Preface    About This Guide

This guide provides you with a foundation for planning your directory. The information provided here is intended for directory decision makers, designers, and administrators.

The first chapter of this guide introduces basic directory concepts. Most of the remainder of the guide covers aspects of directory design, including schema design, the directory tree, topology, replication, and security. The last chapter provides sample deployment scenarios to help you plan simple deployments as well as complex deployments designed to support millions of users distributed worldwide.

Directory Server provides the following key features:

• Multi-master replication -- Provides a highly available directory service for both read and write operations. Multi-master replication can be combined with simple and cascading replication scenarios to provide a highly flexible and scalable replication environment.
  
  
• Chaining and referrals -- Increases the power of your directory by storing a complete logical view of your directory on a single server, while maintaining data on a large number of Directory Servers transparently for clients.
  
  
• Roles and Class of Service -- Provides a flexible mechanism for grouping and sharing attributes between entries in a dynamic fashion.
  
  
• Improved access control mechanism -- Provides support for macros that dramatically reduce the number of access control statements used in the directory and increase the scalability of access control evaluation.
  
  
• Resource-limits by bind DN -- Gives you the power to control the amount of server resources allocated to search operations based on the bind DN of the client.
  
  
• Multiple databases -- Provides a simple way of breaking down your directory data to simplify the implementation of replication and chaining in your directory service.
  
  
• Password Policy and Account Lockout -- Allows you to define a set of rules that govern how passwords and user accounts are managed in the Directory Server.
  
  
• SSL -- Provides secure communications over the network, including ciphers with up to 168-bit encryption.

The major components of Directory Server include:

• An LDAP server -- The core of the directory service, provided by the ns-slapd daemon and compliant with the LDAP v3 Internet standards.
  
  
• Directory Server Console -- An improved management console that dramatically reduces the effort of setting up and maintaining your directory service. The directory console is part of Netscape Console, the common management framework for Netscape servers.
  
  
• SNMP Agent -- Permits you to monitor your Directory Server in real time using the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP).
  
  
• Online backup and restore -- Allows you to create backups and restore from backups while the server is running.

This guide uses the following conventions:

• Monospaced font -- This typeface is used for any text that appears on the computer screen or text that you should type. It is also used for filenames, functions, and examples.

• Throughout this book you will see path references of the form:
  
  serverRoot/slapd-serverID/...
  
  serverRoot  is the installation directory. The default installation directory on UNIX is /usr/netscape/servers. On Windows, it is c:\netscape\servers. If you have installed Directory Server in a different location, you should adapt the path accordingly.
  
  serverID  is the ID or identifier you assigned to an instance of Directory Server when you installed it. For example, if you gave the server an identifier of phonebook, then the actual path would look like this: /usr/netscape/servers/slapd-phonebook/...

The document set for Directory Server also contains the following guides:

• Netscape Directory Server Installation Guide. Contains procedures for installing your Directory Server as well as procedures for migrating your Directory Server.
  
  
• Netscape Directory Server Administrator's Guide. Contains procedures for the day-to-day maintenance of your directory service. Includes information on configuring server-side plug-ins.
  
  
• Netscape Directory Server Configuration, Command, and File Reference. Provides information about using the command-line scripts shipped with Directory Server.
  
  
• Netscape Directory Server Schema Reference. Provides reference information about the Netscape Directory Server schema.
  
  
• Netscape Directory Server Plug-in Programmer's Guide. Describes how to write server plug-ins in order to customize and extend the capabilities of Directory Server.
  
  
• Netscape Directory Server Gateway Customization Guide. Introduces Directory Server Gateway and explains how to implement a gateway instance with basic directory look-up functionality. Also contains information useful for implementing a more powerful gateway instance with directory authentication and administration capability..
  

For a list of documentation installed with Directory Server, open this file: