Novell eDirectory is the central, key component of Novell Open Enterprise Server (OES) and provides the following:
Centralized identity management
The underlying infrastructure for managing your network servers and the services they provide
Access security both within the firewall and from the Web
This section discusses the following tasks:
The tools you can use to install and manage eDirectory on OES are outlined in the following sections.
OES requires that eDirectory be installed by using the NetWare® Install or the YaST-based install for OES Linux.
IMPORTANT:Other utilities, such as ndsconfig and ndsmanage, are not supported for installing or removing eDirectory on OES servers.
iManager is the OES eDirectory management tool and is used for all eDirectory management and most OES component management tasks, including the following:
Creating eDirectory objects, including User and Group objects
Managing eDirectory objects
Configuring and managing OES service component controls in eDirectory
Accessing other OES component management tools
For information on using iManager, see the Novell iManager 2.7.3 Administration Guide.
If you don’t have eDirectory installed on your network, it is critical that you and your organization take time to plan and design your eDirectory tree prior to installing OES.
The OES 2 SP2: Lab Guide for Linux and Virtualized NetWare provides an introduction to eDirectory planning that you might find useful for getting started with eDirectory.
For detailed information on getting started using eDirectory, see Designing Your Novell eDirectory Network
in the Novell eDirectory 8.8 Installation Guide.
To learn what’s new in eDirectory 8.8, see the Novell eDirectory 8.8 What's New Guide.
Novell Directory Services® (NDS®) was introduced with NetWare 4.0. The successor to NDS, Novell eDirectory, is also available for Microsoft Windows, Red Hat*, and SUSE® versions of Linux, as well as various flavors of UNIX (Solaris*, AIX*, and HP-UX*).
As eDirectory has evolved, backward compatibility issues have arisen. For example, moving from NetWare 4.x to 5.x involved not only upgrading NDS, but also moving from IPX™ to TCP/IP. This transition brought significant changes to the core schema and security-related components. Novell has consistently provided the migration tools and support required to migrate to new eDirectory versions.
OES 2 Linux includes eDirectory 8.8. For those upgrading an existing OES 1 SP2 NetWare (NetWare 6.5 SP6) server, eDirectory 8.7.3 is still available. New NetWare installations require eDirectory version 8.8.
For complete coexistence and migration information and instructions, see Migrating to eDirectory 8.8 SP3
in the Novell eDirectory 8.8 Installation Guide.