{"id":15,"date":"2007-06-10T23:58:04","date_gmt":"2007-06-10T23:58:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wapshere.com\/missmiis\/?p=15"},"modified":"2023-01-16T08:24:22","modified_gmt":"2023-01-16T08:24:22","slug":"creating-an-extensible-ma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wapshere.com\/missmiis\/creating-an-extensible-ma","title":{"rendered":"Creating an Extensible MA"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here’s a quick walkthrough of creating an XMA. It’s by no means complete or authoritative, and just shows a method I’ve found success with. The example is creating Netware home directories, something I recognize most people don’t need to do these days, but it’s a flexible method which I have used for other scenarios as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

Step 1 – Create the MA<\/span><\/h3>\n
    \n
  1. Create an Extensible MA in Identity Manager. <\/span><\/li>\n
  2. On the Properties page, after entering a name for the MA, untick the separate process option, as it will stop you being able to debug your code.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    <\/p>\n

      \n
    1. \n

      On the Configure Connection Information page, I always tick the Import and Export<\/strong> option. I really don’t know what circumstances might need an Import-only or Export-only MA – perhaps I’ll find out one day.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n

    2. For the Connected Data Source extension name just put the name of the dll you will write – it doesn’t matter if it doesn’t exist yet. The convention is MAName<\/em>_CSExtension.dll.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      <\/span><\/p>\n

      \u00a0<\/p>\n

      \u00a0<\/p>\n

        \n
      1. On the Configure Attributes page, you need to tell MIIS the attributes in the CDS<\/a>, because MIIS doesn’t know how to go and find them out itself. On the Advanced tab you specify the object type – you can only have one object type in an XMA, but you can call it whatever you like.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        \u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

        \u00a0<\/p>\n

        Most of the rest of the MA config pages are similar to all MAs, and should not need explanation.<\/span><\/p>\n

        Step 2 – Create the CSExtension<\/span><\/h3>\n

        In Identity Manager, highlight your new MA and click Create Extension Projects<\/strong>. Select the Project Type and change the Project Name as shown here:<\/span><\/p>\n

        \u00a0<\/p>\n

        <\/span><\/p>\n

        \u00a0<\/p>\n

        \u00a0<\/p>\n

        This will give you a skeleton project with the procedures GenerateImportFile, BeginExport, ExportEntry and EndExport to be filled in by you.<\/span><\/p>\n

        Step 3 – Export Steps<\/span><\/h3>\n

        I’ll look at the Exports first. The BeginExport and EndExport subs are run once at the start and end of the whole export and are used to establish and end your connection to the CDS<\/a>. The ExportEntry sub is run for each object exported.<\/span><\/p>\n

        \u00a0<\/p>\n

        I tend to maintain a SQL table alongside the CDS where I can record extra information about the objects. So, taking my Netware home directory example, I have a table in a SQL database on the MIIS server with these columns:<\/span><\/p>\n

        \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
        Path<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/td>\nDN<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/td>\nServer<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/td>\nVolume<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/td>\nFolder<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/td>\nStatus<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

        The Path is the primary key of the table. The DN is the owner’s – and this field allows me to join back to the user object in the metaverse. Status may contain “adding”, “active”, “archived”, or “deleted”. I could also add fields for dates and comments if I wanted to improve my logging.<\/span><\/p>\n

        So, in my code, the ExportEntry step calls scripts that create the homedir itself, and then enter information into the SQL table to record the fact.<\/span><\/p>\n

        \n

        Public<\/span> Sub<\/span> ExportEntry(ByVal<\/span> modificationType As<\/span> ModificationType, ByVal<\/span> changedAttributes As<\/span> String<\/span>(), ByVal<\/span> csentry As<\/span> CSEntry) <\/span>
        Implements<\/span> IMAExtensibleCallExport.ExportEntry<\/span>
        ‘A CS object has already been created by the provisioning code<\/span><\/span>
        \u00a0 Dim<\/span> server As<\/span> String<\/span> = csentry(“Server”).Value <\/span>
        \u00a0 Dim<\/span> volume As<\/span> String<\/span> = csentry(“Volume”).Value <\/span>
        \u00a0 Dim<\/span> folder As<\/span> String<\/span> = csentry(“Folder”).Value <\/span>
        \u00a0 Dim<\/span> path As<\/span> String<\/span> = “\\” server & “” & volume & “” & folder<\/span>
        \u00a0 If<\/span> modificationType = modificationType.Add Then<\/span><\/span>
        \u00a0 ‘Check it is not already in the SQL table<\/span>
        \u00a0 If<\/span> Not<\/span> rowExists(path) AndAlso<\/span> csentry(“DN”).IsPresent Then<\/span><\/span>
        \u00a0 Dim<\/span> dn As<\/span> String<\/span> = csentry(“DN”).Value <\/span>
        \u00a0 If<\/span> CreateHomeDir(csentry) = 0 Then<\/span><\/span>
        \u00a0 ‘Only add the SQL table row if CreateHomeDir<\/span>
        \u00a0 ‘was successful. This will force MIIS to try <\/span>
        \u00a0 ‘again next export if CreateHomeDir failed.<\/span>
        \u00a0 addRow(path, dn, server, volume, folder, “adding”)<\/span>
        \u00a0 End<\/span> If<\/span><\/span>
        \u00a0 End<\/span> If<\/span><\/span>
        \u00a0 End<\/span> If<\/span><\/span>
        End<\/span> Sub<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

        Step 4 – Import Steps<\/span><\/h3>\n

        Extensible MAs can only import objects from a text file, so your job, in the GenerateImportFile sub, is to construct the text file that contains all the information MIIS will be expecting. My preferred format is AVP because it will support both single and multi-valued attributes.<\/span><\/p>\n

        \n

        Path: \\server1homectest<\/span><\/p>\n

        DN: ctest.staff.nds<\/span><\/p>\n

        Server: server1<\/span><\/p>\n

        Volume: home<\/span><\/p>\n

        Folder: ctest<\/span><\/p>\n

        Status: active<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

        I tend to combine harvesting information direct from the source, with matching against what I’ve written into the SQL table. If an object doesn’t actually exist – say a homedir was not created, or was accidentally deleted – I won’t list the object in the text file; MIIS will register that as an unexpected disappearance; and will reprovision the object. Which is exactly what you’d want to happen.<\/span><\/p>\n

        \n

        Public<\/span> Sub<\/span> GenerateImportFile(ByVal<\/span> filename As<\/span> String<\/span>, ByVal<\/span> connectTo As<\/span> String<\/span>, ByVal<\/span> user As<\/span> String<\/span>, ByVal<\/span> password As<\/span> String<\/span>, ByVal<\/span> configParameters As<\/span> ConfigParameterCollection, ByVal<\/span> fullImport As<\/span> Boolean<\/span>, ByVal<\/span> types As<\/span> TypeDescriptionCollection, ByRef<\/span> customData As<\/span> String<\/span>)<\/span>
        \u00a0 Implements<\/span> IMAExtensibleFileImport.GenerateImportFile<\/span>
        \u00a0 Dim<\/span> Servers As<\/span> String<\/span>() = {“server1”, “server2”, “server3”}<\/span>
        \u00a0 Dim<\/span> i As<\/span> Int16<\/span>
        \u00a0 Dim<\/span> s() As<\/span> String<\/span><\/span>
        \u00a0 Dim<\/span> folders As<\/span> System.Collections.IEnumerator<\/span>
        \u00a0 Dim<\/span> sqlConn As<\/span> New<\/span> SqlConnection(MIISDB_CONNECTION_STRING)<\/span> sqlConn.Open()<\/span>
        \u00a0 Dim<\/span> fw As<\/span> StreamWriter<\/span><\/span>
        \u00a0 Try<\/span><\/span><\/span>
        \u00a0 ‘Open the output file specified in the run profile<\/span><\/span><\/span>
        \u00a0 fw = New<\/span> StreamWriter(filename, False<\/span>)<\/span><\/span>
        \u00a0 Catch<\/span> ex As<\/span> Exception<\/span><\/span>
        \u00a0 Throw<\/span> New<\/span> UnauthorizedAccessException(“Unable to open file: ” & filename)<\/span><\/span>
        \u00a0 End<\/span> Try<\/span><\/span><\/span>
        \u00a0 For<\/span> i = 0 To<\/span> UBound(Servers)<\/span><\/span>
        \u00a0 ‘List all folders under \\serverhome<\/span><\/span><\/span>
        \u00a0 s = System.IO.Directory.GetDirectories(“\\” & Servers(i) & “Home”)<\/span><\/span>
        \u00a0 folders = s.GetEnumerator<\/span><\/span>
        \u00a0 While<\/span> folders.MoveNext<\/span><\/span>
        \u00a0 ‘For each folder, write an entry into the import file<\/span><\/span><\/span>
        \u00a0 fw.WriteLine(“Path: ” & folders.Current)<\/span><\/span>
        \u00a0 fw.WriteLine(“Server: ” & Servers(i))<\/span><\/span>
        \u00a0 fw.WriteLine(“Volume: Home”)<\/span><\/span>
        \u00a0 fw.WriteLine(“Folder: ” & folders.Current.Replace(“\\” & Servers(i) & “Home”, “”))<\/span><\/span>
        \u00a0 ‘Get DN and Status from the SQL table<\/span><\/span><\/span>
        \u00a0 Dim<\/span> sqlQuery As<\/span> New<\/span> SqlCommand(“SELECT * FROM ” & MIISDB_TABLE & ” where path='” & folders.Current & “‘”, sqlConn)<\/span><\/span>
        \u00a0 Dim<\/span> cnReader As<\/span> SqlDataReader = sqlQuery.ExecuteReader<\/span><\/span>
        \u00a0 If<\/span> cnReader.Read Then<\/span><\/span><\/span>
        \u00a0 fw.WriteLine(“stringDN: ” & cnReader.Item(1))<\/span> fw.WriteLine(“Status: ” & cnReader.Item(5))<\/span><\/span>
        \u00a0 Else<\/span><\/span><\/span>
        \u00a0 fw.WriteLine(“stringDN: “)<\/span><\/span>
        \u00a0 fw.WriteLine(“Status: owner unknown”)<\/span><\/span>
        \u00a0 End<\/span> If<\/span><\/span><\/span>
        \u00a0 fw.WriteLine()<\/span><\/span>
        \u00a0 cnReader.Close()<\/span><\/span>
        \u00a0 End<\/span> While<\/span><\/span><\/span>
        \u00a0Next<\/span><\/span><\/span>
        \u00a0 sqlConn.Close()<\/span><\/span><\/span>
        \u00a0 fw.Close()<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

        End<\/span> Sub<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

        And the rest:<\/span><\/h3>\n

        The complete solution also includes deprovisioning, as well as steps to archive home directories to ZIP files before deletion… but I’ll cover all that in another post<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

        <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        Here’s a quick walkthrough of creating an XMA. It’s by no means complete or authoritative, and just shows a method I’ve found success with. The example is creating Netware home directories, something I recognize most people don’t need to do these days, but it’s a flexible method which I have used for other scenarios as…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[34,28,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ilm2007","category-miis2003","category-novell"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pkp1o-f","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wapshere.com\/missmiis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wapshere.com\/missmiis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wapshere.com\/missmiis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wapshere.com\/missmiis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wapshere.com\/missmiis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.wapshere.com\/missmiis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3354,"href":"https:\/\/www.wapshere.com\/missmiis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15\/revisions\/3354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wapshere.com\/missmiis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wapshere.com\/missmiis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wapshere.com\/missmiis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}