Archive for July, 2009

In a number of contexts, we hear about directory services plug-ins. A directory services plug-in is a way for a Mac OS X computer to leverage the DirectoryServices daemon to obtain account information (be it authentication or policy information) from a server. This might be an Active Directory server that uses the Active Directory Plug-in or an Open Directory server that uses LDAP. You disable plug-ins that you don't need and enable plug-ins (ie Active Directory plug-in or third party plug-ins) that you need in order to access directory services of various types.  These plug-ins are developed in the form of .dsplug files. The default plug-ins that Apple includes with Mac OS X are located in the /System/Library/Frameworks/DirectoryService.framework/Versions/A/Resources/Plugins folder in Mac OS X. Any .dsplug file stored in this directory will be loaded as a plug-in, assuming it matches the parameters laid out in the DirectoryServices API.