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