Directory Service

X.500

X.500 – Idea

Idea : look up people and data

User-friendly way

By name, department, or organization

Global White Pages directory

1984 CCITT and ISO started development

X.500 – What is it?

1990 First official ISO implementation Electronic directory People and their data in an organization Can be part of a global directory Available via

Internet or Private Net (LAN/VPN)

X.500 – Directory Service

Many electronic directories

Organized in a single global directory

organized in a "tree"

common "root" directory

X.500 – Principle I

Entries at each level of tree must have certain attributes

Some optional attributes established locally Own implementations possible must adhere to the basic schema

one or more central places manage directories.

DCE (Distributed Computing Environment)

X.500 – Principle II

DSA Directory System Agent reflects local directory one organization or group of organizations.

DSAs interconnected by Directory Information Tree (DIT).

X.500 as part of Distributed Computing Environment (DCE)

DCE in Global Directory Service (GDS).

X.500 – Principle III

UI for access to DSAs = Directory User Agent (DUA).

DUAs include: cmdline progs like whois, finger programs that offer a graphical user interface.

X.500 – Directory Service

X.500 – Directory Service

X.500 – Examples

InterNIC organization that supervises domain name registration in the U.S.

Esnetmaintains X.500 data for all the U.S. national laboratories.

Many US Universities use X.500 route e-mail provide name lookup (LDAP)

X.500 – Examples

Lotus Domino relies on X.500 (since v.5) Internet Provider dial-up nodes / DNS Microsoft Exchange Server Oracle Internet Directory Peerlogic Livecontent Directory Siemens DirX Server Umich slapd/slurpd Computer Associated ETrust Directory and others

X.500 – Any Questions???

Thanks for your Attention

References:RFC1632www.isi.salford.ac.uk\staff\dwc\Version.Web\Contents.htm