Novell Open Enterprise Server
Novell eDirectory
Overview
"Choosing Novell eDirectory was a strategic decision for Allianz Suisse. It is the simplest application-independent service on the market that allows us to integrate our applications—as well as internal and external user identities—in an intelligent way that is relevant to the business."
For over a decade Novell® eDirectory™ has defined and reinvented the role of a directory service. More than just an LDAP data store, Novell eDirectory is the identity foundation that links your users and their access rights with corporate resources, devices and security policies. Among directory services, Novell eDirectory is uniquely capable of meeting the demands of large-scale, high-end directory deployments. It offers the compatibility, security, reliability, scalability and manageability required for internal and Internet deployments supporting millions of identities.
Compatibility with Open Standards and Multiple Platforms
Novell eDirectory is compatible with a host of open and emerging standards. Novell eDirectory also supports Extensible Markup Language (XML), Directory Services Markup Language (DSML), Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) and many other open standards. This support helps organizations to maximize their technology investments and avoid getting "locked in" to any particular vendor's product set.
Equally important, Novell eDirectory is truly multi-platform; it runs natively on Linux, Windows, Solaris, AIX, Novell NetWare® and HP-UX—so Novell eDirectory is an ideal way to host identity services within heterogeneous networks.
Security Against Unauthorized Access
With Novell eDirectory you have real-time control over users' access to network resources. If you terminate their access to the network, they will be instantly locked out. Swift, precise control over users and resources helps block unauthorized access and saves you money. Novell eDirectory also provides a very flexible security framework, including support for any combination of biometrics, smart cards, tokens, digital certificates and other authentication methods.
Reliability for Business Continuity
Only Novell eDirectory provides top-to-bottom business continuity assurances. Novell eDirectory includes automated self-maintenance to catch and correct minor errors, as well as industry-leading multi-master data replication to ensure always-on failover capabilities. And finally, Novell eDirectory can back up its data while the system is online, facilitating comprehensive disaster recovery in the event of a large-scale outage.
Scalability to Support Growth
No other directory can match the scalability that Novell eDirectory offers: it has been publicly scaled to one billion identities. This means that as your business grows, Novell eDirectory can easily accommodate additional identities, without any performance degradation.
Manageability to Streamline Administration
Novell eDirectory provides flexible, centralized management of users, resources, devices and policies. Its management console, Novell iManager, provides secure, Web-based access to all administration functions. This feature eliminates both administrative redundancy and unnecessary travel, saving you time and money.
Additional Information
This page outlines the Novell eDirectory functionality that is part of Novell Open Enterprise Server. For comprehensive information about Novell eDirectory, please see www.novell.com/products/edirectory/.
For more information about eDirectory and other essential enterprise services in Novell Open Enterprise Server, please see "Tech Talk #5—Stop Dreaming" in the 2005 Open Enterprise Server special edition of Connection Magazine.