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Using the Universal Connector

Owned by Phillip Hanegan
Last updated: May 28, 2021
4 min read

The EmpowerID Universal Connector allows organizations to use their own internal DB resources to easily create both simple and advanced connectors for their directories and applications. In this topic, we demonstrate how to perform the administrative tasks necessary for using the Universal Connector to connect to an external system. These tasks include the following:

  • Creating the Universal Connector database

  • Setting up the Universal Connector account store

To create the Universal Connector database, you will need the following SQL scripts:

  • SchemaGeneration.sql — This script generates the tables, stored procedures and other database objects used by EmpowerID to store and maintain the identity information imported into the intermediary database from an external data store. You can download the script (UCv2SchemaGenerationScript) here.

  • DataGeneration.sql — This script generates data that is used by EmpowerID to explain the type of changes that have occurred to any of the business objects in the Universal Connector database via an EmpowerID workflow. You can download this script here. The script is only necessary if you are using the Changelog to batch process changes. When possible, EmpowerID recommends real-time processing over batch processing.

If you are already using an older version of the Universal Connector (versions prior to EmpowerID 2016), instead of running the SchemaGeneration.sql, you need to upgrade the schema for the existing Universal Connector database. To do so, download the upgrade script (UCv1tov2upgradescript) here and execute it against the database.

Step 1 – Create the Universal Connector database

  1. On any EmpowerID server with SQL Management tools installed, open Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS).

  2. In Object Explorer, right-click Databases and select New Database.

  3. In the New Database window that opens, type a name for the database in the Database name field, set the Initial Size to 100 MB and then click OK.

  4. From the new Universal Connector database, open the SchemaGeneration.sql file you received from EmpowerID and execute the script.

    This generates the tables EmpowerID uses to maintain the identity information you import into EmpowerID as well as a number of stored procedures for querying and manipulating the data in those tables.

     

  5. Next, if you plan to use the ChangeLog for batch processing instead of real-time processing of the changes to your data, open the DataGeneration.sql script you received from EmpowerID and execute the script to populate the ChangeLogObjectType and ChangeLogObjectType tables of the Universal Connector database. These tables work in conjunction with the ChangeLog table to explain the types of changes that have occurred to objects in EmpowerID, when the Universal Connector is operating in batch mode.

Step 2 – Create a Universal Connector account store

  1. On the navbar, expand Admin > Applications and Directories and then select Account Stores and Systems.

  2. On the Account Stores page, select the Actions tab and then click Create Account Store.

     

  3. Under System Types, search for Universal Connector.

  4. Click the Universal Connector record to select the type and then click Submit.

     

  5. On the Standard Connector Settings form that appears, fill in the following information:

    • Name and Display Name — Enter a name for the account store.

    • Is Remote (Requires Cloud Gateway) — This setting appears for account stores with local directories, such as Active Directory, LDAP, SAP, etc. When enabled, this tells EmpowerID to use the Cloud Gateway Connection for that account store. The Cloud Gateway Connection must be installed on an on-premise machine. For installation information, please see Installing the EmpowerID Cloud Gateway Client.

  6. When ready, click Submit.

  7. If you selected Is Remote (Requires Cloud Gateway), search for and select one or more cloud gateway servers and then click Submit.
    You will not see this screen if you did not select Is Remote (Requires Cloud Gateway).


    EmpowerID creates the account store and the associated resource system for it. The next step is to configure attribute flow between the account store and EmpowerID.

Step 3 – Configure Attribute flow

Now that the attribute flow has been set, the next steps include configuring the account store and enabling EmpowerID to inventory it.

Step 4 – Configure account store settings

  1. On the Account Store and Resource System page, click the Account Store tab and then click the pencil icon to put the account store in edit mode.


    This opens the edit page for the account store. This page allows you to specify the database for the directory as well as how you want EmpowerID to handle the user information it discovers during inventory. Settings that can be edited are described in the table below the image.


  2. Edit the account store as needed and then click Save to save your changes.

    Now that everything is configured, you can enable the Account Inbox Permanent Workflow and monitor inventory. Be sure inventory is enabled on the account store settings page.

Step 5 – Enable the Account Inbox Permanent Workflow

Step 6 – Monitor Inventory

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