About This Guide


Welcome to the iPlanet Directory Server, a product of the Sun-Netscape Alliance. Sun Microsystems, Inc. and American Online, Inc. formed the Sun-Netscape Alliance to provide easy-to-deploy, comprehensive enterprise and e-commerce solutions to business partners and other companies competing in the Net Economy.

This preface includes the following sections:

• Purpose of This Guide

• iPlanet Directory Server 5.0 Overview

• Conventions Used in This Guide

• Related Information

Purpose of This Guide

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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.

iPlanet Directory Server 5.0 Overview

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iPlanet Directory Server 5.0 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 speed 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 iPlanet Directory Server 5.0 include:

• An LDAP server—The core of the directory service, provided by the 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 iPlanet Console, the common management framework for iPlanet servers.

• Directory Server Gateway—An HTTP to LDAP client that allows you to access directory data from a web browser.

• iPlanet Netscape Directory Express—A simple directory lookup tool that you can use right out of the box.

• 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.

Conventions Used in This Guide

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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.

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Note	Notes, Cautions and Tips mark important information. Make sure you read this information before continuing.

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Throughout this guide you will see path references of the following form:

/usr/iplanet/servers/slapd-serverID/...

The /usr/iplanet/servers directory is the default installation directory. If you have installed the Directory Server in a different location, you should adapt the path accordingly. The serverID variable represents the server identifier you gave the server when you installed it. For example, if you gave the server an identifier of phonebook, then the actual path would be:

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

All paths specified in this manual are in UNIX format. If you are using a Windows NT version of Directory Server, use equivalent paths.

Related Information

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

iPlanet Directory Server Installation Guide. Procedures for installing your Directory Server as well as procedures for migrating your Netscape Directory Server to iPlanet Directory Server.

iPlanet Directory Server Administrator's Guide. Procedures for the day-to-day maintenance of your directory service. Includes information on configuring server-side plug-ins.

iPlanet Directory Server Command-Line File Reference. Information about using the command-line scripts shipped with Directory Server.

iPlanet Schema Reference. Information about all the schema used in the iPlanet suite of products.

Other useful iPlanet information can be found at the following Internet locations:

• iPlanet release notes and other documentation:
  http://docs.iplanet.com/docs/manuals/

• iPlanet product status:
  http://www.iplanet.com/support/technical_resources/

• iPlanet Professional Services information:
  http://www.iplanet.com/services/pro_serv/index.html

• iPlanet developer information:
  http://developer.iplanet.com/

• iPlanet learning solutions:
  http://www.iplanet.com/learning/index.html

• iPlanet product data sheets:
  http://www.iplanet.com/products/index.html