Archive for the ‘Novell Identity Manager’ Category

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Novell IDM Entitlement DN & Stylesheets

Tuesday, May 10th, 2011

Entitlements can be a bit quirky in driver policies.  Drivers have the ability to add an entitlement from that driver to an object but they don’t have the ability to add a different driver’s entitlement or remove an entitlement through policy.  When a situation occurs where entitlements have to be added or removed that can’t be done through policy that’s when you call in stylesheets.  Stylesheets are flexible and powerful tools in the driver’s toolbox but they are not as user friendly and require advanced developer knowledge over standard policies.

Stylesheets can suffer from an annoying issue if they contain hard coded object DNs in the XML.  The issue is that when the stylesheet is migrated from one environment to the next the object DN(s) aren’t detected correctly after migration.  I have seen it a number of times where an object DN is the same in a QA and Production environment, the stylesheet tests fine in QA, but when migrated to Production the stylesheet doesn’t execute correctly. And the odd thing is in this situation that when you review the driver logs the DN is correct in both the input doc and the stylesheet.

The quick and dirty fix is just to copy the desired object DN from the input doc in the log, paste it in the stylesheet, and restart the driver.  Even though the values are the same this process corrects the issue and after a driver restart the stylesheet will operate as expected.

There is a better approach to avoid this issue. As with most values, it is better to use variables instead of hard coding values like object DNs in your logic.  The cleaner, more reliable solution is to create a Global Configuration Variable (GCV) on the driver, or driver set depending on your needs, for each of the DNs and then just reference the GCVs in the stylesheets.  This allows the stylesheet to be migrated between environments without risking the DN values should they be different between environments or DN value recognition for hard coded values.

Below is an example of how to reference a GCV in a stylesheet:

<xsl:when test=”(component[@name='volume'] = ‘~Entitlement_DN_GCV~‘)”>

Notice that the GCV is within the single set of quotes ( ‘ ).  This is a string value so when the GCV is translated to the actual value it will need to be treated as a string.  The key symbol here is the tilde ( ~ ) that encapsulates the GCV name.  This character symbolizes the use of a GCV so the driver engine knows to substitute the GCV name with the value stored in that GCV on the driver or driver set.

And regardless of whether you are using stylesheets or policies it is always better to use GCVs for these types of values and avoid hard coding values.  It just makes life easier.

As always, questions, comments or concerns?  Feel free to reach out to us at IDMWorks.

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Posted in Best Practices, Identity Management, Novell Identity Manager | 2 Comments »

Executing Command Line Functions with Novell Identity Manager

Monday, April 18th, 2011

***NOTE: As with all Tips and Tricks we provide on the IDMWorks blog, use the following AT YOUR OWN RISK.  We do not guarantee this will work in your environment and make no warranties***

While Novell’s Identity Manager product has an extensive list of actions, there is nothing like the power of the command line. The default actions included in the product cover the most common items that one would want to perform, but occasionally, a truly unique action needs to be performed. In the past, to extend the action infrastructure, one was required to write a java class and add it to the java class path. Recent versions of IDM, however, have included the ability to use ECMA scripting to extend capabilities without custom java classes. What follows, is a script and the corresponding actions within IDM to execute command line functions.

ECMA Script:

importPackage(Packages.java.lang);

function execCL(command)

{

var runtime, process;

runtime = new java.lang.Runtime.getRuntime();

process = runtime.exec(command);

process.waitFor();

return process.exitValue();

}

IDM Policy Action

<do-set-local-variable name=”command” scope=”policy”>
<arg-string>
<token-text xml:space=”preserve”>YourCommandHere(Hint: use $localvariablename to pass parameters)</token-text>
</arg-string>
</do-set-local-variable>

In the past, this method has been used to integrate password encryption with Mac OSX LDAP directories. The standard LDAP set password operation only sets the simple password, which appears as clear text to anyone viewing the user accounts. To properly set the password as an encrypted value, one must execute the “dscl” command on the OSX directory server.

The following is an example of the command to perform this:

ssh -vvv $osxHost$ /usr/bin/dscl -u $adminuser$ -P $adminpassword$ /LDAPv3/127.0.0.1 -passwd /Users/$name$ $passwd$ 2>&1

Questions, comments or concerns?  Feel free to reach out to us at IDMWorks.

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Posted in Identity Management, Identity Provisioning, Novell, Novell Identity Manager, Tips & Tricks | No Comments »

Password Management in Novell Identity Manager

Tuesday, March 29th, 2011

Novell Identity Manager integrates tightly with Novell eDirectory. Part of the benefit of eDirectory is the inherent security built around passwords.  But there are times that Novell’s native tools for managing passwords do not meet the specific needs of the deployment. So let’s briefly explore the options you have for managing passwords within the framework of Novell’s Identity Manager.  For the purposes of this article password management is defined as the ability for a user to set a password, set challenge/response questions and use those challenge response questions to reset a forgotten password.

The first option, and probably the easiest to implement, is to use Novell’s Role Based Provisioning Module (RBPM) formerly known as the User Application.  This tool is easily deployed and fully supports all of the password management functionality.  It is can be branded and is fully supported by Novell.  The drawback to the RBPM is that it may be more than some organizations need when they are looking for just password management.  Additionally an organization may have an existing portal deployment that they want to integrate password management into. RBPM may not be the best fit for these organizations.

Another option is to utilize Novell’s Password Management Framework from their custom development group.  This is a fully functional password utility that is specifically tailored to an organization.  It is supported via Novell’s custom development group and fully supports all of the password management functionality.  The disadvantage of this solution is the additional costs associated with the purchase, development and support of the solution.  It can be integrated into an organizations existing portal solution and is fully supports branding specific to an organization.

If the functionality of Novell’s Password Management Framework (PMF) is what an organization is looking for but they do not wish to make the additional investment in product, support, etc… then a viable option is an open source project called PWM (available at https://code.google.com/p/pwm/).  This solution is very comparable to Novell’s PMF.  An organization may deploy it as is or customize it for their needs.  The advantage of this solution is the reduced product costs.  The disadvantage of this solution is that the organization is essentially self supporting themselves with this solution.  Just as the solutions above PWM fully supports all of the password management functionality.

In RBPM 3.7 there is also a forgotten password web service that is available (http://server:port/warcontext/pwdmgt/service?wsdl).  This is a good way to access basic password reset functionality.  This service does not support all of the password management functionality.  However it is a good option for organizations familiar with writing to web services and only need the basic forgotten password operations.

For organizations that desire the web service approach but need fuller functionality than what the basic web service interface provides there is in RBPM 3.7 REST services available.  The functionality for the REST services is contained in a war file (RIS.war) that sits separate from the User Application and provides access to much more than just the password management features.  The REST services are fully documented in Novell’s RBPM 3.7 online documentation.  This solution can be integrated into an organizations existing portal framework or can be used to build a fully functional site that exposes specific functionality that an organization needs.

There are other options for integrating with Novell’s Identity Management solution for password management that utilize Novell’s APIs.  But in the opinion of this consultant the above listed methods are the most cost effective options and provide the functionality that most organizations need.

As usual if you have questions, comments or concerns feel free to reach out to us at IDMWorks.

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Posted in Identity Management, Novell, Novell Identity Manager, Password Management | No Comments »

Novell ATT Live Roundup Part 3 – What’s New in Novell Identity Manager 4

Monday, December 20th, 2010

(Editor’s Note) Just a brief disclaimer here: Although we are blogging quite a bit these days about Novell and they are at the forefront (no Microsoft IdM pun intended) of our thoughts we remain steadfast VENDOR NEUTRAL. It just so happens a bunch of IDMWorks folks went to the ATT Live Novell event in Las Vegas a week or so back and as such it seemed a waste to not flood the Blog with what we saw, liked, didn’t like and loved.  Besides this they covered the costs for us to attend (hint, hint vendors out there) and I think we owe it to Novell to give them a fair bit of coverage.  We remain honest in our assessments and appreciate and and all feedback you might have either below or through our contact page.  Now back to our regularly scheduled blog already in progress…

Along with Todd Rossin (who beat me to the blog), I was one of the lucky ones who got to attend Novell’s ATT Live 2010 in Las Vegas.  There is far too much to cover in one blog entry, so there will be multiple blogs for each class/training session that I attended.  This entry will be covering the “What’s New with Novell’s Identity Manager 4″ session.

There are some cool new features that Novell added to Identity Manager, and they include:

  • Advance reporting and metrics capability
  • Role Mapping Administrator
  • Package Manager
  • Sharepoint and Salesforce.com drivers (connectors)

The  Advance Reporting and Metrics piece includes tons of “out of the box” report templates, state based reporting (present, past, and activity level reporting), visibility across Identity Vault and connected systems, and customization of reports.  You can also automate your reports, collect data based on policies and distribute them automatically once they are run.  This is much improved over the previous version of Identity Manager and seems to incorporate more of what is used in Sentinel.  Sometime in 2011, Sentinel and IDM reporting are going to get even closer along with other capabilities (we even blogged on this topic).  The report customization was kind of difficult to grasp at first but the options seem pretty limitless once you get rolling.  The added functionality of an automated distribution method is also a nice feature to have so that everyone can get their reports in a timely fashion without having to remind your Report Administrator to send them out.   If you don’t want to clutter up your email system with these reports  then you can also set them to retrieve upon you login to Identity Manager.

The Role Mapping Administrator application puts everything on one screen so you don’t have to scour through confusing tables or lists of roles and authorizations.  It will show you the roles that are set up in your Identity Manager space and the available authorizations for your connected systems.  It even allows one to drag and drop your connected system’s authorizations to your roles making it easier to control what accesses the employees get within your organization.

The Package Manager now allows more control over approval flows, roles, policies, and style sheets.  By allowing versioning of your packages one can add enhancements and reduce the time it takes to upgrade a driver (connector).  Of course if don’t like the packages that Novell provides you can now customize them and deploy them to your driver (connector) easier and faster than before.

There are  new drivers (connectors) available out of the box including some very interesting ones, Sharepoint and  Salesforce.com.  I have always valued when companies keep up with the industries that they are supporting, so any new out of the box drivers (connectors) are helpful and welcome as this speeds up my own deployments and reduces the amount of customizations required to get everything up and running.

I will go into more detail on some of the above features in future blogs but I figured the first one should just be an overview of what’s new in IDM4.  Overall the week was full of solid information straight from the developers of the software.  You can’t go wrong trying to pry information directly from the people who designed it.  Unfortunately, in the negative, the labs during the week  had their fair share of problems but most of it worked out just fine in the end with a bit of cajoling.  It is obvious that Novell is trying to become a major force in the Identity Management arena and this product will most likely move them in the right direction to accomplish that.

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Posted in Identity Management, Novell, Novell Identity Manager, Novell Sentinel, Role Management, Security Information & Event Management (SIEM) | 1 Comment »

Novell ATT Live Roundup Part 2: Sentinel Security Information & Event Management!

Thursday, December 16th, 2010

Novell ATT Live Round Up Part 2

Location: Vegas Baby!

So a team of IDMWorks folks ventured to a little known town of Las Vegas to attend the 4 day ATT Live Novell Training, Update and Marketing summit. So what did we learn? Much like the Vegas buffets we had our pick of many tools, overviews and information sessions. Each of the IDMWorks team members (there were 4 of us present) choose a little from column A and little from column B. As such I plan to speak to the sessions I attended and what I saw as well as my likes and dislikes.

This will be a multipart blog entry, as such I bring you Part 2: Novell ATT Live Roundup – Sentinel Security Information & Event Management!

The Novell sessions at ATT Live were interesting in that they weren’t full blown product training as much as bits and pieces specific to tasks within a product (such as Driver Packaging for Novell Identity Manager 4).  The Novell Sentinel briefing I attended was “Identity Tracking for Novell Sentinel and Identity Manager” in which staff (preferably security) are alerted in real time of a breach in security allowing the staff to take immediate action to halt the user from being a bad, bad man (or woman). The key here is to know the old WHO, WHAT, WHERE and WHEN of the breach and having the means to not only identify but stop the malicious activity.  Timing is of the essence here.

The lab revolved around tying the Novell Identity Manager 4 product into the Novell Sentinel product with ease.  I won’t lie here and tell you that everything went uber smoothly or that there weren’t any glitches in the process but what I can tell you is that with a little elbow grease this is a completely doable proposition.  The event monitoring can show us when an employee used their proximity card or badge to enter (who).  When the user logged in to his/her laptop.  What applications and databases they accessed. What policy they violated or breached and when they did it (in real time) and incident management and remediation.  In the case of Novell Identity Manager 4 the action was used to trigger an immediate shutdown of all access rights including (but not limited to) Login ID suspension (works great if that account is SSO enabled for a one stop method), application access termination (if not SSO enabled), Badge credentials revocation (or CAC if you prefer), and immediate compliance audit and reporting to security staff members.  Pretty…Frickin…Cool.

Now this has whet my appetite big time.  It makes me want to see what other products are out there that also fit the bill and I see me taking a look at the Microsoft, Oracle, IBM and CA offerings that have a similar proposition soon to take a look at how they stack up.  Feel free to sound off below on your experiences with Novell Sentinel or a similar vendor product.

As usual, questions, comments or needs, contact us here.

And Happy Holidays from the crew at IDMWorks!

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Posted in Common Access Card, Data Loss Prevention, Governance, GRC, Identity Management, Novell, Novell Identity Manager, Novell Sentinel, Security Information & Event Management (SIEM) | 1 Comment »

Novell’s future, (not as) confusing at best… rewind

Thursday, November 25th, 2010

A few weeks ago, I wrote about Novell and the possibility of an acquisition, well today that “theory” has been validated. On 11/22/2010 Attachmate announced that they had come to a definitive agreement with Novell’s board and shareholder for the purchase of the company.

Attachmate, not having the same footprint in the IAM space as Novell, has decided to let Novell operate as Novell (smart move) but the strategy isn’t very clear, or is it?

Let’s analyze it, what does Attachmate bring to the relationship besides having enough cash to purchase Novell? Do they have the requisite experience in:

  • Selling enterprise Software – check
  • Maintaining their existing customer base – check
  • Up-selling the existing customer base – check
  • Identity Management / Security – nope. The closest they come to security is Systems Management, Configuration Management & SIEM software.  All of which Novell brings to the table.

What this tells us is that Attachmate is going to further their  brand loyalty by selling Novell and attaching all of the great things that they have learned selling mainframe software.

Who would their potential customers be? Well, why not just look at Attachmate’s rolodex, I can’t think of a single Fortune 1000 client that doesn’t use their products, can you?

And for those nagging questions I had about the status of Novell’s SUSE UNIX?  Apparently it isn’t going anywhere.

And for those nagging questions I had about the status of VMWare getting a hold of Novell?  Well Microsoft put an end to that as well.

I think they can officially call it a dog-fight. Oracle and the likes, get ready for some serious competition from Attachmate.

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Posted in Identity Management, linux, Novell, Novell Access Manager, Novell Identity Manager | No Comments »

Zen and the the Art of Identity Management

Monday, November 15th, 2010

Interestingly enough I have been asked many times as to what exactly IDMWorks is and what it is that we do (and I don’t just mean the wife and kids).  As such it seems time to do the quasi-annual blog sales pitch.  I think most of our readers have an idea what we do and have perused the site to better inform themselves but there are some that don’t tread any farther than this here blog.  So in keeping with the simplicity of blogvertising I present you IDMWorks.

Subject:  Enterprise Identity & Access Management and Governance, Risk & Compliance

You may be aware of many of the issues organizations are facing today around the various challenges and aspects of Identity Management and Information Security.

At IDMWORKS we understand the problems that many of you are facing and are positioned to help.  IDMWORKS is a vendor agnostic, Identity Management, Access Management, and Governance, Risk and Compliance Management Consultancy. We have consultants and engineers across the United States and North America that specialize helping clients with most aspects of Identity, Access Management, and GRC issues, including the following:

  • Identity and Access Management technology evaluations and POCs
  • Identity Management strategy creation, Integration and Deployment
  • Identity Management / IT Security Technologies Assessment, Evaluation,  and Planning
  • Identity Management / IT Security Education
  • Pre & Post Identity Management project Support Services
  • Identity Federation
  • PCI Compliance
  • Governance, Risk and Compliance Management , Provisioning
  • Single Sign-on and Web Access management
  • Data Loss Prevention

IDMWORKS has been built upon the skills and experience of dedicated IDM professionals and specialist with a customer base that includes Government, Healthcare, Education, Financial Services, Energy, Manufacturing and Retail clients.

IDMWORKS has experience with the integration and implementation of the market  leading Identity & Access Management, and GRC solutions and technologies – CA, Oracle/Sun, Novell,  IBM,  Aveksa, Citrix, Passlogix,  and Sailpoint, to name a few – and would welcome the opportunity to discuss your IT Security needs to determine how we can help.

We would like to offer you the opportunity to take advantage of an initial Identity Management, and Compliance Assessment. The results of the assessment will include recommendations on potential solutions to address your current Identity management and GRC related issues.

For further information or to arrange an initial consultation, contact IDMWorks to discuss how we can help with a solution to address your needs.

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Posted in Access Management, Aveksa, Best Practices, CA, CA Identity Manager, CA SiteMinder, Citrix, Citrix Password Manager, Citrix XenApp, Cloud Computing, Enterprise Single Sign On (ESSO), Governance, GRC, Identity Management, Identity Provisioning, Novell, Novell Access Manager, Novell Identity Manager, Oracle Access Manager, Oracle Fusion Middleware, Oracle Identity Manager, Oracle Role Manager, Password Management, PCI Compliance, RBAC, Risk & Compliance, Roadmap, Role Management, SailPoint, Security & Risk, Single Sign On (SSO), SOA, SRM, Sun Identity & Access Management, Sun Identity Manager | No Comments »

So now what? What to do with your Sun IAM stack (hint: start looking)

Friday, November 12th, 2010

Legacy Sun Java System Identity and Access Management (IAM) customers have been calling us up often to ask about the state of the industry and their options with the Sun IAM stack moving forward.   The choices are many right now but one fact remains, Sun IDM and Open SSO’s days are numbered.  The products will be around for a while, years in fact, but eventually like that Saturn dealership on the corner, it will go away. Thus the grand migration is underway.  As an IAM enabled company the question of where to migrate to is paramount.  So let’s talk options.

Option 1) Stick with Sun As-Is

The old wait and see approach, but let’s be honest, the clock is ticking.  Like a legacy application your IT staff built in their garage it won’t keep up with the rest of market and the future of IDM.  There will never be a grand Cloud version of Sun IDM.  What is most interesting is that there are options to move away from Sun that pretty much expire by years end.

So let’s move away from Option 1 for now and take a look at the future.

Option 2) “Migrate” to Oracle IAM (as part of Oracle Fusion Middleware)

I say migrate because with any non-Sun tool (and Oracle IAM is a much different beast) there is NO upgrade path. Oracle is attempting to woo existing Sun implementations into the fold by offering license swaps in the short term. For those looking to definitively move into Oracle IAM then this is the best bet and should be done ASAP as the swap cycle is time limited.

Option 3) Migrate to Novell IAM

Similar to Oracle, Novell is offering a swap out of the Sun software and licenses.  This is a very interesting proposition.  Novell is willing to give the product up for free in order to build the relationship.  Basically from what the Novell Website states:

  • The Sun Identity Manager swap gives you Novell Identity Manager, roles based provisioning module and enterprise integration module.
  • The Sun Role Manager swap gives you Novell Access Governance Suite.
  • The Sun Open SSO swap gives you Novell Access Manager.
  • The Sun Directory Server EE swap gives you Novell eDirectory.
  • Sun subscription customers can opt in for equivalent Novell product subscriptions and will be considered for additional incentives on a case-by-case basis.

I think this is brilliant tactic that I am surprised a few other vendors haven’t tried.  To be straight, Novell has a great directory and SSO offering and is making huge strides in the Provisioning and Federation space.  At a minimum for a no-cost look I might suggest talking to a Novell rep.  But alas, much like Oracle, Novell’s offer is time-boxed.  Come Dec.31, 2010 a statement of interest (not a purchase mind you, this simply locks in Novell’s committment in 2011 for the swap) must be signed or that coach turns back into a pumpkin.

Option 4)  Migrate to CA IAM, IBM IAM, Microsoft IAM, etc. (there are many to chose from)

Choices, choices, choices.  I can say that CA is making a major push in the IAM space and IBM seems to be lagging a bit but has been a big player in the past.  Microsoft is also making strides to broaden their footprint in the IAM space.  And there are plenty more vendors to look at. My guess is there are deals to be had even if there is no published “sale” going on.

I wouldn’t keep any pre-conceived notions about any of the vendors right now and thanks to the Oracle-Sun purchase the alternative vendors are pumping time and money into getting your business.  We at IDMWorks are happy to work with you on any and all of the products in the market.  We can help to dissect and divide the various offerings and help you to understand the best choice that fits into your environment.

The point is NOW is the time to take the Pepsi challenge.  If you have a SUN IAM implementation you should be taking a look at the various vendors (including those not listed in Option 4) and line up a chat (or webcast, lunch-and-learn, email or phone call) with your local vendor representative because by 2011 a potential low cost update may go away.

Feel free to shoot us a note if you have questions.

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Posted in Access Management, CA, CA Identity Manager, Identity Management, Identity Provisioning, Novell, Novell Access Manager, Novell Identity Manager, Oracle Access Manager, Oracle Fusion Middleware, Oracle Identity Manager, Sun Identity & Access Management, Sun Identity Manager | 5 Comments »

Novell’s future, confusing at best…

Thursday, September 23rd, 2010

If you haven’t already heard, VMWare is thinking about buying Novell’s Linux platform, SUSE Enterprise Linux (a rumor since late August). This is a bold move for VMWare who has been seeing increasing competition from Microsoft and Oracle in the virtualization space.  Also, it will give Red Hat a run for its money in the Enterprise Linux business.

Questions abound…

1) What space will Novell concentrate on?

  • Identity & Security – check
  • Cloud – check
  • File Management Solutions – check
  • Platspin and other niche technologies – check

2) Does this mean that Novell is a better acquisition target now that they are a little smaller?

3) Will this cause any uncertainty when folks are buying Novell software?

All of this Novell acquisition talk makes me wonder about what the true Novell strategy is.

4) why would Novell give up a fantastic distribution of Linux (and all of the tools that come with it such as SuSE Studio)?

5) Given that some of our customers are VMWare and SuSE customers, this is fantastic news, however, for those that are VMWare and *nix customers, is this bad news?

I’m eager to see how this plays out in the next few weeks, even more eager to see what our customers will do should this purchase go through…

Any comments?

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Posted in Identity Management, Identity Provisioning, Novell, Novell Identity Manager, Roadmap, SLES, VMWare | 3 Comments »

Building your IAM project toolbox

Wednesday, August 25th, 2010

New clients sometimes ask “what tools do I need to keep this new technology up and running”?

A basic tool kit for IDM or WAM environments is essential for making a successful project into a successful long term operation.

Here are a few basics I have collected over time.

For any LDAP access, you need an LDAP browser that can read any LDAP acessable directory. Apache Directory Studio fills that need and is available on just about any platform you might be running.

Apache Directory Studio LDAP browser is based on Eclipse, and can be had in two flavors. One is a stand alone installable program that requires only a system Java Run Time to function. Download, install, and run.

http://directory.apache.org/studio/

The second flavor is as a plug-in to your existing Eclipse installation. If you already use Eclipse for other work, this will add the LDAP browser capability.

http://directory.apache.org/studio/installation-in-eclipse.html

Either way you go, you get an LDAP browser that is capable of working with any LDAP accessible directory.

Many IDM and WAM products run on Linux. Working with Linux requires different tools than a Window Server. Many applications use a command line installer that may or may not have a GUI component.

GUI access necessitates X-Windows capability to display. If you run a Mac, you should have it covered. PC’s do not come with any X-Windows capability. Xming provides that capability for PC’s and
I have been able to run Xming on all recent versions of the Windows OS.

http://www.straightrunning.com/XmingNotes/

Start with the Public Domain version, and don’t forget the fonts. Get all the fonts because you never know what a vendor may use.

Of course, you cannot get to the X-Windows unless you have some way of accessing the Linux
Console. Once again, Mac users have that covered with Terminal. You can use telnet on a
PC, but a better method is via the old standby, Putty. No, this is not your Plumbers Putty,
but an SSH client that has stood the test of time.

http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/

This is the official site, grab a copy. There is no installation necessary, it just runs.

The next tool is something to transfer files back and forth between your PC and the
Linux systems. For this, the SCP secure protocol is used, and you need a program that
can do this reliably.

For the PC, I use WinSCP.

http://winscp.net/eng/index.php

This is another of those programs that has stood up over time. It allows you to drag and
drop files between systems. Even better, if you set it up to do so, you can have it
open and edit text files on the target system in your favorite text editor (more on those below).

For the Mac I like Cyberduck. I have tried a few others, but I keep coming back to this one.

http://cyberduck.ch/

Must be the name…

Next up would be some text editors. Often this is a personal choice, there are many out there,
but here are a couple that I use.

For the PC, PSPad is a free and very capable editor available with many languages.

http://www.pspad.com/

When I say languages, I refer both to spoken and programming languages. Highly versatile, and
very configurable. Much better than Notepad or Wordpad

For the Mac, I use TextWrangler

http://www.barebones.com/products/textwrangler/

Many of the same features, in a package for the Mac.

I have not done too many IDM projects where some type of SQL database was not involved. Most have their own client tools, but what if you wanted something that could handle them all? For that, I turn to the Squirrels… SQuirreL SQL.

http://squirrel-sql.sourceforge.net/

You will need to obtain each vendors JDBC Type 4 driver to connect. I am a Novell IDM person, and I like this because I can use the same JDBC URL in SQuirreL as I do in the JDBC Driver. This gives me the same view of the data that the driver should see. SQuirreL is Java, so it works well on pretty much any desktop OS.

I did not intend to go into how to use these, maybe later. These are just a few available
tools to keep in your toolbox for system administration and maintenance. Remember, when
it comes to ideas on how to use these tools, Google is your friend.

Questions? Ask away at IDMWorks.

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Posted in Best Practices, LDAP, Novell, Novell Identity Manager | No Comments »

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