This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Reviewing the Domino Directory
Now let's review the Domino Directory. This section assumes that you set up your Notes client with a connection to a Domino server. If you set it up as a standalone client with no Domino server connection, your installation will not include a Domino Directory. For most users, however, the Domino Directory is available and contains information about other people and resources within your organization. Confusingly enough, this database is also named NAMES.NSF, but unlike your Personal Address Book, it is usually stored on the Domino server and accessed over the network.
To open the Domino Directory, follow these steps:
From the menu, select File, Database, Open, or click Ctrl+O.
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You will see the Open Database dialog box (see Figure 3.14). In the Server field, click the drop-down box and select your organization's main Domino server from the list.
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Figure 3.14 Open your company's address book, also called the Domino
Directory.
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Scroll down the list of databases and find an entry for your company's name with the phrase Directory. The filename for this database is typically names.nsf. Figure 3.14 has Intalgent's Directory selected.
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Click the Open button. Your screen should resemble Figure 3.15.
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Figure 3.15 The Domino Directory contains information about all the people
and servers in your domain, and much more.
NOTE
Beginning with Release 5, Lotus changed the name of the Domino Directory to become more consistent with the software industry. In Release 4, the Domino Directory was called the Public Names and Address Book. Typically, when you have lists of users, computers, and resources, this list is called a directory. Novell, for example, has Novell Directory Services (NDS), and Microsoft has something called an Active Directory.
The People section of the Domino Directory is probably the most useful section for end users. You can use this section as a sort of telephone book for other individuals within your company. The Groups section contains information that your administrator has set up to manage groupings by function (engineering, marketing, finance), by departments within these functions, by location, by managerial authority, or other criteria. Groups are also most useful for addressing electronic mail to a bunch of people at once.
A lot of information is contained under the Server section of the Domino Directory. This information is configured by the administrator and includes certificates (security authorizations), connections (how and when servers connect to each other), domains (logical groupings of servers and users), holidays (days you wish you had more of), and other parameters that administrators can tweak.
If you are a current administrator of a Notes/Domino system, the Domino Administrator provides a powerful user interface for managing your Domino environment. Read Parts VI, "Installing and Configuring the Domino Servers," and VII, "Administering the Domino Servers," for much more information about Domino servers.