Enterprise Mac Administrator’s Guide, Second Edition

Chapter    1

Directory Services

A directory service is the software that stores, organizes, and provides access to information in a directory or a database of users, groups, computers, and network devices such as printers. The directory service supplies that database to client computers. In most enterprise, educational, and larger institutions, common directory service implementations range from Microsoft’s Active Directory (AD) to Apple’s Open Directory (OD) to Novell’s eDirectory, as well as the open source OpenLDAP. Most modern directory services are based on open standards developed in the public forum.

The publication “The Directory: Overview of concepts, models and services” defines the most common standard architectural guidelines for ...