UnboundID adds proxy server to directory lineup

Directory and identity start-up UnboundID completed its directory lineup with the release of a proxy server that provides users with load balancing, failover and extra security controls.

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The UnboundID Directory Proxy Server is an LDAPv3 gateway that supports various directories and adds unique features when paired with UnboundID’s own directory.

The Proxy Server is the third piece of the start-up’s lineup, which includes its high performance standards-based directory server aimed at the identity and personalization demands of Web-based services and mobile computing.

Also part of the portfolio is the Synchronization Server, which provides bi-directional sync with the Sun Directory Server. Unbound plans to add support for Microsoft’s Active Directory later this year.

UnboundID’s updates come at a time when Sun is in transition, both with an impending acquisition by Oracle and with a majority of its user base on its aging version 5.2 directory platform.

UnboundID’s executives, who are former Sun employees, say they are targeting those users and that the proxy server provides the final piece of the puzzle.

“The real goal is to replace everything,” says Steve Shoaff, CEO of UnboundID. “We understand it is easier to replace the proxy layer than the directory, so we are hoping that the Proxy Sever and the Synchronization Server will be a more accessible introduction to UnboundID and serve as a confidence builder to us as a company, our quality, our support and our partners, the whole nine yards.”

One of the unique features the Proxy Server offers when paired with the UnboundID Directory Server is Entry Balancing. This intelligent indexing system provides a sort of infinite memory cache to ensure quick access to requested data. The index is self-healing in that it can adapt to changes on the fly and update data in the index.

The load balancing feature provides a quality-of-service mechanism that inspects the directory server infrastructure to see which server is most capable of handling new requests. The proxy can gauge such factors as average response time, CPU utilization, and the server’s replication state. In addition, the directory server can alert the proxy to its state, to provide a proactive health assessment of directory servers.

New features also include high availability, data mapping and transformation, and security and access controls that help protect the directory server from attacks.

The UnboundID Proxy Server is available now and is priced at $25,000.

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