LDAP Directory Technology Review

There are currently no specific methodologies applied for the analysis, design and implementation of Directory services. However, there are certain “constraints” which were followed to ensure data integrity and security.

The Directory schema defines all those constraints and it is a matter of following the implementation rules of the OpenLDAP server. In principle, the system was developed using the Waterfall Method, but several times I had move between distant stages in order to correct errors.

Once the implementation stage had started, the requirements had to change multiple times in order to make them more realistically achievable within the timeframe of this project.

The Waterfall Method can be efficient when developing such systems, however once the implementation stage begins, changes to the requirements analysis stage were needed according to the time required to produce the deliverables, which in turn resulted in having to alter the architecture and subsequently the implementation.

This chapter describes the way that the Waterfall Method was applied for the development of the deliverables. The first development stage involved gathering all the requirements and producing Use Cases for the sub-systems that will form the basis of the management application layer.

Based on the requirements and the Use Cases, the analysis and design stage produced the necessary Data Flow and Entity Relationship diagrams for the sub-systems, modelling all the entities and attributes required for the system to operate.

The following figure shows the four stages of the development method followed to produce the deliverables:

Development Methodology for this Project

The software maintenance stage was not included, as the deliverables could not form a solid system to be deployable in “production” servers.