About Directory Server Enterprise Edition

Directory Server Enterprise Edition provides secure, highly available, scalable directory services for storing and managing identity data. Directory Server Enterprise Edition is the foundation of an enterprise identity infrastructure. It enables mission-critical enterprise applications and large-scale extranet applications to access consistent and reliable identity data.

Directory Server Enterprise Edition provides a central repository for storing and managing identity profiles, access privileges, application and network resource information. Directory Server Enterprise Edition integrates smoothly into multi-platform environments. It also provides secure, on-demand synchronization of passwords, users, and groups with Microsoft Active Directory.

Prior to Directory Server Enterprise Edition, Sun provided these functions in four separate product offerings including Directory Server, Directory Proxy Server, Directory Server Resource Kit and Identity Synchronization for Windows. These and other products are now components of one comprehensive, integrated solution.

Quality of Service Requirements for a Robust Directory Service

The more users and applications in an enterprise, the more critical is the need for a robust directory service. Directory Server Enterprise Edition addresses the challenges faced by a rapidly changing and expanding enterprise by providing the following quality of service requirements:

• Availability. A measure of how often the system's resources and services are accessible to end users, often expressed as the uptime of the system.

• Scalability. The ability to add capacity, and users, to a deployed system over time. Scalability typically involves adding resources to the system but should not require changes to the deployment architecture.

• Security. A complex combination of factors that describe the integrity of a system and its users. Security includes authentication and authorization of users, security of data, and secure access to the deployed system.

• Interoperability. The ease with which the system operates in conjunction with other systems.

• Serviceability. The ease with which a deployed system can be maintained. Maintenance tasks include monitoring the system, repairing problems that arise, and upgrading hardware and software components.

This chapter briefly describes how the components of Directory Server Enterprise Edition fill the quality of service requirements. The requirements are discussed in detail in the remainder of this guide.