Overview

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Overview
The SDX software uses data that complies with the SDX LDAP schema and that is stored in one of the supported directories. Service providers, however, may store data that they want to use for the SDX software in another storage medium, such as a database. You can develop data integrators that read your data from a storage medium, and write the data to a directory for use with the SDX software. A typical use of a data integrator is to read information about VPNs from your company's proprietary database and to write the data to a directory for use with the SDX software.

The data integration suite comprises a set of processors that perform different data management tasks. You can use combinations of these processors to achieve the data integration that you require. The processors use XML documents to perform the data transfer. There are three types of processors:

Readers, which read data from a storage medium and write the data to an XML document.

XSLT transformers, which convert an XML document into a different XML document that another processor can use.

Writers, which read data from an XML document in memory and write data to a storage medium.

Table 7 lists the processors, their functions, and associated DTDs. You can see the associated DTDs on the SDX software CD in SDK\dtd\dataint.
 Table 7:  Processors for Data Managers 

 Processor
 Function
 Associated DTDs

 Database Reader

 Reads data from a database and writes the data to an XML document.

 This processor does not have an associated DTD. Instead, it uses a DTD scheme with tags that correspond to the attribute names in the SQL queries that you write.


 LDAP Reader

 Reads data from an LDAP-compliant directory and writes the data to an XML document.

 This processor uses two DTDs:

   The input DTD, LDAPReader_input.dtd, describes a query to a directory.
   The output DTD, LDAPReader_output.dtd describes the result of a query to the directory.



 XML File Reader

 Reads data from an XML document and passes the data to the next processor.

 None


 Enterprise Audit File Reader

 Reads data from the EASP audit plug-in log and writes the data to an XML document with a DTD specific to the enterprise audit plug-in log.

 This processor uses the DTD EntAuditFileReader_output.dtd, which describes a the result of a query to an enterprise audit log. 


 XML File Writer

 Reads data from an XML document, writes the data to an external XML document, and returns the original XML document. Use this processor to create external XML documents of data either for record-keeping purposes or for troubleshooting the data integration.

 None


 XSLT Translator

 XSLT Translator takes the XML document it receives from the preceding processor and writes it to an XML document that another processor can read. For this processor, you must customize an XSLT file that maps the input XML document to the output XML document.

 None


 LDAP Writer

 Reads data from an XML document and writes the data to an LDAP directory.

 This processor uses the DTD LDAPWriter_input.dtd, which describes a set of directory updates.



 
Figure 6 illustrates how you can use a combination of the processors to transfer data from your database to a directory that contains SDX data. For more detailed examples, see Examples of Data Integrators.

Figure 6: Transferring Data from a Database to the SDX Directory

Processor	Function	Associated DTDs
Database Reader	Reads data from a database and writes the data to an XML document.	This processor does not have an associated DTD. Instead, it uses a DTD scheme with tags that correspond to the attribute names in the SQL queries that you write.
LDAP Reader	Reads data from an LDAP-compliant directory and writes the data to an XML document.	This processor uses two DTDs: The input DTD, LDAPReader_input.dtd, describes a query to a directory. The output DTD, LDAPReader_output.dtd describes the result of a query to the directory.
XML File Reader	Reads data from an XML document and passes the data to the next processor.	None
Enterprise Audit File Reader	Reads data from the EASP audit plug-in log and writes the data to an XML document with a DTD specific to the enterprise audit plug-in log.	This processor uses the DTD EntAuditFileReader_output.dtd, which describes a the result of a query to an enterprise audit log.
XML File Writer	Reads data from an XML document, writes the data to an external XML document, and returns the original XML document. Use this processor to create external XML documents of data either for record-keeping purposes or for troubleshooting the data integration.	None
XSLT Translator	XSLT Translator takes the XML document it receives from the preceding processor and writes it to an XML document that another processor can read. For this processor, you must customize an XSLT file that maps the input XML document to the output XML document.	None
LDAP Writer	Reads data from an XML document and writes the data to an LDAP directory.	This processor uses the DTD LDAPWriter_input.dtd, which describes a set of directory updates.

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