Preface

LDAP in the Solaris Operating Environment Deploying Secure Directory Services is one book in a growing collection of books that are part of the Sun BluePrints program.

This book describes best practices for planning and deploying naming services based on the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP). Understanding general LDAP concepts and the specific Solaris implementation is key to successful deployment of resilient enterprise-wide naming services.

This book is a follow-up to the Sun BluePrints book titled Solaris and LDAP Naming Service , published in December 2000. The first book introduced LDAP concepts to Solaris system administrators who may not have been familiar with them. It also covered implementation details of the first generation of native LDAP in the Solaris Operating Environment (Solaris OE).

Much has changed since the first book was written. The directory server that ships with the Solaris OE has gone through a major revision and several minor ones. The Solaris OE LDAP client software has been significantly enhanced, especially in the area of security. New legacy naming service migration tools have been developed in addition to software that enables co-existence with Microsoft Windows environments.

So much new technology, and so many tools have been developed over the past twoanda-half years , that a simple update to the first book did not make sense. Instead, the content is new. As with the first book, the focus is on how LDAP technology is integrated into the Solaris OE as a naming service, and not a comprehensive book on LDAP concepts and deployments. This book is not meant to replace the Sun product documentation, but rather to complement it by providing expert insight into how the technology works and how best to deploy it. The first book is not a prerequisite for this book.

The Solaris 9 Operating Environment delivers the second phase of Sun's vision for the naming service of the future, and because of the popularity of the Solaris 8 OE, many Solaris 9 OE features have been backported to Solaris 8 OE. New migration tools were included in the first Solaris 9 release and others are included in subsequent updates. The directory server software became integrated in Solaris 9 OE and newer versions are incorporated into Solaris updates.

This book is based primarily on the revisions or software that were available when it was written. Some comparison with older versions is included, so readers who are familiar with those versions can easily understand the differences. This book is based on the following Sun software:

• Solaris 9 4/03 OE

• Solaris 8 OE with Patch 108993-14 (or later version)

• Sun ONE Directory Server 5.2 (integrated Solaris OE version)

Many scripts and source code examples are referenced in this book. Rather than including them on a CD-ROM that could quickly become out-of-date, they are posted at http://www.sun.com/solutions/blueprints/tools/index.html. Readers can register, and freely download the examples. See "Obtaining the Downloadable Files for This Book" on page xxvii.