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Summary

This specification outlines the functionalities, features of the Ubuntu Domain Management Server (UDMS) tool. This is highly under development and the specification will be updated as and when the development progresses.

Rationale

Ubuntu Domain Management Server(UDMS) is a Tool to centrally manage your LDAP Domain providing the Services and Features that keeps your Server environment Reliable and Automated

Below are the few features of UDMS,

• Display all Domain Users, Groups and Computers belonging to the Domain
• Provide features like,
  • Asset Management
  • Hardware
  • Software
• Software Distribution
• Software Installation, Uninstallation,Upgrades
• Distribute Updates across various Clients of the Domain
• Reporting
• Provide a Rich User Interface

Use cases

• System Administrator wants to Install Open Office in one of the Computers in the Information Sciences department but the Administrator is at the ITS department.
• A request comes from the Computer Science department to upgrade the Systems to 2 GB of RAM if they have not been upgraded.Is there an easy way for the Administrator to immediately respond giving how many systems need to be upgraded ?
• Install Software for a particular set of Computers or Collections of Computer at the same time in a Domain
• Install Software for a set of Users or Groups in a Domain

Implementation

UDMS will reuse some of the various already available applications in Ubuntu and integrate to build a robust product. Some of the already existing applications would be,

• EasyLDAPServer

• FeistyNetworkAuthentication

• NetworkWideUpdates

• Sabayon

• GConf

UDMS will also have Custom LDAP schema for the various features it implements and stores the information into the LDAP Server itself.

UDMS operates in an Agent and Server Model

• Agents will be installed in each of the Clients of the Domain
• Agents will interact with the Server through a common protocol
• The Server sends requests to Agents and Agents respond the request

The Server Module

The Server manages all the Operations on the Domain and also instruct Agents on what jobs they should do. The Server Module is further divided into,

• UI Module
• UDMS Features Module
  • Asset Management Module
    • Hardware Module
      • Collect the Hardware Information from the Client Computers
      • Update the LDAP Schema
      • Information is collected when the Action is initiated by the User or triggered by the Scheduler
    • Software Module
      • Collect the Software Information from the Client Computers
      • Update the LDAP Schema
      • Information is collected when the Action is initiated by the User or triggered by the Scheduler
  • Software Distribution Module
    • Distribute Software across the Domain
    • A common Software Source Point (SSP) is to be defined where the Software Sources will be archived for the distribution
    • Software is distributed when the action is initiated or triggered by the scheduler
  • Reporting Module
    • Build a robust reporting module to display the domain information and search against queries to look up informations of hardware, software across the Domain.
• Network Module
  • Sender
    • Any data sent from the Server is sent through this module
  • Receiver
    • Any data received by the Server is received through this module
• Security Module
  • Authentication
    • This module allows the Domain Administrator to sign into UDMS and also helps to authenticate Clients in the Domain.
  • Encryption
    • Any data sent over the network to the agents should be encrypted
  • Decryption
    • Any data received over the network from the agents should be decrypted
• LDAP Module
  • This module is used to fetch the information about the LDAP Domain from the specified LDAP Server
  • This module handles all the LDAP operations

The Agent Module

The Agent resides in the Client Computer and fetches the information for the UDMS as per the UDMS's request. The Agent Module is further divided into,

• Individual Agents Module
  • Asset Management agent module
    • Hardware agent
      • This module collects the local client machine's Hardware information when instructed by UDMS
    • Software agent
      • This module collects the local client machine's Software information when instructed by UDMS
  • Software Distribution agent module
    • This module installs the Software as instructed by UDMS
    • The agent looks for the Software Sources as specified by the UDMS which is the Software Source Point (SSP)
• Network Module
  • Sender
    • Any data sent from the Agent is sent through this module
  • Receiver
    • Any data received by the Agent is received through this module
• Security Module
  • Authentication
    • This module allows the Agents to get authenticated with the UDMSf
  • Encryption
    • Any data sent over the network to UDMS should be encrypted
  • Decryption
    • Any data received over the network from the UDMS should be decrypted

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