Complete Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1 Welcome to the Directory Server
Chapter 2 Directory Deployment Overview
Chapter 3 Planning Your Directory Data
Chapter 4 Planning Directory Schema
Chapter 5 Planning Security Policies
Chapter 6 Directory Tree Design
Chapter 7 Planning Replication
Chapter 8 Planning Referrals
Chapter 9 Directory Design Examples
Chapter 10 Extending Your Directory Service
Appendix A Quick Start
Next Contents Index


Introduction

Welcome to the Netscape Directory Server and the Internet. Netscape Communications Corporation is the premier provider of open software that lets people and companies exchange information and conduct commerce over enterprise networks and the Internet.


What Is in This Book?
This manual provides you with a foundation for planning your directory service. It describes how you can use the Directory Server to support simple usage that involves only a few hundred users and some key Netscape server applications. It also shows you how you can scale the Directory Server to support millions of users around the world. Along the way, you are introduced to the general issues and concerns that you should be aware of when deploying a global directory service. You are also introduced to the basic directory service concepts and specific guidelines that you will need to deploy a production-grade directory service.

Note. It is assumed that you have already read Managing Servers with Netscape Console. That manual provides introductory information on the Netscape administration services.

Because this manual assumes that you are interested in designing a global directory service for your enterprise, you may find that much of this manual's contents assume a level of complexity that is not true of your environment. This is especially likely if you are deploying the Directory Server to support a few Netscape server instances. Further, you may be installing the Directory Server for review or testing purposes or to support an LDAP client development effort.

For simpler deployment scenarios, you can skip most of this book (although it is recommended that you acquaint yourself with the topics discussed here), and instead read just the following:

For information on how to install a Netscape Directory Server, see the Netscape Directory Server Installation Guide.


Conventions Used in This Book
This section explains the conventions used in this book.

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.

Note. Notes and Warnings mark important information. Make sure you read the information before continuing with a task.

|—The vertical bar is used as a separator for user interface elements. For example, Configuration|Logs means you should go to the Configuration Tab on the Directory Server Console and then select the Logs icon.

Throughout this book you will see path references of the form:

<NSHOME>/slapd-<serverID>/...

In these situations, <NSHOME> represents the directory where you installed the server, and <serverID> represents the server identifier you gave the server when you installed it. For example, if you installed your server in /export/ns-home, and gave the server an identifier of phonebook, then the actual path would be:

/export/ns-home/slapd-phonebook/. . .

Also, all paths specified in this manual are in Unix format. If you are using a Windows NT-based Directory Server, you should assume the NT equivalent filepaths whenever Unix file paths are shown in this book.
 

© Copyright 1999 Netscape Communications Corporation