O lordy, Sshoun, and you call this a lightweight directory access
protocol? In my mind this is heavyweight!.
Thanks for telling me. But I don't think I shall ever handle a bunch
of students in a lab anymore ( those times are pass?,) using windows
machines, so I don't think I shall ever need to use this LDAP protocol
in the "parenting" process, despite the fact that I could, because the
Mac has the capacity to do that, although it uses NetInfo data base on
itself, when I log on. ?? - There is still much to think about this,
though. No Ritalin for me, I rather have a cup of good strong coffee -
it calms me down!
Marta
On Wednesday, Jun 11, 2003, at 13:24 America/New_York, Schoun P Regan
wrote:
> Marta,
> LDAP stands for Lightweight Directory Access Protocol. What does it
> mean? What does it do? Is it important to you? Does it have a cousin?
> Is he/she married? How many licks does it take to get to the center of
> a tootsie pop?
> Get ready...
> When you create a person on Mac OS X, such as when you install it, the
> person has a long name, short name, password, cute little picture,
> home folder with other folders inside it, and other goodies you can't
> see. We shall call this "authentication information", even though it
> contains more that what we need. Every time you log into Mac OS X, the
> operating system must check your short or long name against your
> password so you can see all your stuff and do things. The long name,
> short name, password, and all that other stuff I mentioned are kept in
> a database in the innards of your operating system. When you use Mac
> OS X at home or at work or at the beach, chances are good that you are
> "authenticating" your name and password against this "local" database
> that I mentioned. This local database keeps track of all that stuff in
> a certain "language". The language of Mac OS X's database right now is
> called NetInfo. So you are authenticating against your local NetInfo
> database at home when you log in.
> Now, let's say you had to manage 20 computers in a school or college
> computer lab. When the students come in, they may not sit at the same
> physical location day after day (the other students probably smell).
> But what if they stored all their files on the computer in front of
> them? Now what?
> Enter Mac OS X Server. A Mac OS X Server can have a NetInfo "parent"
> database that has all the student's long names, short names,
> passwords, home folders, pictures, etc... You as the person in charge
> of the room tell each Mac OS X computer in the lab to look at the
> "parent" instead of itself. That way, students are free to move around
> the room and when they log into a Mac OS X computer, they are actually
> "authenticating" against the "parent" so their home folders are
> actually on the Mac OS X Server. This is the best way to handle a
> large lab.
> But say you were in charge of the lab and you went to your boss and
> said, "I would like a Mac OS X Server to set up a parent NetInfo
> database to allow all our students to log in from any computer in the
> lab and get their work. I would also like beer for lunch on Wednesday
> from now on. Oh and try breath mints once and a while." Your boss
> might say, "Well Marta, if that IS your real name and not an acronym
> of a transit line somewhere in the US, we already HAVE an LDAP server
> to authenticate all our Windows machines so, NO Server for you! Too
> bad your Mac OS X client machines can't authenticate to our LDAP
> server. Macs are lame-HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!! But I will consider the
> beer and it's NOT my breath, thank you, I have a gas problem." You
> might respond, "Boss, Mac OS X clients CAN authenticate against an
> LDAP server just like they can against a NetInfo parent, same idea.
> Macs speak the LDAP language. They just need to be set up properly to
> pass on the syntax and the property tax, not to mention the sales tax.
> Oh and about the beer and the other thing, thank you and you are
> gross. Now go away and manage something".
> So you see Marta, LDAP is a way for a computer to get authentication
> information from another bigger computer somewhere in an X Files
> episode, the same way it gets its information now from its local
> NetInfo database.
>
> Life is good now-go take some Ritalin and lie down. :)
> Schoun
>
>
> On Wednesday, June 11, 2003, at 10:51 AM, Marta Edie wrote:
>
>
> | The next meeting of the Louisville Computer Society will
> | be June 24. The LCS Web page is <http://www.kymac.org>.
> | This list's page is <http://erdos.math.louisville.edu/macgroup>.
>
>
Marta
Heinzelm?nnchenk?nigin A.D.
| The next meeting of the Louisville Computer Society will
| be June 24. The LCS Web page is <http://www.kymac.org>.
| This list's page is <http://erdos.math.louisville.edu/macgroup>.
