The directory kit (http://udell.roninhouse.com/examples/Directories.zip) includes the three modules presented in Chapter 11: Group:: SimpleGroup, Group::NtGroup, and Group::LdapGroup.

These aren’t full-featured modules, just illustrations of a way to abstract different kinds of directory services. The idea is that you can build something simple using the Perl-only module, then scale up to a real directory when (or if) that becomes necessary.

To use Group::Simple, you’ll need the CPAN Perl module Data::Dumper.

To use Group::NtGroup, you’ll need the Microsoft ADSI kit (see http://www.microsoft.com/windows/server/Technical/directory/adsilinks.asp). This module will, therefore, work only on Win32 systems.

To use Group::LdapGroup, you’ll need the CPAN Perl module Net::LDAP. Group::LdapGroup is specific to a particular LDAP server—namely, Netscape’s. You can get an evaluation copy of that server at http://download.netscape.com/.

To use one of these modules, locate it somewhere on Perl’s @INC path. For example, on my NT box, the possible locations are the current directory, c:ActivePerllib, and c:ActivePerlsitelib.