OS X Server - Apple Needs to Deprecate Open Directory

Question

Created Jul ’15

Replies 1

Boosts 0

Participants 1

Dear Apple Devs, I have been engaging in a conversation about OS X Server and directory services for some time. I am doing this, because I believe that deprecating Open Directory, and using Active Directory as the backbone of OS X Server, would go a long way to bring OS X and iOS into enterprise mass deployments. This would be very good for the developer community as well, since when there is more of an enterprise software market due to increasing use of Mac and iOS devices in enterprise settings, there will be more demand for the apps that the developer community produces.

Open Directory is similar in function to the old-style Windows NT 4.0 directory system, which dates back to the 1990s. OD was implemented as Apple was moving its server directory system away from NetInfo, the system used in OS X's predecessor, NeXTSTEP. NetInfo was proprietary, and did not work well with other systems. Apple tried to remedy this by implementing Open Directory, but OD was released just as Windows was moving away from NT 4.0 directories, to the much more capable and scalable Active Directory. Because Open Directory did not support the multimaster repliacation features of the newer Microsoft directory, and did not allow for easy software installation as Active Directory did, Apple left itself behind, and was displaced in the enterprise, just as it was displaced in the PC universe by more open and scalable PCs. Apple is not the company it once was, and it has the opportunity to break with the past and use the same robust networking and directory infrastructure as its Windows counterparts. This is not going to threaten OS X at all, it will make it better, and will end up creating a "better Windows than Windows." OS X has the best of everything, a spectacular user interface as well as a solid UNIX foundation. This makes it a joy for end users to use, as well as a powerful tool for systems administrators. Apple only needs to replace the directory service at the core of OS X networking by jettisoning Open Directory, in favor of Active Directory. This can be done. The days of Apple services and devices being in niche categories are long gone, and now Apple is a serioius technology company in the same vein as Microsoft and IBM. Apple needs to move away from the outdated Open Directory. Please help to carry this message to the engineers and executives at Apple, and let's bring OS X Server to the enterpise masses!

Boost

Answer 1

FireEyes OP

Jul ’15

And as an addition to my earlier post, Apple also would be well-served to bring back a real enterprise hardware offering, such as server hardware that is suited to run in corporate data centers. This offering does not have to look like the XServe, but it should be an updated server that is designed for both corporate data centers, as well as hybrid cloud setups. Apple is very much an enterprise technology company today, so any comparisons to what Apple was like in the 1980s and 1990s, and even into the 2000s, are unfounded.

Apple's big blunder in times past, was to make proprietary systems that could not interoperate with other systems very well. They walled themselves off, and did not make it easy to interconnect Apple devices with those of other companies. Yes, today, iOS devices are much more closed off than their Mac counterparts, but even there, iOS devices can connect to standard Wi-Fi networks, and can be managed with standard MDM offerings, which in effect, makes them a lot less proprietary than it would seem. Apple has made fantastic front-end devices in the form of Mac and iOS hardware and software, and now they need to tie it in with an industrial-strength backend offiering. Yes, Casper Suite and other MDM tools are avaialble, but it is too challenging to rely on third-parties to provide the management tools. There are too many players involved. Apple needs to make its own management solutions, so enterprise customers (both IT people and company employees) have a single place to turn when they need to manage their devices, or call on technical support. With a real backend solution, it would be much easier, and more attractive for enterprises to buy Apple technology. The same would also be true for small businesses, and the education sector. A system that could scale from very small to very large, would help Apple tremendously. Please join this discussion, and bring it to the attention of Apple's engineers and executives.

0