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Virtual Trees Solutions

Challenge

When attempting to unify the data stored in a large number of data sources or repositories, you may find that you also need to structure the data in a particular way or provide a single particular DN that can be used to accurately describe the collection of data that you wish to present. Furthermore, additional static entries may need to be added to the data, such as the requirement to represent groups of users located across different data repositories.

Symlabs' LDAP Proxy not only provides a variety of ways in which data stored in different repositories can be collated to be presented as if belonging to a single directory, it also provides the ability to create entirely virtual trees.

Solution

The Virtual Tree plugin that is bundled with Symlabs' LDAP Proxy and Symlabs' Virtual Directory Server allows you to unify data stored in different locations within a completely virtual namespace, maximising control over presentation and data structuring.

Mount Points

Within a Virtual Tree, it is possible to define various "mount points" that will be presented as particular branches within the tree structure. These mount points are used to attach to a particular branch DN within one of your backend data repositories.

Using mount points, it is possible to present data from different backend data sources in a completely unified way within a virtual namespace. In this environment, there are no data replication issues, as the data presented within the virtual tree is only stored in its original location within its own backend repository.

Mount points can be used to attach and even re-attach data stored in any branch on any backend datasource. If you're using, Symlabs' Virtual Directory Server, this includes attaching tables of data stored in relational databases, and presenting it within a virtual LDAP tree.

Virtual Entries

In order to structure data presentation, you may need to create some "virtual entries" within the Virtual Tree. These could be organizational units that describe different areas within the tree, where you might locate common mount points. Alternatively, you may create virtual entries to create virtual groups or to attach particular processing directives.

Whatever the requirement, the Virtual Tree behaves in much the same way as any LDAP server, and allows you to store static entries as per your requirements.

Data Transformations

All of the data transformations that take place within the Virtual Tree are fully automated and are performed on-the-fly. If you have additional processing requirements, these are easily accommodated within the staged processing architecture of the product.

Processing can be implemented either between the client and the Virtual Tree presentation layer, or between the Virtual Tree and the backend server layer.