Schoun, I really wasn't interested in LDAP (I usually hear more about LAPD); however, your answer was so wonderful, I read every word and will never forget (or use) LDAP. Thanks and I hope to get to take a class from you sometime.
Anne Cartwright On Wednesday, June 11, 2003, at 01:24 PM, 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: > >> Cvould somebody enlighten me what this shortcut stands for and what >> it does. I keep coming across this a lot recently >> 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>. > > > > | 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>. > > Anne | 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>.
