16. Backups and Disaster Recovery

Understanding and Deploying LDAP Directory Services > 5. Defining Your Directory Needs

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Chapter 5. Defining Your Directory Needs

Directory needs encompass all the reasons for designing and deploying a directory service. Before beginning work on any task, it is a good idea to understand why you are working on it and what you hope to accomplish. Ask yourself why you decided to deploy a directory service. These are some possible answers:

  • To support a few important directory-enabled applications

  • To save money by consolidating a multitude of proprietary directories into one standards-based service

  • To help system administrators manage information with less effort and greater automation

  • To make it easier for end users to locate resources within your organization

No matter what the initial impetus, your directory service ultimately must serve the needs of applications and people, and it should be designed with those needs in mind. Your design will likely be evaluated based on how well it serves these needs; therefore, it is very important to understand the needs up front.

It is also important to choose a directory design and deployment approach that fits your situation well. A variety of organizational and environmental constraints, along with the preferences of the design and deployment team itself, determines what approach works best. A successful approach also balances short- term needs with the need to lay a good foundation for future use of the directory service.

This chapter will help you gather and organize information on all the different needs and constraints that affect the design of your directory service. After working throughthe material in this chapter, you should be able to produce a good first draft of a directory requirements document. You will also be able to begin to form a project plan for your directory design and deployment effort.

This chapter begins with an overview of the needs definition process and then helps you analyze the environment in which you will deploy the directory service. Then we discuss needs and constraints that come from a variety of sources: the directory applications, the users, the deployment process and team, and the environment within your organization. Next, we talk about how to choose an overall approach that fits your needs and situation, and we finish up with a discussion of how to set good goals and milestones for your directory design and deployment project.



Understanding and Deploying LDAP Directory Services,  2002 New Riders Publishing
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Index terms contained in this section

directories
          needs
needs
          directories 2nd

2002, O'Reilly & Associates, Inc.



Understanding and Deploying LDAP Directory Services
Understanding and Deploying LDAP Directory Services (2nd Edition)
ISBN: 0672323168
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 1997
Pages: 245

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