What is PUMA SPI?
PUMA SPI is an interface used to manage users and groups in IBM WebSphere portal. It is introduced in WebSphere Portal Version 5.0.1. We can use it create, update, delete and search users and groups. It also helps in retrieving current active users.
Architecture
As we know, WebSphere portal provides three different ways for achieving most tasks. We can use XML access, portal administration UI or programming interface. PUMA SPI is programmatic way of managing users and groups.
The following are standard steps involved in accessing the PUMA SPI
1. Initialize the context
2. Lookup PumaHome or PumaAdminHome via JNDI lookup
ctx.lookup(“portletservice/com.ibm.portal.um.portletservice.PumaHome”);
3.Get service object based on the requirement
- PumaProfile – ReadOnly access to user and group attributes and identifiers
- PumaLocator – Used to get the list of group objects, support pagination
- PumaController – Cerate, delete and modify user and groups profiles memberships
For the more information on using the PUMA SPI and for sample code snippets please check this article in Info center. The white paper dealing different scenarios where PUMA SPI can be implemented can be found here.
As we all know, IBM is good at adapting new technology in its products. IBM WebSphere portal 7 provides RESTful services for most of it services. PUMA SPI has RESTful service which provides similar functionality. We can more details on the RESTful service here
References
Portal HUB 