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To: badboy.com who wrote (46039)	5/5/1998 3:32:00 AM
From: djane	Respond to of 61433

Bodo, you should ask Gary (OG) about DEN. He and Bucky89 debated it in the last few weeks on this thread. djane

To: badboy.com who wrote (46039)	5/5/1998 3:39:00 AM
From: djane	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 61433

5/5/98 LANTimes article on DEN vs. CDS Cisco goes its own way. Switch and router leader to build an enterprise directory; status of DEN initiative is now unclear wcmh.com./lantimes/98/98apr/804bcw01a.html By R. Scott Raynovich Just months after launching a directory interoperability initiative with Microsoft Corp., Cisco Systems Inc. will announce today that it is planning to develop its own enterprise directory service. The new directory, dubbed Cisco Directory Services (CDS), will provide network managers with a way to tie device management to network directories and comes as Novell Inc. prepares to contribute its first proposal for the Directory Enabled Networks (DEN) initiative. Cisco's move may disrupt the somewhat delicate state of cooperation among Cisco, Microsoft, and Novell, which had recently agreed to build DEN as a group of standards for utilizing directories to administer bandwidth-management schemes. DEN standards are to be independently overseen by the Desktop Management Task Force (DMTF) and IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force). Interoperability issues are looming as Microsoft prepares Active Directory to challenge the dominant corporate NOS directory of today, NDS (Novell Directory Services). Cisco officials said that CDS will be based on Microsoft's Active Directory code and will communicate with NDS and other directories through the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP). That setup will give Active Directory more power for managing user access to Cisco devices. Cisco and Microsoft announced an agreement to work on directory technology last year, but the exact nature of the pact was unknown until now. This approach may draw fire from critics who believe that Cisco, as the most dominant hardware supplier for corporate networks, should bridge the gap between Novell and Microsoft, rather than take sides. "I'd like to see Cisco make it more of an open standard," said Andrew Levi, president and CEO of Aztec Systems Inc., a Dallas-based integrator that is both a Microsoft Solutions Provider and certified Novell reseller. Levi, who was interviewed before Cisco's directory was announced, said that Cisco should try to make peace between Active Directory and NDS. But Cisco appears to shun the role of mediator. "Novell is not a pervasive OS," said Kurt Dahm, senior product manager at Cisco's network service and management business unit, when asked about Cisco's allegiance toward Active Directory. CDS will be offered as a standalone product for Windows NT, Sun Microsystems Inc. Solaris, and Hewlett-Packard Co. HP-UX, but not Novell NetWare, said Dahm. It will serve as a metadirectory, gathering user information straight from Active Directory and other directories such as NDS. Then, once a CDS directory is built, it will let managers grant access to Cisco devices according to a user's access level or guarantee quality of service to a user for specific applications. But Cisco officials insisted that CDS was not intended to replace Active Directory. "Cisco's not in the directory services business, per se," said Dahm. "But what we are going to be doing is putting directory technology out there and trying to make that technology pervasive." Cisco has a code-sharing agreement with Microsoft that allows the company to rewrite the Active Directory code. Cisco is in the process of adding new capabilities for device management to Active Directory, as well as porting all of the code over to the Solaris and HP-UX Unix platforms. A specific conflict in interoperability among Cisco, Microsoft, and Novell could emerge with one of the first proposed standards for DEN, a specification for integrating Domain Naming System (DNS) and Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DCHP), two popular methods for locating and identifying specific devices and users over TCP/IP networks. Cisco's CDS will contain a solution for DNS/DHCP integration, as does Novell's proposal. Novell plans to implement its DNS/DHCP integration proposal into NetWare 5.0, which will ship in advance of both Active Directory and CDS. Novell officials said they plan to submit their proposal for DNS/DHCP integration to the DMTF this week. Company officials said they are optimistic that Novell will play a central role in the process for determining DEN standards because Winston Bumpus, a chief architect at Novell, is president of the DMTF. Cisco Directory Service is expected to ship in 1999. Pricing has not yet been announced. For more information, visit Cisco at N+I booth #3659 or contact the company at (408) 526-4000; cisco.com.