Using the management agent for extensible connectivity

With the management agent for extensible connectivity, part of the Microsoft® Forefront Identity Manager (FIM) 2010 Management Agent SDK, you can create a management agent that can synchronize with any call-based or file-based data source.

Connected data source support

  • Any call-based or file-based data source

Management agent type

This management agent can support both call-based or file-based data sources. When it is configured for call-based export, and if the connected data source supports immediate confirmation or automatic anchor creation, the management agent behaves as a call-based management agent.

Schema

The schema is generated based on the discovery of the data in the template input file when the management agent is created, therefore schema refresh is not supported for this management agent.

Remarks

  • The management agent for extensible connectivity supports 64-bit architecture. When creating the management agent, in the Architecture field, choose one of the following:

    • Process – Runs the management agent using the architecture of the server process.

    • x64 – Runs the management agent using 64-bit architecture.

    • x86 – Runs the management agent using 32-bit architecture. If you select this on a 64-bit server, it defaults to Run this management agent in a separate process, and the checkbox is disabled.

  • The management agent for extensible connectivity can only use one partition. However, by using connected data source extensions created with the Management Agent SDK you can connect to and process objects from multiple data sources. All object types processed in this manner are stored in this single partition. In this scenario, you must be sure to process connections to all the related data sources when performing a full import. Any objects from data sources that are not processed become obsolete.

  • When a management agent for extensible connectivity is configured for call-based export, ensure that the import file is Unicode. Because FIM translates all incoming non-Unicode data to Unicode, the risk of data loss during translation is minimized by using a Unicode import file.

  • With FIM, any type of run profile can be configured for a management agent for extensible connectivity.

    Note

    For a management agent that is export only, FIM will only look in the MAData folder for the import file that is specified in the run profile.
  • When troubleshooting errors for the management agent for extensible connectivity, keep in mind that errors can occur during both the management agent processing and during the extension processing. For example,

    • An exception is thrown during export, but objects are still added to the export counters. In this case, the management agent generated the export file successfully, but the extension encountered an error during the actual export to the target connected data source. The exception thrown should give you information as to what happened in the extension code, and where the delivery failed.

    • During an import process, the extension might successfully create the import file, but the management agent can fail to parse it. In this case, increase the logging level in your extension so that you can determine when your extension has finished processing, and then troubleshoot the management agent exception from there.

    For more information, see the FIM Developer Reference.

  • This management agent supports password management. For more information, see See Also.

See Also