Introduction

Welcome to the Integration Module for Enterprise - Custom Edition. This Guide is a companion to the Novell Integration Manager User's Guide, which details how to use all the features of Integration Manager except for the Connect Component Editors. Novell Integration Manager provides separate Component Editors for each Connect. The special features of each Connect are described in separate Guides. You should be familiar with the Novell Integration Manager User's Guide and the Guide for the Connect that you will be using before using this Guide.

NOTE: To be successful with this Integration Module for Enterprise - Custom Edition, you must be familiar with the external application system that you are integrating with Identity Manager, and with the Integration Manager Connect for that application system.

About Novell Integration Manager

Novell Integration Manager is an XML integration-broker. It encompasses a set of design tools for building XML integration applications and Web services, plus a runtime engine that enables execution and administration of the services that you build. The applications and services that you build with Integration Manager can be deployed to any popular J2EE application server or servlet container. Supported application servers include JBoss, IBM WebSphere and BEA WebLogic in addition to the Novell exteNd application server. Apache Jakarta Tomcat is also supported. Check the Novell web site for latest platform-support information.

At the core of Integration Manager is a robust XML transformation engine capable of performing a wide range of data transformations, including joining of multiple documents, decomposition of documents, and creation of entirely new documents. The underlying enabling technologies include XSLT, XPath, ECMAScript, and Java. The Integration Manager design environment offers a rich, intuitive graphical user interface, making it possible for you to specify XML transformations and mappings visually, using wizards, dialogs, and drag-and-drop gestures. You never have to write raw XSL or Java code.

Integration Manager supports numerous kinds of data-source connectivity, through individual adapters called Connects. Using the functionality exposed in the various Connects, you can design enterprise application integration (EAI) applications and Web services that pull data in from or push data out to different kinds of back-end systems, using a variety of transport protocols and technologies, ranging from 3270 and 5250 terminal data streams to Telnet, HP3000, Unisys T27 (and UTS), Tandem, and Data General, in addition to HTML screen-scraping, JMS messaging, and CICS RPC transactions. You can also take advantage of JDBC, LDAP, and other mechanisms to reach back-end data repositories and systems that might or might not natively understand XML. Integration Manager Connects allow you to connect to these systems inobtrusively, so as to marshall non-XML data into XML form or vice versa without any need to modify host-system setups or code.

In addition to legacy data-stream and protocol-specific Connects, Integration Manager has Connects for ERP and CRM systems, including Baan, PeopleSoft, SAP, Lawson, J.D. Edwards, Siebel, and Oracle Applications. As with other Connect solutions, the ERP and CRM Connects are fully integrated into Integration Manager's design-time environment so that you can use intuitive visual tools to create powerful custom integration solutions, eliminating the need to write Java code or edit raw XML or schemas by hand. You can also test the components that you build against live connections, using the animation facility (step-through debugger) of the design environment. As part of the design and debug process, your application-aware components can call other Integration Manager Components (such as XML Map Components, JDBC Components, etc.) and make use of any of the core actions that Integration Manager defines (such as Map, Function, Log, and other actions).

About the Integration Manager Integration Module for Enterprise - Custom Edition

The Integration Manager Integration Module for Enterprise - Custom Edition consists of the following major components:

Composer Service Driver (ComposerDriverShim.jar, Integration Manager runtime files, and a configuration file), which acts as a bridge between Identity Manager and Integration Manager. The Composer Service Driver is installed automatically to eDirectory when you deploy a driver from Integration Manager. It is also included in Identity Manager 3.
A collection of template xObjects that can be added to any new Integration Manager project when the project is created. The template xObjects demonstrate how to create Web services that support the Identity Manager commands and events specified in the NDS.dtd, and that detect changes in the external application and publish the changes to Identity Manager.

Using the Integration Module for Enterprise - Custom Edition, you can write Integration Manager Action models that integrate with external applications. Action models connect to external applications through a Integration Manager Connect and perform creates, deletes, modifies, and queries as specified by the Identity Manager API.

Connector logic in Integration Manager is encapsulated in a component that contains an Action model. An Action model is composed of generalized programming constructs and connector-specific actions. The component accepts XML as its input, performs general and connector-specific actions, and returns XML as its output. This enables applications written in Integration Manager to call external applications using a pure XML interface. In a Subscriber model, the connector-specific actions transform the XML input into a format usable by the external application. The connector-specific action then interprets this format and makes native API calls to the target system as a request, accepts the response from the external application, and returns the response back to the component in XML format. This XML can then be processed further or used as the output of the component. In a Publisher model, a target-specific Integration Manager listener component receives XML from the XML API, applies any business logic, and essentially mirrors the Subscriber process.

An Action model can make multiple API calls and apply any type of data mappings, transformations, constraints, rules, and policies to the data before or after communications with the target host. Integration Manager then generates the XML documents defining the information needed for the functions of the external application.

At runtime, the Integration Manager Connect receives each Integration Manager-generated XML document and creates the actual function call to the API of the external application, using the information contained in the received XML documents. The Integration Manager Connect contains no application integration logic. Application logic is implemented in the Action model, not the connector. This requires the Integration Manager developer to have a detailed understanding of the APIs available in the connected system and how those APIs are used to accomplish the desired task.

Which External Applications are Supported?

The Integration Manager Integration Module for Enterprise - Custom Edition provides a framework for developing Identity Manager drivers. You can use this framework for developing drivers for any application system for which there is a corresponding Integration Manager Connect (see your Integration Manager documentation for a complete list of Integration Manager Connects). All Integration Manager Connects provide Subscriber channel support. In addition, Integration Manager provides Publisher channel support in the following Connects:

Baan
Lawson
J.D. Edwards
JMS
Oracle Applications
PeopleSoft
SAP
Siebel

What Kinds of Applications Can You Build Using the Integration Module for Enterprise - Custom Edition?

You can use the Integration Module for Enterprise - Custom Edition to build custom applications that connect disparate directories using eDirectory and allow data to be automatically shared and synchronized across directories. The drivers can connect directories despite different naming conventions and schema definitions. You can build any kind of Web service or integration application that needs to push data into or pull data from eDirectory using XML as the interchange format.

Where Should I Start?

If you are new to Identity Manager driver development, Novell DeveloperNet® University provides a free, online Identity Manager driver creation training course. Although the course teaches how to develop drivers using C++ or Java (while Integration Manager uses an Action model developed in Integration Manager's high level language), it provides an excellent background to Identity Manager driver development.

DeveloperNet University: Custom Driver Development Course: http://developer.novell.com/education/tutorials/dirxml2/01.htm

The Novell Identity Manager Driver Kit (NDK) also includes documentation that provides background information about Identity Manager driver development:

http://developer.novell.com/ndk/dirxml.htm