Even if I have long experience with other Identity Mgmt systems, I'm a FIM 2010 beginner and I have two basic questions regarding the design of an FIM 2010 system. For example, if the main goal of the system is to do AD provisionning from HR SQL data source for a medium sized company (3000 users): 1) Should I set a separate ADIR domain for the FIM2010 System and keep the current AD Domain (already populated with users) independant and synchronize it with an AD MA ? 2) Does Exchange mail system a requirement to do notifications to admins or can I use a different mail system ? Thanks in advance for your help. Sylvain

Hi, 1) There is no need to create a seperate domain. FIM has a joining mechanism which matches users from your active directory to your metaverse, which you should populate by using the SQL management agent. To give you a good advice on how to set up this joining mechanism, I need to know which FIM 2010 components you are using. Next to the FIM Synchronization Service, are you using the FIM Service/Portal? 2) To send basic notifications, there is no need for an Exchange system. FIM can use SMTP to send emails. But without Exchange, FIM will behave as follows: Approvals can be sent and received in any email client, but not approved within Outlook, even if you have Outlook 2007; you require both Outlook 2007 and Exchange 2007 for the entire process to work. The experience here will direct the recipient to go to the portal and complete the approval or rejection process.The FIM Outlook 2007 plug-ins for Group Self-service will not function without Exchange 2007.Notifications can always be sent regardless of email system. Notifications are "fire and forget" and do not require FIM to monitor for replies. (source: http://www.identitychaos.com/2010/03/fim-2010-email-notifications-without.html) Best regards, Pieter. Pieter de Loos - Consultant at Traxion (http://www.traxion.com) http://fimfacts.wordpress.com/