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Oracle Identity Manager (OIM)  is a product from Oracle Identity Management Stack (acquired from Thor Xellerate) that handles user provisioning, Creating/Removing/Managing Access Privileges from Users, Reconciliation and request processing(using workflow). 

• OIM is J2EE (for provisioning, request processing and job scheduling) and Web-based (profile management and delegated administration) application.
• OIM is j2ee based application deployed on J2EE compliant application server (WebLogic, Tomcat, IBM WebSphere) and repository in relational database (Oracle, MySQL)
• For OIM certification matrix (certified O.S., WebServer, Database)  Click Here
• 9.1.0.2 is latest available version for OIM (as of June 2010). . 

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Various logical layers in OIM’s N-Tier architecture are

1. Presentation Layer (Client Side)
a) Administrative Console- Web Browser-based application running on client PC
b) Design Console – Stand-alone Java application running at client PC and interacting directly with Identity Manager

2. Dynamic Presentation Logic Layer (Logical Component)
c) WebServer (serving JSP, Servlets, XML, XSL …). This layer holds logic to generate dynamic pages for Administrative Console. Design Console includes Dynamic Presentation Layer.

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3. Business Logic Layer/ Server Tier (Logical Component)
This layer is interface between presentation/dynamic presentation layer and data layer(OIM repository) or integration layer (Connecting to external sources like ERP/CRM/mainframes)
d) J2EE application server(EJB and other J2EE technology): Supported J2EE application servers are WebLogic, JBoss, OC4J, WebSphere,
e) Web-based application deployed on J2EE application server (for profile/password management, provisioning and delegated administration)
f) J2EE-based application (uses EJB, JMS, JDBC and JNDI) deployed on J2EE application server (for Provisioning, Reconciliation, Request Processing and Scheduled Jobs)
g) Remote Manager (aka Agent , Optional component to be deployed on target machine) – used only by Advanced Mainframe connectors (IBM RACF, CA, ACF2…) and Active Directory Password Synchronization
h) Quartz – is a J2EE scheduling product which comes as part of Oracle Identity Manager

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4. Backend System/Integration Layer (Logical Component)
i) Database to hold OIM schema and repository – Certified databases are Oracle and MS-SQL
j) Backend systems (aka resources in OIM terminology) like ERP, CRM, mainframes, LDAP Servers which integrates with OIM for user provisioning or reconciliation (These systems are external and not part of OIM component)

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For overview of Oracle Identity Manager installation click here

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Related

• Oracle Identity Manager Architecture Whitepaper  
• Oracle Identity Manager Concepts Guide 

Resource, Reconciliation, Provisioning and Connectors in Oracle Identity Manager coming soon !!