Identity Manager Web Services support both SPML Version 1.0 and Version 2.0 protocols (open standards for service provisioning using XML) for communication with provisioning systems.
See Chapter 1, Using SPML 1.0 With Sun Identity Manager Web Services for information about using SPML Version 1.0.
SPML 2.0 offers many improvements over SPML 1.0, including the following:
Where SPML 1.0 has been called a slightly improved Directory Services Markup Language (DSML), SPML 2.0 defines an extensible protocol (through Capabilities) with support for a DSML profile, as well as XML Schema profiles. SPML 2.0 differentiates between the protocol and the data it carries.
The SPML 2.0 protocol enables better interoperability between vendors, especially for the Core capabilities (those found in 1.0).
You can “extend” SPML 1.0 using ExtendedRequest, but there is no guidance about what those requests can be. SPML 2.0 defines a set of “standard capabilities” that allow you to add support in well-defined ways.
SPML 2.0 provides additional capabilities (see Table 2–1) that enable you to extend capabilities or add new capabilities in the future.