression that
Metadirectory are mailny read-only.
>
>
>