Specifications

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Use this chapter to assess directory domain needs, estimate
directory and authentication requirements, identify servers
for hosting shared domains, improve performance and
redundancy, deal with duplication in a multibuilding campus,
and make Open Directory services secure.
Keeping information in shared directory domains gives you more control over your
network, gives more users access to the information, and makes it easier to maintain
the information. The amount of control and convenience depends on the eort you
put into planning your shared domains.
The goal of directory domain planning is to design the simplest arrangement of
shared domains that gives your Mac OS X users easy access to the network resources
they need and that minimizes the time you spend maintaining user records and other
administrative data.
General Planning Guidelines
If you do not share user and resource information among multiple Mac OS X
computers, very little directory domain planning is necessary, because everything can
be accessed from a local directory domain.
However, make sure that all individuals who use a Mac OS X computer have user
accounts on that computer. These user accounts reside in the local directory domain
on the computer.
In addition, everyone who needs to use Mac OS X Server’s le service, mail service,
or other services that require authentication must have a user account in the server’s
local directory domain.
4
Open Directory Planning and
Management Tools