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Understanding and Deploying LDAP Directory Services > 6. Data Design > Data Design Overview

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Data Design Overview

The term data refers to the entire collection of information stored in your directory service. We also use data as a general term to refer to information of any kind regardless of where it is stored. Data is what makes a directory service interesting ”after all, your directory service is only as useful as the data it holds. Furthermore, the issues surrounding data sometimes evoke strong emotional and political responses because people care about their personal information, their department's information, and the organization's information. In addition, those who write or deploy directory-enabled applications have their own data- related needs. Some of the different needs will inevitably conflict, and so data design is an important and potentially complex area.

A number of other data-related topics are explored in upcoming chapters. For example, when designing a schema (see Chapter 7, "Schema Design" ), we use the results obtained in this chapter to choose LDAP object classes and attributes to hold your data. The design of your directory's namespace (see Chapter 8, "Namespace Design" ) also builds on the material in this chapter as you strive to organize your directory data in a logical structure to optimize administration and operation of the directory service.

In Chapter 5, "Defining Your Directory Needs," we examined directory needs in detail, with a focus on the applications that will use your directory. As already noted, the applications deployed against your directory greatly influence the design and deployment of the entire directory service. Applications are the strongest driving factor in identifying which pieces of data should be stored in your directory and how you should manage them.

We use the term data element to refer to the pieces of data and the term data source to refer to any system that stores a collection of data elements. Data sources are sometimes called repositories In LDAP terms, data elements correspond closely to attribute types . Examples include a person's full name , a printer's paper capacity, or a computer's processor type. Specific instances of data elements are called data element values, or just data values (for example, the full name "Babs Jensen") In LDAP terms, data values are called attribute values .

Note

In this chapter we use less-specific, non-LDAP terms such as data element so we can direct all of our attention to the issues surrounding the data itself. When we tackle schema design in Chapter 7, we return to using the LDAP terms as we focus on how data elements are mapped specifically onto the LDAP information model.



Within your organization, there are probably many places where data is stored. For example, the personnel or human resources department may manage a data source that includes information about all people at the company who receive a paycheck. The information may be stored on paper in filing cabinets , but it is much more likely to be managed by an accounting system that is a front end to a relational database management system (RDBMS).

Of course, the directory service you are designing is also a data source. Figure 6.1 shows the relationship between data sources, data elements, and data values.

Figure 6.1 Data sources, data elements, and data values.

One of the important questions you will need to answer is "How does the data stored in the LDAP directory service relate to the data held in the other important data sources within my organization?" To answer that, you will want to learn as much as you can about the other data sources that exist within your organization.



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

atttibute types
          data
data
          design 2nd 3rd 4th
                    elements
                    sources
         elements
                    values
          storage
design
          data 2nd 3rd 4th
                    elements
                    sources
elements
          data
                    values
repositories, see data, sources
sources
          data
storage
          data
values
          data elements

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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