title: ODSEE vs RHDS? link: https://onemoretech.wordpress.com/2010/08/31/odsee-vs-rhds/ author: lembobro description: post_id: 125 created: 2010/08/31 10:14:07 created_gmt: 2010/08/31 10:14:07 comment_status: open post_name: odsee-vs-rhds status: publish post_type: post

ODSEE vs RHDS?

No, this isn’t going to be an in-depth analysis of the relative strengths and weakenesses of Oracle Directory Server Enterprise Edition (ODSEE) and Red Hat Directory Server (RHDS). Sorry. Just some reflections on the broader trends I’m seeing in the directory server space and where I think things may be going.

Both the products mentioned above are very strong candidates for the primary product to be deployed in any general-purpose enterprise directory environment. The return to the command line by DSEE when it was still a Sun product was a major step forward, freeing administrators from enslavement to cumbersome gui interfaces. Over the next year or so I expect that Oracle will maintain Sun’s market share in this space, so long as they maintain the high quality of product and support they inherited. My guess is that Oracle will in fact do more to demonstrate their commitment to the product. Right now their worst enemy is the uncertainty over whether or when one of their two directory server offerings, ODSEE or OID (Oracle Internet Directory), will supplant the other. The current hide-and-seek game being played with ODSEE documentation and downloads really needs to stop.

Red Hat’s open sourcing of their code remains a major strength, as is the 389 Directory (formerly Fedora Directory) development version. The mail list archives for the 389 project are a treasure trove of information that should not be overlooked. The materials on the 389 directory site, particularly the How To documents, are essential reading for anyone managing a Netscape derived directory service. Most significantly, the Red Hat team performed two great services for the directory admin community by stripping out the allidsthreshold and finally providing support for Simple Paged Results Control. My main beef with Red Hat continues to be the pricing of their directory product. But as I have written elsewhere, I’m not sure Red Hat sees competing in the identity management space as a core part of their mission, any more than they did when it came to desktop or database (remember the Red Hat Database a/k/a Postgres?) systems. As much as that may frustrate some of us, it’s the kind of tough business judgment that Red Hat’s shareholders have come to expect.

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