Anyone who maintains or installs a server that participates in the NCSUNDS Tree can potentially affect other users of the tree. These guidelines are provided identify good practices that will minimize problems both for the individual administrator and for the campus as a whole.

The NDS Steering Group is responsible for maintaining the overall health of the NDS tree by maintaining the [Root] replica servers, identifying and testing schema extensions before they are installed in the tree, creating new first level OU's, and identifying the minimum and maximum DS software revisions that should be in use on campus. The NSG is not meant to serve as a help desk for NDS or Netware issues, nor the care or maintenance of the objects in the tree other than those off of [Root].

Individual administrators are responsible for monitoring the daily health and well being of their servers and partition replicas. For example, it is possible to drop below the minimum requirement of 3 replicas through the loss of network communications, server malfunctions, or loss of a server located in another major OU that normally provides a replica. Therefore, it is extremely important for all server administrators to implement a well-thought-out installation, maintenance, and daily monitoring plan. Also, it is extremely important to consider all consequences before performing ANY partition operations, server object deletions, renaming of servers, or any "IPX internal net" number modifications (duplication of IPX internal net numbers inside and outside the NCSUNDS tree can cause serious problems).

Changing the server name and IPX internal net number during the same boot cycle should never be done.

It is the responsibility of all NCSUNDS tree participants to observe and follow the guidelines and policies agreed upon in this document. Furthermore, any activity deemed to be in violation of these policies or guidelines should be brought to the immediate attention of the NDS Steering Group, whether it be deemed malicious or negligent, so appropriate action can be taken to ensure the health of the NCSUNDS tree.

DSRepair will be run in "Full unattended" mode at least once a month on every server in the NCSUNDS tree, but not on 2 or more servers simultaneously. All serious problems will be reported to the NDS Steering Group immediately. However, before DSRepair is run, the administrator will make certain the server's date and time are a.) Correct, b.) "Time is synchronized to the network", and c.) "Time synchronization is active". This can be confirmed by typing "time" at the server console.

No one will change the date or time on any server in the NCSUNDS tree while the server is booted up, unless first approved by the NDS Steering Group.

It is strongly recommended that every server’s date and time be set to the correct date and time every time BEFORE being booted as a server. This can be done with the DOS "date" and "time" commands or in the server's CMOS setup BEFORE server boot (i.e., before the SERVER.EXE command is issued).

All servers in the NCSUNDS tree will be SECONDARY time servers except for servers designated by the NDS Steering Group to be PRIMARY or REFERENCE time servers. Entries in the AUTOEXEC.NCF and TIMESYNC.CFG must reflect these designations correctly as determined by the NDS Steering Group.

Any "automatic" time-keeping software on a server must be approved by the NDS Steering Group first and will be used on the REFERENCE time server only.

Only one REFERENCE time server will be used in the NCSUNDS tree and its time will be constantly kept within 1 minute of the actual time as defined by the NDS Steering Group.

There will be 5 time "source" servers (1 Reference and 4 Primary) in the NCSUNDS tree at all times. These time source servers will be located on at least 3 separate routers in at least 3 different building complexes.

During the installation process of any server into the NCSUNDS tree, if time does not synchronize to the network then continued server installation is not allowed until proper time synchronization is established.

All administrators, particularly primary [root]-level and primary first-level OU administrators will designate at least one backup administrator and will provide the backup administrator's work, pager, and home telephone numbers, and email addresses for times when the primary administrator is unavailable.

No servers which hold replicas in the NCSUNDS tree will be turned off or have communications severed with the intent of being removed from the NCSUNDS tree without following proper exit procedures.

All servers which hold replicas in the NCSUNDS tree will operate 24 hours per day, 7 days per week as much as is technically possible.

No one will restore NDS on any server in the NCSUNDS tree from ANY "backup" copy or through the use of DSMAINT without first gaining permission from the NDS Steering Group. (i.e., do not restore NDS from tape backup, JCMD.NLM, or etc. without permission from the NDS Steering Group.) Furthermore, it is likely that permission will not be granted to restore NDS from a backup copy so be certain to maintain healthy partition replicas.

All servers must maintain a minimal Directory Services software level, in order to assure proper function of NDS across the campus. Administrators must upgrade their DS software to the minimum levels defined by the NDS Steering Group and documented on http://www.ncs.ncsu.edu/nag . This implies that departments using NDS are committed to purchasing the hardware and software needed to maintain the minimum DS revisions. Individual administrators should not install newer releases of DS software before it has been tested and approved by the NSG or a subcommittee that they designate. [Note 6]

Last updated 06/29/98 10:01 AM