logoDigital Platform Architect

Identity & Access Management

Centralized identity, authentication, authorization, and federation for users and services.

Identity & Access Management Architecture

Detailed view showing components, connections, and data flow

UsersAppsServicesIAMAuthN/AuthZFederationAPIDataAppsOIDC • SAML • JWT • mTLS
Core Components
Supporting Services
Data Flow
Security Boundary

Enables Architectural Patterns

Hexagonal Architecture

Domain-centric design separating core logic from external concerns via ports (interfaces) and adapters.

Clean Architecture

Domain‑centric, dependency‑inversion style family emphasizing concentric layers (entities, use cases, interfaces) and the Dependency Rule.

N‑Tier (Client‑Server) Architecture

Multi-tier runtime architecture (e.g., presentation, application, data) where clients request services from servers across tiers.

What it is

IAM provides digital identity lifecycle, authn/z, federation, and policy enforcement for humans and workloads across the estate.

Responsibilities

  • Identity lifecycle (provisioning, deprovisioning)
  • Authentication (MFA, risk-based)
  • Authorization (RBAC, ABAC, PBAC)
  • Federation (OIDC/SAML) and secrets/PKI

Core capabilities

  • Policy as code and centralized auditing
  • Service-to-service identity (mTLS, SPIFFE/SPIRE)
  • Just-in-time and just-enough access
  • Zero trust posture and session management

Architecture patterns

  • Token-based auth (JWT, OAuth2)
  • Attribute and policy-based access control
  • Federated identity across SaaS and on-prem
  • Workload identity with short-lived creds

Tech examples

  • WSO2 Identity Server
  • WSO2 IAM SaaS solution Asgardeo
  • Keycloak
  • Auth0
  • Azure AD
  • Okta
  • SPIRE

KPIs/SLIs

  • Auth success rate and latency
  • Policy evaluation latency
  • Credential compromise and rotation compliance
  • Access request lead time