As Published In September/October 2004

Identity Management and Oracle Applications
By Michael Miley

With the release of Oracle Application Server 10g, the Oracle Identity Management infrastructure has been integrated across the complete range of Oracle products. It provides identity management functions and services that can be leveraged by Oracle Application Server Portal, Oracle Collaboration Suite, and Oracle E-Business Suite while drawing on the security capabilities of Oracle Database 10g.

For example, Oracle Application Server Portal leverages the security infrastructure of Oracle Identity Management to authenticate users through Oracle Application Server Single Sign-On, to provision and manage users and groups and their access privileges, and to integrate with the Windows environment. Oracle Application Server Single Sign-On is integrated with Oracle Internet Directory (OID) and supports integration with third-party security management products. OID is also Oracle Application Server Portal's repository for user and group definitions, provisioned via access control lists through user management screens or with the administration tools and APIs provided with OID.

Oracle Collaboration Suite is built on Oracle Database, Oracle Application Server, and the security infrastructure of Oracle Identity Management to provide an enterprise platform that integrates e-mail, voice mail, fax, calendar, content management, and real-time collaboration services.

With the release of Oracle Application Server 10g, applications in Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i can leverage the Oracle Identity Management infrastructure. To access multiple Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i instances, users can take advantage of Oracle Application Server Single Sign-On to log in only once. Oracle Internet Directory is the integration point that allows Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i to participate in enterprise-level user management. "A globally unique identifier (GUID) can be created to uniquely identify a user across the enterprise," says John Heimann, principal product manager for E-Business Suite, Oracle Application Security. "Oracle Internet Directory and Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i store the GUID information to leverage identity management for each enterprise-level user."

Finally, Oracle Database 10g provides the basis for the Oracle Identity Management infrastructure to facilitate enterprisewide user provisioning and administration. OID, for example, is implemented as an application running on Oracle Database 10g, and database features such as Enterprise User Security and Oracle Label Security leverage Oracle Identity Management to centrally manage authorizations for an entire enterprise.