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A Planning Guide for Moving to LDAP as Naming Service in the Solaris OS

Wajih Ahmed and Abdi Mohammadi, April 2009

Introduction

This paper addresses several important decisions and issues that must be faced by organizations preparing to migrate from Network Information Service (NIS) or NIS+ to Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP).

For more details, see the list of contents below.

Download the document as PDF.

Contents

• Introduction
• The Challenges of Moving to LDAP
• Preparing a DIT
• DIT Design
• Implementing a Hybrid DIT
• Other DIT Designs
• Using an Existing DIT
• Using Directory Proxy as a Virtual Directory Solution
• Kerberos and LDAP Combinations
• Using Netgroups
• Integration With Microsoft Active Directory
• Improvements Added by OpenSolaris Projects
• Conclusion

For More Information

Here are additional resources:

• System Administration Guide: Naming and Directory Services (DNS, NIS, and LDAP)
• Sparks/Reno/Duckwater/Winchester Overview (OpenSolaris projects)
• OpenSolaris Sparks Project: name service switch/nscd enhancements
• pam_list(5)
• pam_netgroup.c
• Windows Security and Directory Services for UNIX Guide v1.0
• Duke University Directory Plug-in
• RFC 2307
• RFC 2307bis
• Blogs:
  • Active Directory domain CIFS member server
  • Solaris 10 and Active Directory Integration
• Related articles on BigAdmin:
  • Using Kerberos to Authenticate a Solaris 10 OS LDAP Client With Microsoft Active Directory
  • Sun Java System Directory Server 6.0 as an LDAP Naming Service
  • Benefits of Using the Solaris 10 OS With Sun Java System Directory Server Enterprise Edition 6.x
  • Benefits of an Exclusively Multimaster Deployment of Sun Java System Directory Server Enterprise Edition 6
  • Maximizing Performance of the Sun Java System Directory Server
  • Resetting the 'admin' Password in Sun Java System Directory Server
• Sun Developer Network, including Identity Management section
• Download page for Sun Java System Directory Server Enterprise Edition
• Sun Java System Directory Server Enterprise Edition web site
• Directory Proxy Server web site
• Sun training courses at http://www.sun.com/training/, for example:
  • Sun Java System Directory Server Enterprise Edition 6.x: Analysis and Planning (DIR-2217)
  • Sun Java System Directory Server Enterprise Edition 6: Maintenance and Operations (DIR-2340)
  • Sun Java System Directory Server Enterprise Edition: LDAP Concepts (WMT-DIR-1344)
  • LDAP Design and Deployment (WI-3501)
• Sun forums, such as:
  • Web and Directory Servers forum
  • BigAdmin discussions
• Product documentation at http://docs.sun.com/, such as:
  • Sun Java System Directory Server Enterprise Edition documentation
  • Solaris 10 OS documentation
• OpenSolaris Documentation Community
• Sun wikis, such as:
  • Sun BluePrints wiki
  • BigAdmin wiki
• Support:
  • Sun resources:
    • Register your Sun gear
    • Services
    • SunSolve Online
  • Community system administration experts
• Events of interest to users of Sun products:
  • Worldwide developer events and Sun Tech Days
  • Current events

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