Planning the Network Directory

There are two schools of thought on how network directories should be planned and configured on a network, as follows:

The centralized school of thought requires each node on the internet to have the same network directory. This means that every node in the network must have an entry in the network directory. The advantage to this is that you update the network directory in one place, then copy it to the rest of the world. The disadvantage is that network directories for large internets are going to be large.

The recommended way to create and maintain your network directory using the centralized method is to assign a single node as the central administrative node. You configure the network directory on this node and then copy it to all other nodes on the network. When the network directory is updated, it is updated on the central administrative node, then copied to the other nodes. This procedure decreases the possibility of incompatible directories. You may want to assign a central administrative node for each network or for the entire internet.

The decentralized school of thought suggests that each network directory be configured individually on each node. The advantage to this is that you can customize the network directory on each node for security purposes using local and global entries. The network directory will also be smaller because it will only contain entries for that particular node. However, updates must be done manually on each node.

Copying and Merging Network Directory Files

The first time you configure the network directory, an entry for all remote IP addresses must be added manually using the NMMGR screens. After the first network directory is configured, you can use the MPE STORE and RESTORE commands to copy the network directory to other nodes. (This is assuming you have adopted the centralized method of network directory maintenance. If you use the decentralized method, you must always use NMMGR to create and maintain the network directory.)

	NOTE: The network directory uses a KSAM file pair. Therefore, when copying a directory, be sure to copy both the data file and the key file.

Once a network directory has been established on each node in the internet, you can set up a job stream to automate network directory updates. The MERGEDIR command is part of a maintenance interface provided primarily to support the updating of directories using a batch job. Using this method, a job or series of jobs can be scheduled at regular intervals to copy and then merge remote directories into the local-system directory. Refer to the MERGEDIR and the MAKESTREAM commands in Using the Node Management Services (NMS) Utilities.