| Microsoft Identity Integration Server 2003 Developer Reference |
MIIS includes a number of different management agents to connect to a variety of data sources. For data sources for which MIIS does not include a management agent, MIIS includes the Extensible Connectivity Management Agent (ECMA) to connect to those data sources. To interact with a data source, the ECMA uses a connected data source extension. A connected data source extension is a .NET Framework assembly that is implemented in the form of a dynamic link library (.dll) file.
You can create this extension using any programming language and compiler that creates a .NET Framework assembly. For more information, see Creating Connected Data Source Extensions.
You can create three types of connected data source extensions.
| Connected data source extension | Description |
|---|---|
| Import Only | Used for connected data sources that only export data to MIIS. For example, human resources (HR) databases are usually the authoritative data source for employee information at a given company. HR databases only export data; any changes to an HR database must be done within the HR database. |
| Export Only | Used for connected data sources that only accept synchronized data from MIIS. These data sources do not export any data to MIIS. A PBX database that obtains telephone information from MIIS is an example of a data source that does not export data. Any changes to this database occur in another connected data source. |
| Import and Export | Used for connected data sources that both export data to MIIS and accept synchronized data from MIIS. A database that runs on a mainframe computer is an example of this type of data source. |
The ECMA uses the connected data source extension to connect to the connected data source. The ECMA either retrieves the data to be synchronized or exports synchronized data from MIIS. Then it disconnects the connected data source from MIIS.
During an import run, the ECMA uses the connected data source extension to do the following tasks:
During an export run, the ECMA uses the connected data source extension to do the following tasks:
The interfaces that you must implement in a connected data source extension depend on the type of connected data source extension. An import-only connected data source extension must implement the IMAExtensibleFileImport interface. The IMAExtensibleFileImport interface is used to do the following tasks:
For a connected data source extension used for export only, implement the IMAExtensibleCallExport or the IMAExtensibleFileExport interface. The IMAExtensibleCallExport interface is used to do the following tasks:
The IMAExtensibleFileExport interface is used to do the following tasks:
For example, you can use this interface to generate an LDAP Data Interchange Format (LDIF) file that contains the synchronized data, and then start a utility that uses this file to import the synchronized data to your connected data source.
For Import and Export connected data source extensions, implement the IMAExtensibleFileImport interface and the IMAExtensibleCallExport or the IMAExtensibleFileExport interface.
IMAExtensibleCallExport, IMAExtensibleFileExport, IMAExtensibleFileImport