Adding more attributes to VMM

After you install IBM® WebSphere® Portal Express® and configuring your LDAP user registries, you must adapt the attribute configuration to match the configured LDAP servers and your business needs. However, do not complete these steps if you configured only a database user registry or the default federated file-based repository for out-of-box installations.

About this task

After installation, IBM WebSphere Portal Express has a predefined set of attributes for users and groups. Your LDAP server might have a different set of predefined user and group attributes. To ensure communication between WebSphere Portal Express and your LDAP server, you can configure extra attributes. Flag the attributes as required or unsupported on a per repository basis or for all configure repositories.

LDAP servers can handle only attributes that are explicitly defined in their schema. The LDAP schema is different from the WebSphere Portal Express schema. The two schemas are required to match for communication between WebSphere Portal Express and the LDAP server. The task to add the LDAP user registry does some basic attribute configurations that depend on the LDAP server. You might still have to adapt the WebSphere Portal Express configuration to match the LDAP schema. If an attribute is in WebSphere Portal Express but not in the LDAP server, complete one of the following tasks to resolve this mismatch:
  • Flag the attribute as unsupported for the LDAP server
  • Introduce an attribute mapping that maps the WebSphere Portal Express attribute to an attribute defined in the LDAP schema
Use the following tasks to adapt the attribute configuration to match the configured LDAP servers and your business needs:
  1. Querying the defined attributes
    After you install IBM WebSphere Portal Express and configure your LDAP user registries, query the defined attributes. The task defines a list of attributes that are flagged as unsupported or mapped to a different LDAP attribute.
  2. Adding attributes
    The VMM is configured with a default attribute schema that might not be compatible with your LDAP server. Add attributes to extend the VMM attribute schema and then map them between IBM WebSphere Portal Express and your user registry.
  3. Mapping attributes
    Map the attributes between IBM WebSphere Portal Express and your LDAP user registries.
  4. Removing attributes
    The Virtual Member Manager (VMM) has a limitation. There is no task to update an attribute.
Parent topic: User registry
Related reference:
People Finder