The Netscape Directory Server contains the following components:

• Netscape Console - is a common user interface for all Netscape server products. All common server administration functions can be performed through such as stopping and starting the server, installing new server instances, and managing user and group information. Netscape Console can be installed as a standalone application on any machine as well as installing it on a network for use in managing remote servers.

• Netscape Administration Server - is a common front-end to all Netscape Servers. The Administration Server receives communications from Netscape Console and passes those communications to the appropriate Netscape Server. You will have at least one Administration Server for each server root in which you have installed a Netscape server.

• Netscape Directory Server - is Netscape's LDAP implementation. The Directory Server runs as the ns-slapd process (on UNIX) or slapd service (on Windows). This is the server that manages the directory database and responds to client requests. This is a required component.

This section of the document discusses all issues that should be decided on before performing the Netscape Directory Server installation.

• Choose a port number for the standard LDAP port and LDAP port over SSL. For this installation, I will be using port 389 for the standard LDAP port and 636 for LDAP over SSL. If you plan on using these ports, ensure that they are not currently in use. Also, keep in mind that for these two ports (actually any port below 1024) will require root access (on UNIX) or Administrator (on Windows) to start and stop.

• Login as the root user account:

  $ su -
  #

• I will be performing the installation as root user account.

• I will be installing all components of Netscape Directory Server to the netscape user and group. The home directory for the netscape user will be /usr/netscape, while the Netscape Server Root will be /usr/netscape/servers.

  # groupadd -g 215 netscape
  # useradd -u 273 -g netscape -d /usr/netscape/ -s /bin/ksh -c "Netscape Servers" -m netscape
  # passwd netscape

• Determine the type of installation you will be performing. For the purpose of this document, I will be performing a Custom Installation. Below is a brief description of the different types of installations available with Netscape Directory Server:
  • Express Installation - Use this if you are installing for the purposes of evaluating or testing Directory Server.

  • Typical Installation - Use this if you are performing a normal installation of Directory Server.

  • Custom Installation - Introduced in Version 6.x, the custom installation process is very similar to the typical installation process. The main difference is that the custom installation process allows you to import an LDIF file to initialize the user directory database that is created by default.

  • Silent Installation - Use this if you want to script your installation process. this is especially useful for installing multiple consumer servers around your enterprise.

Most first time installations of Directory Server can be performed using the Typical Installation option of the setup program. This section of the document describes the steps I performed to install Netscape Directory Server using a Typical Installation.

• Ensure you are logged in as the root user account.

• Create a temporary install directory. Place the file (directory-6.1.1-us.sparc-sun-solaris2.8.tar.gz) you downloaded from the Netscape website into this temporary install directory.

  # mkdir /tmp/ds
  # cp directory-6.1.1-us.sparc-sun-solaris2.8.tar.gz /tmp/ds
  # cd /tmp/ds

• Extract the contents of the file:

  # gunzip -dc directory-6.1.1-us.sparc-sun-solaris2.8.tar.gz | tar -xvof -

• Run the setup program. This file can be found in the directory where you untarred the binary files (above). Issue the setup command from the installation directory:

  # ./setup

• The first screen in the installation process simply asks if you want to proceed with the installation. Press <ENTER> to respond with the default (the default for this prompt is Yes) or press n if you would like to exit the setup program.

  If you want to log in as root or superuser (su), you will need to exit the setup program.

• You are then asked if you agree to the license terms. Press "y" to agree with the license terms.

• You will then be asked what you would like to install. Press <ENTER> to select the default, Netscape Servers.

• When you are asked what you would like to install, press <ENTER> to select the default, Typical installation.

• For "server root", enter a full path to the location where you want to install your server.

  The location that you enter must be some directory other than the directory form which you are running the setup. Also, the name of the directory where you install files must not contain any space characters. If the directory that you specify does not exist, setup creates it for you.

  By default, the setup program provides the following path:

  /usr/netscape/servers

  If you want to install the software into this directory, simply press <ENTER>, otherwise, supply your own path.

• In the following "Netscape Server Products components" screen, press <ENTER> to select the default (all components).

• Press <ENTER> to select all of the "Server Core Components components".

• Press <ENTER> to select all of the "Netscape Directory Suite components".

• Press <ENTER> to select all of the "Administration Services components".

• For the hostname, enter a fully qualified hostname or select the default (which is local host).

  NOTE: Note that the default hostname may be incorrect if the installer cannot locate a DNS name in your system. For example, you might not have a DNS name if your system uses NIS. The hostname must be a full qualified host and domain name. If the default hostname is not a fully qualified host and domain name, installation will fail.

• You will now be asked for the System User and System Group names. Enter the identity under which you want the servers to run. In my example, I used:
  • System User: netscape
  • System Group: netscape

• For the configuration directory, select the default if this directory will host your main "o=NetscapeRoot" tree. Otherwise, enter Yes. You will then be asked for the contact information for the configuration directory.

  If the server you are currently installing is not the configuration directory, then the configuration directory must exist before you can continue this installation.

• You are then asked if the server you are currently installing will be the one for your user data. For most cases, you can select the default. However, if you intend this server instance to be used as a configuration directory only, then you should enter Yes.

• For the Directory Server port, select the default (389) unless you already have another application using this port.

• For the Directory Server Identifier, enter a unique value (normally the default is sufficient).

  This value is used as part of the name of the directory in which the Directory Server instance is installed. For example, if your machine's host name is alexprod, then this name is the default and selecting it will cause the Directory Server instance to be installed into a directory labeled slapd-alexprod.

  NOTE: The Directory Server identifier must not contain a period. For example, ldapserver.server.com is not a valid server identifier name.

• For the Configuration Directory Administrator ID and password, enter the name and password you will log in as when you want to authenticate to the console with full privileges. I used the default:
  • administrator ID: admin
  • password: password

• For a directory suffix, enter a distinguished name (DN) meaningful to your enterprise or organization.

  For my example, I choose:

  • Suffix: [dc=idevelopment, dc=info]

  This string is used to form the name of all your organization's directory entries. Therefore, pick a name that is representative of your organization. It is recommended that you pick a suffix that corresponds to your internet DNS name. Avoid space characters in the suffix.

• For Directory Manager DN, (formerly referred to as the root DN), enter the DN that you will use when managing the contents of your directory with unlimited privileges. This is the entry that you bind to the directory as when you want access control to be ignored. This DN can be short and does not have to conform to any suffix configured for the directory. However, it should not correspond to an actual entry stored in the directory.

  For this example, I used the default:

  • Directory Manager DN: [cn=Directory Manager]
  • password: password

  NOTE: The password for the Directory Manager must be at least 8 characters long.

• For Administration Domain, enter the domain that you want this server to belong to.

  The name you enter should be a unique string that is descriptive of the organization responsible for administering the domain.

  For my example, I used the default:

  • Administration Domain: [idevelopment.info]

• For the administration port number, enter a value that is not in use. I used the default:
  • Administration port: [16897]

  NOTE: Be sure to record this value!

• For the user you want to run the Administration Server as, enter root. This is the default.

• The server is then unpackaged, minimally configered, and started. You will be told what the host and port number Administration Server is listening on. A successfull installation should look like the following:

  Extracting Netscape core components...
  Extracting Server Core Components...
  Extracting Core Java classes...
  Extracting Java Runtime Environment...
  Extracting Netscape Directory Server...
  Extracting Netscape Directory Server Console...
  Extracting Netscape Administration Server...
  Extracting Administration Server Console...
  Extracting nsPerl 5.005_03...
  Extracting PerLDAP 1.4.1...
  
  
  [slapd-alex]: starting up server ...
  [slapd-alex]:   Netscape-Directory/6.11 B2002.281.0853
  [slapd-alex]:   alex.ads.com:389 (/usr/netscape/servers/slapd-alex)
  [slapd-alex]:
  [slapd-alex]: [23/Dec/2003:20:16:36 -0500] - Netscape-Directory/6.11 B2002.281.0853 starting up
  [slapd-alex]: [23/Dec/2003:20:16:37 -0500] - slapd started.  Listening on All Interfaces port 389 for LDAP requests
  Your new directory server has been started.
  Created new Directory Server
  Start Slapd Starting Slapd server configuration.
  Success Slapd Added Directory Server information to Configuration Server.
  Configuring Administration Server...
  Your parameters are now entered into the Administration Server
  database, and the Administration Server will be started.
  
  Changing ownership to admin user root...
  Setting up Administration Server Instance...
  Configuring Administration Tasks in Directory Server...
  Configuring Global Parameters in Directory Server...
  Netscape-Enterprise/6.1 B04/29/2002 12:45
  
  warning: daemon is running as super-user
  
  [LS ls1] http://alex.ads.com, port 16897 ready to accept requests
  
  startup: server started successfully
  
  
  Press Return to continue...
  
  Go to /usr/netscape/servers and type startconsole to begin
  managing your servers.

• The server is now configered to use the following suffixes:
  • The suffix that you configured. (In my example: dc=idevelopment, dc=info)
  • o=NetscapeRoot

  NOTE: Do not modify the contents of teh directory under the o=NetscapeRoot suffix. Either create data under the first suffix or create a new suffix to be used for this purpose.

Launching the Help System

Populating the Directory Tree