The directory server, which is designed to manage system user names and access policies, is one of several programs Red Hat acquired from the Netscape division of Time Warner last year. The company has initially made core components of the code available under the open source General Public Licence through its community-driven Fedora project, and says it will release the rest shortly.
Red Hat Directory Server, previously named Netscape Directory Server, is now compatible with the Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) operating system, Red Hat's core product, the company said in a statement. It's also designed to work in Hewlett-Packard and Sun operating environments.
Red Hat said it will make the software available using the same annual subscription model as RHEL, which includes maintenance, unlimited support incidents and upgrades. Each release will have a five year support cycle.
With the release, Red Hat is expanding its product set, giving the company more ammunition against proprietary technology from rivals Microsoft, Novell and Sun. The expansion strategy is aimed at bringing more businesses and government agencies into the open-source fold and allowing Red Hat to charge a greater premium for its Linux systems and related services, the company has said.
In addition to a directory server, Red Hat also gained a certificate server in its purchase of the Netscape Enterprise Suite. The company has pledged to release that product, which is designed to manage user identity and encryption chores, to the open-source community as well. The US Defence Department recently renewed a big contract with Red Hat for the certificate server.
While the core of the software is currently available for download, Red Hat has yet to make open-source a suite of configuration tools which accompany it. The company said the tools are currently available in binary-only form as a convenience to the community and will shortly be released in full.
So is this a bolt on that requires lots of work, because nothing integrates with it, or something that is so key to the OS and its administrators they have been lost until now?