Installation guide

Configuration Decisions
16 Netscape Directory Server Installation Guide • May 2002
Determining Your Directory Suffix
A directory suffix is the directory entry that represents the first entry in a directory
tree. You will need at least one directory suffix for the tree that will contain your
enterprise’s data. It is common practice to select a directory suffix that corresponds
to the DNS host name used by your enterprise. For example, if your organization
uses the DNS name
example.com, then select a suffix of dc=example,dc=com.
For more information on planning the suffixes for your directory service, s ee the
Netscape Direct ory Server D eploy me nt Guid e.
Determining the Location of the Configuration
Directory
Many Netscape servers, including Directory Server, use an instance of Directory
Server to store configuration information. This information is stored in the
o=NetscapeRoot directory tree. It does not need to be held on the same Directory
Server as your directory data. Your configuration directory is the Directory Server
that contains the
o=NetscapeRoot tree used by your Netscape servers.
If you are installing Directory Server only to support other Netscape servers, then
that Directory Server is your configuration directory. If you are installing Directory
Server to use as part of a general directory service, then you will have multiple
Directory Servers installed in your enterprise and you must decide which one will
host the configuration directory tree,
o=NetscapeRoot. You must make this
decision before you install any Netscape servers (including Directory Server).
For ease of upgrades, you should use a Directory Server instance that is dedicated
to supporting the
o=NetscapeRoot tree; this server instance should perform no
other function with regard to managing your enterprise’s directory data. Also, do
not use port 389 for this server instance because doing so could prevent you from
installing a Directory Server on that host that can be used for management of your
enterprise’s directory data.
Becausethe configuration directorynormally experiences very little traffic, y ou can
allow its server instance to coexist on a ma chine with another more heavily loaded
Directory Server instance. However, for very large sites that are installing a large
number of Netscape servers, you may want t o dedicate a low-end machine to the
configuration directory so as to not hurt the performance of your other production
servers. Netscape server installations result i n write activities to the configuration
directory. For large enou gh sites, this write activity cou ld result in a short-term
performance hit to your other directory activities.