SPML (Service Provisioning Markup Language) to Help Active Directory Administrators

SPML is a framework based on XML and targeted on users, resources and informational systems exchange between interacting organizations. To better understand the importance of SPML in Active Directory usage, let's return to its origins. SPML was created by OASIS consortium, a global consortium that manages development, convergence, and acceptance of industrial standards of electronic commerce within International Association for Information. SPML was created because IT market lacked the framework that would fully automate users or services access to other services in IT infrastructure.

SPML Purpose:

SPML purpose is to provide an organization with the opportunity to quickly and securely install user interfaces for Web-services and applications with the help of permission of automatic generation by corporate platforms, for example web portals, application servers, service centers of the correspondent queries within and beyond the organization. Hereby, organizations achieve automation of users or services access to other services through different IT infrastructures that help to extend end user's performance capabilities.

SPML Advantages:

With the help of the language of SPML type it is possible to create systems with automated identity. That means that users can automatically create, update or revoke an identity with the help of SPML specification.

This service is available at http://www.openspml.org/

SPML Functionality:

There are three primary roles in SPML:

• Requesting Authority (RA) - users make request with its help;


• Provisioning Service Provider (PSP) - responds to the users' requests;


• Provisioning Service Target (PST) - performs the provisioning.

With the help of these three entities a fully automated and organized process of data interchange between users and services is performed.

SPML and Active Directory:

SPML helps to simplify information interchange between Active Directory users and services. After its implementation Active Directory administrators can concentrate their efforts on other everyday tasks, as the process of identities management will be fully automated. The best variant is implementation of AD management software that supports SPML.

Active Directory management software market was recently supplemented by a new product, Softerra Adaxes (http://adaxes.com/help/). Its new version that will be available this December supports SPML. Softerra promises more flexible and streamlined data exchange with Active Directory. For more information refer to the company directly at: http://adaxes.com/