Planning The Directory Data; Introduction To Directory Data - Red Hat DIRECTORY SERVER 8.1 - DEPLOYMENT Deployment Manual

Chapter 2.

Planning the Directory Data

The data stored in the directory may include user names, email addresses, telephone numbers, and
information about groups users are in, or it may contain other types of information. The type of data in
the directory determines how the directory is structured, who is given access to the data, and how this
access is requested and granted.
This chapter describes the issues and strategies behind planning the directory's data.

2.1. Introduction to Directory Data

Some types of data are better suited to the directory than others. Ideal data for a directory has some of
the following characteristics:
• It is read more often than written.
• It is expressible in attribute-data format (for example, surname=jensen).
• It is of interest to more than one person or group. For example, an employee's name or the physical
location of a printer can be of interest to many people and applications.
• It will be accessed from more than one physical location.
For example, an employee's preference settings for a software application may not seem to be
appropriate for the directory because only a single instance of the application needs access to the
information. However, if the application is capable of reading preferences from the directory and users
might want to interact with the application according to their preferences from different sites, then it is
very useful to include the preference information in the directory.
2.1.1. Information to Include in the Directory
Any descriptive or useful information about a person or asset can be added to an entry as an attribute.
For example:
• Contact information, such as telephone numbers, physical addresses, and email addresses.
• Descriptive information, such as an employee number, job title, manager or administrator
identification, and job-related interests.
• Organization contact information, such as a telephone number, physical address, administrator
identification, and business description.
• Device information, such as a printer's physical location, type of printer, and the number of pages
per minute that the printer can produce.
• Contact and billing information for a corporation's trading partners, clients, and customers.
• Contract information, such as the customer's name, due dates, job description, and pricing
information.
• Individual software preferences or software configuration information.
• Resource sites, such as pointers to web servers or the file system of a certain file or application.
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