The Provisioning Solutions users are periodically synchronized from Active Directory. If during synchronization, the user is found in Active Directory, Provisioning Solutions classifies the user as Alive. Standard and Compliance Rules are applied to Alive users.
If a user is not found during Active Directory synchronization, Provisioning Solutions moves the user automatically to the Styx State. The time the user spends in the Styx State is called the User Tombstone Threshold.
Once the Tombstone Threshold has passed, Provisioning Solutions moves the user automatically to Tombstoned State and Sweeper Rules are applied to that user. Once the user has been in Tombstoned State for longer than the configured time the user is deleted automatically from the Provisioning Solutions cache. The time the user spends in the Tombstone State is called the Tombstoned Max Age.
At any time while the user is in Styx State or Tombstoned State, if the user is found again after a subsequent synchronization of Active Directory, the user will be moved back to Alive State automatically. All the timers are reset, and in the case where the user is not found in a future synchronization, the Styx State starts anew.
The figure below displays the different user states from the Provisioning Solutions perspective:
NOTE:
From a User cache perspective only Alive and Tombstoned states are distinguished and a user is moved to Tombstoned immediately if that user is not found during a synchronization. When synchronization for Active Directory occurs and a user is not found, the user is transitioned into Styx State and will remain in Styx State until either the user is found in subsequent synchronizations or until the Tombstone Threshold expires, and the user is moved to Tombstoned State.