User`s guide

36 Chapter 1 Installation and Setup Overview
Using Setup Data Stored in a Directory
A target server can set itself up using setup data you’ve stored in a directory the server
is configured to access.
Although storing setup data in a directory is the most automated way to set up
multiple servers, this approach requires that you set up an infrastructure first so that
target servers can locate the setup data stored in the directory.
The most critical components of the infrastructure are DHCP and Open Directory, as
the following picture illustrates. The Open Directory server in this example hosts an
LDAP directory in which setup data has been saved. The address of the Open Directory
server is registered with DHCP service, running on another server in this example.
The DHCP service provides the Open Directory server address to the target servers
when it assigns IP addresses to those servers. The target servers automatically detect
setup data that has been stored for them in the LDAP directory and use it to set
themselves up.
You can save setup data in an Apple OpenLDAP directory or in another directory that
supports Apple’s schema extensions for saved setup data, documented in the Open
Directory administration guide.
DHCP serverOpen Directory server