Directory Proxy Server

The Directory Proxy Server component of Directory Server Enterprise Edition (DSEE) is an LDAP application layer protocol gateway designed to deliver high availability, virtual directory, data distribution, enhanced directory access control, and schema compatibility.

Service Manageability: Same web-based administration console as the Directory Server.

• Directory proxy servers can be grouped in a set of servers to enable broad configuration changes to all, some or individual servers
• New advanced Command Line Interface enables advanced scripting and provides powerful management capabilities

Virtual Directory: Allows quicker integration of new or existing data sources by transparently aggregating data from multiple directories and databases.

• Data in many data sources can be managed through one interface, avoiding synchronization and data ownership political issues
• Applications can take advantage of new and interesting identity data immediately without costly changes
• Spans across multiple applications, allowing applications with different data structure requirements to take advantage of the same physical data

Data Distribution: Includes a data distribution feature to support massive deployments where data can be spread across many servers.

• Allows horizontal scaling of flat Directory Information Tree (DIT) across many backend servers
• Provides increased performance through parallel operations and better data maintenance procedures
• Designed for extra-large deployments (more than 20 million entries), but can be used in smaller deployments

Availability: Ensures that systems always have access to the data they need when they need it through configurable load balancing and failover/failback.

• Works with the Directory Server to protect against denial of service attacks and thus enables around-the-clock reliability
• Automatically routes requests appropriately through a referral mechanism and provides secure firewall-like services for the Directory Server
• Detects outages and routes traffic around affected areas, effectively load-balancing requests across systems; when the affected areas are restored to operation, the Proxy Server detects it automatically
• Routes requests to the most appropriate server based on type of operation

Security: The Directory Proxy Server accommodates large numbers of users accessing the directory and minimizes the security risks associated with providing this level of access.

• Security features make it possible to determine where a request is coming from, whether it is allowed, and what type of authentication is required for it
• Uses the concept of groups to define how to identify an LDAP client and what restrictions to enforce on clients that match a particular group
• Can configure a fine-grained access control policy on LDAP directories to protect private directory information from unauthorized access while still making it safe to publish public information
• Can be configured to prevent certain kinds of operations typically performed by web trawlers and robots in search of information