14.1 Overview of Directory Services

Storing and managing network identities in directory services is a fundamental expectation for networking.

In the simplest terms, NetIQ eDirectory is a tree structure containing a list of objects (or identities) that represent network resources, such as the following:

  • Network users

  • Servers

  • Printers

  • Applications

eDirectory is designed to provide easy, powerful, and flexible management of network resources (including eDirectory itself) in ways that no other directory service can match. You can administer eDirectory through the same browser-based tools on both OES and NetWare.

Figure 14-1 eDirectory Overview