IMPLEMENTING DIRECTORY SERVICES
By Archie Reed
$55.00
711 pages
Published by McGraw-Hill, October 1999
ISBN 0-07-134408X
Many technical reference books focus very well on the technical elements
of their subject, but they don't cover the "softer" issues surrounding a
technology's implementation, when in fact these issues often make the
difference between success and failure. Therefore, I was pleased to find
such comprehensive coverage of these issues, as well as the technical
ones, in Archie Reed's "Implementing Directory Services." This is a
useful book and a must-have for anyone considering a directory services
implementation.
The book is logically organized and split into three parts. Part I,
Understanding Directory Services, covers the issues and the basic
concepts comprehensively and provides a useful discussion about where
directory services fits into business strategy. The nice part about this
book is the way it assumes no previous knowledge about directory
services. It starts with some simple examples based on the telephone
directory and, with ease, takes the reader through to the more
sophisticated concepts. Reed provides excellent coverage of the various
types of directory service and extensive information about
meta-directory services.
However, I felt that some of the discussions lacked the clarity of a
focused conclusion. For example, I looked forward to understanding the
difference between a database and a directory. Is a directory a special
kind of database? Or perhaps they are not really related at all, other
than that you can use a database as your directory data repository.
Although several lengthy discussions cover these topics, I found no
conclusive opinion, and I was left perhaps more confused than when I had
started. Also curious is that this part of the book includes a chapter
about a sample directory services project, which I thought might have
been better off in Part II, Implementing Directory Services. Having said
this, however, I also thought the templates and example timelines would
be very useful to a project manager about to undertake a directory
service implementation and are a good example of how this book adds
value. The last couple of chapters in Part I make a fruitful detour into
security, public key infrastructure (PKI), and the reasons for the close
nature of the relationship between security and directory services.
These chapters also provide a look at directory futures.
Part I brings everyone up to the same level of understanding of the
concepts and issues surrounding directory services implementation; Part
II is the real heart of the book. Again, I like the way that this book
is laid out. Although Reed is obviously very knowledgeable about his
subject, he has no problem placing himself in the position of readers
with no previous experience of the subject and taking the time to lead
them through the various levels of understanding. Thus, he starts with
data gathering and analyzing the data directory needs of your
organization, and then goes on to look at detailed design. First is good
coverage of how to approach structuring your Directory Information Tree,
directory schema, and replication strategy--perhaps the most important
parts of getting your implementation right up front. The later sections
cover deployment and maintenance. The companion CD-ROM provides, among
other things, demos and sample installations from many of the directory
service vendors, so that readers can get first-hand experience of all
the offerings in the marketplace--very useful when you're trying to make
an informed decision about how proceed with implementation.
Part III is structured as a toolkit. Reed seems very clear about the
fact that almost every organization already has a number of directories
in place even before some bright spark turns up and wants to try to hook
them together. This fact means that each directory services
implementation is going to be more unique than you might otherwise
expect with other technologies. Reed arms you with all the various
elements that you might need and leaves you to construct a method that
is useful to you. He provides a catalog (or is that "directory"?) of all
the relevant organizations in the directory services space and details
about what they do or offer. The last section of Part III includes a number
of
case studies, which I found particularly useful. Three appendices
follow, one of which, Appendix C, is a reference on the standards around
at the moment (e.g., X.500, Lightweight Directory Access Protocol--LDAP,
and DNS), and proves one of the most informative sections of this
weighty 700-pager.
If you are doing something in the directory services arena, this book
should be on your bookshelf. However, it will probably be more useful to
the business managers and technical architects than to the pure
technicians. If you've already decided what you are going to implement
and how you are going to do it and you need a technical reference manual
for one particular directory services product throughout the
implementation, then you need to look elsewhere. If you need to plan and
understand all the issues surrounding implementation, gain a thorough
knowledge of the subject, and know who the major players are in the
technology and consulting spaces, then this is the book for you.
Stephen Downes
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Windows IT Library Guest Reviewer
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