What You ve Learned

What You've Learned

• Every user account on the computer must contain enough information to uniquely identify the user account, authenticate a user using the account, and identify what authority the user has.

• Open Directory is the Apple implementation of directory services in Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server.

• Every Mac OS X computer has a local directory called the local NetInfo database; it can also retrieve administrative data from BDS configuration files.

• Mac OS X v10.4 can use crypt passwords to authenticate a user account, but all new user accounts use shadow hash passwords, which are more secure on a local system.

• The DirectoryService process handles directory-service calls.

• The lookupd process provides support for requests from BDS command-line tools and performs the DNS resolution for the operating system.

• To resolve directory-service issues, you should first plan, and then configure, test, and modify.

• DSAgent is the lookupd agent that retrieves information from the DirectoryService process.

• Use the Directory Access tool to configure directory services on Mac OS X and define custom search paths for authentication and contact information.

References

Administration Guides

"Mac OS X Server Open Directory Administration": http://images.apple.com/server/pdfs/Open_Directory_v10.4.pdf

"Mac OS X Server User Management": http://images.apple.com/server/pdfs/User_Management_Admin_v10.4.pdf

"Mac OS X Server Command-Line Administration": http://images.apple.com/server/pdfs/Command_Line_v10.4.pdf

Apple Knowledge Base Documents

The following Knowledge Base documents (located at www.apple.com/support) provide further information on lookupd and local directories.

Document 30770, "Mac OS X: What is lookupd?"

Document 106499, "Mac OS X 10.1: Binding Local NetInfo Database to an NIS Domain"

Document 60038, "Mac OS X Server 1.x: What Is NetInfo?"

Document 107210, "Mac OS X, Mac OS X Server: How to Replace the NetInfo Database"

Books

Carter, Gerald. LDAP System Administration (O'Reilly, 2003).

URLs

Apple Developer Documentation on Open Directory: http://developer.apple.com/darwin/projects/opendirectory

Open Directory concepts and structure: http://developer.apple.com/documentation/networking/Conceptual/Open_Directory