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OverviewIn early April of 1996 I gathered some technical information regarding the implementation and use of X.500 directory services from various components of the University of Texas System. The purpose of this was to familiarize myself with the X.500 system in general and more specifically to understand the hardware and systems administration requirements for running an X.500 server. I did not discuss policy issues except as they related to specific technical matters.My major finding was that the hardware requirements were not as heavy as I had been led to believe. At the time the directory service was initially discussed here at the Health Science Center it was generally believed that the software was a resource hog, and would require a computer of considerable size. It was revealed that with the improvements to the software and advances in computer capability in just a few years, it is possible to run X.500 services at an institution the size of UT Houston with server of reasonable size. I also found that installing and configuring the system is not greatly complicated, though it does require familiarity with protocols and software that are not common on the Internet and therefore not a part of the "Internet culture". SpecificsI spent two days visiting colleagues three UT components in Austin and San Antonio:
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