Understanding and Deploying LDAP Directory Services

by Howes, Timothy A., Ph.D.; Smith, Mark C.; Good, Gordon S.

• ISBN13: 9780672323164
• ISBN10: 0672323168
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-04-28
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional

Summary

Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) is the standard for directory information access and is the underlying protocol for a variety of email systems, Web systems, and enterprise applications. LDAP enables central management of users, groups, devices, and other data, thereby simplifying directory management and reducing the total cost of ownership. Understanding and Deploying LDAP Directory Services, written by the creators of the protocol, is known as the LDAP bible and is the classic text for learning about LDAP and how to utilize it effectively. The Second Edition builds on this success by acting as an exhaustive resource for designing, deploying, and maintaining LDAP directory services. Topics such as implementation pitfalls, establishing and maintaining user access to information, troubleshooting, and real-world scenarios will be thoroughly explored.

Author Biography

Timothy A. Howes, Ph.D., coinventor of the LDAP protocol, is the cofounder and chief technology officer of Opsware Inc., the leading provider of data center automation software. Previously, Dr. Howes served as vice president of technology for America Online, as chief technology officer of Netscape¿s Server Products division, and as chief architect of several Netscape server products.

Mark C. Smith is the chief architect for directory products at Netscape Communications Corporation, an AOL Time Warner company, where he is responsible for the technical evolution of Netscape Directory Server and several other products and services. Mr. Smith is coauthor of LDAP: Programming Directory-Enabled Applications with Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (Macmillan, 1997) and has written many RFCs and Internet Drafts.

Gordon S. Good is a senior software engineer at Opsware, Inc. Before joining Opsware, he worked at Netscape Communications Corporation, where he led the directory-server-replication development team. Gordon has written several RFCs and Internet Drafts.

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Table of Contents

Preface.

I. AN INTRODUCTION TO DIRECTORY SERVICES AND LDAP.

1. Directory Services Overview and History.
2. An Introduction to LDAP.
3. LDAPv3 Extensions.
4. An Overview of Netscape Directory Server.

II. DESIGNING YOUR DIRECTORY SERVICE.

5. Directory Road Map.
6. Defining Your Directory Needs.
7. Data Design.
8. Schema Design.
9. Namespace Design.
10. Topology Design.
11. Replication Design.
12. Privacy and Security Design.

III. DEPLOYING YOUR DIRECTORY SERVICE.

13. Evaluating Directory Products.
14. Piloting Your Directory Service.
15. Analyzing and Reducing Costs.
16. Putting Your Directory Service into Production.

IV. MAINTAINING YOUR DIRECTORY SERVICE.

17. Backups and Disaster Recovery.
18. Maintaining Data.
19. Monitoring.
20. Troubleshooting.

V. LEVERAGING YOUR DIRECTORY SERVICE.

21. Developing New Applications.
22. Directory-Enabling Existing Applications.
23. Directory Coexistence.

VI. CASE STUDIES.

24. Case Study: Netscape Communications Corporation.
25. Case Study: A Large Multinational Enterprise.
26. Case Study: An Enterprise with an Extranet.
Index. 0672323168T01092003

Excerpts

In the past decade, LDAP directories have risen from a relatively obscure offshoot of an equally obscure field to become one of the linchpins of modern computing. Increasingly, LDAP directories are becoming the nerve center of an organization's computing infrastructure, providing naming, location, management, security, and other services that have traditionally been provided by network operating systems. Design and deployment of a successful LDAP directory service can be complex and challenging, yet little information is available explaining the ins and outs of this important task. When two of us (Mark and Tim) finished writing a previous book,LDAP: Programming Directory-Enabled Applications with Lightweight Directory Access Protocol,in early 1997, we soon realized there was another, much bigger piece of the directory puzzle still to be addressed. The previous book was aimed at directory application programmers, but nothing similar was available to address the needs of directory decision makers, designers, and administrators. This book is aimed at that audience. Recognizing the size of the task ahead of us and remembering the joys of giving up evenings and weekends for months at a time to meet deadlines for our first book, we quickly decided to expand our team. Just as quickly, we decided there was no one we'd rather share the fun with than our longtime friend and colleague, Gordon Good, at the time a senior directory developer at Netscape. Aside from being the third leg of the LDAP development team at the University of Michigan (U-M), Gordon brought a wealth of system administration experience from his past life as a directory and e-mail administrator and Web master for U-M. With Gordon on board, the three of us set about writing a book that we only half-jokingly referred to as the "LDAP Bible." The first edition ofUnderstanding and Deploying LDAP Directory Serviceswas published in 1999. Two years later, we realized that it was time to update this book and publish a second edition. LDAPv3 work in the IETF was mostly complete. Numerous extensions to the basic LDAP protocol were being developed. LDAP support in commercial and open-source software was widespread. In this edition, we cover these recent directory services developments. In addition, in response to reader suggestions we have streamlined the text, added more hands-on examples, updated the examples to reflect currently available software versions, and updated the case studies to reflect current directory practice. We thank all the readers of the first edition who provided helpful suggestions, and we hope that you find this second edition even more valuable. The Book's Organization This book includes 26 chapters in 6 parts. Part I introduces directories and LDAP. Parts II through IV each address a different part of the directory life cycle. Part V discusses how to leverage your directory service after it's up and running. Finally, Part VI presents three directory services deployment case studies. Part I, Introduction to Directory Services and LDAP, provides a comprehensive introduction to directories and LDAP. For readers unfamiliar with the topic, this section should bring them up to speed and provide the background necessary to understand the rest of the book. It also includes a section on the history of directories for readers interested in how all this technology came about. Part II, Designing Your Directory Service, begins to delve into the directory life cycle by covering the first, and in many ways most important, phase: design. We cover all aspects of directory design, from determining your needs, to designing your data sources, schema, namespace, topology, replication, and finally privacy and security. Part III, Deploying Your Directory Service, covers the next phase in the directory life cycle: deployment. We cover everything from choosing the right directory products to piloting your service