Cardholder information is imported from data sources as entities in Security Center. Synchronization of these entities can be configured to occur manually, or automatically at an interval that you set.
The database and file data sources must follow the Card Synchronization schema. The schema allows cardholder
information to be mapped to the following Security Center entities:
- Cardholders
- Cardholder groups
- Credentials
After an import, Security Center synchronizes with the data source. When the data source is modified, the corresponding entities in Security Center are also modified. Because synchronization is one-way, only changes made in the external system are pulled into Security Center. You cannot modify the external system from Security Center.
NOTE: If you modify an imported entity in Security Center, the modification is overwritten when
synchronization occurs, unless the field you modified is not mapped to the data
source.
Types of data sources
- Database
- The database data source can be a Microsoft SQL Server database, Azure SQL database, an Oracle database, or an ODBC compliant database that respects the Card Synchronization schema. The database must be accessible from the plugin server. One database can contain one table or view for each entity type.
- File
- The file data source is a delimited text file, for example, a CSV file, that respects the Card Synchronization schema, and must be accessible from the plugin server. Each file contains the information for one entity type.
- Microsoft Entra ID
- The Microsoft Entra ID data source is an Azure Active Directory from which you can import cardholder information as cardholders, cardholder groups, credentials, and pictures into Security Center. Microsoft Entra ID is the only data type that can be synchronized in a hosted, Access Control as a Service environment.
- Security Center
- The Security Center data source represents existing cardholder, cardholder group,
and credential entities in Security Center. This data source is used to merge
cardholder information from other data sources to Security Center entities,
according to the global keys you configure.NOTE: You only need to add one instance of this data source in the plugin.