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If poorly synchronized user information makes you feel like you're seeing double, metadirectory products can help. We looked at two solutions-the sync-based NetVision Synchronicity and the join-based Zoomit VIA Server-both of which could use a confirmed directory spec and more solid interoperability.
The concept of a metadirectory is relatively simple: Consolidate various information sources into a single directory and, in turn, propagate changes made to that information to managed directories on the enterprise. Some of these sources-NOSes and applications, for instance-come with account-management systems. Others, like messaging server directories and an online corporate whitepages application, are far more complex. Overall, keeping user information in sync throughout the enterprise can be a colossal task. That's where metadirectories come in.
The most obvious use of a metadirectory is to synchronize passwords and user attributes among NOS directories (and/or enterprise messaging directories). More ambitious metadirectory plans include integrating those items with human resources systems, PBXes and other data sources to fully automate the flow of user and object information into and throughout the enterprise. The latest twist is to incorporate directory services and store more networklevel information in the directory. Microsoft Corp.'s forthcoming Windows 2000 Active Directory Service (ADS), Novell's NDS and Zoomit Corp.'s VIA Server 2.0 all add IP and DNS management as integral functions of the directory.
The simplest metadirectory implementations can be easily achieved on a technical level: Synchronizing NDS and Windows NT/ Exchange users via NetVision Synchronicity, for example, does not take much technical effort. Larger organizations, however, should expect to face political, as well as technical, problems when they link various directories.
Metadirectories reflect real-world business events, such as hiring a new employee and subsequently establishing his or her server accounts. If your metadirectory plans include automating the integration of PBX and human-resources data into various network directories, you may cross sensitive political boundaries within your organization and find that you need a way to protect sensitive information, such as personnel data.
In addition, metadirectory solutions must address the age-old issues of matching data that doesn't have a common key. In the worst case, if an organization hasn't carefully maintained a unique user ID for each person, a single user may be represented by a different name in each directory. To deal...