Working With DirectoryService Plug-ins

The DirectoryService process is launched on demand during boot by the launchd process, which also restarts DirectoryService when it fails. DirectoryService provides a plug-in architecture and a public API so software developers can add functionality for any directory service.

Local data stores are accessed through the BDS flat file and NIS and NetInfo plug-ins. (The NetInfo plug-in that is visible in Directory Access is used to bind a local NetInfo database to a parent NetInfo database and does not affect DirectoryService checking the local NetInfo database first.) Other plug-ins on Mac OS X provide support for remote directory services, as well as service discovery capabilities that search for resources such as file servers. The plug-ins for DirectoryService are configured using Directory Access and some can be configured via the command line, such as the Active Directory plug-in.

This plug-in architecture allows applications to query DirectoryService without needing to know the specifics of the underlying directory services. This means that you can change where Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server retrieve information regarding users and groups without affecting the rest of the operating system. DirectoryService acts as an intermediary that enables software developers to design software without concern for directory-service data store changes. It also allows system administrators to take advantage of the flexible architecture to create solutions that best fit their network.