Understanding and Deploying LDAP Directory Services (2nd Edition)

Understanding and Deploying LDAP Directory Services > 23. Case Study: Netscape Communications Corporation > Leveraging the Directory Service

Leveraging the Directory Service

When an organization has successfully deployed a directory, it becomes possible to leverage it to support new directory-enabled applications. One such example of this is Netscape's Maps application.

Netscape's Mountain View campus has many meeting rooms. Like many companies in Silicon Valley, Netscape names these conference rooms after cartoon characters , movie names , famous people, and so on. Although this naming convention is fun and part of the culture, it can make it difficult to figure out where you need to be for your next meeting unless you happen to know, for example, that the Miles Davis conference room is on the ground floor of Building 12. Similarly, employees ' office numbers don't give any indication of the location of the office within the building. Some way was needed to help employees to determine the physical location of offices and conference rooms.

To address this need, the Maps application was designed. It is a Web-based, directory-enabled application that allows a person's name or conference room name to be looked up in the directory. If a match is found, a graphical map is displayed in the browser window, and the location of the cubicle or meeting room is highlighted. The location (in x,y coordinates relative to the upper-left corner of the map image) is stored in an attribute of the entry. After the map is drawn in the browser window, a small cross hair cursor moves across the screen to highlight the location. The map application is very popular, and it is used hundreds of times each day.

Directory Deployment Impact

In what ways have things changed for the better now that Netscape has deployed a directory service? The following are a few of the ways that the directory has improved life for Netscape employees:

• The employee hiring and termination processes are now automatically triggered by changes made to directory data. Before IS deployed the directory, hiring and termination were tedious processes that required departmental administrators to submit separate work orders for account activation/ deactivation , computer system orders, network drop, and so on. IS treats the directory as an authoritative repository and triggers events such as account activation based on the directory data. This automation has streamlined the processes and provided significant cost savings.

• Administration of user and group information is now centralized. Instead of each application requiring its own user and group database, they obtain this information from the central directory, either directly or via a synchronization process.

• Windows NT domain user and group information is synchronized from the directory, reducing maintenance costs.

• Employees can change all their passwords (UNIX, NT, and directory) at one time using a Web-based application. The passwords are pushed from the directory into NT and UNIX NIS, ensuring that the same password is available everywhere.

• The Netscape Phone Book application allows employees to look up other employees' email addresses, telephone numbers, office locations, and so on. Employees may also update their own directory entries using the Phone Book application.

• New directory-enabled applications, such as the Maps application, are being developed and deployed.

Index terms contained in this section

applications

         leveraging support

                    Netscape case study 2nd 3rd 4th 5th

benefits

         directory deployment

                    Netscape case study 2nd 3rd

case studies

         Netscape Communications Corporation

                    leveraging 2nd 3rd 4th 5th

directories

         case studies

                    Netscape Communications Corporation 2nd 3rd 4th 5th

leveraging

          Netscape Communications Corp. case study 2nd

                    improvements for employees 2nd 3rd

Netscape Communications Corporation

         case study

                    leveraging 2nd 3rd 4th 5th

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