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it_user435978 - PeerSpot reviewer
Solutions Architect at a aerospace/defense firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
We get identity federation, virtual directory and various other things so we can combine all of our backend Active Directory and other pieces into a directory that looks like one directory.

How has it helped my organization?

It provides us the ability to control who can get to what systems. It's been a challenge for us because it's definitely different from the old 10g SSO piece. We've had a few more challenges with that than we did with the old technology.

The good part of it is that it provides us a great deal of flexibility. With the Access Management Suite, you get identity federation, virtual directory and various other things so we can combine all of our backend Active Directory and other pieces into a directory that looks like one directory, including external users, vendors, and outside people with whom we have partnerships.

What needs improvement?

It needs to be simpler to install and simpler to maintain. There's lots of little pieces and moving parts, it seems. For a smaller shop like us, it's not an easy thing to move into.

For how long have I used the solution?

We've been using it for about two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's been too unstable for us, mainly because we had some firewall issues, so we had to figure out a lot of those. We've had a couple of false-starts with the product. That's one of the things you get when you try to do it all yourself and don't get external help.

Buyer's Guide
Oracle Access Manager
November 2024
Learn what your peers think about Oracle Access Manager. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2024.
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What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We've never really had a need to scale it much. It's documented fairly well, so I don't have an issue with that at all.

How are customer service and support?

They're always hiring new people, so if you get a new person, it's somewhat chancy on getting good support, but they have excellent people generally. Eventually you can get to somebody who's excellent, especially if your problem is a challenging one. It's easy to escalate it and get it up there.

I've always thought working with Oracle support has been much better than any other vendor we've worked with. They're always improving their website and making it more helpful. I've been very pleased with their support.

How was the initial setup?

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user517632 - PeerSpot reviewer
it_user517632Works at a tech company with 51-200 employees
Vendor

Good part of it is that it provides us a great deal of flexibility. With the Access Management Suite, you get identity federation, virtual directory and various other things so we can combine all of our backend Active Directory and other pieces into a directory that looks like one directory, including external users, vendors, and outside people with whom we have partnerships. Its really helpful

PeerSpot user
Developer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Consultant
Difficult to learn. Quick to use once you have some experience with it.

What is most valuable?

You can adapt any thing that you want to authenticate like (LDAP, Own Databases, Security Providers as RSA, Gemalto, WatchData, Vasco and so on).

How has it helped my organization?

Before using OAM we authenticated via RSA Web Services, Web Services are quick but OAM lets us be scalable and provides a performance improvement.

What needs improvement?

The JDK version that use is too old (JDK 6), some of RuntimeExceptions are relative to OSGi and Oracle dont provide information about it.

For how long have I used the solution?

1 year

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

Yes, the classloader to deploy a Custom OAM Plugin is very difficult to understand, and its relative to OSGi framework.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

No

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

No

How are customer service and technical support?

Customer Service:

Good

Technical Support:

Bad, when we have problems Oracle Support doesn't fix it.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Like OAM no, we use workaround web services with RSA.

How was the initial setup?

Yes, when you try to deploy and don't know exactly which, you can develop Custom OAM Plugins you need to search also about the OSGi Framework, this framework is the base of OAM Custom Plugins, and Oracle doesn't offer much documentation about it.

What about the implementation team?

In-house but use Oracle Support account and their level of expertise is good but don't fix the problems very well.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

At the beginning it was very difficult when I developed my first Custom OAM Plugin it took me around 2 months. Now I develop the same plugins in few minutes or max in 2 hours.

What other advice do I have?

Read about OSGi Framework before developing Custom OAM Plugins.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user158304 - PeerSpot reviewer
it_user158304Developer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Consultant

An example of dummy authentication plugin at my github account:

github.com

Buyer's Guide
Oracle Access Manager
November 2024
Learn what your peers think about Oracle Access Manager. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2024.
816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.
reviewer1274595 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Security Consultant at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Has the ability to customize it with your own code but is too complex for most uses
Pros and Cons
  • "The product allows customization via custom code."
  • "The product was built to be scalable."
  • "The technical support is not very good at all."
  • "The product is complicated and difficult to install and configure."
  • "There are problems with stability."

What is our primary use case?

The reason why we started using the product was that it was used by one of our customers. The customer called us to help protect access to their online banking website. Oracle Access Manager handles the login process for them so that the bank's customers can get access to their online bank accounts.  

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature is the ability to customize the product with our own code. We developed some custom code and integrated that code with the product to fulfill the customer's requirements. This feature was really useful for us in this case. We did not use any of the very advanced features in the product. We mainly used it for the basic functionality and features to perform username and password authentication.  

What needs improvement?

I think two aspects of this product can be improved. The first is that the product overly complex to install and configure. The second is the reliability of the product. It was not very stable and dependable during the period of our experience with it. We definitely had some problems with the stability of the product.  

Specifically, I remember we had some performance problems due to coherence issues and also problems related to the database. It seems that Oracle Access Manager makes use of a database to store configurations and the session information. In practice, this did not work very well and was resource-intensive. I don't remember exactly everything about the situation right now, but the resources were not being used well and that was the main issue with the product performance and lack of stability.  

It is difficult to consider the potential for additional features the product might need because the product already has all the features that we needed to fulfill our customer's requirements for the product. So we do not actually need any additional features in particular in order to satisfy our use case. There is the possibility that there could be an addition of some type of risk analysis or adaptive authentication based on risk analysis. But if I'm not mistaken, Oracle already has a separate solution called Oracle Adaptive Access Manager that provides this functionality. It is a feature in another product that is a separate solution — which also means a separate licensing cost. Maybe that is already how they want to pose this as a solution: you install the Oracle Adaptive Manager as a separate product and you integrate both of them. It is just adding another level of complexity and cost.  

I have not used Oracle Adaptive Access Manager, so I cannot say much about it. But risk analysis is a trending topic in web access management products these days.  

For how long have I used the solution?

We were using the product for four years. We stopped using it over the past few months.  

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

As far as stability, I had some performance problems and also problems related to the database. I would expect a product with a reputation like Oracle to be very stable and it is not in my opinion.  

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I think that this product was really designed scalability in mind. If there is a positive about it, it is very scalable. We currently have about 1.6 million users and I am not aware of a limitation.  

How are customer service and technical support?

During my three years of work with the Oracle Access Manager, I have opened many, many cases so I am familiar with their technical support practices. As far as evaluating the solution's technical support, I do not think they are very good. First of all, they are slow. It takes far too much time to get an answer. And when the answer comes, very often the answers sometimes are wrong, not very clear, or not very good. I do not think that they spend much time really analyzing the problems. There is no quality to their work in the way that they handle issues in most cases. I will not say that is the result in all cases, but with most issues that I reported to them, I was not satisfied at all with the result.  

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I have used several products in the category of access management. In my opinion, other products — and in particular SiteMinder — are more reliable. I like the SiteMinder product as it is also simpler also to install and configure than Oracle Access Manager.  

How was the initial setup?

The setup is more complicated, complex and takes more time than the setup of comparable solutions like SiteMinder. The reason for this is because, with Oracle Access Manager, you have to install an Oracle WebLogic Server that is an administration server. Then you need to install another WebLogic server where you deploy Oracle Access Manager. The whole process of doing this is kind of complicated in my opinion.  

If you want to install SiteMinder, for example, you just run an installer on Windows and you are done with the installation. That is it and it is that easy. You do not have to fuss with additional installations. And the graphical interface in SiteMinder is more user-friendly. In general and from an architectural viewpoint, SiteMinder is just more simple than Oracle Access Manager.  

With Oracle Access Manager, the deployment took about one week for one environment and to get the installation to a state of completion. I was the only one involved in the deployment process and I did the whole job. One or two people at the client site do the maintenance after deployment. That is one person for monitoring and maintenance and then an Oracle professional. The customer has the Oracle professional in order to deliver Oracle professional services and as an Oracle consultant for major issues. He is not there for daily operations. Daily operations is what the other person is for.  

What other advice do I have?

The advice that I would give to people who are beginning to work with this solution is that it is a good idea to consult the Oracle documentation. Oracle products tend to come with a lot of documentation and there is more available in their other resources. I think that it is worth spending the time to study the documentation is very important, and it is time well spent. Making the effort to study the product can reveal features that you were not already aware of or make you understand better ways to approach a problem, use a feature, or maybe avoid bothering with the technical support. There are also certifications that Oracle provides with the study material. It is very important to develop your own knowledge and consult these resources to gain the expertise necessary to use the product effectively.  

The biggest lesson I have learned from working with Oracle Access Manager is really only that the product offers a lot of features. It is more complicated than other access management solutions and may not be the best choice for those who do not have more complicated needs. Just because it has the Oracle name does not mean it is the best for every solution. Because I have been working with other access managers for a long time, using a product in the access management category was nothing really new to me. But Oracle seems to really be trying to appeal to users who have more specialized needs.  

On a scale from one to ten where one is the worst and ten is the best, I would rate Oracle Access Manager as a six-out-of-ten in general. There is difficulty in the setup complexity and poor technical support. The product should be much better.  

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
Team Leader at a consultancy with 51-200 employees
Real User
Single sign-on availability and good user self-service that helps save time
Pros and Cons
  • "I would tell others that this solution is reliable. If they are looking for a solution that is reliable and that is scalable, then this is a good one."
  • "In the next release, I would like to see improvements made to the interface."

What is our primary use case?

The primary use case of this solution is for accessing different systems with one single sign-on.

How has it helped my organization?

If I needed to reset my password or if I needed access to certain applications that I didn't have access to, I would have to put in a request to get approval.

Now, instead of contacting our IT department to do this for me, I can just log in to make the request.

We have fewer IT requests. It saves time.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature is the sign-on and ability to get user self-service.

Self-service is very good.

What needs improvement?

It's difficult to say how this solution can be improved since I have been using it for one month. Maybe the user interface needs improvement. However, it's easy to navigate and the process is clearly shown, I don't see much that needs improvement.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for one month.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This solution is stable.

For the last month, I haven't seen any downtime.

There haven't been any errors or limitations that will inconvenience the user.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

This solution is scalable.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Previously I did not use any other solution.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was simple and straightforward.

What other advice do I have?

I would tell others that this solution is reliable. If they are looking for a solution that is reliable and that is scalable, then this is a good one.

In the next release, I would like to see improvements made to the interface.

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Consult344 - PeerSpot reviewer
Consultant at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Consultant
Decreases the complexity of access which saves time, confusion and trouble
Pros and Cons
  • "Excellent SSO solution for Oracle products."
  • "May not integrate easily with non-Oracle products."

What is our primary use case?

The product is our solution for SSO (Secure Sign On). The solution allows users to sign in to one application, for example, Windows, and they will have access to other applications that require login without having to log in each time.

How has it helped my organization?

It decreases the complexity of access. This alone saves time, confusion and trouble.

What is most valuable?

SSO itself is valuable because it allows the users just to have one password. After logging in to their machine, users don't need to remember or enter additional passwords. There is no need to log in and log out many times, which saves time. Users log in to any application just by typing the initial password.

What needs improvement?

The product could be improved by simplifying changing the master password. That is, if you change a password in one place it would be good to automate changing the password for all the gateways so that change is less complicated.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using the product for more than two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is very stable. This is because it is a mature product and it gets better with time. It improves and I think that it continues to do so.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is very scalable. You can serve as many users as you need to add. As long as you have the machines and infrastructure in place there are no real limits to the scalability.

How are customer service and technical support?

Initially, the customer support was in Europe and the technicians were very knowledgeable. Now they have changed support locations and customer support is not as good. The technicians are simply not as knowledgeable and experienced with the solution. Hopefully, over time this will work out and the new technicians will gain the knowledge that they need to service customers better.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

In my experience, clients did not have a previous solution. The idea of the installation was to provide a solution which did not previously exist and make managing sign on less complicated.

How was the initial setup?

In most cases the implementation is simple. However, it can get more complicated. In an instance which requires high security (e.g., a bank), we have to make sure there are no back door entry points to log in. Once this is done, it is very secure. If the installation is simple, it doesn't take much time. If there are hundreds of machines and they require customization, it can take quite a bit of additional time.

It's not easy to integrate Oracle Access with other non-Oracle products. It takes some more effort, and you will need to refer to the documentation or technical support. It will allow integration, but it will not necessarily be easy to implement.

What about the implementation team?

We do the implementations ourselves so there is no need for additional vendors or engineers.

What was our ROI?

It is difficult to really tell what the exact return on investment is. The product saves time and increases security. These are the benefits.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Pricing is scalable depending on the number of users. The more users, the more it will cost. It is not the cheapest solution but it is the most compatible with Oracle.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We have chosen to install this product as an SSO solution because it is powerful, recognized and mature. We really did not consider other solutions as we service Oracle installations.

What other advice do I have?

Oracle Access Manager is a very efficient solution if you're working with Oracle applications like ELT, and so on. It's very efficient with this because integration is built-in. You have to make sure that an application is supported by Oracle as the Access Manager product is meant to supporting their own products.

I will rate it as an eight out of ten because it's a good solution, it's very stable and integrated with Oracle solutions. It can be scaled as much as you need as long as you can afford it. 

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1452045 - PeerSpot reviewer
Founder & Chief Operating Officer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Real User
Integrates well into an Oracle ecosystem, it's easy to use, but the support and setup could be better
Pros and Cons
  • "Once it is set up, it is easy to use and it integrates with most of the products on the market."
  • "The initial implementation can definitely be improved because you have to work on several components to configure it correctly."

What is our primary use case?

We are Integrators. We implement and integrate this product for our clients, as well as provide support to our client who is using this solution.

Mainly, we are using it to provide access to two different systems that the client has. It determines the access levels of people. It tells you who needs how much access and then managing it through that.

What is most valuable?

Once it is set up, it is easy to use and it integrates with most of the products on the market.

What needs improvement?

The initial implementation can definitely be improved because you have to work on several components to configure it correctly. Nowadays, most of the solutions are a few clicks before they are installed and then configured.

Technical support needs improvement, they could be 200% better. The reason that most people are having problems is because of the support they provide.

It's very difficult to engage with them or to get the answers to your queries. The turnaround time is very slow. It needs to be faster.

In the next release, I would like to see the integration with non-Microsoft products as well. 

It takes a lot of time to integrate it with non-Oracle products. 

If you have an Oracle ecosystem then you can integrate it, but if it is Microsoft SQL or any other databases that are being used then it is not interoperable. It works but it takes time.

I would like to see if they can easily integrate with other technologies.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with Oracle Access Manager for a few years.

We are using the latest version.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

For the most part, it's stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The organization that we are supporting has approximately 200 to 300 users.

How are customer service and technical support?

Oracle technical support is never good for OAM.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Previously, we were using the AWS based product and Okta.

How was the initial setup?

The installation is not straightforward. In fact, the implementation of OAM is complex, compared to other products, but once it is implemented it is good.

If there are no problems coming in, then it can be done in a few hours. However, if there are some problems then the troubleshooting is a long haul.

We have a couple of engineers to maintain this solution.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend this solution to others, especially if they are using Oracle products because it is easily integrable with those products. 

I would rate this solution a seven out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Integrator
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Customer Relations at a tech vendor with 11-50 employees
Consultant
Oracle's WAM Product Provides Limited Value Relative to Its Complexity

What is our primary use case?

Single sign on between analytics and financial platform for internal and external users.  Authorization was front-door only, no granularity between apps.  Used to force acknowledgement of terms of use.

How has it helped my organization?

I was able to use the new SAML Service Provider capability to consume a federated token and exchange it for an OAM token for subsequent session requests across multiple applications.

What is most valuable?

Pretty robust dynamic HTTP Header Responses
Stateful session management, enabling server-side session termination and/or prevention of concurrent logins.

What needs improvement?

The ADF UI is clunky, IMO
The session URL redirects have to be accounted for network-wise. Default is client talking to OAM Server (PDP) in middle tier, which is not realistic. Need separate load balancer/VIP just for this.
Identity propagation to backend apps still immature, IMO. Still relying on headers without any kind of callbacks or 2-way verification, even with Oracle apps.

For how long have I used the solution?

More than five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

No

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Too many HA interfaces.

How are customer service and technical support?

Customer Service:

Poor. The EBS Access Gate support was delivered as a patch and support was not able to solve various problems, which I believe to be attributes to more current versions of OAM and WebLogic not being backwards compatible with the documented solution.

Technical Support:

Great blog content from A-Team at Fusion Middleware Security blog.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I've used Symplified, SiteMinder in other shops. This was an Oracle shop, so there was no discussion on which solution was best.

How was the initial setup?

Only because I was familiar. I doubt a first-timer would be able to navigate the documentation.

What about the implementation team?

I was the sole implementer as an independent contractor.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Cannot divulge.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Not in this case.

What other advice do I have?

Consider alternatives. There's nothing specific to OAM required to provide SSO to Oracle applications.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Pakorn Leesakul - PeerSpot reviewer
CEO, Founder at Finema
Real User
Top 20
Functional user controls, flexible licenses, and reliable
Pros and Cons
  • "From a technical perspective, the solution is very good we can operate and control the user by ourselves."
  • "There could be some improvements in the documentation and overall knowledge base of the solution."

What is our primary use case?

We use this solution for Single Sign-On and for mobile authentication integration.

What is most valuable?

From a technical perspective, the solution is very good we can operate and control the user by ourselves.

What needs improvement?

There could be some improvements in the documentation and overall knowledge base of the solution.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for a few months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is good.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

In my experience, I have found the solution has good scalability.

How are customer service and technical support?

The technical support is quite good.

How was the initial setup?

The installation is very easy. The full deployment took approximately one month.

What about the implementation team?

We use a three-person technical team to do the maintenance and deployment.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The price is really good and it is flexible because they have CPU licenses. The license is a one-time-only purchase.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

The solution is comparable to others, such as IBM.

What other advice do I have?

I rate Oracle Access Manager an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Implementer
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Oracle Access Manager Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: November 2024
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Access Management
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Oracle Access Manager Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.