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| April 2001 | |
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| DeveloperNet University Course | |
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DirXML Concepts
Module Objective: After studying the concepts in this section, you should be able to describe the purpose of DirXML in general terms.
DirXML is a powerful example of the Novell Net Services software that is enabling one Net--a simplified, secure, and accelerated global network that provides organizations with the flexibility and power they need to succeed in the Net economy.
DirXML is flexible enough to accommodate any application, database, or directory. DirXML extends the data replication and synchronization capabilities of NDS eDirectory to other data sources, eliminating the isolation of your data among your various applications.
DirXML uses drivers to enable communication between NDS and other applications. For example, a DirXML driver allows applications (such as Lotus Notes, Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft Active Directory, or Netscape directories) to share and synchronize data through NDS.
These applications can use DirXML drivers to synchronize pertinent data (e.g., user names, titles, phone numbers, IP addresses, etc.) across platforms and networks, significantly reducing application-specific administration costs.
The five drivers in the following figure illustrate these possibilities.
Figure 1: The NDS to NDS driver synchronizes data between two NDS trees, running on servers in NDS Tree1 and NDS Tree2.
The NDS Tree1 server has DirXML drivers for Exchange and AD (Active Directory), so that data is synchronized among the three of them as well as to NDS Tree2. Since the NDS Tree2 server is running DirXML drivers for Notes and PBXSimulator (a sample phone system administration program), the data is synchronized to them also. If a user name is changed in the Exchange database, that change propagates to the other five databases: AD, Tree1, Tree2, Notes, and PBXSimulator.
Novell has developed a number of DirXML drivers for common applications. These already-written drivers can be configured using DirXML's XML (the widely adopted open industry standard eXtensible Markup Language) rule documents by administrators, making them easy to implement without programming. Throughout the rest of this course, we will refer to these already-written drivers as Novell's generic drivers.
The Exchange, AD, NDS, and Notes drivers are examples of some of Novell's generic DirXML drivers which can be purchased and then configured for specific environments.
Many situations involve directories, which cannot be connected to NDS with Novell's generic drivers, requiring custom DirXML drivers to be written. This course will enable you to write those custom drivers.
PBXSimulator is an example of a custom, full-featured DirXML driver written to communicate with its own unique application.
During the labs of this course you will write sections for each feature in PBXSimulator.
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