Uses of directory data – Apple Mac OS X Server (Administrator’s Guide) User Manual

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Chapter 2

Open Directory solves this problem by letting you store administrative data in a directory
domain that can be managed by a system administrator from one location. Open Directory
lets you distribute the information so that it is visible on a network to the computers that
need it and the administrator who manages it:

Uses of Directory Data

Open Directory makes it possible to consolidate and maintain network information easily in
a directory domain, but this information has value only if application and system software
processes running on network computers actually access the information. The real power of
Open Directory is not that it provides directory services, but the fact that Mac OS X software
accesses data through Open Directory.

Here are some of the ways in which Mac OS X system and application software use directory
data:

m Authentication. As mentioned already, the Accounts module of Workgroup Manager

or the Accounts pane of System Preferences creates user records in a directory domain,
and these records are used to authenticate users who log in to Mac OS X computers.
When a user specifies a name and a password in the Mac OS X login window, the login
process asks Open Directory for the user record that corresponds to the name that the
user specified. Open Directory finds the user record in a directory domain and retrieves
the record.