Directory Service Interaction

Solaris Bandwidth Manager configuration information and policy information can be stored in a directory service such as Sun Directory Services 3.1. Some advantages to this approach are:

• The configuration of multiple instances of Solaris Bandwidth Manager can be updated from a single point, the directory.

• The configuration can be dynamically updated upon detection of user connections or traffic flows, for example when remote access using the RADIUS protocol is in use.

In many networks, particularly where users have dial-up connections or are mobile, there is no permanent mapping between a user and an IP address. However, if a remote user connects to the network using a RADIUS login sequence when using Sun Directory Services, the user's directory entry is updated with the current IP address. Using a directory to store information about users and their current locations provides a way to identify the user who is associated with a particular IP address. This has two benefits:

• You can adjust the configuration of the classifier and scheduler depending on the actual usage of the network.

• You can collect accounting information for individual users.

See Chapter 6, Configuring Solaris Bandwidth Manager with a Directory Service for details of how Solaris Bandwidth Manager interacts with a directory service.