Grouper Developers Forum

[Scott Koranda <>]

Hi,

> 
> PSP/provisioning Strategy
> 
> -DaveL has been analyzing PSP strengths and challenges
> -PSP is extensible
> -Not fast enough for all use cases, partly due to SPML foundation
> -There are advantages  to smaller and more efficient modules 
> 
> -Jim: U. Washington is looking into MongoDB for document store
> -MongoDB may replace LDAP for some use cases
> -Would need different provisioning
> -Jim will investigate whether there is a SCIM-to-MongoDB interface
> -MongoDB uses a JSON data structure, uses puts and gets
> 
> -Grouper's REST API may need to be adapted, especially given the focus on 
> REST
> in the CIFER project.
> -Grouper's relational backend can be a drawback for scaling.
> -With REST becoming more common, perhaps point-to-point connectors make more
> sense that a generalized provisioning engine like PSP
> 
> -Currently most sites using PSP use it for provisioning to LDAP and AD 
> systems
> - These would both be adaptable to a good point-to-point solution
> 
> -The provisioning engine approach (solve provisioning once with various
> connectors) sounds better than it actually is.
> -It was agreed that it makes sense for the Grouper project to stop 
> investing in
> PSP, which is a provisioning engine based on SPML
> 
> -For the SURFnet and SCIM work that is planned, the direction is to develop
> a change log consumers, more of a point-to-point approach
> 
> -It's  important to ensure the point-to-point modules can work in parallel 
> or
> can chain together to populate several consumers
> -parallel processing will be part of the design
> 
> Q: Shilen: When using the change log for provisioning, what about the need
> for bulk synchronization?
> A: DaveL: there will also be a mass reconciliation option
>     Grouper would need to interface with 
>        -change log consumer (incremental) approach, AND 
>        -bulk processing
> 
> [AI] (DaveL) will start a wiki page about provisioning future.

I would be grateful if you could include in the wiki page
about the provisioning future a timeline and details about
what it means to "stop investing in PSP".

I am working on a number of Grouper deployments at the moment
that rely in critical ways on Grouper -> LDAP provisioning
using the PSP and I would like to be able to clearly explain
what projects can expect for support and transition options
from the Grouper development team and the community.

Thanks,

Scott Koranda