NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: SCOTT CRAWFORD ON NETWORK/SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT 11/10/04 Today's focus: It's time to rethink identity management
Dear [EMAIL PROTECTED], In this issue: * Identity management is bigger than the directory * Links related to Network/Systems Management * Featured reader resource _______________________________________________________________ This newsletter is sponsored by GroundWork Open Source Solutions Free Webinar: Open Source IT Management Are you overpaying for unreliable network monitoring tools? Hear from Forrester Research and GroundWork Open Source Solutions about the move to open source IT management tools--why they are cost effective, which are enterprise-ready, and how to get started. Sign up for a free web seminar on http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=88082 _______________________________________________________________ SECURTIY SUMMIT: CAN SECURITY BE A COMPETITIVE EDGE? Recently 23 prominent IT executives and academics gathered at Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH for a daylong roundtable to address such questions. CIOs and VPs from some of the largest and most well-known companies in the US shared with peers their security fears, goals, frustrations and challenges. Find out more: http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=87922 _______________________________________________________________ Today's focus: It's time to rethink identity management By Scott Crawford Among the many discussions in which I participated at last month's Digital ID World conference in Denver, some of the most interesting centered around the increasing realization among vendors and implementers alike that identity management isn't necessarily about the directory. Identity information can be integrated across a number of resources, whatever and wherever they may be. This may sound a bit obvious, but if you, like I, have been involved in an enterprise identity management project in recent years, the directory has more often than not been at the center of your focus. Either implicitly or explicitly, we as implementers have often looked on identity management primarily as a directory deployment project. Where this has been true (and I've been as guilty as anyone), it means that, once again, we have missed the point, focusing on the technology rather than the business and practical implications of IT. The paradox, in the case of identity management, is that it is the growth of enabling technology that is making it possible to integrate "real world," non-directory-based identity resources, wherever they may be found. From advances in provisioning, database, virtual directory and metadirectory techniques, to the "Holy Grail" of federated Web services, identity management is becoming increasingly more fluid, less bound to specific technologies, and freer to meet real-world requirements for implementing trust across a variety of domains and demands. This brings with it some specific implications. For one, it raises policy management to a more central role. If multiple disparate identity information stores can be integrated in a broad, loosely coupled way, then it is the policy under which trust can be communicated across domains that becomes key. This has implications not only for initiatives such as federated provisioning, and the trust issues it raises, but also for policy management systems generally - an area where truly comprehensive implementations are only beginning to emerge, and where the adaptation of identity management techniques may play a role. For another, it opens up new opportunities for non-directory information stores. ERP and database vendors have long been poised to play a substantial role in identity management. Advances in distributed integration mean that they may soon become even more significant participants in the market. This also has implications for Microsoft, owner of both a widely deployed directory as well as a popular database. Once Windows, Active Directory and SQL Server converge with federation via the XML-enabled world of .Net - but that's a topic for another newsletter. Finally, advances in truly decentralized identity management have implications beyond the world of identity itself. In the realm of enterprise management, for example, the integration of a configuration management database is central to initiatives such as ITIL compliance. If the CMDB can more reflect the federated ideal of integrating distributed information wherever it may be found, rather than re-introducing the liabilities of the centralized directory approach, it may be more likely to succeed. These are just some of the reasons why identity management means far more than authentication, authorization and accounting. From cryptography to compliance, advances in identity management have pointed the way for a number of initiatives for many years. Identity will continue to point the way to the future of management on a number of seemingly unrelated fronts, and it bears watching throughout the enterprise. RELATED EDITORIAL LINKS Identity Management Newsletter Network World http://www.nwfusion.com/newsletters/dir/index.html _______________________________________________________________ To contact: Scott Crawford Scott Crawford, CISSP, is a senior analyst with Enterprise Management Associates, an IT industry analyst firm headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, focused on all aspects of network, system and application management in the enterprise. The first Information Security Officer for the International Data Centre of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization in Vienna, Austria, Scott has also been a systems professional with the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research as well as Emerson and other public companies. He can be reached at <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> _______________________________________________________________ This newsletter is sponsored by GroundWork Open Source Solutions GroundWork Open Source Network Monitor Gain control of your IT infrastructure with GroundWork Monitor, a low-cost, open source alternative to commercial monitoring tools. Monitor integrates best-of-breed open source components into an enterprise-class system, featuring real-time status displays, flexible alerting schemes, and robust management reporting. Start leveraging open source to manage your IT infrastructure today. http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=88083 _______________________________________________________________ ARCHIVE LINKS Archive of the Network/Systems Management newsletter: http://www.nwfusion.com/newsletters/nsm/index.html _______________________________________________________________ FEATURED READER RESOURCE NEW! 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