---
title: Remote connector overview
description: Connectors continue to be released outside the IDM release. For the latest documentation, refer to the OpenICF documentation.
component: pingidm
version: 7.2
page_id: pingidm:connector-dev-guide:overview-remote-connectors
canonical_url: https://docs.pingidentity.com/pingidm/7.2/connector-dev-guide/overview-remote-connectors.html
---

# Remote connector overview

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| - | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
|   | Connectors continue to be released outside the IDM release. For the latest documentation, refer to the [OpenICF documentation](https://docs.pingidentity.com/openicf/index.html). |

Connectors can run locally (on the same host as your application) or remotely (on a host that is remote to your application). Connectors that run remotely require a *connector server*, running on the same host as the connector. Applications access the connector implementation *through* the connector server.

|   |                                                                                                   |
| - | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
|   | The OpenICF framework can support both local and remote connector implementations simultaneously. |

Connector servers also let you run connector bundles that are written in C# on a .NET platform, and to access them over the network from a Java or .NET application.

The following image shows a high-level overview of an OpenICF deployment, including a remote connector server.

![openicf-arch-remote](_images/openicf-arch-remote.png)

For more information about connector servers, and how to use them in your application, refer to [Remote connectors](../connector-reference/remote-connector.html).