About This Guide


The iPlanet Meta-Directory Installation Guide describes how to install iPlanet^TM Meta-Directory and related components. The Meta-Directory software is available for both the Windows NT operating system and Solaris^TM operating environment.

This preface contains the following sections:

• What You Are Expected to Know

• The iPlanet Meta-Directory Documentation Set

• Organization Of This Guide

• Documentation Conventions

• Where to Find Additional Information

What You Are Expected to Know

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This guide is for system administrators who want to install iPlanet Meta-Directory 5.0 on a single machine system. It is assumed that the administrator has experience working with directory servers and Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) as well as knowledge of either or both of the Windows NT operating system and Solaris operating environment.

The iPlanet Meta-Directory Documentation Set

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Read through the documentation set for iPlanet Meta-Directory version 5.0 before installing the software. The set, which is available at the Meta-Directory documentation web site, contains the following titles:

• iPlanet Meta-Directory Deployment Guide describes how to plan and implement an iPlanet Meta-Directory solution to meet the requirements of your organization.

• iPlanet Meta-Directory Installation Guide (this guide) tells how to install iPlanet Meta-Directory software on machines running either the Windows NT operating system or the Solaris operating environment.

• iPlanet Configuration and Administration Guide documents how to configure and administer the iPlanet Meta-Directory system from both the Meta-Directory console and the command-line.

• Release Notes include information about what is new in this release, last minute installation tips, known software limitations, and how to report problems.

In order to use Meta-Directory, a iPlanet Directory Server needs to be installed and configured. Therefore, it is recommended that you read the iPlanet Directory Server Deployment Guide and iPlanet Directory Server Installation Guide before beginning the installation process for iPlanet Meta-Directory.

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Note	Be sure to check the Meta-Directory documentation web site for updates to the release notes and for revisions of guides. Updated documents will be marked with the revision date. http://docs.iplanet.com/docs/manuals/metadir.html

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Organization Of This Guide

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iPlanet Meta-Directory Installation Guide (this guide) contains instructions on how to install iPlanet Meta-Directory on servers using either the Windows NT operating system or the Solaris operating environment. It consists of the following chapters:

• Chapter 1 "Preparing For Installation" describes what you need prior to beginning installation.

• Chapter 2 "Installing iPlanet Meta-Directory On Solaris Systems" describes the installation process on a machine using the Solaris operating system.

• Chapter 3 "Installing iPlanet Meta-Directory On Windows NT Systems" describes the installation process on a machine using the Windows NT operating system.

• Chapter 4 "Silent Installation" describes the process for installing Meta-Directory on multiple machines or from a remote terminal.

• Chapter 5 "Removing iPlanet Meta-Directory" describes the process for removing Meta-Directory software from your system.

Documentation Conventions

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In all iPlanet Meta-Directory documentation, certain typographic conventions and terminology are used to simplify discussion and to help better understand the material.

Typographic Conventions

This book uses the following typographic conventions:

• Italic type is used within text for book titles, new terminology, emphasis, and words used in the literal sense.

• Monospace font is used for sample code and code listings, API and language elements (such as function names and class names), filenames, pathnames, directory names, HTML tags, and any text that must be typed on the screen.

• Italic serif font is used within code and code fragments to indicate variable placeholders. For example, the following command uses filename as a vairable placeholder for an argument to the gunzip command:

    gunzip -d filename.tar.gz

Terminology

Below is a list of the general terms that are used in the iPlanet Meta-Directory documentation set:

• Meta-Directory refers to iPlanet Meta-Directory and any installed instances of the iPlanet Meta-Directory software.

• Meta-Directory components refers to the collective set of iPlanet Meta-Directory components and software you have installed and running on your system, including the join engine and any external data source connectors.

• External data source refers to any user data that originates outside of the core Meta-Directory components, whether the data is coming from another database, directory server, data file, or other source of data.

• Directory Server refers to an installed instance of iPlanet Directory Server or Netscape Directory Server.

  iPlanet Meta-Directory can synchronize data using any LDAPv2 and LDAPv3-compliant directory server, as long as the LDAP server supports a change log mechanism similar to the one implemented in Netscape Directory Server 4.1x. The term Directory Server refers to the instances of iPlanet Directory Server and Netscape Directory Server that you have installed to work with iPlanet Meta-Directory.

• Similarly the term Administration Server refers to an installed instance of Netscape Administration Server or iPlanet Administration Server, whether it be used with the Meta-Directory components or another Netscape or iPlanet server.

• NETSITE_ROOT is a variable placeholder for the home directory where you have installed iPlanet Meta-Directory and any other iPlanet servers installed into the same server group.

• The term flow is used rather loosely to refer to the process of synchronizing data between an external data source and the meta view. You "flow" data through a connector to the connector view and then "flow" it to the meta view. The contrary is also true, you "flow" data from the meta view back to the connector views and out to the external data sources.

Where to Find Additional Information

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In addition to iPlanet Meta-Directory documentation set, you should be familiar with the documentation for products that are used in conjunction with it. Of particular interest are the iPlanet Console and iPlanet Directory Server documentation sets. This section lists additional sources of information you may find helpful as you use iPlanet Meta-Directory.

iPlanet Console Documentation
You can find the iPlanet Console documentation at the following site:

http://docs.iplanet.com/docs/manuals/console.html

iPlanet Directory Server Documentation
You can find the iPlanet Directory Server documentation at the following site:

http://docs.iplanet.com/docs/manuals/directory.html

Directory Server Developer Information
In addition to the Directory Server documentation, you can find information on Meta-Directory, LDAP, the iPlanet Directory Server, and associated technologies at the following iPlanet developer sites:

http://developer.iplanet.com/tech/directory/

http://www.iplanet.com/downloads/developer/

Other iPlanet Product Documentation
Documentation for all iPlanet and Netscape servers and technologies can be found at the following web site:

http://docs.iplanet.com/docs/manuals/

iPlanet Technical Support
you can contact iPlanet Technical Support through the following location:

http://www.iplanet.com/support/