The Role of Microsoft SQL Server

Microsoft® Forefront Identity Manager (FIM) 2010 uses Microsoft SQL Server 2008 as its database host. You can install both FIM and SQL Server on the same server running Windows Server® 2008 operating system, or you can install SQL Server on a remote server.

When you install FIM Synchronization Service, a database is created in SQL Server. This database stores data that includes the following:

Metaverse data
Management agents and run profiles
Management agent run history
Connector space data
Joiner log
Rules extensions

The FIM Synchronization Service database does not store the following:

Log files
Contents of the \MAData folder
Administrative scripts (for example, custom scheduling scripts or .vbs scripts created during run profile configuration)

Caution

Data in the FIM Synchronization Service database should never be directly modified by the user. User modification can cause database corruption, failure of the server running FIM, and loss of data. During installation of FIM, permissions to access the FIM Synchronization Service database are granted to the Microsoft Forefront Identity Manager 2010 service account and to the user account that installed FIM. You should restrict all other accounts from accessing the FIM Synchronization Service database.

Important

It is critical that you back up the FIM Synchronization Service database that resides on SQL Server at regular and frequent intervals. If a computer that is running SQL Server fails or if your system crashes, you can restore the server that is running FIM by using the data in the FIM Synchronization Service database. For more information, see Backing up Forefront Identity Manager.
You can index metaverse attributes for faster searches. Be sure to configure the indexed attributes by using the Metaverse Designer, not SQL Server. For more information, see Edit Indexed Property for an Attribute.