Novell Doc: Identity Manager 3.5.1 Driver for Delimited Text: Implementation Guide

1.2 Driver Concepts

1.2.1 Java Interfaces to the Driver

The Delimited Text driver includes four Java* interfaces that enable you to add extensions, which are optional. These enhancements to the driver require Java programming. For more information, see Using Java Interfaces to Customize File Processing.

1.2.2 How the Delimited Text Driver Works

The Delimited Text driver uses the Publisher channel, the Subscriber channel, and policies to control data flow.

Publisher and Subscriber Channels

The Delimited Text driver supports the Publisher and Subscriber channels:

The Publisher channel reads information from input text files on your local file system and submits that information to the Identity Vault via the Metadirectory engine.

By default, the Publisher channel does the following:
- 1. Checks the input directory every 10 seconds.
- 2. Processes any files that have a .csv extension.
- 3. Changes .csv extensions of processed files to .bak.
- 4. Cycles through this process until you stop the driver.
The Subscriber channel watches for additions and modifications to Identity Vault objects and creates output files on your local file system that reflect those changes.

By default, the Subscriber channel keeps an output file open until either 200 transactions have been logged or 30 seconds have elapsed. When either of these thresholds is reached, the output file is saved with a number.csv filename and a new output file is opened.

Figure 1-1 Data Flow

The example configuration that ships with this driver includes both Subscriber and Publisher channels. However, in many configurations, only one-way data flow is required. In those configurations, only a Publisher or Subscriber channel is used. The other channel is disabled.

Policies

Policies control data synchronization between the driver and the Identity Vault. The following table provides information on the set of preconfigured policies that come with the Delimited Text driver. To customize these policies, use Novell® iManager, as explained in Configuring the Delimited Text Driver.

Table 1-1 Preconfigured Policies

Policy	Description
Schema Map	Configured on the driver object. Maps Identity Vault User properties to application attributes as follows: Surname > LastName Given Name > FirstName Title > Title Internet EMail Address > Email Telephone Number > WorkPhone Facsimile Telephone Number > Fax mobile > WirelessPhone Description > Description The application attributes correspond to the sequence of values in the file or, if present, to the attributes associated with unnamed XDS <field> elements.
Input Transform	Configured on the driver object. If the input document is an XML document, no transformations are made. If the document is a delimited text file, each record is transformed into an XDS Add element for User objects with attributes defined by the schema map. The user CN is formed by concatenating the values of first name and last name. Associations are defined by value the user's e-mail attribute.
Output Transform	Configured on the driver object. Specifies that a comma is used as the delimiter character for output files and that the file format is comma-separated value (CSV) format.
Create	Configured on the Publisher channel. Specifies that in order for a User to be created in an Identity Vault, the Given Name and Internet EMail Address attributes must be defined.
Matching	Configured on the Publisher channel. Specifies that a user in an Identity Vault is the same user specified in the input file when the value of Internet Email Address is the same in both places. In the case of a match, only changed attributes are updated in the Identity Vault.
Placement	Configured on the Publisher channel. Specifies that a new user is placed in the Users or Active container and named with the CN created by the Input Transform rule. You need to create a Users\Active container at the root of your tree before you start the driver.
Event Transform	Configured on the Subscriber channel. If an Identity Vault reports a Modify or Sync event, those events are changed to an instance element that can be used to create a complete output record.