Planning an NDS implementation

Planning an NDS implementation

This topic provides instruction for planning an implementation of the NetWare^® Directory Services (TM)

(NDS

) technology on your network.

The size of your network determines the amount of planning necessary for implementing the NDS technology; the larger the network, the more planning might be required.

A small network implementation of a Directory tree with only one container object needs minimal, if any, planning of the Directory tree structure.

A large network with thousands of users, hundreds of servers, hundreds of printers, and dozens of network supervisors in various departments benefits greatly from advanced planning of the Directory tree structure.

Regardless, NDS makes all of your network resources available in one information system, with an overall strategy for consistent and logical organization of network resources.

Efficient planning enables your Directory tree to:

make looking up information easier for users
make administering the network easier for network supervisors
provide fault tolerance for the Directory database
decrease traffic on the network

To plan an implementation of NDS, consider the following issues:

What organizational structure of the Directory tree makes the most sense for your network resources?
How do you want the Directory database to be partitioned, and where do you want to store replicas of those partitions?
How should time be kept and synchronized among the servers on the network?

Although planning is important to a successful implementation, NDS does allow for subsequent changes to the Directory tree structure. NDS is flexible and has been designed to allow restructuring as the structure of your organization changes.