Book Description
Understanding Directory Services clarifies the complex topic of directory services, starting with basic theory and archetypes, and then working its way up to the current directory service implementations. Itdescribes the basic idea behind directory services, explaining the underlying conceptual models, design characteristics, and methods of managing distributed information.
The book begins with an overview of directory services and their core characteristics, highlighting critical aspects of directory information, distribution, and storage. The evolving nature of the information the directory contains, and the factors involved in organizing and managing it are discussed in detail, and then methods ofinformation distribution and storage are examined at length.
After exploring the basics of directory service, the book progresses to in-depth chapters on each of the critical technologies being used to implement directory services:
* The X.500 standards are explained to help you understand the foundations of directory services and provide a basis for comparison of the other directory technologies.
* Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) and its emerging role as adirectory access standard is described in detail, with thorough explanations of models, naming, and operations.
*The Domain Name System (DNS) is examined from a directory service perspective, noting parallels in structures and operations.
This knowledge of directory services is then used to describe the design of X.500 and LDAP based directory service products, as well as NDS eDirectory and Active Directory, highlighting the architectural and operational implications of vendor"s design decisions. This book: