IGI v ISIM v ISAM v ITDI

I've been writing this blogs for many years now and I typically use it as a means of recording snippets of information that ideally I would like to refer back to and snippets of information that I think others would be interested in.

So, what are you guys interested in?

Well, the beauty of running a blog like this for so long is that I get to see which posts are popular and which are not! I get to see which products you guys are using and abusing. And I can tell you that the popularity of these IBM security products can be easily ranked. In reverse order (by popularity):

IBM Security Identity Governance & Intelligence (IGI) is the new kid on the block so it is understandable that not many people are interested in what I have to say about IGI. Maybe, over time, this will change. Fingers crossed!

IBM Security Access Manager (ISAM) has been around forever but it seems that nobody is interested anymore. That's probably a sign that organisations have shifted their focus elsewhere and that federated security (which ISAM handles really well) is the way forward and freebie tools that are SAML and OpenID:Connect ready are preferable?

IBM Security Identity Manager (ISIM) has been around forever too, but it has always been a heavyweight beast of a product that requires significant investment and therefore is used by huge organisations only. I don't know how many ISIM customers there are out there, but I'm guessing it is a dwindling list given that IGI is seen as the long-term replacement.

And then we come to IBM Tivoli Directory Integrator (ITDI). Of all the things I've ever blogged about, it seems that TDI generates the most interest - and by a country mile! As an example, the last time I mentioned TDI, it managed to gather more than 300 times as many page requests as everything to do with IGI put together! One single post!

TDI is still a tool I go to on a daily basis. It is truly wonderful and flexible and easy to get to grips with. Maybe I should focus more on TDI topics?

In any case, I'd be interested to hear from whomever out there reads the stuff that I write. What topics would you like me to cover? What products do you think deserve focus? Do you still find any of this information worthwhile?

I still hope there are plenty of you IBM Security specialists out there helping to deliver a smarter, more secure planet.

Javadoc Updates

It has been a while, but I've finally got round to uploading the latest Javadocs for IBM Security Identity Manager v7.0 and IBM Security Access Manager v9.0.

These can be found by following the links from here: https://www.stephen-swann.co.uk/links-and-tools/

Enjoy - if it's possible to enjoy Javadocs!

Tempus Fugit

I remember being a follower of a blogger who wrote about IBM Tivoli security solutions and becoming quite concerned for his well being when he "stopped" blogging for a while. When he had gone fully six months without blogging, I had myself convinced that something terrible had happened to him personally.

And now I find that I have done the same thing. My periodical briefings have stopped. But fear not - it's not because of any ill health. It's not because of a change in career. It's not even to do with boredom. It has everything to do with being far too busy and that's the best reason of all for the temporary blip in my output.

But, time flies... and too much time has passed since I last committed my thoughts to writing.

So what has happened since in the last 6 months? Well, the IBM Tivoli re-branding exercise is in full swing with IBM Security Identity Manager and IBM Security Access Manager products having been released.

And what has changed in those products?

ISAM has a brand new deployment process which is greatly simplified. However, for TAMeb users who have deployed their software on Windows, beware? The upgrade process might not behave as you expect? Why? The move to a 64-bit architecture, that's why? Think seriously about any attempt to perform an in-situ upgrade!

You might like to also check compression settings on your WebSEALs - a respected colleague of mine has already encountered some fun and games with those!

And ISIM? Is it just a pure re-branding exercise? Not at all. Some functional additions are definitely welcome like the controls added to the services offering retry operations on failed resources. Account ownership and role attributes look interesting (despite how they have been implemented). Privileged Identity Management is a great addition as is the inclusion of supported web services API.

But core processing that ITIM administrators will know and love is still there!

And what of my work recently? Well, it's a matter of spending a lot of time concentrating on federated security, and environmental upgrades. Working on pre-sales; sprucing up designs; sizing projects; and helping those around me get best use out of their IBM Tivoli/Security solutions.

So much has happened in recent months, though, that I hardly know where to start in documenting it all. There has been fun with SAML v2. Flirtations with FESI extension re-writes. Dalliances with web services and APIs. Encounters with business process re-engineering.

My next article, however, will likely be an IBM Tivoli Directory Integrator article centred on best practice for collaborative development. That sounds like a tricky one!