Installation guide
Server in your organization, you must determine which Directory Server instance will host the
configuration directory tree, o=NetscapeRoot. Make this decision before installing any
compatible Directory Server applications. The configuration directory is usually the first one you
set up.
Since the main configuration directory generally experiences low traffic, you can permit its
server instances to coexist on any machine with a heavier-loaded Directory Server instance.
However, for large sites that deploy a large number of Directory Server instances, dedicate a
low-end machine for the configuration directory to improve performance. Directory Server
instances write to the configuration directory, and for larger sites, this write activity can create
performance issues for other directory service activities. The configuration directory can be
replicated to increase availability and reliability.
If the configuration directory tree gets corrupted, you may have to re-register or re-configure all
Directory Server instances. To prevent that, always back up the configuration directory after
setting up a new instance; never change a hostname or port number while active in the
configuration directory; and do not modify the configuration directory tree; only the setup
program can directly modify a configuration.
2.8. Administration Domain
The administration domain allows servers to be grouped together logically when splitting
administrative tasks. That level of organization is beneficial, for example, when different
divisions within an organization want individual control of their servers while system
administrators require centralized control of all servers.
When setting up the administration domain, consider the following:
• Each administration domain must have an administration domain owner with complete access
to all the domain servers but no access to the servers in other administration domains. The
administration domain owner may grant individual users administrative access on a
server-by-server basis within the domain.
• All servers must share the same configuration directory. The Configuration Directory
Administrator has complete access to all installed Directory Servers, regardless of the
domain.
• Servers on two different domains can use different user directories for authentication and user
management.
3. About the setup-ds-admin.pl Script
The Directory Server and Administration Server instances are created and configured through a
script call setup-ds-admin.pl. Running this script launches an interactive setup program with a
series of dialog screens with a yes/no prompt or a simple text input prompt. Each prompt has a
default answer in square brackets, such as the following:
Administration Domain
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