Thanks a bunch Christine. Sorry for being lazy - I should have added it myself. This release is taking me forever this time though. I guess I am loosing my touch.
Alex On 4/5/07, Christine Koppelt <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
I expanded the first section a bit and added it to the "Architectural Overview" page of the AUG (http://directory.apache.org/apacheds/1.0/architectural-overview.html). Further comments or contributions are welcome :-) Christine 2007/4/5, Trustin Lee <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > Sounds very good! > > Trustin > > On 4/5/07, Alex Karasulu <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > To clarify from previous threads ... > > > > Definition > > ------------- > > > > A partition is a physically distinct store for a subset of the entries > > contained within a DSA (Directory Server/Service Agent A.K.A the LDAP > > server). The entries of a partition all share the same suffix which is the > > distinguished name of the namingContext from which the stored entries in the > > partition are hung from the DIT. A partition can be implemented using any > > storage mechanism or can even be backed in memory. A partition simply has > > to implement the Partition ( 1.5) interface and by doing so can be mounted > > in the server at it's suffix/namingContext. > > > > The server can have any number of partitions (with any implementation) > > attached to various namingContexts which are published by the RootDSE (empty > > string dn "") using the namingContexts operational attribute. So if you > > want to see the partitions served by the server you can query the RootDSE > > for this information. > > > > Motivation For Terminology > > ------------------------------------ > > > > I decided to use the term Partition to denote this structure in the server > > rather than use the term backend. Why? Well to me the backend is > > everything after the protocol which is basically all of the core. The > > frontend is the MINA based LDAP protocol service provider. Another reason > > for this choice was the fact that a partition is a separate physical store > > that separates a subset of the entries. It partitions the DIT, the > > namespace hence the term "partition" made sense to me. > > > > Another crazy reason for this comes from my days as a Linux system developer > > while writing device drivers (ahhh those were the days). Anyways I really > > like to parallel the concepts of the Linux file system terminology since it > > is almost exactly the same concept but in another domain. Basically file > > system partitions which can be backed by any kind of random access store can > > be mounted at mount points on the file system. To me the mount point is > > analogous to the namingContext used to hang the entries stored therein off > > the DIT (here I'm relating entries to files). Note this analogy does > > breakdown in some places but over all it's a descent analogy which warranted > > using the name Partition rather than Backend. > > > > Alex > > > > > > > -- > what we call human nature is actually human habit > -- > http://gleamynode.net/ > -- > PGP Key ID: 0x0255ECA6 >
