Operational Information about the Oracle Directory Integration and Provisioning Server

This section introduces structural and operational information about the directory integration and provisioning server and contains these topics:

• The Oracle Directory Integration and Provisioning Server and Configuration Set Entries

• Standard Sequences of Directory Integration and Provisioning Server Events

• Managing Configuration Set Entries Used by the Oracle Directory Integration and Provisioning Server

The Oracle Directory Integration and Provisioning Server and Configuration Set Entries

Each directory integration and provisioning server can execute a set of connectors either for:

• Synchronizing between Oracle Internet Directory and connected directories. The set of connectors for synchronization is provided in the configuration set number entered in the command line when starting the Oracle directory integration and provisioning server.

• Provisioning users, groups, and realms for Oracle components. The set of profiles for provisioning is provided in the groupID argument in the command line when starting the Oracle directory integration and provisioning server.

If the configuration set number is not specified, then the directory integration and provisioning server starts in the mode for processing provisioning profiles. If the configuration set number is specified, but there are no integration profiles in the directory for the specified configuration set number, then the directory integration and provisioning server waits indefinitely until integration profiles are added to that configuration set. This wait also occurs if integration profiles are configured for the configuration set but disabled.

If the configuration set specified in the command line does not exist in the directory, then the directory integration and provisioning server logs this information in the log file and exits. For provisioning profiles, the same behavior is followed for the groupID attribute, which is passed as an argument in the command line.

Whenever a connector is scheduled to do synchronization or provisioning, the directory integration and provisioning server starts up a separate thread. This thread opens an LDAP connection to the directory server to read or write entries from Oracle Internet Directory, and then closes the connection before exiting.

The directory integration and provisioning server executes three types of threads in the process, and these are described in Table 35-1:

Table 35-1  Oracle Directory Integration and Provisioning Server Threads

Thread	Description
Main thread	Daemon thread of the Oracle directory integration and provisioning server. To look for changed profiles and to refresh its cache, it starts up the scheduler and periodically sends refresh signals to it. This thread also looks for the shutdown signal from the OID Monitor (oidmon). This signal causes the thread to shut itself down after it sends a signal to the scheduler to shut down.
Scheduler thread	Scheduler for the connectors for synchronization based on their specified scheduling interval. On receipt of a refresh signal from the main thread, this thread refreshes the synchronization profiles to the latest values.
Connector thread	In a synchronization, the thread that invokes the connector executable named in the profile, and maps and filters the attributes. It is spawned by the scheduler at the specified individual scheduling intervals. Once all the changes from the source directory are propagated to the destination directory, this thread exits.

Standard Sequences of Directory Integration and Provisioning Server Events

Each instance of the Oracle directory integration and provisioning server supports either provisioning or synchronization. The directory integration and provisioning server runs as a shared server process while handling the synchronization and provisioning event propagations.

The three threads described in Table 35-1 work together to create these typical process flow sequences:

• Main Thread Process Sequence

• Scheduler Thread Process Sequence

• Connector Thread Process Sequence for Synchronization

• Connector Thread Process Sequence for Provisioning

Main Thread Process Sequence

On startup, the main thread comes up. This daemon thread of the server starts the scheduler. It verifies the registration of the instance in the directory. If the instance is not registered, then it is not started up by OID Monitor. Instead, it registers itself in Oracle Internet Directory with the configuration set number and the instance number details.

The main thread periodically checks for the refresh time and signals the scheduler to refresh. It also periodically checks for the shutdown signal. On receipt of the shutdown signal, it signals the scheduler thread to shutdown.

Once the scheduler thread shuts down, the main thread unregisters and shuts down.

Scheduler Thread Process Sequence

When it is started by the main thread, the scheduler thread reads the configuration set to determine which integration profiles to schedule. It creates a list of profiles to be scheduled and schedules them based on their specified scheduling interval. While creating the list of profiles, it validates the attributes. If any of the profile attributes have invalid values, the profile is not considered for synchronization or provisioning.

When it receives the refresh signal, the scheduler thread refreshes the integration profiles. When it receives the shutdown signal, the scheduler thread waits until all the connectors complete the synchronization or provisioning event propagation. It then returns control to the main thread.

Connector Thread Process Sequence for Synchronization

A synchronization thread follows this process:

1. Establishes connection with the connected directory and Oracle Internet Directory

2. In an import operation, executes any agent execution command that may be specified in the connector

3. Opens the DB/LDAP/LDIF/Tagged file if required

4. Reads the changes from the source one at a time

5. Filters the changes if applicable

6. Maps the changes as specified by the mapping rules

7. Creates the destination change record

8. Write the changes to the destination

9. After applying all the changes, closes the thread

Connector Thread Process Sequence for Provisioning

A provisioning thread follows this process:

1. Establishes a connection with the connected directory

2. Reads the changes from the source, one at a time

3. Filters the changes if applicable

4. Identifies the change as a specific event--that is:
   • USER Add/Modify/Delete

   • GROUP Add/Modify/Delete

5. Creates the event notification record

6. Invokes the given package to consume the event notification