* A look at Novell Virtual Directory Services
First, an apology and a correction. Astute reader Richard Blackham writes: “You have now reported incorrectly in two consecutive newsletters that MIIS is Microsoft Identity Information Server.” He is, of course, correct. The abbreviation actually stands for Microsoft Identity INTEGRATION Server.
I did point out some years ago, when MIIS was introduced, that confusion with IIS (Microsoft’s Internet Information Server) would probably occur (see https://www.nwfusion.com/columnists/2003/0714kearns.html). Little did I know that I would be the most public of those confusing the two product names! Interestingly enough though, while I frequently speak with those Redmondites responsible for the MIIS product, none of them has caught my gaffe.
And speaking of integration, join engines, and directories – both meta and virtual, I became reacquainted with Novell’s offering of a virtual directory last week at the company’s annual BrainShare conference.
The company introduced Novell Virtual Directory Services (NVDS) at BrainShare Europe last fall but this was my first chance to talk about it with the company’s identity team. Unlike other virtual directories (such as those from OctetString, MaxWare or Radiant Logic), NVDS is aimed squarely at developers. It seems that ISVs who create directory-enabled apps run into the same problem with eDirectory administrators as they do with Active Directory administrators – getting them to extend the schema of the corporate directory is just a bit harder than getting the CFO to sign off on your “business” trip to Maui. Microsoft solved the problem with Active Directory/Application Mode (ADAM), a full-featured directory service but one that can easily coexist and interoperate with (or not, as you wish) Active Directory. Novell chose to go the virtualization route.
NVDS allows a developer to create their own directory service, with its own schema to store application specific data locally while also pulling in enterprise directory information from eDirectory, Active Directory, Sun’s Java System Directory and any LDAP-enabled identity store. Even if there is no enterprise directory in place, NVDS can deliver all of the necessary directory functionality that an ISV might require.
MIIS and NVDS are different in architecture (meta vs. virtual), target audience (end-users vs. developers) and platforms (Windows vs. NetWare/Windows/Linux/Unix/etc.). NVDS probably has as much in common with ADAM as with MIIS. But all three products show that identity and both its information and integration are becoming core technologies for the enterprise. And that’s a good thing, I think.
