Configuring the Directory Service

Management & Control Services (MCS) allows you to select from a number of directory services for managing MCS users and groups. Directory service options include:

MCS Directory—MCS internal directory service, based on the Andrew File System (AFS)
LDAPv3 Directory—Lightweight Directory Access Protocol version 3, providing support for Active Directory for Windows 2000, Netscape Directory 4.0, Novell Directory, and IBM OS/390 LDAP Server (via RACF)
Windows NT (NTDS)—Windows NT Directory Services
NIS—Network Information Service

MCS allows you to modify the users and groups that appear in the MCS Directory. For the other directory service types, however, the user and group lists are maintained by that directory service. MCS references the user and group list provided by these directory services based on the server address you specify when configuring the directory service in MCS.

If you change the directory service type, or configure the server address, you will lose all assignments of configurations to users and groups and all user and group permissions, including permissions to configure the server. You must restart MCS after you have saved your changes. Make sure that you assign permissions to configure the server to an administrator in the new directory service before you restart the server; otherwise, you will no longer have access to configure and manage MCS. (There is, however, a superuser, "System," with a password specified when MCS is installed. This user always has access, and can configure the server and assign permissions.)

To configure the directory service for MCS

In the MCS selection panel, point to MCS Functions and then click MCS Security.
The MCS Security tree appears.
Click Directory Services.
The Directory Services page appears in the MCS management pane.
From the Directory Type list box, select the directory service that you want to use for managing MCS users and groups.
If you select LDAPv3 Directory, Windows NT (NTDS), or NIS, click Configure to access the configuration settings for that directory service.
The Properties of Directory_type dialog box appears.

If you select MCS Directory, there are no user-configurable options and the server address is a fixed value. As a result, the Configure button appears grayed.
Configure the properties for the directory service as needed.
For details on the Properties of Directory_type dialog box, click Help.
Click OK to close the Properties of Directory_type dialog box.
The Server Address you specified for the directory service appears on the Directory Services page.
Select Display Descriptions to display user and group descriptions on the Directory page.
Click Save to activate your directory service settings.

To configure the directory service for a server cluster

In the MCS selection panel, point to MCS Functions and then click Server Management.
The Server Management tree appears.
In the Server Management tree, click next to the cluster for which you want to configure the directory service, or double-click the cluster name, to expand the list of items.
The cluster's tree appears.
In the cluster's tree, click Directory Services.
The Directory Services page appears in the MCS management panel.
From the Directory Type list box, select the directory service that you want to use for managing MCS users and groups.
If you select LDAPv3 Directory, Windows NT (NTDS), or NIS, click Configure to access the configuration settings for that directory service.
The Properties of Directory_type dialog box appears.

If you select MCS Directory, there are no user-configurable options and the server address is a fixed value. As a result, the Configure button appears grayed.
Configure the properties for the directory service as needed.
For details on the Properties of Directory_type dialog box, click Help.
Click OK to close the Properties of Directory_type dialog box.
The Server Address you specified for the directory service appears on the Directory Services page.
Select Display Descriptions to display user and group descriptions on the Directory page.
Click Save to activate your directory service settings.
Any changes you make for the selected cluster affect all servers in that cluster.


	Overview of MCS Security
	Setting the User Authentication Type
	Setting Console Access Permissions
	Overview of the MCS Directory