Lesson2.Accessing Local Directory Services

Lesson 2. Accessing Local Directory Services

Time

This lesson takes approximately 2 hours to complete.

Goals

Understand the type of data stored in each of the BSD flat files and identify those used by the Open Directory plug-in Use Directory Access to configure Open Directory on a Mac OS X computer to retrieve user records from BSD flat files Modify data in the local NetInfo database with both Workgroup Manager and dscl Understand how the DirectoryService process on Mac OS X uses plug-ins to access system information Use the lookupd command-line tool to determine which agents, in what order, are used for a particular category of items List the local data stores that Open Directory uses on Mac OS X Use lookupd to search for different types of user information

This lesson introduces you to how Mac OS X accesses directory data stored on the computer, how to configure Mac OS X for local data access, and how to manipulate local directory data.

While directory services as a solution is well understood, the implementation of different vendors' directory services can vary. As mentioned in the previous lesson, the Apple implementation of directory services is called Open Directory. This lesson will provide the fundamentals on how Open Directory is implemented in Mac OS X. Although Open Directory is a very complex and broad subject, understanding this lesson is essential for progressing ever deeper into the heart of directory services on Mac OS X.