Apple Mac OS X Server (Administrator’s Guide) - Manual (Page 75)

Directory Services 75
After login, the user may choose Connect To Server from the Go menu and connect to a file
server on a computer running Mac OS X Server. In this case, Open Directory on the server
searches for the user’s record in the server’s local directory domain. If the server’s local
directory domain has a record for the user (and the user types the correct password), the
server grants the user access to the file services.
When you first set up a Mac OS X computer, its local directory domain is automatically
created and populated with records. For example, a user record is created for the user who
performed the installation. It contains the user name and password entered during setup, as
well as other information, such as a unique ID for the user and the location of the user’s
home directory.
Shared Data
While Open Directory on any Mac OS X computer can store administrative data in the
computer’s local directory domain, the real power of Open Directory is that it lets multiple
Mac OS X computers share administrative data by storing the data in shared directory domains.
When a computer is configured to use a shared domain, any administrative data in the shared
domain is also visible to applications and system software running on that computer.
If Open Directory does not find a user’s record in the local domain of a Mac OS X computer,
Open Directory automatically searches for the user’s record in any shared domains to which
the computer has access. In the following example, the user can access both computers
because the shared domain accessible from both computers contains a record for the user.
Shared domains generally reside on Mac OS X Servers, because servers are equipped with
the tools, such as Workgroup Manager and Server Settings, that facilitate managing network
resources and network users.
Shared
domain
Local
domain
Local
domain
Log in to
Mac OS X
Connect to
Mac OS
X Server