Novell Directory Services (NDS), initially an integral component of the NetWare operating system, stands as a pioneering network directory service designed to manage an array of network resources including users, servers, and peripherals. Developed in the early 1990s and loosely modeled after the X.500 specification, NDS offered a revolutionary approach to network resource management, setting a precedent for subsequent directory services.
This article revisits NDS, acknowledging its historical significance and evolution into a technology that paved the way for modern network management solutions.
In this article:
- What Was the Novell Directory Service?
- The Historical Framework of NDS
- How It Worked
- Transitioning to a Legacy Technology
- Legacy and Lessons Learned
- Conclusion: Honoring NDS’s Place in History
- References
1. What Was the Novell Directory Service?
Novell Directory Services, also known as NDS, was a distributed network directory service for managing network resources such as users, servers, and peripherals that is loosely modeled after the X.500 specification. Novell Directory Services (NDS) was originally called NetWare Directory Services.
2. The Historical Framework of NDS
Originally branded as NetWare Directory Services, NDS emerged as a cornerstone of Novell’s NetWare 4, introducing the concept of a distributed network directory service. Its innovative design allowed for a hierarchical organization of network resources, facilitating efficient management and access across expansive network environments. As a testament to its foundational role in network administration, NDS evolved beyond its NetWare origins, extending its capabilities to UNIX and Microsoft Windows NT platforms, showcasing its adaptability and enduring relevance in the networking domain.
3. How It Worked
The foundation of NDS was the directory tree, which provided a hierarchical view of all network resources. Resources in the network could be grouped logically according to their location, function, or the structure of the company. Objects in the tree could be either containers or leaf objects, with the root container being the name of the company or organization. Containers could be considered branches and could hold leaf objects or other containers. When a user was assigned access rights to a container, these rights flow down into any sub-containers within the container. Trees, subtrees, and containers could also be renamed and merged.
You could implement NDS directories as a distributed database that was partitioned among multiple NDS servers on the network to provide fault tolerance and load balancing. As a result, no single server contained or was responsible for the entire directory. The NDS servers replicated with each other to ensure that each server contained an up-to-date version of the directory for the portion of the directory that the server was responsible for. To locate an object such as a user, a group, a shared directory, or a printer on the network, an NDS client could access the directory on any NDS server.
NDS not only for NetWare 4
NDS was originally tied to the NetWare 4 operating system, but then it became available for other platforms, including UNIX and Microsoft Windows NT.
4. Transitioning to a Legacy Technology
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5. Legacy and Lessons Learned
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6. Conclusion: Honoring NDS’s Place in History
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7. References
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