After DIRBOTs process directory information, the processed information, served to the appropriate form for each directory in question, must be applied to the directory to be updated. This is the task of directory agents.

There are two or three aspects to configuring a directory agent. These can be thought of as establishing the directory agent, defining the parameters for communicating with and updating the directory in question, and in the case of generic LDIF directory agents (where there is no inherent mechanism for sending the directory update to the directory, that is, no programmatic interface to the directory) implementing the directory update via file transfer or the like.

Directory agents are implemented as PMDF channels, with different types of channels for different types of directory agents. Establishing a directory agent corresponds to adding the directory agent channel definition to the PMDF configuration file. Setting up the parameters for communicating with and updating the directory in question corresponds to setting options for the channel; different types of channels (different types of directory agents) will have different types of options relating to the capabilities of the directory in question.

Some types of directory agents have the ability to perform all necessary directory update steps themselves; for instance, LDAP directory agents use LDAP commands to update an LDAP or X.500 directory, or Lotus Notes directory agents send directory updates to Lotus Notes via a PMDF-LAN LN channel. However, other types of directories can require some site-specific customization for updating; for dealing with such directories, the generic LDIF directory agent is available. An LDIF directory agent creates a file of the information suitable for updating the directory in question, but it requires site customization to actually apply this update to the directory. Note that LDIF directory agents have a hook to run a site supplied procedure (which for instance can perform whatever site specific tasks are necessary for the actual update).

The different types of directory agents are each discussed in detail in the sections below.

Sites are expected to obtain consulting assistance for initial configuration of PMDF-DIRSYNC; please contact Process Software for details. The subsections below describe details of the DIRBOT configuration. After initially configuring, sites can further customize their PMDF-DIRSYNC configuration by manually adjusting options described below.