[TriLUG] New Server Question, Part I - LDAP

[Warren Weber]

Pardon the start of a series of questions, but I have just rebuilt a 
server to support our general household as well as providing a 
technical sandbox for myself and technically inclined spouse.

The new server is openSUSE 10.3 (chosen because that is what my 
spouse's company has standardized on).  It will serve as our domain's 
Web, mail, and applications server.  At this point I am starting to set 
up the Postfix mail server portion.  Out of the box, it wants to connect 
to an LDAP server (reading on alt.os.linux.suse, I understand that is 
not required).  Now, my spouse's company uses LDAP (altough 
they're a TAD bit bigger than my setup) and she thinks it would be A 
Good Idea to have one here too.  Being totally unfamiliar with LDAP, I 
come to y'all for some enlightenment.

So, my questions ...

- Would it be a good idea to have an LDAP server at home?
- What can I do other than with LDAP other than make Postfix happy 
(ultimately, there will be more computers, both UNIX and Windoze, on 
our home network that could use it)?
- Would LDAP adminstration be a good skill for someone (me) to 
have?

Many thanks!
Warren

-- 

I know there’s money in horses. I put it there!

Warren Weber
wrweber at hufta.net
http://www.hufta.net