What Your Directory Should Not Include; Defining Your Directory Needs - Netscape DIRECTORY SERVER 6.0 - DEPLOYMENT Deployment Manual

What Your Directory Should Not Include

Directory Server is excellent for managing large quantities of data that client
applications read and occasionally write, but it is not designed to handle large,
unstructured objects, such as images or other media. These objects should be
maintained in a file system. However, your directory can store pointers to these
kinds of applications through the use of FTP, HTTP, or other types of URL.
Because the directory works best for read operations, you should avoid placing
rapidly changing information in the directory. Reducing the number of write
operations occurring in your directory improves overall search performance.

Defining Your Directory Needs

When you design your directory data, think not only of the data you currently
require but also what you may include in your directory in the future. Considering
the future needs of your directory during the design process influences how you
you structure and distribute the data in your directory.
As you plan, consider these points:
• What do you want to put in your directory today? What immediate problem
do you hope to solve by deploying a directory? What are the immediate needs
of the directory-enabled application you use?
• What do you want to put in your directory in the near future? For example,
your enterprise might use an accounting package that does not currently
support LDAP, but that you know will be LDAP-enabled in the near future.
You should identify the data used by applications such as this and plan for the
migration of the data into the directory when the technology becomes
available.
• What do you think you might want to store in your directory in the future? For
example, if you are a hosting environment, perhaps future customers will have
different data requirements from your current customers. Maybe future
customers will want to use your directory to store JPEG images. While this is
the hardest case of all to consider, doing so may pay off in unexpected ways.
At a minimum, this kind of planning helps you identify data sources you
might otherwise not have considered.
Defining Your Directory Needs
Chapter 2 How to Plan Your Directory Data 27