MIIS 2003 Product Overview
Microsoft Identity Integration Server (MIIS) 2003 is a centralized service that stores and integrates identity information for organizations with multiple directories. The goal of MIIS 2003 is to provide organizations with a unified view of all known identity information about users, applications, and network resources.
MIIS 2003 helps improve productivity, reduce security risk, and reduce the total cost of ownership associated with managing and integrating identity information across the enterprise.
On This Page
 | Product Versions |
| Key Benefits |
| Other Benefits |
| How Does MIIS 2003 Work? |
Product Versions
There are two versions of MIIS 2003 as follows:
| • | Microsoft Identity Integration Server 2003, Enterprise Edition |
| • | Identity Integration Feature Pack 1 for Microsoft Windows Server Active Directory |
Key Benefits
MIIS 2003 is the third major release of our identity management and integration product—encompassing more than four years of experience solving complex identity management problems for customers. In answer to customer requests for a product that helps reduce the cost of managing identity information spread throughout their enterprise, MIIS 2003 enables you to:
| • | Synchronize identity information. With MIIS 2003, you can synchronize identity information across a wide variety of heterogeneous directory and non-directory identity stores. This allows you to automate the process of updating identity information across disparate platforms while maintaining the integrity and ownership of that data across the enterprise. |
| • | Provision and de-provision accounts. MIIS 2003 allows you to easily provision and de-provision user’s accounts and identity information such as distribution, e-mail, and security groups across systems and platforms. New accounts for employees can be created quickly based on events or changes in authoritative stores like the human resources system. Additionally, when employees leave a company, they can be immediately de-provisioned from those same systems. |
| • | Synchronize and manage passwords. MIIS 2003 enables password synchronization, self-service, and help desk-initiated password management and reset from a Web browser. End users and help desk staff no longer have to use multiple tools to change passwords across multiple systems as MIIS automates the synchronization of passwords. Password management capabilities allow passwords to be easily reset across multiple systems from one easy-to-use Web interface. |
| Key Benefits of MIIS 2003 | |
| Feature | Benefit |
Synchronize Identity Information | You benefit from improved productivity and reduced administrative costs as identity data is kept up to date across an enterprise without manual updates. |
Provision User Accounts | End users can be more productive by accessing needed systems faster while corporate security is improved as employees’ access to systems is automatically terminated when they leave. Administrators benefit from having these processes automated which improves their own productivity and helps to lower administrative costs. |
Synchronize and Manage Passwords | Password resets are the single greatest cost associated with a help desk. This feature helps to reduce the cost of help desk operations while improving the productivity of your information technology workforce. |
MIIS 2003 creates and distributes an integrated view of identity information from multiple data sources. Broad connectivity capabilities give you the power to connect to the plethora of disparate identity information sources in your company—all without the need to install software of any kind on the target systems.
MIIS 2003, Enterprise Edition, includes support for a wide variety of identity repositories including the following.
| Connectivity Capabilities of MIIS 2003 | |
| Type of System | Examples |
Network operating systems and directory services | Microsoft Windows NT, Active Directory, Active Directory Application Mode, IBM Directory Server, Novell eDirectory, Resource Access Control Facility (RACF), Resource Access Control Facility (RACF), and SunONE/iPlanet Directory |
Lotus Notes and Domino, Microsoft Exchange 5.5, 2000 and 2003 | |
Application | SAP, telephone switches, XML- and DSML-based systems |
Database | Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, IBM DB2 |
File-based | DSMLv2, LDIF, CSV, delimited, fixed width, attribute value pairs. These file formats allow for integration with a variety of applications, databases, telephone switches, X.500 systems and other metadirectory products or underlying systems that can produce a file. |
Other Benefits
SQL Server Integration
Because performance, scalability, and reliability are essential business needs for any infrastructure product, SQL Server has been selected as the data repository for your identity information. SQL Server provides a powerful and comprehensive data management platform with revolutionary self-tuning and dynamic self-configuring features that optimize database performance.
Visual Studio .NET Integration
Customers who wish to customize or extend the capabilities of MIIS 2003 can use any of the languages supported by Visual Studio .NET, such as Visual Basic.NET, Visual C++.NET, Visual C#.NET, Visual J#.NET, or a third-party language such as Perl. Visual Studio .NET offers a highly productive environment in which you can extend or customize your MIIS 2003 implementation.
How Does MIIS 2003 Work?
The following illustration shows how Microsoft Identity Integration Server 2003 is organized.
MIIS 2003 Organization
MIIS 2003 manages information by receiving identity information from the connected data sources and storing the information in the connector space as connector space objects or CSEntry objects. The CSEntry objects are then mapped to entries in the metaverse called metaverse objects or MVEntry objects. This process allows data from separate connected data sources to be mapped to the same MVEntry object.
For example, an organization's e-mail system can be linked to its human resources database through the metaverse. Each employee's attributes from the e-mail system and the human resources database are imported into the connector space through management agents. The e-mail system can then link to individual attributes from the employee entry, such as the employee telephone number. If an employee's telephone number changes, the new telephone number will automatically be propagated to the e-mail system.
Where Applicable
MIIS 2003 administrators can use this program in conjunction with Microsoft Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) scripting to automate common administrative tasks. Administrators and corporate developers can implement business logic by developing rules extensions to control how management agents and the metaverse work.
Developer Audience
Administrators can create WMI scripts to automate many MIIS 2003 functions. Administrators and developers can create rules extensions that use the Microsoft .NET Framework. For more information, see the Microsoft Identity Integration Server 2003 Developer Reference.
Run-Time Requirements
MIIS 2003 runs on Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition, and Microsoft SQL Server 2000, Enterprise Edition with Service Pack 3. To develop rules extensions, you need a programming language and a compiler that can create a .NET Framework class library.