"The LDAP Guys."

Netscape DS 6.21 vs CDS Silver

10,000 Entry LDIF Scenario

The question has often been asked, "Which Directory Server is the best to run?" While the answer is not black & white, this report gives an indication of how the two products tested behave in real world scenarios. This report is one of a series that look at performance rates between OpenLDAP and a competing Directory Server.

For this report we used a Sun V210 running Solaris 8, as that is the long-standing native OS for Netscape Directory Server. Netscape has a long history, being one of the first commercially successful Directory Servers. It later became iPlanet through an arrangement with Sun Microsystems. Netscape and Sun parted ways, creating two branches, SunOne Directory Service, and the new Netscape 6.x series. As SunOne has not been updated for quite some time, one can expect that it would perform no better than Netscape, and potentially not as well.

For quick study, the results are listed first. A detailed explanation as to the Directory Server configuration follows the results.

Graphical Messaging Test Results
Graphical Addressing Test Results
Graphical Bulk Loading & Indexing Time Results

Summary of Test Results

1. Netscape DS and CDS perform with near-equivalent efficiency in the single client messaging tests.
2. CDS strongly outperforms Netscape DS in all other tests.
3. It must be noted that CDS uses a more advanced database than NDS, which leads to greater data reliability.

Messaging Tests

Messaging Test with 1 client querying

Messaging Test with 10 clients querying

Addressing Tests

Addressing Test with 1 client querying

Addressing Test with 10 clients querying

Bulk Load & Indexing

Bulk Load Test with Indexing

Directory Server Configuration

CDS & Netscape DS were configured as identically as possible.

Setting	NDS	CDS
Database Cachesize	384 MB	384 MB
Database Entry Memory Cachesize	384 MB	N/A
Entry Cachesize	10,000	10,000
IDL Cachesize	N/A	30,000
Access Logging	Disabled	Disabled
Indexing	Identical for NDS & CDS