Apple Directory Services#
Rather than repeat it all here, I will defer to Wikipedia
for most information.
Basically Apple uses OpenLDAP and a corresponding authentication model composed of Apple Password Server and Kerberos 5 tied together using a modular Directory Services system.
Directory Services Framework#
In a more general sense, Open Directory can describe the plugins model used by Directory Utility and the directory services framework in Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server. This could be thought of as analogous to the Name Service Switch systems of some other Unix-like operating systems. When connected to a directory system, a Mac OS X client or Server can authenticate users, lookup contacts, perform service discovery and name resolution with the following types of directories:- Authentication & Contacts
- Microsoft Active Directory
- LDAPv3, including an Open Directory domain or RFC 2307-compliant system
- Apple/NeXT NetInfo domains
- BSD flat files and NIS
- Service Discovery & Name Resolution
- AppleTalk
- Microsoft Windows (NetBIOS and WINS)
- Service Location Protocol (SLP)
- Multicast DNS (Bonjour/Zeroconf)
