3 Managing Generic Technology Connectors

The generic technology connector framework offers features that enable you to modify a generic technology connector. In addition, you can export or import a generic technology connector by using the deployment manager.

These features of the generic technology connector framework are discussed in the following sections:

• Modifying Generic Technology Connectors

• Exporting Generic Technology Connectors

• Importing Generic Technology Connectors

Modifying Generic Technology Connectors

Caution:

You must not use the Design Console to modify the connector objects that are automatically created by the generic technology connector framework. If you modify connector objects outside the generic technology connector framework, then the generic technology connector might not work.

Refer to Appendix B for information about connector objects that are created automatically by the generic technology connector framework.

In addition, you can modify only one connector at a time. If you try to use the Modify screens for two different connectors at the same time on the same computer, then the Modify features would not work correctly.

Chapter 6, "Known Issues" discusses both these points.

To modify a generic technology connector:

1. Open the Administrative and User Console.

2. Expand Generic Technology Connector.

3. Click Manage.

4. Search for the connector that you want to modify. To simplify your search, you can use a combination of the search criteria provided on this screen. Alternatively, to view all the generic technology connectors that have been created on this Oracle Identity Manager installation, click Search connectors without specifying any search criteria.

5. In the results that are displayed, click the generic technology connector that you want to modify.

6. Click Edit Parameters. The second screen of the connector creation process is displayed. From this point onward, follow the procedure described in the "Step 2: Define Parameters Screen" section.

   Note:

   The only difference between this procedure and the procedure that you follow to create the generic technology connector procedure is that automatic metadata detection does not take place when you modify an existing generic technology connector.

Exporting Generic Technology Connectors

You can export the XML configuration file of a generic technology connector. This XML file contains definitions for all the objects that are part of the connector. If you want to use the same generic technology connector on a new Oracle Identity Manager installation, you must first export the XML file and then import it into the new Oracle Identity Manager installation.

To export the connector XML file:

1. Open the Administrative and User Console.

2. Expand Deployment Management.

3. Click Export.

4. On the first page of the Deployment Manager Wizard, select Generic Connector from the list and then click Search.

5. In the search results, select the generic technology connector whose XML file you want to export.

6. Click Select Children.

7. For the selected generic technology connector, select the child entities that you want to export and then click Select Dependencies.

8. Select the dependencies that you want to export, and then click Confirmation.

9. After you verify that the elements displayed on the screen cover your export requirements, click Add for Export.

10. Click Exit wizard and show full selection, and then click OK.

Importing Generic Technology Connectors

To copy a generic technology connector to a different Oracle Identity Manager installation, you first export the connector XML file and then import this XML file into the destination Oracle Identity Manager installation.

Caution:

Suppose you create a generic technology connector on a staging server, and then want to import the connector to a production server. While creating the generic technology connector on the staging server, you would have ensured that the names of the generic technology connector and the connector objects are unique on that server. At the same time, you must also ensure that the names are not the same as the names of connectors and connector objects on the production server.

If any of the names happen to be the same, then the old objects would be overwritten by the new objects when you import the connector XML file from the staging server to the production server. No message is displayed during the overwrite process, and the process would lead to eventual failure of the affected connectors.

This is also mentioned in the "Names of Generic Technology Connectors and Connector Objects" section of the "Known Issues" chapter.

To ensure that you are able to revert to a working state in the event that an object is overwritten, you must create a backup of the destination Oracle Identity Manager database before you import a connector XML file.

To import a generic technology connector, first copy the exported connector XML file to any directory on the destination Oracle Identity Manager server and then perform the following steps:

1. Open the Administrative and User Console.

2. Click the Deployment Management link on the left navigation bar.

3. Click the Import link under Deployment Management. A dialog box for locating files is displayed.

4. Locate and open the connector XML file from the directory into which you copy it.

5. Click Add File.

6. Click Next, Next, and then Skip.

7. Click View Selections.

   The contents of the connector XML file are displayed on the Import page. You may see a cross-shaped icon along with some nodes. Remove these nodes by right-clicking each node and then selecting Remove.

8. Click Import. The connector file is imported into Oracle Identity Manager.

After you import the connector XML file, you must update the run-time parameters of the generic technology connector.

Note:

These values are not copied in the connector XML file when you export it.

To update the values of the run-time parameters, follow the procedure described in the "Modifying Generic Technology Connectors" section.