src/site/xdoc/architecture.xml - syncope - Git at Google

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   <properties>
     <title>Architecture</title>
     <author email="dev@syncope.apache.org">Apache Syncope Documentation Team</author>
   </properties>

   <body>

     <div class="toc_container">
       <macro name="toc">
         <param name="class" value="toc"/>
       </macro>
     </div>

     <section name="Introduction">
       <p>
         From a high-level point of view, the component architecture of Apache Syncope can be summarized by the following
         figure:
         <div style="width:100%; text-align:center; margin:20px;">
           <img src="images/apache-syncope-architecture.png" alt="Apache Syncope Architecture" width="600px"/>
         </div>
         Apache Syncope is composed by two main subsystems:
         <a href="#The_core">core</a> and
         <a href="#The_console">console</a>.
       </p>
     </section>

     <section name="The core">
       <p>
         The web application that implements IdM features. It offers a RESTful interface for caller applications,
         implements the provisioning core by mean of its workflow engine and its propagation layer, and manages data
         persistence.
       </p>

       <subsection name="Apache Syncope core logic">
         <p>
           This central component orchestrates the whole data flow throughout the system.
           Handles RESTful calls, processes data alongside the defined workflow and propagates to and synchronizes from
           configured external resources (if needed).
         </p>
       </subsection>

       <subsection name="RESTful controllers">
         <p>
           RESTful controllers take care of communication with outside world.
           Implemented by leveraging Spring's REST and MVC features, these controllers exchange data in both XML and JSON
           formats.
         </p>
       </subsection>

       <subsection name="Workflow engine">
         <p>
           The Workflow engine is a pluggable aspect of Apache Syncope: this lets every deployment choose among one of
           provided engine implementations or define new, custom ones.
         </p>

         <p>
           The default implementation is based on
           <a href="http://www.activiti.org" target="_blank">Activiti BPM</a>, the reference Open Source implementation
           that supports the definition of an XML descriptor in which the user lifecycle is defined.
           This aspect makes the whole system very flexible to adapt to different situations.
           <br/>
           The default implementation also provides notification, approval, and end-user request management.
         </p>
       </subsection>

       <subsection name="JPA persistence layer">
         <p>
           All data in Apache Syncope (users, roles, attributes, resources, ...) is managed at a high level using a
           standard JPA 2.0 approach and persisted to an underlying database.
         </p>
         <p>
           <a href="http://openjpa.apache.org">Apache OpenJPA</a>, the chosen JPA implementation, allows Apache Syncope
           to be successfully deployable to most DBMSs without any modification of the source code; for more information,
           see these
           <a href="http://openjpa.apache.org/builds/latest/docs/docbook/manual/ref_guide_dbsetup_dbsupport.html">available options</a>.
           <br/>
           Currently, Apache Syncope officially supports MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle DB and MS SQL Server.
         </p>
       </subsection>

       <subsection name="Connectors layer">
         <p>
           The Connector layer is implemented with
           <a href="http://tirasa.github.com/ConnId/" target="_blank">ConnId</a>; ConnId is designed to separate the
           implementation of an application from the dependencies of the system that the application is attempting to
           connect to.
         </p>
         <p>
           Connid is the continuation of Identity connectors, a project that used to be part of market leader Sun IdM
           and has since been released by Sun as an Open Source project.
           This makes the connectors layer particularly reliable since most connectors have already been implemented in
           the framework and widely tested.
           The new ConnId project provides all that is required nowadays for a modern Open Source project, including an
           Apache Maven driven build, artifacts and mailing lists.
           Additional connectors – such as for SOAP, CSV and Active Directory – are also provided.
         </p>
         <p>
           Apache Syncope supports either
           <ul>
             <li>
               <em>propagation</em> towards external resources (when user data is copied from Syncope to external
               resources)
             </li>
             <li>
               <em>synchronization</em> from external resources (when user data is pulled from external resources into
               Syncope)
             </li>
           </ul>

           Propagation and synchronization operations – a.k.a tasks – are saved for reporting and later re-execution.
         </p>
       </subsection>
     </section>

     <section name="The console">
       <p>The web management interface for configuring and administering Syncope core, implemented with
         <a href="http://wicket.apache,org">Apache Wicket</a>
       </p>
       <p>As with other external applications, the console communicates with the core using REST calls.</p>
     </section>
   </body>
 </document>
	<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
	<!--
	Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
	or more contributor license agreements. See the NOTICE file
	distributed with this work for additional information
	regarding copyright ownership. The ASF licenses this file
	to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
	"License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
	with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at

	http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

	Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
	software distributed under the License is distributed on an
	"AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
	KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the
	specific language governing permissions and limitations
	under the License.

	-->
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	xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/XDOC/2.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/xdoc-2.0.xsd">

	<properties>
	<title>Architecture</title>
	<author email="dev@syncope.apache.org">Apache Syncope Documentation Team</author>
	</properties>

	<body>

	<div class="toc_container">
	<macro name="toc">
	<param name="class" value="toc"/>
	</macro>
	</div>

	<section name="Introduction">
	<p>
	From a high-level point of view, the component architecture of Apache Syncope can be summarized by the following
	figure:
	<div style="width:100%; text-align:center; margin:20px;">
	<img src="images/apache-syncope-architecture.png" alt="Apache Syncope Architecture" width="600px"/>
	</div>
	Apache Syncope is composed by two main subsystems:
	<a href="#The_core">core</a> and
	<a href="#The_console">console</a>.
	</p>
	</section>

	<section name="The core">
	<p>
	The web application that implements IdM features. It offers a RESTful interface for caller applications,
	implements the provisioning core by mean of its workflow engine and its propagation layer, and manages data
	persistence.
	</p>

	<subsection name="Apache Syncope core logic">
	<p>
	This central component orchestrates the whole data flow throughout the system.
	Handles RESTful calls, processes data alongside the defined workflow and propagates to and synchronizes from
	configured external resources (if needed).
	</p>
	</subsection>

	<subsection name="RESTful controllers">
	<p>
	RESTful controllers take care of communication with outside world.
	Implemented by leveraging Spring's REST and MVC features, these controllers exchange data in both XML and JSON
	formats.
	</p>
	</subsection>

	<subsection name="Workflow engine">
	<p>
	The Workflow engine is a pluggable aspect of Apache Syncope: this lets every deployment choose among one of
	provided engine implementations or define new, custom ones.
	</p>

	<p>
	The default implementation is based on
	<a href="http://www.activiti.org" target="_blank">Activiti BPM</a>, the reference Open Source implementation
	that supports the definition of an XML descriptor in which the user lifecycle is defined.
	This aspect makes the whole system very flexible to adapt to different situations.
	<br/>
	The default implementation also provides notification, approval, and end-user request management.
	</p>
	</subsection>

	<subsection name="JPA persistence layer">
	<p>
	All data in Apache Syncope (users, roles, attributes, resources, ...) is managed at a high level using a
	standard JPA 2.0 approach and persisted to an underlying database.
	</p>
	<p>
	<a href="http://openjpa.apache.org">Apache OpenJPA</a>, the chosen JPA implementation, allows Apache Syncope
	to be successfully deployable to most DBMSs without any modification of the source code; for more information,
	see these
	<a href="http://openjpa.apache.org/builds/latest/docs/docbook/manual/ref_guide_dbsetup_dbsupport.html">available options</a>.
	<br/>
	Currently, Apache Syncope officially supports MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle DB and MS SQL Server.
	</p>
	</subsection>

	<subsection name="Connectors layer">
	<p>
	The Connector layer is implemented with
	<a href="http://tirasa.github.com/ConnId/" target="_blank">ConnId</a>; ConnId is designed to separate the
	implementation of an application from the dependencies of the system that the application is attempting to
	connect to.
	</p>
	<p>
	Connid is the continuation of Identity connectors, a project that used to be part of market leader Sun IdM
	and has since been released by Sun as an Open Source project.
	This makes the connectors layer particularly reliable since most connectors have already been implemented in
	the framework and widely tested.
	The new ConnId project provides all that is required nowadays for a modern Open Source project, including an
	Apache Maven driven build, artifacts and mailing lists.
	Additional connectors – such as for SOAP, CSV and Active Directory – are also provided.
	</p>
	<p>
	Apache Syncope supports either
	<ul>
	<li>
	<em>propagation</em> towards external resources (when user data is copied from Syncope to external
	resources)
	</li>
	<li>
	<em>synchronization</em> from external resources (when user data is pulled from external resources into
	Syncope)
	</li>
	</ul>

	Propagation and synchronization operations – a.k.a tasks – are saved for reporting and later re-execution.
	</p>
	</subsection>
	</section>

	<section name="The console">
	<p>The web management interface for configuring and administering Syncope core, implemented with
	<a href="http://wicket.apache,org">Apache Wicket</a>
	</p>
	<p>As with other external applications, the console communicates with the core using REST calls.</p>
	</section>
	</body>
	</document>