6-September-2011

The Internet2 Middleware Initiative is pleased to announce the release of Grouper version 2.0. Grouper is designed to function as the core element of a common infrastructure for managing access information across integrated applications and repositories. It enables project managers, departments, institutions, and end-users to create and manage institutional and personal groups, roles, and permissions.

This release is a major milestone, and incorporates several enhancements to the core Grouper functionality, increasing its utility as a key part of an institution's core identity and access management infrastructure.

With this release, Grouper is now a fully developed Role Based Access Control (RBAC) system. Other key features include the ability to include users from federated institutions into group membership, improved data connector performance (for integration with existing infrastructure), added point-in-time audit capabilities, and web services access to most functionality. Permission management capabilities are significant, including a user interface (UI) to manage custom attributes, permissions, limits, and actions. Real time provisioning will be a key added feature in version 2.1, to follow.

For further detail about this new release, to download the software and release notes, for upgrade instructions, and a link to a Grouper demo, please visit http://www.internet2.edu/grouper/software.html

Development of this software was supported with funding from Internet2, the University of Chicago, the University of Bristol, the NSF Middleware Initiative (NSF 02-028, Grant No. OCI-0330626), and JISC. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation (NSF).