13-04 Directory Service
# What is a directory service?
A directory service maps the names of network resources to their network addresses.
A directory service is shared information infrastructure for locating, managing, administering, and organizing resources:
- Volumes
- Folders
- Files
- Printers
- Users
- Groups
- Devices
- Telephone numbers
- other objects
A directory service is a critical component of a network operating system
A directory server (name server) is a server that provides a directory service
Each resource on the network is considered an object by the directory server. Information about a particular resource is stored as a collection of attributes associated with that resource or object
Examples
Well-known directory services:
- Domain Name Service (DNS)
- the directory service for the internet
- Microsoft Active Directory
- Azure Active Directory
- Apache Directory Server
- Oracle Internet Directory (OID)
- OpenLDAP
- Cloud Identity
- JumpCloud