Create SCIM Microservices

Owned by Phillip Hanegan
Last updated: Oct 18, 2023
5 min read

Workflow Studio provides a .NET SCIM Microservice template that you can use to create your microservices using the SCIM protocol. As a developer, all you need to do is add the appropriate logic required for your implementation. Once you have added your logic, you build and deploy the microservice to the appropriate environment (such as Azure or IIS) and connect EmpowerID to that environment.

In this tutorial, you will learn how to do the following:

Create a microservice project in Workflow Studio

Open the project in Visual Studio

Add your implementation logic to the microservice

Publish and deploy the microservice

Create the SCIM account store used to connect EmpowerID to the application hosting the microservice

In this article, the microservice will be published to an app service in Azure. It is assumed that the reader has prior knowledge of setting up an app service in Azure and has a fundamental understanding of the SCIM protocol and microservices.

To develop SCIM microservices, you will initially use Workflow Studio to generate the template and then utilize Visual Studio to develop the code for your specific microservice implementation.

Create a SCIM microservice in Workflow Studio

  1. In Workflow Studio, right-click on the source control folder where you want to create the SCIM microservice and select New Extension or Library > Azure Services (.NET 6.0).


    Workflow Studio generates a stub for the new SCIM microservice.

     

  2. Click the Properties tab and select SCIM as the ServiceType.

     

  3. Click the Save button on the Workflow Studio toolbar and name the microservice application as desired.


    If you expand the Code Tree for the project, you can see that the template generated several classes for the project. You use these classes to define your models, controllers, and repositories for the SCIM microservice.


  4. A health check API can be added for monitoring App Service instance health to increase application availability.

Open the project in Visual Studio.

  1. Close the Workflow Studio microservice project and locate it in your source control tree.

  2. From your source control tree, double-click the project.
    This opens the project in Visual Studio.

     

  3. Write code to implement the class stubs for your specific scenario, and when finished, build the solution.
    This publishes the solution as a zip file to the microservices folder in the source control folder on your local machine (e.g., .\empowerid\WFS\microservices).


    Next, deploy the microservice to the desired environment. If you are using Azure and have defined an app service for the microservice, you can do this in Workflow Studio as shown below.

Deploy the microservice to Azure

  1. In Workflow Studio, select Cloud Explorer.

  2. Right-click Azure App Services Deployment and select Publish App to App Service.

     

  3. In the Publish to Azure App Service Credentials window, click the Browse from Publish Profile button.

  4. Locate and select the .PublishSettings file for the app service. The .PublishSettings file is the file downloaded for the app service from Azure.

    This populates the fields of the Azure App Service Credentials window with the needed deployment information.

     

  5. Click OK to close the Publish to Azure App Service Credentials window.

  6. In the Open File dialog that appears, search for and select the zip file for the microservice you just published.

  7. Wait for Workflow Studio to deploy the microservice to the app service and click OK to close the Success message box.


    Next, create a SCIM account store in EmpowerID for the system you are connecting EmpowerID and verify that the configuration parameters are correct for your system. For details on how to do so, please see SCIM Connector.

Create the SCIM account store

  1. From the navbar of the EmpowerID Web interface, expand Admin > Applications and Directories and select Account Stores and Systems.

  2. Select the Actions tab and then click Create Account Store.

     

    This opens the System Types look up.

     

  3. Search for SCIM Connector.

  4. Click the SCIM Connector record to select it, and then click Submit.

     
    This opens the SCIM connector form.

     

  5. Enter the following information in the SCIM connector form:

    • Name – Name of the connector

    • Base URL – URL for the site hosting the SCIM microservice. For example, enter the URL for the app service if the microservice is hosted in an Azure app service.

    • Client Secret – If using OAuth authentication, enter the Client Secret for the app.

    • Client ID – If using OAuth authentication, enter the Client ID for the app.

    • Certificate – If using certificate-based authentication, enter the thumbprint of the certificate.

  6. When ready, click Submit.

Verify resource system parameters

  1. Navigate to the Find Account Store page (Admin > Applications and Directories > Account Stores and Systems) and search for the SCIM account store you just created.

  2. Click the Account Store link to navigate to the details page for the account store.

     

  3. Click the Resource System tab and then expand the Configuration Parameters accordion.

    The accordion contains the following parameters, some of which may not pertain to your specific implementation.

  4. Edit the parameters as needed. To do so, click the Edit button for the parameter to be updated, as shown below.

     

  5. Enter the appropriate value for the parameter in the Value field and click Save. 

  6. Repeat for each parameter that needs to be updated.

  7. As a final step, the account store needs to be configured by an administrator before inventory. This includes configuring attribute flow, account store settings, and enabling the Account Inbox Permanent Workflow. For an example of what needs to be done, see Connect to SCIM applications in the Admin guide.