How to Remove an OES Linux server from an eDirectory tree

OES2-Linux has a different method for removing eDirectory than most NetWare folks are used to.  Long gone is the familiar  NWCONFIG | Remove Directory Services menu options with all the appropriate warnings.  Backpedal to text-based interfaces.  Don’t get me wrong, I love text interfaces and it’s one of my biggest whines about Apple OSes.  But for NetWare folks, trying to find the quick and dirty method to remove a server from a tree so they can put it into another tree is mind-numbingly annoying.  Thus this blog post.  (And I promise to add screen captures to this post at a later date).

Here’s the step-by-step to remove a Linux server from a tree followed by how to add it to a new tree.

1. Make sure time is in sync on both trees:  ndsrepair –T
2. Verify the server being removed has no replicas on it: ndsrepair –P
3. Remove the server from the tree:  ndsconfig  rm  -a cn=admin.o=company
• NOTE: There is no need to stop the ndsd service as ndsconfig will do it for you
4. Use ConsoleOne or iManager to remove any remaining server related objects (average server will have somewhere around 12).

To add a server to an existing tree:

1. Using: ndsconfig  add -t treename –n servercontext  -S servername -a cn=admin.o=company gets you the error message of “This Operation is not Allowed in OES”
2. Use YAST2 | OES Install and Configuration  - make sure you have your OES media handy
3. Click accept, on the next screen you’ll notice all the options have “Reconfigure is disabled” next to each component.  Simply click on the word “disabled” to change it to “enabled” in order to reconfigure eDirectory (and any other components you may wish to change)
4. Click on eDirectory to enter the tree name, point to a server holding a replica, provide the needed credentials, input the context, NTP time servers, and configure SLP settings.

To create a new tree using the server:

1. Use YAST2 in the same fashion as above, but instead of selecting “Existing Tree”, select “New Tree” and the rest of the steps are the same.
2. If this is the first server in a new tree, you’ll want to make it an SLPDA now just to make your life easier.
3. Use an outside source for NTP Time Server such as us.pool.ntp.org