Installation guide

1
Setting Up a Development Environment 11
1
Setting Up a Development Environment
Before you begin the planning phase of the Identity Manager deployment, you must be familiar with
the Identity Manager products so you can create a useful plan. Setting up a development
environment where you can test, analyze, and develop your Identity Manager solution allows you to
learn about each component of Identity Manager and find unforeseen issues that can arise.
For example, when you synchronize information between different systems, the information is
presented differently for each system. Changing the data to see how it synchronizes between these
two systems allows you to see if this change affects other systems that use this same information.
Another major reason to set up a development environment is to make sure your solutions work
before you apply them to live data. Identity Manager manipulates and deletes data. Having the test
environment allows you to make changes without any loss to the data in your production
environment.
You should set up a development environment for each deployment of Identity Manager. Each
deployment is different. There are different systems, business policies, and procedures that need to
be included in the Identity Manager solution. The development environment allows you to create the
solution that is best for each situation.
The most important tool to use when you are developing your Identity Manager solution is Designer.
It allows you to capture all of the information about your environment and then use that information
to create an Identity Manager solution that fits your needs. You should use Designer during all
aspects of the planning to capture all of the information. Designer makes it much easier to create a
project plan that includes the business information as well as the technical information. For more
information about Designer, see Designer 4.0.1 for Identity Manager 4.0.1 Administration Guide.
To set up your development environment, use the information in Chapter 4, “Basic Identity Manager
System Checklist,” on page 35. It is an installation checklist of all of the Identity Manager
components. Use this list to make sure you have installed and configured all components for Identity
Manager that you can use to develop a project plan. Use the information in Chapter 3, “Technical
Guidelines,” on page 23 as you set up your development environment, so you can learn about
technical considerations as you install and configure each component of Identity Manager.
After your development environment is created, the next step is to create the project plan to
implement the Identity Manager solution. Use the information in Chapter 2, “Creating a Project
Plan,” on page 13 to create the project plan.