Packaging the eDirectory Schema

[jimgoodall]

Hi folks,

Over the years I've worked on lots of projects where a Development / User Acceptance Testing / Production environment model is utilised.

Packages make moving drivers / resources through that model really easy. One thing keeps coming back to bite me every now and then though is remembering to move the supporting schema updates into the higher environments.

My thought "Wouldn't it be awesome to include your vault schema in an Identity Vault package"

Just wanted to canvas thoughts really on whether you agree, and if not, I'd be interested to hear how you version control and manage your schema between environments?

Cheers!

Jim

[jimgoodall]

Yeah - I do like Lothar's idea.

For our purposes I have consolidated the customer's schema into a single file that is sitting in a library that is off the root so that I can have it as an Identity Vault package - OCD I know :)! Had I a little more time, or been doing this from scratch I would take the approach of one per class.

I am doing a similar thing to Geoff for some JDBC drivers we have implemented - putting the SQL definitions into a resource so that you have everything you need right there in the driver package.

If I get a quite 5 minutes I might submit a request for improvement to have Designer handle packaging the schema itself.

Really appreciate your feedback as ever folks!

Have a great day / evening

Regards

Jim

[geoffc]

> If I get a quite 5 minutes I might submit a request for improvement to
> have Designer handle packaging the schema itself.

The request is already in there. One possible problem is that packages
are meant to be uninstallable. How would you reliably uninstall Schema
updates?

What does uninstall mean in the context of a schema update?

I am ok with it being a one way action. But something to consider.

Also, what does an upgrade look like? Reapply? It seems
straightforward, but there is more to it..

Now, if Designer read in the schema, applied it to the local model,
generated the diffs for eDir maybe that could work better.

[jimgoodall]

Hi Geoff, I didn't see an idea for packaging the schema, so I have created one. I guess it will get closed as a duplicate if there is already one there.

My thoughts where that you would have the package add / remove the extensions from your workspace schema - it's then your problem to get them into eDirectory - compare is generally the way to go.

[geoffc]

On 7/6/2018 5:54 AM, jimgoodall wrote:
>
> Hi Geoff, I didn't see an idea for packaging the schema, so I have
> created 'one'
> (https://www1.v1ideas.com/MFI/identity-manager/Idea/Detail/14016). I
> guess it will get closed as a duplicate if there is already one there.

I know I have mentioned this to devs many times before, guess no one
ever wrote it up. Thanks for taking the time.

> My thoughts where that you would have the package add / remove the
> extensions from your workspace schema - it's then your problem to get
> them into eDirectory - compare is generally the way to go.

That works.

[dgersic]

jimgoodall;2483505 wrote:
Hi folks,

Over the years I've worked on lots of projects where a Development / User Acceptance Testing / Production environment model is utilised.

Packages make moving drivers / resources through that model really easy. One thing keeps coming back to bite me every now and then though is remembering to move the supporting schema updates into the higher environments.

My thought "Wouldn't it be awesome to include your vault schema in an Identity Vault package"

Just wanted to canvas thoughts really on whether you agree, and if not, I'd be interested to hear how you version control and manage your schema between environments?

Cheers!

Jim

I agree. In fact, it's such a great idea, that I put it in Bugzilla ... 8 years ago?

Bug 636889 - Enhancement: Option to add Schema to the packages.
https://bugzilla.netiq.com/show_bug.cgi?id=636889

So, yeah. I still think it's a good idea.

[geoffc]

On 7/6/2018 11:16 AM, dgersic wrote:
>
> jimgoodall;2483505 Wrote:
>> Hi folks,
>>
>> Over the years I've worked on lots of projects where a Development /
>> User Acceptance Testing / Production environment model is utilised.
>>
>> Packages make moving drivers / resources through that model really easy.
>> One thing keeps coming back to bite me every now and then though is
>> remembering to move the supporting schema updates into the higher
>> environments.
>>
>> My thought "Wouldn't it be awesome to include your vault schema in an
>> Identity Vault package"
>>
>> Just wanted to canvas thoughts really on whether you agree, and if not,
>> I'd be interested to hear how you version control and manage your schema
>> between environments?
>>
>> Cheers!
>>
>> Jim
>
> I agree. In fact, it's such a great idea, that I put it in Bugzilla ...
> 8 years ago?
>
> Bug 636889 - Enhancement: Option to add Schema to the packages.
> https://bugzilla.netiq.com/show_bug.cgi?id=636889
>
> So, yeah. I still think it's a good idea.

Haha! I knew it was in there. I remember having this discussion MANY
times since IDM 4.0 was released with packages.

[jimgoodall]

Given it my vote sir 😉