Specialized Administration > Info*Engine Administration > Performing Info*Engine Administration Activities > Using the Property Administration Utility
  
Using the Property Administration Utility
This section describes the Info*Engine Property Administration utility. The Property Administration utility automates the functionality that the ie.properties file handled in previous Info*Engine releases.
* 
The current ie.properties file is a resource file that is used to identify where the Info*Engine LDAP entries reside. For additional information, see About the ie.properties File.
Info*Engine is configured through LDAP entries. The Property Administration utility can create, modify, or delete Info*Engine service, adapter, or property set configurations and forms. It can also set LDAP attributes on entries for Info*Engine components and adapters.
If you are using Windchill, the LDAP directory service is the primary source of information for users, groups, and some infrastructure information. Directory-enabled administration has the following advantages:
It allows a single user to authenticate across the enterprise with the same authentication information. The information is authenticated against a common, shared directory service, and eliminates the need to create and maintain separate user names and passwords for the same user in each enterprise application.
You can use a public key infrastructure. LDAP directories make public keys easy to access and maintain. This allows the secure exchange of business data using digital signature technology within and between enterprises. Public keys can be registered in a user directory entry with all other descriptive user information.
The Windchill Directory Server LDAP directory comes bundled with Windchill and is used to hold infrastructure data such as Info*Engine configuration information, Windchill task delegates, and information repositories.
The scalability of LDAP directories provides the following advantages:
Allows configuration properties to be registered in an LDAP directory instead of being defined in static properties files. This makes properties easier to share across systems. You can browse, update, create, and delete property values from directory-based administrative clients that run on any directory-enabled system in the network.
Enables the naming service to dynamically register new services or adapters. Dynamically registering components eliminates the need to restart the naming service every time you add a new service, adapter, or property set.