Apple Mac OS X Server (Administrator’s Guide) - Manual (Page 85)

Directory Services 85
Directory Domain Planning
Keeping information in shared directory domains gives you more control over your network,
allows more users access to the information, and makes maintaining the information easier for
you. But the amount of control and convenience depends on the effort you put into planning
your shared domains. The goal of directory domain planning is to design the simplest hierarchy
of shared domains that gives your Mac OS X users easy access to the network resources they
need and minimizes the time you spend maintaining administrative data.
General Planning Guidelines
If you do not need to share user and resource information among multiple Mac OS X
computers, there is very little directory domain planning necessary. Everything can be accessed
from local directory domains. Just ensure that all individuals who need to use a particular
Mac OS X computer are defined as users in the local directory domain on the computer.
If you want to share information among Mac OS X computers, you need to set up at least one
shared domain.
A hierarchy this simple may be completely adequate when all your network computer users
share the same resources, such as printers and share points for home directories,
applications, and so forth.
Local
domain
Local
domain
Log in to
Mac OS X
Connect to
Mac OS
X Server
Shared
domain
Local
domain
Local
domain
Log in to
Mac OS X
Connect to
Mac OS
X Server