Make sure you meet the basic prerequisites for the rest of this course.

If you've ever installed one of Netscape's servers you probably meet the prerequisites for this course.

Course Prerequisites

Basic Knowledge Of The Target OS

Before you start this course you should be familiar with at least one of the target operating systems (OSs): Solaris or NT.  You should already know how to perform common tasks such as...

stopping and restarting the OS

managing files and directories (copy, rename, move, delete) 

editing text files (using vi or TextEdit on Solaris or Notepad on NT)

Version 4 of the Directory Server is compatible with Windows NT and several flavors of Unix such as AIX and HP-UX, but in this course we'll only cover two operating systems: Sun's Solaris (version 2.5.1 and beyond) and Microsoft's Windows NT (version 4.0 and beyond).

Basic Web Skills

You should feel comfortable using a standard web browser such as Netscape's Navigator or Microsoft's Internet Explorer.  You should already know how and when to use navigational mechanisms built into all browsers such as the "Back" button and the "Go" menu.  You should know what a URL is and how to go to a specific web page given a particular web address. 

Note that the Navigation Frame at the top of all pages in this course is designed for use with Netscape's Navigator (version 4.05 and beyond).

System Administration Experience

If you plan to install the Directory Server in a working environment you should have substantial prior experience doing system administration tasks such as installing software, adding new users, trouble-shooting errors, etc.  On the other hand, if your primary expectation from this course is to get an overview of directory services you'll only need the basic web skills described above.