Re: Apologies in Advance

["Kurt D. Zeilenga" <Kurt@OpenLDAP.org>]

I have no clue what type of responses the original post was
meant to solicit, however, as it seems to have solicited yet
another OpenLDAP v. X product post, I will make a few comments
(and then I let this discussion die).

In comparing features vs cost, one must take into account
the total cost of use.  In general, sticker price of software is
a small fraction of the total cost of use.

Commercial servers are in general robust, reliable, feature
rich, and well documented.  OpenLDAP is making gains in these areas,
but I would the first to admit that we have much more work to do.
(I do note that we do have some features which are not yet widely
available in commercial servers).

OpenLDAP can be a viable solution for many, but it's certainly not
for everyone.

As with making any software choice, make it yourself.  My recommendation
is for you to acquire your own operational experience by experimenting
with different implementations before making your choice.

One general feature of LDAP is that you *should* be able to interchange
one server implementation for another without significant costs.  I
hence caution against taking advantage of any proprietary features
in your deployment as you'll hinder your ability to switch implementations
later on.

Kurt


At 09:42 AM 1/10/01 -0800, Tomas Maly wrote:
>My manager has got a copy and he might have the intention to deploy it,
>but he's an NT guy, so commercial software is a habit for him. Any way,
>the IT Lead won't let any deployment of that occur because 1) It's
>closed-source. Updates cost money and/or happen very few times. One can
>get an update for OpenLDAP once the developers please to announce it. 2)
>There are at least two full-blown open-source LDAP servers, so the open
>source versions aren't any less functional than commercial 3) Tech
>support is $$$ and usually not helpful unless you talk to the engineers,
>which you sure won't with any commercial software. If OpenLDAP is broken
>or has a bug, email the developer and he'll gladly help you out. Plus
>there are who-knows how many mailing lists for OpenLDAP, and probably
>few for any commercial version. 4) You're stuck with the risks of
>proprietary software, and the mentality of "we've paid $$$ already for
>it, so we're not wasting it, and so we are gonna use it", despite any
>reason why it may or may not be good software.... 5) Replication costs
>$$$$. Slave servers no doubt cost more money than one server....Look at
>the licensing costs. Yowzer. I wouldn't bother with it.
>
>Celine Murphy wrote:
>> 
>> Has anyone ever used the Netscape Directory Server??
>
>--
>Tomas Maly
>"IT Freak"
>MontaVista Software
>(408) 328-8429
>tmaly@mvista.com