ApacheDS Virtual Directory Add-Ons

yinyanger writes "Safehaus team is pleased to announce the 0.9.1 release of Penrose. Penrose is an open source java-based virtual directory server based on Apache Directory server. A Virtual Directory does not store any information itself, unlike other LDAP implementations. Requests received from LDAP client applications are processed by the Virtual Directory Server and passed on to the data source hosting the desired data. Frequently this data source will be a relational database, and more often than not it will be the authoritative source of the directory information. Many thanks to all those who've helped on this release, from end users, folks who've created test cases, submitted patches and developers. You can download a new release from here or view the change log"

Comments

What we all want to know is...

[samael]

When is ApacheDS coming out for the NintendoDS?

Re:What we all want to know is...

[RickPartin]

When I first read the headline I honestly thought this was about Apache being ported to the Nintendo DS. It is only a matter of time before it really happens.

Why?

[mwvdlee]

So basically it's an LDAP without the single most important benefit a directory server has; performance?

Re:Why, oh why?

[ttfkam]

Because most of the 'based on C' teams are still stuck in the debugger.

Instead of OpenLDAP in Open-Xchange?

[Doc Ruby]

I'm hacking Open-Xchange, the "drop-in" (if only...) transparent, open-source replacement for Microsoft Exchange. It uses an OpenLDAP server, which used to store its data in the Postgres DB used for the rest of its data. Recently the project has moved towards keeping more data inside the OpenLDAP server itself, rather than all in Postgres. Can I replace their OpenLDAP server with ApacheDS, in less than 8 hours of admin work, without specific expertise in either ApacheDS or OpenLDAP (except that I got OpenLDAP to work with O-X)? How ready for prime-time is this app? Of course, that's in the context of all these apps working more or less in beta right now.

question

[Umbral Blot]

Could someone please explain what that meant. In practical terms.

Re:question

[skelley]

Sure.

Say you have some big store of data (AD for example) for everyone in a organization.

Say you have some app that needs some AD *plus* some other field just for your app, but you don't want to extend the AD schema for the application.

You can use a virtual ldap to 'join' the AD against another ldap, a database table, or a flat file.

ok why?

[mislam]

From the Apache DS web site it is not clear the choices they made regarding the architecture. I am not convinced writing a java based LDAP server is feasible in real life scenario. But then they may know something that we don't. Hopefully they will share the information on the site.

Anyone tried it?

[mattolz]

So has anyone tried this out?? Hows it compare to the other options out there??

Re:Why, oh why?

[technos]

Because it's fast to develop in. Ten years ago everyone wrote Delphi or Visual Basic for the same reasons. It was faster to market than anything else, easier to debug, and the performance overhead wasn't that much of an issue. It's also capable of running more places with less modification. If your target is server platforms, you've got them all covered, from HP/UX on a 7100, to a G4 running OS/X, to a four way Opteron Linux box, with no mods.