It's a reality that a lot of companies and organizations are deploying numerous directory services in their system and even if this seemed to be an effective operational practice, this actually has some downside into it. To begin with, it could lead to spreading the user identity information across the different directory repositories. As a result of this, it becomes challenging for a business once they attempt to set up enterprise applications to the users which are present in these directories. The top solution for this is the use of virtual directory.

So how does a directory helps in resolving this problem? Basically, a directory works by providing a single consolidated view of information from the multiple directories. In fact, data can be joined in real time and this can be done without having to duplicate or replicate LDAP objects. Furthermore, the directory server can also merge these information that come from LDAP directories and SQL databases.

The best factor about using a directory in your environment is it is developed to integrate with tightly and leverage the existing investment being made in Active Directory and Microsoft infrastructure. This means that it is written completely in Microsoft .NET managed code and includes seamlessly, extending the functionality of AD and provides the directory, LDAP proxy and firewall that organizations require. When it comes to selecting the best directory you can use for your organization, it's important to make sure that you get a product totally certified on Windows Server 2003 as well as 2008. The best thing about using this on your environment is it helps in eliminating the need to extend the AD or Active Directory schema for the third party applications. The data and schema is saved and placed in the virtual layer which will then be applied automatically to items in real time. With this also, any custom schema or third party schema can be applied within the directory and not in the Active Directory. This results into the reduction of any difficulty of custom schema.

There are definitely a lot of advantages that using this virtual directory can provide to your organization. Aside from providing a merged view in real time of multiple information shops, it also helps organizations get rid of getting to expand the AD schema for applications. In addition to that, custom third party schema as well as information is saved at the virtual layer. So if your organization deploys not only one but multiple directory services, it is advised to make use of virtual directory to get consolidated view of information from these different directory repositories.