Red Hat DIRECTORY SERVER 7.1, Installation Manual

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Chapter 1. Preparing for a Directory Server Installation 5
must decide which one will host the configuration directory tree,
o=NetscapeRoot
. You must make
this decision before you install any compatible server applications, including Directory Server.
For ease of upgrades, you should use a Directory Server instance that is dedicated to supporting the
o=NetscapeRoot tree; this server instance should perform no other function with regard to managing
your enterprise’s directory data. Also, do not use port 389 for this server instance because doing so
could prevent you from installing a Directory Server on that host that can be used for management of
your enterprise’s directory data.
Because the configuration directory normally experiences very little traffic, you can allow its server in-
stance to coexist on a machine with another more heavily loaded Directory Server instance. However,
for very large sites that are installing a large number of server instances, you may want to dedicate a
low-end machine to the configuration directory so as not to hurt the performance of your other pro-
duction servers. Directory Server installations result in write activities to the configuration directory.
For large enough sites, this write activity could result in a short-term performance hit to your other
directory activities.
Also, as with any directory installation, consider replicating the configuration directory to increase
availability and reliability. See the Red Hat Directory Server Deployment Guide for information on
using replication and DNS round-robins to increase directory availability.
Caution
Corrupting the configuration directory tree can result in the necessity of reinstalling all other Directory
Servers that are registered in that configuration directory. Remember the following guidelines when
dealing with the configuration directory:
•
Always back up your configuration directory after you install a new Directory Server.
•
Never change the host name or port number used by the configuration directory.
•
Never directly modify the configuration directory tree. Only the setup program should ever modify
the configuration.
1.2.7. Determining the Location of the User Directory
Just as the configuration directory is the Directory Server that is used for server administration, the
user directory is the Directory Server that contains the entries for users and groups in your enterprise.
For most directory installations, the user directory and the configuration directory should be two
separate server instances. These server instances can be installed on the same machine, but, for best
results, you should consider placing the configuration directory on a separate machine.
Between your user directory and your configuration directory, it is your user directory that will re-
ceive the overwhelming percentage of the directory traffic. For this reason, you should give the user
directory the greatest computing resources. Because the configuration directory should receive very
little traffic, it can be installed on a machine with very low-end resources.
You cannot install a user directory until you have installed a configuration directory somewhere on
your network.
1.2.8. Determining the Administration Domain
The administration domain allows you to group servers together logically so that you can more easily
distribute server administrative tasks. A common scenario is for two divisions in a company to each