The Control Compliance Suite Directory Server stores information about business objects, preferences, and other information. In addition, the Control Compliance Suite Directory Server hosts the certificate authority for the Control Compliance Suite (CCS) system, and issues and validates certificates. Certificates are used to ensure secure communications between the Control Compliance Suite components.

The Directory Server includes the Management Service, the Directory Support Service, and the Certificate Management Console.

Some Control Compliance Suite components contact the Directory Server with no mediation. Other components use the Management Service and the Directory Support Service to communicate with the Directory Server. The Management Service also helps to manage certificates. The Certificate Management Console is used to create, store, and revoke certificates.

When you install the Control Compliance Suite, the Directory Server is installed on a server that you specify. If necessary, you can extend the default schema that ships with Control Compliance Suite. You must have local administrator-equivalent privileges when you install the Directory Server. The account you use for the Directory Server must be a local administrator-equivalent account on the computer that hosts the service. The account can be an Active Directory domain account or a local Windows user account.