Novell's Guide to Troubleshooting eDirectory

Description

Novell eDirectory (formerly Novell Directory Services- NDS) is employed by system administrator to define users on the network and links those same users to their access rights with corporate resources, devices like printers and security policies. Novell eDirectory is comparable to Microsoft's Active Directory and is designed for large-scale, high-end directory deployments. Its strengths are scalability and reliability, a flexible yet strong security architecture, compatibility with key industry standards and operating systems.

Novell's Guide to Troubleshooting eDirectory is the definitive source for information on eDirectory troubleshooting techniques. It is the single stop reference covering topics from good design to proactive/reactive problem resolution. All of the information presented in this book has been gathered from hands-on, real world experiences of the authors.

Back Cover

Novell eDirectory (formerly Novell Directory Services- NDS) is employed by system administrator to define users on the network and links those same users to their access rights with corporate resources, devices like printers and security policies. Novell eDirectory is comparable to Microsoft's Active Directory and is designed for large-scale, high-end directory deployments. Its strengths are scalability and reliability, a flexible yet strong security architecture, compatibility with key industry standards and operating systems.

Novell's Guide to Troubleshooting eDirectory is the definitive source for information on eDirectory troubleshooting techniques. It is the single stop reference covering topics from good design to proactive/reactive problem resolution. All of the information presented in this book has been gathered from hands-on, real world experiences of the authors.

Contents

Introduction.

Who This Book Is For.

How This Book Is Organized.

Special Features in This Book.

I. Edirectory Foundations.

1. The Four Basics of eDirectory Troubleshooting.

Don’t Panic.

Understanding the Error Codes and eDirectory Processes.

Troubleshoot and Resolve the Problem.

Proactively Manage eDirectory to Prevent Problems.

Summary.

2. eDirectory Basics.

A Brief History of NDS/eDirectory and Its Versioning.

The eDirectory Database Structure.

Partition and Replica Types.

Bindery Services.

Time Synchronization.

DHost.

SAP and SLP.

The LDAP Server for NDS.

Object Attribute Names Versus Schema Attribute Names.

Summary.

3. The Directory Information Base.

The NDS 6 DIB.

NDS 7 DIB.

NDS 8 and eDirectory DIB.

Locating the DIB.

Backing Up the DIB.

Summary.

4. Don’t Panic.

Dealing with People.

Dealing with Stress.

Summary.

II. UNDERSTANDING THE ERROR CODES AND EDIRECTORY PROCESSES.

5. eDirectory/NDS Error Codes Explained.

Types and Causes of DS Errors.

Operating System-Related DS Error Codes.

DS Client API Library Error Codes.

DS Server-Based Client Library Error Codes.

DSA Error Codes.

Summary.

6. Understanding Common eDirectory Processes.

NDS Name Resolution and Tree-Walking.

Obituaries.

Background Processes.

Manual Object-Related Processes.

Manual Partition and Replication Processes.

Summary.

III. TROUBLESHOOTING AND RESOLVING PROBLEMS.

7. Diagnostic and Repair Tools.

Server Tools.

Workstation Tools.

Information Tools.

Summary.

8. eDirectory Data Recovery Tools.

SMS Backup and Restore.

Server Recovery Using Server-Specific Information Data.

Creating SSI Files.

eDirectory Backup eMTool.

Third-Party Data Recovery Utilities

Summary.

9. Diagnosis and Recovery Techniques.

Look Before You Leap.

Troubleshooting Tools.

Combining Diagnostic Tools.

Combining Recovery Tools.

Using Diagnostic Tools with Recovery Tools.

Bridging Gaps Between Tools.

Diagnosing Performance Issues.

Summary.

10. Programming for eDirectory.

Using awk.

Using C or C++.

Other Programming and Scripting Languages.

Obtaining the NDK.

Summary.

11. Examples from the Real World.

Bindery Services—related Issues.

Security Issues.

Schema Problems.

Data Inconsistencies.

Synthetic Time.

Server and Data Recovery.

Summary.

IV. MANAGING EDIRECTORY TO PREVENT PROBLEMS.

12. eDirectory Management Tools.

NetWare Administrator.

ConsoleOne.

iManager and NDS iMonitor.

The UImport Utility.

The NList Utility.

The LDAP ICE Utility.

Third-Party Tools.

Summary.

13. eDirectory Health Checks.

Why, When, and How Often Should You Do Health Checks?

Health Check Prerequisites.

Recommended Health Check Procedures.

Health Monitoring Using SNMP.

Summary.

14. eDirectory Management Techniques.

Strategies for Managing eDirectory.

Designing for Fault Tolerance.

Single-Object Management.

Multiple-Object Management.

Administration Tips and Tricks.

Summary.

15. Effectively Setting Up eDirectory Security.

Physical Security.

Console Security.

Security Policies.

Principles of Good Security.

Keeping Hackers Out.

Hidden Objects.

Setting Up eDirectory Security Access for a Help Desk.

Setting Up a Proxy User for LDAP.

Summary.

16. Tuning eDirectory.

Reducing Replication Latency.

Cache Memory Considerations for NDS 7.

Cache Memory Considerations for NDS Version 8.

Cache Memory Considerations for eDirectory.

eDirectory Indexes and Predicate Stats.

Changing Database Block Size.

Unix-Specific Tuning Considerations.

Summary.

V. APPENDIXES.

A. eDirectory Error Codes.

B. DS Verbs.

C. eDirectory Classes, Objects, and Attributes.

Class Definitions.

Base Attributes.

D. eDirectory Resources.

Novell Resources.

Third-Party Tools.

Third-Party NDS/eDirectory Resources.

Books.

Humor.

Index.

Author

Peter Kuo is a Novell Master CNI, Master CNE, NCIP, CNS, and one of the very first CDEs. He co-authored the first edition of Novell's Guide to Troubleshooting NDS and has authored and co-authored more than a dozen NetWare, Unix, and other networking-related titles. Peter has been working with NetWare since the early 1980s and with NDS since NetWare 4.0 was still in beta. The information presented in this book is based on his hands-on experience in assisting many companies around the world implement NDS and eDirectory trees of various sizes. Peter has helped users from around the world in the capacity as a volunteer sysop for both the Novell Product Support Forums and Novell Developer Support Forums. Peter has also presented a number of NDS/eDirectory troubleshooting sessions at Novell BrainShare over the years.

Jim Henderson has worked for companies ranging from small corporations to Fortune 500 companies in IT capacities ranging from end user support to directory architecture, design, and implementation. Jim has been working with NDS and eDirectory since the release of NetWare 4.0, has co-authored two books on troubleshooting and resolving NDS/eDirectory issues, and is a 10-year veteran of the Novell Support Forums. Currently, Jim is employed as a technical instructor in the NSure practice of the Advanced Technical Training group at Novell, and he teaches courses across the United States on eDirectory design, implementation, and troubleshooting.