In this AppNote I will explain how to add a second server into your existing eDirectory Tree.
The Test lab we are working in is as follows:
In normal production environments, it can happen that you will need another OES Linux server in your tree for additional network services like iPrint or iFolder. If you have a large organization it can be a better choice to install a new server that is dedicated for the job. So lets see what you have to do before you can add a second server in the tree.
I already installed the second OES Linux server, I just haven't installed eDirectory on it.
First of all, we need to make sure the time between the two servers is exactly the same. As you may know, all eDirectory operations are getting a time stamp if they are edited. If the time is not in sync on the eDirectory servers, you can get stance errors in your network.
We are now going to have the second server always look to the first server for the time.
In server oes2 open YaST.
In the left menu go to Network Services and then in the right window choose NTP Client.
In the next screen edit the settings as below:
You now have configured that the oes2 server will get its time from server oes1. Click Finish to save the settings.
Now you can check to see if the NTP configuration is working. Open a terminal window and enter:
rcxnptd status
You can see if the NTP daemon is running.
Now run:
rcxntpd restart
You will see that the oes2 server will get its time from the oes1 server with ip-address 192.168.1.10.
If you see the green "done", you know the time between the servers in synch.
Open YaST, go to Network Services and click eDirectory.
You will be asked to configure the server in a new tree or to insert in a existing one.
Choose the Existing Tree, also enter the tree name.
Click Next
In the next screen, enter the Server holding a Replica of the tree. In my case there is only one so I enter the ip address of that server.
Leave the NCP and LDAP port as they are and enter the admin user and password.
Click Next.
In the next screen, enter the context where you would like the Server objects be placed in your tree.
Click Next
In the following window, enter the ip address of the NTP server.
Leave the SLP as it is and click Next.
You will receive a warning message like this:
Ignore it and click Yes to continue.
After you click Yes,
the configuration you just entered will be installed. Also eDirectory will be started on the server. If everything has gone ok, you will end up in the Yast screen again.
Now you have installed a second eDirectory Server in your tree.
Now check if everything is running. You can start by checking that the time is synchronized between the two eDirectory servers. To do this, open a terminal window and enter:
ndsrepair -T
As you can see in my example the time is NOT in sync. What I can do now is to force the time to get in sync with its NTP sever by restarting the NTP daemon.
Enter:
rcxntpd restart
After the rcxntpd restart command, run ndsrepair -T again. As you can see in my case, the time is in sync again.
You also have to check if the partition synchronization is ok. You can do this with the command:
ndsrepair -E
If you don't see any warnings, you know the replica synchronization on this server is ok.
You can also use ConsoleOne to see if the Partition synchronization is ok.
Open Consoleone
Click on the TREE name, goto View and select Partition and Replica View.
To see if both Replicas on the server are marked ON, right click on the Master replica and click Replica Information. You will see this screen.
As you can see the Master Replica is stored on the OES1 server and there are no errors in the current synch.
You can do the same with the other replica.
Also on this replica you can see there are no errors detected in the synchronization process.
Now that you have the second eDirectory server installed on your tree and you have checked all the defaults, you are ready to work with your server.
If you are a Novell NetWare administrator there are a couple of things you need to know. In NetWare you have the console tool dsrepair. This is a nice menu based tool you can use to configure and fix eDirectory. In OES Linux, the dsrepair tool is replaced with the ndsrepair tool. This is a command based tool, so you have to learn all the command line options to get it working. I have found a nice TID that explains the most important parameters. The TID Number is: 10079270.
I hope administrators can use this article to expand their tree with additional OES Servers.
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