<s>
Ganymede	B-Language
is	O
an	O
open	O
source	O
network	O
directory	O
management	O
framework	O
,	O
designed	O
to	O
allow	O
administrator	O
teams	O
to	O
collaboratively	O
manage	O
subsets	O
of	O
an	O
organization	O
's	O
directory	O
services	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
NIS	B-Operating_System
,	O
DNS	B-Protocol
,	O
Active	B-Protocol
Directory	I-Protocol
/	O
LDAP	B-Protocol
,	O
DHCP	B-Protocol
,	O
and	O
RADIUS	B-Protocol
,	O
among	O
others	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
First	O
announced	O
and	O
released	O
at	O
the	O
1998	O
USENIX	B-Operating_System
LISA	O
conference	O
,	O
Ganymede	B-Language
has	O
been	O
under	O
public	O
development	O
and	O
use	O
since	O
then	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Ganymede	B-Language
uses	O
a	O
central	O
server	O
which	O
supports	O
clients	O
connecting	O
via	O
Java	B-Language
RMI	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Ganymede	B-Language
server	O
maintains	O
a	O
transactional	O
object	O
graph	O
database	O
of	O
network	O
information	O
such	O
as	O
user	O
objects	O
,	O
group	O
objects	O
,	O
system	O
objects	O
,	O
network	O
objects	O
,	O
etc	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Users	O
and	O
administrators	O
run	O
Ganymede	B-Language
clients	O
(	O
GUI	O
or	O
XML	B-Protocol
based	O
)	O
to	O
create	O
,	O
modify	O
,	O
or	O
delete	O
objects	O
in	O
the	O
database	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Whenever	O
a	O
user	O
commits	O
a	O
transaction	O
,	O
the	O
Ganymede	B-Language
server	O
schedules	O
a	O
number	O
of	O
background	O
threads	O
to	O
write	O
out	O
updated	O
network	O
source	O
files	O
and	O
run	O
whatever	O
system	O
scripts	O
are	O
required	O
to	O
propagate	O
the	O
new	O
data	O
into	O
the	O
managed	O
network	O
directory	O
services	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Ganymede	B-Language
server	O
is	O
meant	O
to	O
be	O
programmed	O
by	O
the	O
adopter	O
,	O
who	O
can	O
define	O
arbitrary	O
object	O
data	O
types	O
along	O
with	O
custom	O
logic	O
to	O
interact	O
with	O
the	O
user	O
through	O
the	O
GUI	O
and	O
to	O
maintain	O
consistency	O
within	O
and	O
between	O
objects	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Adopters	O
can	O
also	O
create	O
custom	O
tasks	O
which	O
can	O
be	O
executed	O
at	O
specified	O
times	O
by	O
the	O
internal	O
Ganymede	B-Language
scheduler	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Ganymede	B-Language
has	O
an	O
elaborate	O
XML	B-Protocol
data	O
format	O
which	O
can	O
be	O
used	O
to	O
import	O
and	O
export	O
the	O
server	O
's	O
object	O
database	O
schema	O
and	O
object	O
data	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Importing	O
XML	B-Protocol
will	O
typically	O
result	O
in	O
the	O
creation	O
,	O
modification	O
,	O
or	O
deletion	O
of	O
database	O
objects	O
,	O
and	O
will	O
trigger	O
one	O
or	O
more	O
network	O
directory	O
service	O
rebuilds	O
just	O
as	O
using	O
the	O
GUI	O
client	O
would	O
do	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Above	O
all	O
,	O
Ganymede	B-Language
is	O
designed	O
around	O
administration	O
teams	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
a	O
programmable	O
framework	O
,	O
Ganymede	B-Language
must	O
be	O
programmed	O
for	O
a	O
specific	O
set	O
of	O
directory	O
management	O
tasks	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Fundamental	O
Generic	O
Networking	O
in	O
Germany	O
has	O
used	O
it	O
as	O
the	O
basis	O
of	O
their	O
Doctor	O
DNS	B-Protocol
project	O
,	O
which	O
is	O
being	O
used	O
to	O
manage	O
DNS	B-Protocol
for	O
the	O
Kaiserslautern	O
University	O
of	O
Technology	O
.	O
</s>
