Re: Directory enabled web server anyone?

["Mark Wilcox" <mark@mjwilcox.com>]

The entire Netscape 4 (ahem, Iplanet) server line does this. There's no
reason something like Apache couldn't do this (e.g. as a compiled in
option). When dealing with a single server, storing all of your preferences
in LDAP is over-kill but it can be a blessing for a massive server farm. To
check it out you can get a beta of Netscape Enterprise beta 4 and Netscape
Directory server evaluation copy at
http://home.netscape.com/testdrive/download/es4beta.html

Cisco, Lucent, etc are all building directory support including LDAP into
their next generation routers/switches.

I'm currently building both a portal and what we're calling a bulk
communication system that relies on LDAP as its back end.

In my book "Implementing LDAP" I outlined how you could possibly use LDAP as
both an image database system and a messageing system.

Mark


-----Original Message-----
From: Bernard Gardner <BernardGardner@ozemail.com.au>
To: openldap-general@OpenLDAP.org <openldap-general@OpenLDAP.org>
Date: Tuesday, August 03, 1999 10:16 AM
Subject: Directory enabled web server anyone?


>I've been wondering lately if anyone has built, or is building
>directory enabled applications in a serious way?
>
>I know that a lot of work has gone into storing user information
>in LDAP directories, and using that information to route mail,
>and authenticate requests for web pages and the like.
>
>I've also been reading up on Directory Enabled Networking,
>where network infrastructure devices (routers and switches
>and the like) will perhaps one day be able to gather their
>configuration data via LDAP.
>
>What I'm interested in, is other systems that are fully configured
>from an LDAP directory. Say, a web server that on starting up
>needs only to know the name of its configuration server, and
>some credentials with which to bind. Which can then accept
>http requests, use LDAP to figure out how to resolve the request,
>probably with some kind of caching for performance, and then serve
>up a response. The information held in LDAP might include, the
>domain name of the web server, the location of the data to be
>served, access control rules and file name extension to MIME
>type mappings. Basically everything that the web server needs
>to know to perform its function, thus placing all of the configuration
>for web services in one central place (possibly replicated and
>distributed).
>
>So, does anyone have any pointers, ideas, thoughts on this they'd
>like to share?
>
>Bernard.
>---
>Bernard Gardner
>OzEmail Ltd.
>
>Email: BernardGardner@ozemail.com.au
>Phone:  +61 2 94332124
>Mobile: +61 4 12207040
>Fax:    +61 2 9437 5888
>Mail:   39 Herbert St., St Leonards, NSW, Australia, 2065
>
>
>
>