About This Guide


The iPlanet Meta-Directory Configuration and Administration Guide describes how to set up and manage iPlanet Meta-Directory. This includes installing and configuring the join engine and any connectors needed to integrate your choice of external data sources as well as information on how manage the system. This preface contains the following sections:

• What You Are Expected to Know

• The iPlanet Meta-Directory Documentation Set

• Organization of This Guide

• Documentation Conventions

• Where to Find Additional Information

What You Are Expected to Know

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This Configuration and Administration Guide is intended for use by system administrators. Before reading this guide, you should be familiar with Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) as well as the Windows NT or the Solaris^TM operating environment on the servers on which Meta-Directory is installed.

Before beginning to configure iPlanet Meta-Directory, it is also assumed that you read the iPlanet Meta-Directory Deployment Guide and install Meta-Directory software according to the instructions in the iPlanet Meta-Directory Installation Guide.

The iPlanet Meta-Directory Documentation Set

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The iPlanet Meta-Directory 5.0 documentation set includes the following materials:

• iPlanet Meta-Directory Deployment Guide describes the iPlanet Meta-Directory system and how to plan and implement a Meta-Directory solution.

• iPlanet Meta-Directory Installation Guide gives instructions on how to install the iPlanet Meta-Directory software on both Solaris and Windows NT systems.

• iPlanet Configuration and Administration Guide (this guide) documents how to set up and manage iPlanet Meta-Directory. Configuring the join engine and components as well as managing the system from the console and the command-line are addressed.

• Release Notes include information about what is new in this release, last minute installation tips, known software limitations, and how to report problems.

  
  

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  Note	Be sure to check the Meta-Directory documentation web site for updates to the release notes and for revisions of guides. Updated documents will be marked with the revision date. http://docs.iplanet.com/docs/manuals/metadir.html

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Organization of This Guide

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The Configuration and Administration Guide (this guide) has five parts:

• Part 1, "Getting Started," gives an overview of Meta-Directory as well as the essential steps needed to configure the software. It also includes a sample configuration and a comparison of the graphical user interface for Meta-Directory and related iPlanet products.

• Part 2, "The Join Engine," explains the join engine and how to configure it to flow data. This includes a discussion of the join process, the join process rules and the data views necessary to implement them. There is also a chapter on procedures related directly to the Directory Server to which Meta-Directory is connected.

• Part 3, "Meta-Directory Connectors," explains how to configure the data connectors provided with Meta-Directory. The concept and configuration of both indirect and direct connectors are discussed.

• Part 4, "System Management," explains how to manage your Meta-Directory system. Logging and statistics, command-line administration, utilities, data servers and access permissions are included.

• Part 5, "Appendices," contains reference information on the join process operators, the administration protocol, error messages and troubleshooting.

The table below lists and briefly describes the content of the Configuration and Administration Guide.

Table 1    Configuration and Administration Guide Chapters 

Chapter	Description
About This Guide	An outline of the Configuration and Administration Guide and a description of the iPlanet Meta-Directory documentation set
Part 1, "Getting Started"
Chapter 1 "Meta-Directory Overview"	A brief explanation of iPlanet Meta-Directory concepts
Chapter 2 "Meta-Directory Principles at Work"	An example of a typical way to configure Meta-Directory
Chapter 3 "Quick Start"	An easy reference on the steps needed to set up Meta-Directory
Chapter 4 "The Console Interface"	An overview of the different iPlanet product consoles used within Meta-Directory
Part 2, "The Join Engine"
Chapter 5 "Configuring The Join Engine"	An explanation of the join engine and how to configure it using the join process rules
Chapter 6 "Views in Meta-Directory"	An explanation of connector, participating and meta views and how to enable them
Part 3, "Meta-Directory Connectors"
Chapter 7 "Connectors and Connector Rules"	A explanation of the rules for transferring data between the external data source and the connector view
Chapter 8 "Configuring The Universal Connector"	A explanation and configuration of the Universal Text Connector
Chapter 9 "Configuring the Universal Text Parser"	A explanation and configuration of the Universal Text Parser
Chapter 10 "Configuring the NT Domain Connector"	A explanation and configuration of the NT Domain connector
Chapter 11 "Configuring the Active Directory Connector"	A explanation and configuration of the Active Directory connector.
Chapter 12 "Configuring the Database Connector"	A explanation and configuration of the Database Connector
Part 4, "System Management"
Chapter 13 "Starting and Stopping Components"	A discussion of the processes for starting and stopping Meta-Directory components
Chapter 14 "Monitoring Meta-Directory Components"	An explanation of the logging process
Chapter 15 "Administration Tools"	An explanation of the tools to query and fix entries
Chapter 16 "Command-Line Administration"	A description of managing the system via the command-line
Chapter 17 "Managing Servers and Permissions"	A description of how to configure data servers and access permissions
Part 5, "Appendices"
Appendix A "The Join Process Operators"	A description of the join process protocol
Appendix B "The Meta-Admin Protocol"	A description of the command-line protocol
Appendix C "Troubleshooting Meta-Directory"	A description of problem-solving techniques and common configuration problems
Appendix D "Error Messages"	A listing of error messages along with possible causes and solutions

Documentation Conventions

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In all iPlanet Meta-Directory documentation, certain typographic conventions and terminology are used to simplify discussion and to help better understand the material.

Typographic Conventions

This book uses the following typographic conventions:

• Italic type is used within text for book titles, new terminology, emphasis, and words used in the literal sense.

• Monospace font is used for sample code and code listings, API and language elements (such as function names and class names), filenames, pathnames, directory names, HTML tags, and any text that must be typed on the screen.

• Italic serif font is used within code and code fragments to indicate variable placeholders. For example, the following command uses filename as a vairable placeholder for an argument to the gunzip command:

    gunzip -d filename.tar.gz

Terminology

Below is a list of the general terms that are used in the iPlanet Meta-Directory documentation set:

• Meta-Directory refers to iPlanet Meta-Directory and any installed instances of the iPlanet Meta-Directory software.

• Meta-Directory components refers to the collective set of iPlanet Meta-Directory components and software you have installed and running on your system, including the join engine and any external data source connectors.

• External data source refers to any user data that originates outside of the core Meta-Directory components, whether the data is coming from another database, directory server, data file, or other source of data.

• Directory Server refers to an installed instance of iPlanet Directory Server or Netscape Directory Server.

  iPlanet Meta-Directory can synchronize data using any LDAPv2 and LDAPv3-compliant directory server, as long as the LDAP server supports a change log mechanism similar to the one implemented in Netscape^TM Directory Server 4.1x. The term Directory Server refers to the instances of iPlanet Directory Server and Netscape Directory Server that you have installed to work with iPlanet Meta-Directory.

• Similarly the term Administration Server refers to an installed instance of Netscape Administration Server or iPlanet Administration Server, whether it be used with the Meta-Directory components or another Netscape or iPlanet server.

• NETSITE_ROOT is a variable placeholder for the home directory where you have installed iPlanet Meta-Directory and any other iPlanet servers installed into the same server group.

• The term flow is used rather loosely to refer to the process of synchronizing data between an external data source and the meta view. You "flow" data through a connector to the connector view and then "flow" it to the meta view. The contrary is also true, you "flow" data from the meta view back to the connector views and out to the external data sources.

Where to Find Additional Information

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In addition to iPlanet Meta-Directory documentation set, you should be familiar with the documentation for products that are used in conjunction with it. Of particular interest are the iPlanet Console and iPlanet Directory Server documentation sets. This section lists additional sources of information you may find helpful as you use iPlanet Meta-Directory.

iPlanet Console Documentation
You can find the iPlanet Console documentation at the following site:

http://docs.iplanet.com/docs/manuals/console.html

iPlanet Directory Server Documentation
You can find the iPlanet Directory Server documentation at the following site:

http://docs.iplanet.com/docs/manuals/directory.html

Directory Server Developer Information
In addition to the Directory Server documentation, you can find information on Meta-Directory, LDAP, the iPlanet Directory Server, and associated technologies at the following iPlanet developer sites:

http://developer.iplanet.com/tech/directory/

http://www.iplanet.com/downloads/developer/

Other iPlanet Product Documentation
Documentation for all iPlanet and Netscape servers and technologies can be found at the following web site:

http://docs.iplanet.com/docs/manuals/

iPlanet Technical Support
you can contact iPlanet Technical Support through the following location:

http://www.iplanet.com/support/