Metaverse Designer is used to create and configure object types
and their attributes in the Microsoft Identity Integration Server 2003
schema. Microsoft Identity Integration Server 2003
creates its own metaverse schema when it is installed, defining a
set of object types, such as Person or Organization, and defining a
set of attributes that are associated with each object type. The
schema also describes the data types of attributes, data
constraints, and if certain information is mandatory for specific
objects. For more information about the metaverse schema, see
The metaverse and the connector space.
Note
A schema is also created in Microsoft Identity Integration Server 2003 for each connected data source. For more
information about connected data source schemas, see Configuring
management agents.
You use Metaverse Designer to configure and analyze attribute
flow precedence, configure object deletion rules, and configure the
metaverse schema.
Metaverse Designer displays the current object types that are
available in the schema and their attributes. Selecting an object
type in the top pane displays the object type's current attribute
set in the lower pane.
The options available for configuring objects are:
Create new object type—Adds a new object type to the
metaverse schema. Select the attribute set for the new object from
the list of attributes that are currently available in the
metaverse schema, or create a new attribute. For more information,
see Create an object type.
Delete an object type—Deletes an object type from the
metaverse schema. If the object is being used by a management agent
for attribute flow, you cannot delete it. For more information, see
Delete an object type.
Configure object deletion rule—An object deletion rule
can be specified for each object type in the metaverse schema, and
it determines under what circumstances an object is deleted from
the metaverse. It may be configured to:
Delete the metaverse object when the last connector space
object that links to the metaverse object is disconnected. This is
the default behavior.
Delete the metaverse object when the last connector space
object from a specified management agent is disconnected.
Delete the metaverse object according to a rules
extension.
The type of object deletion rule selected is displayed in the
Object Deletion column in Metaverse Designer. For more
information, see Configure an object deletion rule.
The options available for configuring attributes are:
Add attribute—Adds an attribute to the object type that
is selected in the Object types pane. You can either add an
existing metaverse schema attribute or create a new attribute. For
more information, see Add an attribute.
Remove attribute—Removes an attribute from the object
type that is selected in the Object types pane. If the
attribute is being used by a management agent for attribute flow,
you cannot remove it. For more information, see Remove an
attribute.
Edit attribute—For an existing attribute, you may select
whether or not it is indexed. Indexing an attribute makes searches
using that attribute much more efficient. To configure other
properties for that attribute, such as name, type, or multivalued,
you must delete that attribute and create a new one. For more
information, see Edit indexed property for an attribute.
Note
Only the String (indexable) and Binary (indexable) attribute
types may be indexed.
Configure Attribute Flow Precedence—When two or more
connected data sources are synchronizing data to the same metaverse
object, you can appoint one data source as being authoritative, or
having precedence. This ensures that the data source with lower
precedence will never overwrite data that has been contributed by
the data source with higher precedence. You can also use Manual
Precedence, which allows you to control precedence through a rules
extension. For more information, see Configure attribute flow
precedence and Attribute flow
rules.
Importing and exporting the metaverse schema
During the deployment of Microsoft Identity Integration Server 2003, you may have configured the server running
Microsoft Identity Integration Server 2003 in a lab environment,
to test the configuration. When moving Microsoft Identity Integration Server 2003 to your production environment, you can
export the tested schema to an XML file and then import the schema
to your production server. In addition, you can continue to test
changes to the metaverse schema in your test environment and update
the server schema in the production environment as needed. When you
import a metaverse schema, you cannot remove object types from the
metaverse schema.
