Mac OS® X Snow Leopard™ Server For Dummies®

Chapter 6. Setting Up Open Directory

In This Chapter

• Planning for an Open Directory deployment

• Checking DNS and time service

• Creating a master and importing accounts with System Preferences

• Creating Open Directory masters and replicas with Server Admin

• Binding to another directory server

• Creating a Primary Domain Controller for Windows clients

• Archiving Open Directory for backup

• Binding Mac and Windows clients to Open Directory

If you've just set up your server and entered some client accounts, congratulations — you've created an Open Directory master, Snow Leopard Server's shared storehouse for network user and resource information. If you haven't added users, you can easily create a directory using Server Preferences or Workgroup Manager, or both. Use Server Admin to configure the directory services.

You don't have to host your own directory: Snow Leopard Server can connect to other directory servers and use their information. And, you can set up Open Directory and SMB services to serve as a Primary Domain Controller (or a backup domain controller) for Windows clients.

This chapter describes how to set up and manage Open Directory to do these things using Server Preferences for simpler tasks, and Server Admin and Workgroup Manager for more complex tasks.

Introducing Open Directory

Mac OS X Server's Open Directory uses several technologies: Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), Apple's Password Server (built on the Simple Authentication and Security Layer, or SASL), Kerberos Key Distribution ...