This chapter describes how to connect to external resources such as LDAP, Active Directory, flat files, and others. Configurations shown here are simplified to show essential aspects. Not all resources support all OpenIDM operations, however the resources shown here support most of the CRUD operations, and also reconciliation and LiveSync.

In OpenIDM, resources are external systems, databases, directory servers, and other sources of identity data to be managed and audited by the identity management system. OpenIDM connects to resources through the identity connector framework, OpenICF. OpenICF aims to avoid the need to install agents to access resources, instead using the resources' native protocols. For example, OpenICF connects to database resources using the database's Java connection libraries or JDBC driver. It connects to directory servers over JNDI. It connects to UNIX systems by using ssh.

Connectors are configured through files named openidm/conf/provisioner.openicf-name where name corresponds to the name of the connector. Do not include dash characters ( - ) in the connector name. A number of sample connectors are available in the openidm/samples/provisioners directory. To use these connectors, edit the configuration files as required, and copy them to the openidm/conf directory.