Domain Services for Windows (DSfW) is a suite of technologies in Open Enterprise Server that allows Microsoft Windows users to access OES services through native Windows and Active Directory protocols. By allowing OES servers to behave as if they were Active Directory servers, this technology enables companies with Active Directory and NetIQ eDirectory deployments to achieve better coexistence between the two platforms. Users can work in a pure Windows desktop environment and still take advantage of some OES back-end services and technology, without the need for a Client for Open Enterprise Server on the desktop.
Administrators can use either iManager or Microsoft Management Console (MMC) to administer users and groups. Network administrators manage file systems using the native tools of each server, and they can also centrally administer Samba shares on OES / DSfW servers by using iManager.
Administrators can use MMC to create inter-domain trusts between DSfW domains and Active Directory domains.
Users can access Storage Services (NSS) volumes on Linux servers by using Samba shares or NTFS files on Windows servers that use CIFS shares. eDirectory users can also access shares in trusted Active Directory forests.
Domain Services for Windows is not a meta-directory or a synchronization connector between eDirectory and Active Directory. It does not do desktop emulation. Domain Services for Windows can only run on SUSE Linux Enterprise deployments of Open Enterprise Server 2 and later.