Polycom DMA & User Repository

Polycom DMA 7000 or Resource Manager support Microsoft Active Directory as user repository, which is widely deployed in oranizations. But some customers doesn't have an AD or have a complex AD environment like un-federated AD environment, or want to manage their user via RDBMS..

In July, Polycom has introduced a set of Infrastructure APIs. Using these APIs is a straightforward and easy to manage group of users coming from any type of user repository solutions.
I would like to share with you two solutions/approaches:

Approach 1:
Developing a custom mini-app (in any kind of languages) based on Polycom Infrastructure APIs. In the Polycom APIs SDK, Polycom provides an example to create an user via a perl script (plcm-user-create.pl). The SDK can be downloaded here.

Approach 2:
- Using a third party tools like an ETL.

IBM has his own ETL designed to manage Directory synchronization: IBM Tivoli Directory Integrator. Via the GUI of that product, I have developped two "Assembly Lines" to create user and attach his VMR from information stored in a LDAP V3 (in my case IBM Lotus Domino) and to delete a set of users based on a file containing user DNs.

One advantage of that solution: a "Delta" engine which is able to push to the Polycom DMA only new or updated users.That option is very useful for large organizations. And, you can schedule the process for example to daily update your DMA repository.

That's a new example of the power of Polycom Infrastructure APIs: the ability to more easily integrate Polycom infrastructure in real production environment, without modifying all the IT environment or you can integarte Polycom infrastructure in a Federated Identity Management infrastructure.

P.S: An entitlement exists for IBM Lotus Domino. IBM Tivoli Directory Integrator is free of charge.The limited use entitlement limits synchronization to Lotus Domino data only.

P.S: These two approaches require Polycom DMA and/or Resource Manager API license.