Mastering OpenLDAP: Configuring, Securing and Integrating Directory Services

Table of Contents

Mastering OpenLDAP

Credits

About the Author

About the Reviewers

Preface

What This Book Covers

What You Need for This Book

Conventions

Reader Feedback

Customer Support

Downloading the Example Code for the Book

Errata

Questions

1. Directory Servers and LDAP

LDAP Basics

What is a Directory?

The Structure of a Directory Entry

A Unique Name: The DN

An Example LDAP Entry

The Object Class Attribute

Operational Attributes

The Directory Information Tree

What to Do with an LDAP Server

The History of LDAP and OpenLDAP

A Technical Overview of OpenLDAP

The Server

Clients

Utilities

Libraries

Summary

2. Installation and Configuration

Before Getting Started

OpenLDAP Binaries for Operating Systems

Commercial OpenLDAP Distribution

Source Code Compilation

A Quick Note on Versions

Installation

Dependencies

Installing OpenLDAP

Configuring the SLAPD Server

Basics

Schemas

More Directives

Module Directives

Database Configuration

ACLs

Verifying a Configuration File

Starting and Stopping the Server

Using the Init Script

Running SLAPD Directly

Configuring the LDAP Clients

A Basic ldap.conf File

Size and Time Limits

Testing the Server

Summary

3. Using OpenLDAP

A Brief Survey of the LDAP Suite

LDAP from the Server Side

SLAPD

The Binding Operation

The Search Operation

More Operations: Additions, Modifications, and Deletions

The Addition Operation

The Modification Operation

The Delete Operation

Infrequent Operations

The ModifyDN Operation

The Compare Operation

The Extended Operation

SLAPD Summary

SLURPD

Creating Directory Data

The LDIF File Format

Anatomy of an LDIF File

Representing Attribute Values in LDIF

Example.Com in LDIF

Defining the Base DN Record

Structuring the Directory with Organizational Units

Theory 1: Directory as Organizational Chart

Theory 2: Directory as IT Service

Expressing the OUs in LDIF

Adding User Records

Adding System Records

Adding Group Records

The Complete LDIF File

Using the Utilities to Prepare the Directory

slapadd

When Should slapadd be Used?

What Does slapadd Do?

Loading the LDIF File

Stopping the Server

Running ldapadd in Test Mode

Importing the Records Using slapadd

Restarting the Directory

If Something Went Wrong...

Destroying and Recreating the Directory Files

slapindex

slapcat

Operational Attributes

slapacl

slapauth

slapdn

slappasswd

Storing and Using Passwords in OpenLDAP

Generating a Password with slappasswd

slaptest

Performing Directory Operations Using the Clients

Common Command-Line Flags

Common Flags

Setting Defaults in ldap.conf

ldapsearch

A Simple Search

Restricting Returned Fields

Requesting Operational Attributes

Searching Using a File

ldapadd

Adding Records from a File

ldapmodify

Adding a Record with ldapmodify

Modifying Existing Records

Modifying the Relative DN

Moving a Record with modrdn

Deleting Entire Records

ldapdelete

ldapcompare

ldapmodrdn

Modifying the Superior DN with ldapmodrdn

ldappasswd

ldapwhoami

Summary

4. Securing OpenLDAP

LDAP Security: The Three Aspects

Securing Network-Based Directory Connections with SSL/TLS

The Basics of SSL and TLS

Authenticity

Encryption

StartTLS

Creating an SSL/TLS CA

Creating a Certificate

Creating a New Certificate Request

Signing the Certificate Request

Configuring and Installing the Certificates

Remove the Pass Phrase from the Key

Relocate the Certificates

Install the CA Certificate

Optional: Clean Up

Configuring StartTLS

Configuring Client TLS

Configuring LDAPS

Debugging with the OpenSSL Client

Using Security Strength Factors

The security Directive

A Fine-Grained security Directive

Authenticating Users to the Directory

Simple Binding

Using an Authentication User for Simple Binding

SASL Binding

Configuring Cyrus SASL

The SASL Configuration File

Setting a User Password

Configuring SLAPD for SASL Support

Using a Replacement String in authz-regexp

Using a Search Filter in authz-regexp

A Note on ACLs and Search Filters

Failure of Mapping

Removing the Need to Specify the Realm

Debugging the SASL Configuration

Using Client SSL/TLS Certificates to Authenticate

Creating a New Client Certificate

Configuring the Client

Configuring the Server

Testing with ldapwhoami

Going Further with SASL

Controlling Authorization with ACLs

The Basics of ACLs

Access to [resources]

Access using DN

Access using attrs

Access using Filters

Combining Access Specifiers

By [who] [type of access granted] [control]

The Access Field

The who Field

The * and anonymous Specifiers

The self Specifier

The users Specifier

The dn Specifier

Groups and Members

Member-Based Record Access

Network, Connections, and Security

Advanced Step: Using the set Specifier

The control Field

Getting More from Regular Expressions

Debugging ACLs

A Practical Example

Summary

5. Advanced Configuration

Multiple Database Backends

The slapd.conf File

Creating and Importing a Second Directory

Performance Tuning

Performance Directives

Global Directives

Time Limits

Idle Timeouts

Size Limits

Threads

Directives in the Database Section

Limits

Read-only and Restrict Directives

Index (BDB/HDB Backends Only)

Controlling the Cache (BDB/HDB Only)

Reducing Disk I/O Latency (BDB/HDB Only)

The DB_CONFIG File

Setting the Cache Size

Configuring the Data Directory

Optimizing BDB/HDB Transaction Logging

Tuning Lock Files

More about Berkeley DB

Directory Overlays

A Brief Tour of the Official Overlays

Configuring an Overlay: denyop

Loading the module

Adding the Overlay

Adding Overlay-Specific Directives

Referential Integrity Overlay

Configuring the Overlay

Modifying the Records

Drawbacks

A Useful Note

The Uniqueness Overlay

Summary

6. LDAP Schemas

Introduction to LDAP Schemas

Why Do They Look So Complicated?

Schema Definitions

Object Classes and Attributes

Object Class Definitions

Attribute Definitions

Object Identifier Definitions

DIT Content Rules

Retrieving the Schemas from SLAPD

The ObjectClass Hierarchy

Attribute Hierarchies

Subordinate Attributes and Searching

Object Class Types: Abstract, Structural, and Auxiliary

The Object Class Hierarchy: An Overview

Abstract Classes

Structural Object Classes

Auxiliary Object Classes

Moving Onward

Schemas: Accesslog and Password Policy Overlays

Logging with the Accesslog Overlay

Loading the accesslog Module

Configuring the Access Log Backend

Creating A Directory for the Access Log Files

Enabling Logging for the Main Backend

The Log Records

Implementing a Complex Overlay: Password Policy

Setting the Global Directives in slapd.conf: Schema and Module

Creating a Password Policy

Configure the Overlay Directives

Test the Overlay

Password Policy Operational Attributes

Summary of ppolicy Operational Attributes

Creating a Schema

Getting an OID

Giving Our OID a Name

Creating Object Classes

Creating Attributes

Loading the New Schema

Troubleshooting Schema Loading

A New Record

Summary

7. Multiple Directories

Replication: An Overview

SyncRepl

Configuring SyncRepl

Configuring the Master Server

Creating a SyncRepl User

Configuring the Shadow Server

The syncrepl Directive

Configuring a Referral

Starting Replication

For Larger Directories...

Delta SyncRepl

The Master Server's Configuration

The Shadow Server's Configuration

Debugging SyncRepl

Starting Over

Strategic Logging

A Few Common Mistakes

Configuring an LDAP Proxy

Using the LDAP Backend

Using Identity Management Features

Turning the Simple Proxy into a Caching Proxy

Notes on the Attribute Sets and Templates

A Translucent Proxy

Summary

8. LDAP and the Web

The LDAP-Aware Application

Apache and LDAP

A Short Guide to Installing Apache

Configuring LDAP Authentication

Loading the Modules

Editing the default Configuration File

The Directory Section—Apache 2.2

Changes in Apache 2.0

Other Features of the Require Parameter

phpLDAPadmin

Prerequisites

Installing phpLDAPadmin

Is Your Package Broken?

Configuring phpLDAPadmin

A Basic Look at Configuration Parameters

Setting a variable

Calling a function

Setting an Array Value

Configuring the LDAP Server Settings

A First Look at phpLDAPadmin

Navigating phpLDAPadmin

Viewing and Modifying a Record

Adding a New Record

Searching with phpLDAPadmin

Summary

A. Building OpenLDAP from Source

Why Build from Source?

Getting the Code

The Tools for Compiling

Build Tools

Installing Dependencies

Compiling OpenLDAP

Configuring

Building with make

Installation

Building Everything

Summary

B. LDAP URLs

The LDAP URL

Common Uses of LDAP URLs

Not all LDAP URLs are for Searching

For More Information on LDAP URLs...

Summary

C. Useful LDAP Commands

Getting Information about the Directory

The Root DSE

The Subschema Record

The Configuration Record

Making a Directory Backup

A Backup Copy of the Directory Database

An LDIF Backup File

Rebuilding a Database (BDB, HDB)

Step 1: Stop the Server

Step 2: Dump the Database

Step 3: Delete the Old Database Files

Step 4: Create a New Database

Step 5: Restart SLAPD

Troubleshooting Rebuilds

Summary

Index

Mastering OpenLDAP

Matt Butcher

Mastering OpenLDAP

Copyright © 2007 Packt Publishing

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First published: August 2007

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Credits

Author

Matt Butcher

Reviewers

Aaron Richton

George K Thiruvathukal

Quanah Gibson-Mount

Development Editor

Douglas Paterson

Assistant Development Editor

Nikhil Bangera

Technical Editor

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Editorial Manager

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Project Manager

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Project Coordinator

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Indexer

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Proofreader

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Production Coordinator

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Cover Designer

Shantanu Zagade

About the Author

Matt Butcher is the principal consultant for Aleph-Null, Inc., a systems integrator that specializes in Free and Open Source solutions. He is also a member of the Emerging Technologies Lab at Loyola University Chicago, where he is currently finishing a Ph.D. in philosophy. Matt has written two other books for Packt: Managing and Customizing OpenCms 6 Websites (ISBN: 978-1-904811-76-3), and Building Websites with OpenCms (ISBN: 1-904811-04-3). Matt has also contributed articles to Newsforge.com, TheServerSide.com, and LinuxDevices.com.

Anyone who actively works with Free and Open Source software knows that any good project is the result of the contributions of a wide variety of people. I hope it is evident in this book that I have taken this lesson to heart. I would like to thank Bob Krumland for introducing me to LDAP in 1997. I owe a great debt of gratitude to Quanah Gibson-Mount and Aaron Richton, who both generously lent their technical expertise to make this a better book. I would like to thank Jon Hodge for his time and assistance. Also, I’d like to thank Mark Patterson, Paul Beam, George Peavy, Ed Mattson, and Kevin Reilly. And thanks to the members of the Emerging Technology Lab at Loyola University, especially George Thiruvathukal for his comments. The members of the OpenLDAP mailing list have been tremendously helpful, especially Kurt Zeilenga, Howard Chu, Pierangelo Masarati, and Aaron Richton. And, of course, thanks to Claire, Anna, and Angie for their continual support, encouragement, and crayon-colored pictures.

About the Reviewers

Aaron Richton is a Systems Administrator for the Rutgers University campus in New Brunswick/Piscataway, NJ. He has used OpenLDAP since the 2.1 series. The OpenLDAP servers he administers are responsible for the authentication of over 60,000 accounts. Richton holds degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering and Computer Science from the Rutgers University School of Engineering.

George K. Thiruvathukal Ph.D. is an associate professor of computer science at Loyola University Chicago, where he directs the departmental computing and infrastructure. He has held positions in industry (at Fortune 500 companies such as R.R. Donnelley and Sons and Tellabs, both in the Chicago area) and in academia, including the Illinois Institute of Technology and Argonne National Laboratory. He has co-authored two books on advanced software development for Prentice Hall PTR and Sun Microsystems press, including High-Performance Java Platform Computing: Threads and Networking (see http://hpjpc.googlecode.com) and Web Programming in Python (see http://slither.googlecode.com). His research interests include parallel/distributed systems, programming languages/paradigms/patterns, and experimental computing. His teaching interests include most of the modern computer science curriculum and computing history. For more information, see http://www.cs.luc.edu/gkt.

Quanah Gibson-Mount graduated from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks with a B.S. in Computer Science. Quanah has been working with OpenLDAP since the early stages of the OpenLDAP 2.1 release. He is currently a Principal Software Engineer with Zimbra, Inc, where he focuses on OpenLDAP configuration and Release Engineering. He is also the release engineer for the OpenLDAP project, and in his spare (paid for) time teaches classes on LDAP and OpenLDAP for Symas Corp. Prior to his employment with Zimbra, Quanah worked at Stanford University, where one of his primary tasks was that of Directory Architect.

I'd like to thank my wife Karen for all of her support in these 
many endeavors.

Preface

The OpenLDAP directory server is a mature product that has been around (in one form or another) since 1995. All of the major Linux distributions include the OpenLDAP server, and many major applications, both Open Source and proprietary, are directory aware, and can make use of the services provided by OpenLDAP. And yet the OpenLDAP server seems to be shrouded in mystery, known and understood only by the gurus and hackers. This book is meant not only to demystify OpenLDAP, but to give the system administrator and software developer a solid understanding of how to make use, in the practical realm, of OpenLDAP’s directory services.

OpenLDAP is an Open Source server that provides network clients with directory services. The directory server can be used to store organizational information in a centralized location, and make this information available to authorized applications. Client applications can connect to OpenLDAP using the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP). They can then search the directory and (if they have appropriate access) modify and manipulate records in the directory. LDAP servers are most frequently used to provide network-based authentication services for users. But there are many other uses for an LDAP, including using the directory as an address book, a DNS database, an organizational tool, or even as a network object store for applications. We will look at some of these uses in this book.

The goal of this book is to prepare a system administrator or software developer for building a directory using OpenLDAP, and then employing this directory in the context of the network. To that end, this book will take a practical approach, emphasizing how to get things done. On occasion, we will delve into theoretical aspects of LDAP, but such discussions will only occur where understanding the theory helps us answer practical questions.

What This Book Covers

In Chapter 1 we look at general concepts of directory servers and LDAP, cover the history of LDAP and the lineage of the OpenLDAP server, and finish up with a technical overview of OpenLDAP.

The next set of chapters focus on building directory services with OpenLDAP, and we take a close look at the OpenLDAP server in these chapters.

Chapter 2 begins with the process of installing OpenLDAP on a GNU/Linux server. Once we have the server installed, we do the basic post-installation configuration necessary to have the server running.

Chapter 3 covers the basic use of the OpenLDAP server. We use the OpenLDAP command-line tools to add records to our new directory, search the directory, and modify records. This chapter introduces many of the key concepts involved in working with LDAP data.

Chapter 4 covers security, including handling authentication to the directory, configuring Access Control Lists (ACLs), and securing network-based directory connections with Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and Transport Layer Security (TLS).

Chapter 5 deals with advanced configuration of the OpenLDAP server. Here, we take a close look at the various backend database options and also look at performance tuning settings, as well as the recently introduced technology of directory overlays.

Chapter 6 focuses on extending the directory structure by creating and implementing LDAP schemas. Schemas provide a procedure for defining new attributes and structures to extend the directory and provide records tailor-made to your needs.

Chapter 7 focuses on directory replication and different ways of getting directory servers to interoperate over a network. OpenLDAP can replicate its directory contents from a master server to any number of subordinate servers. In this chapter, we set up a replication process between two servers.

Chapter 8 deals with configuring other tools to interoperate with OpenLDAP. We begin with the Apache web server, using LDAP as a source of authentication and authorization. Next, we install phpLDAPadmin, a web-based program for managing directory servers. Then we look at the main features, and do some custom tuning.

The appendices include a step-by-step guide to building OpenLDAP from source (Appendix A), a guide to using LDAP URLs (Appendix B), and a compendium of useful LDAP client commands (Appendix C).

What You Need for This Book

To get the most from this book, you will need the OpenLDAP server software, as well as the client command-line utilities. These are all freely available (as Open Source software) in source code form from http://openldap.org. However, you may prefer to use the version of OpenLDAP provided by your particular Linux or UNIX distribution.

While OpenLDAP will run on Linux, various versions of UNIX, MacOS X, and Windows 2000 and so on, the examples in this book use the Linux operating system.

Since the basic LDAP tools are command-line applications, you will need basic knowledge of getting around in a Linux/UNIX shell environment. The book does not cover the network protocol in detail, and it is assumed that the reader has a basic understanding of client-server network models. It is also assumed that the reader has a basic understanding of the structure of web and email services.

Conventions

In this book you will find a number of styles of text that distinguish between different kinds of information. Here are some examples of these styles, and an explanation of their meaning.

There are three styles for code. Code words in text are shown as follows: The telephoneNumber attribute has two values, each representing a different phone number.

A block of code will be set as follows:

########

# ACLs #

########

access to attrs=userPassword

      by anonymous auth

      by self write

      by * none

When we wish to draw your attention to a particular part of a code block, the relevant lines or items will be made bold:

directory /var/lib/ldap

# directory /usr/local/var/openldap-data

index objectClass sub,eq

index cn sub,eq

Any command-line input and output is written as follows:

  $ sudo slaptest -v -f /etc/ldap/slapd.conf

New terms and important words are introduced in a bold-type font. Words that you see on the screen, in menus or dialog boxes for example, appear in our text like this: Clicking the Advanced Search Form link at the top of the simple search screen will load a search screen with more options.

Note

Important notes appear in a box like this.

Tip

Tips and tricks appear like this.

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Chapter 1. Directory Servers and LDAP

In this first chapter, we will cover the basics of LDAP. While most of the chapters in this book take a practical hands-on approach, this first chapter is higher-level and introductory in nature. We will get introduced to directory servers and LDAP, including commonly-used directory terminology. We will also see how the OpenLDAP server fits into the directory landscape, where it came from, and how it works. Here are the main topics covered in this chapter:

The basics of LDAP directories

The history of LDAP and the OpenLDAP server

A technical overview of the OpenLDAP server

LDAP Basics

The term LDAP stands for Lightweight Directory Access Protocol. As the name indicates, LDAP was originally designed to be a network protocol that provided an alternative form of access to existing directory servers, but as the idea of LDAP—and the technologies surrounding it—matured, the term LDAP became synonymous with a specific type of directory architecture. We use the term LDAP when referring to directory services that comply with that architecture, as defined in the LDAP specifications.

Note

LDAP is standardized. The body of LDAP standards, including the network protocols, the directory structure, and the services provided by an LDAP server, are all available in the form of RFCs (Requests For Comments). Throughout this book, I will reference specific LDAP RFCs as authoritative sources of information about LDAP.

The current version of LDAP is LDAP v.3 (version 3), a standard developed in 1997 as RFC 2251, and widely implemented throughout the industry. The original specification has recently (June 2006) been updated, and RFCs 4510-4519 provide a clarified and much more cohesive specification for LDAP.

While directories in general, and LDAP directories in particular, are by no means novel or rare in the information technology world, the driving technologies are certainly not as well understood as near relatives like the relational database. One of the goals of this chapter (and of this book in general) is to introduce and clarify the function and use of an LDAP directory.

In this section, we will introduce some of the concepts that are important for understanding LDAP. The best place to start is with the idea of the directory.

What is a Directory?

When we think of a directory, we conjure images of telephone directories or address books. We use such directories to find information about individuals or organizations. For instance, I might thumb through my address book to find the phone number of my friend Jack, or skim through the telephone directory looking for the address of Acme Services.

A directory server is used this way, too. It maintains information about some set of entities (entities like people or organizations), and it provides services for accessing that information.

Of course, a directory server must also have means for adding, modifying, and deleting information, as well. But, even as a telephone directory is assumed to be primarily a resource for reading, a directory server's information is assumed to be read more often than written. This assumption about the use of a directory server is codified, or summarized, in the phrase high-read, low-write. Consequently, many applications of LDAP technology are geared toward reading and searching for information.

Note

While many directory servers have been optimized for fast reading at the expense of fast modification, this is not necessarily the case with OpenLDAP. OpenLDAP is efficient on both counts, and it can be used for applications that require frequent writing of data.

Some sorts of directory servers (envision a simple server-based implementation of an address book) simply provide a narrow and specific service. A single-purpose directory server, such as an online address book, might store only a very specific type of data, like phone numbers, addresses, and email information for a set of people. Such directories are not extensible. Instead, they are single-purpose.

But LDAP (and its X.500 predecessor) was designed to be a general-purpose directory server. It has not been designed with the purpose of capturing a specific type of data (like telephone numbers or email addresses). Instead, it was designed to give implementers the ability to define—clearly and carefully—what data the directory should store.

Such a generic directory server ought to be able to store many different kinds of information. For that matter, it should be able to store different kinds of information about different kinds of entities. For example, a general purpose directory should be able to store information about entities as diverse as people and igneous rock samples. But we don't want to store the same information about people as we do about rocks.

A person might have a surname, a phone number, and an email address, as shown in the following figure:

A rock sample might have an identification number, information about its geographical origin, and a hardness classification.

LDAP makes it possible to define what a person's entry would look like, and what a rock's entry would look like. Its general architecture provides the capabilities needed for managing large amounts of diverse directory entries.

In the remainder of this section we will examine how information in an LDAP directory is structured. We will start by looking at the idea of a directory entry, with a distinguished name and attributes. Then, we will look at how entries are organized within the directory information tree. By the end of this section, you should understand the basic structure of information within an LDAP directory.

The Structure of a Directory Entry

Let's continue with our comparison of a directory server and a phone book. A phone book contains a very specific type of information, organized in a very specific way, and designed to fulfil a very specific purpose. Here's an example phone book entry:

Acme Services

123 W. First St.

Chicago, IL 60616-1234

(773) 555-8943 or (800) 555 9834

As mentioned earlier, this sort of directory has specific information, organized in a specific way, designed to fulfill a specific purpose: it is information about how to contact a specific organization (Acme Services) organized in a familiar pattern (address and phone number). And it is designed so that a person, having a particular name in mind, can quickly scan through the directory (which is ordered alphabetically by organization name), and find the desired contact information.

But there are a few things to note about the phone book entry:

The data is arranged for searching by only one value: the name of the organization. If you should happen to have the phone number of the organization, but not the name, searching the phone book for the matching telephone number in order to ascertain the name would be a taxing, and probably futile task.

The format of the entry is sparse, and requires that the reader will be able to recognize the format and supply auxiliary information required for making sense of the data. One accustomed to reading phone book entries will be able to extrapolate from the previous entry, and identify the information this way:

Organization Name: Acme Services

Street Address: 123 West First Street

City: Chicago

State: Illinois

Postal Code: 60616-1234

Country: USA

Phone Number: +1 773 555 8943

Phone Number: +1 800 555 9834

In this example, the meaning of the information is made more explicit. Each value is preceded by a name that identifies the type of information given. Acme Services is now identified as the name of an organization. Information is also broken up into smaller chunks (city and state on separate lines), and some information which was implicit in the previous entry (such as the country) has been made explicit. And where two pieces of information (the two phone numbers) were initially compressed onto one line, they have now been separated, making the information more explicit.

This form of entry is closer to the way a record would look in an LDAP directory. But there is still another issue to address. How can we distinguish between two very similar records?

For example, say we have a telephone directory for the entire state of Illinois. And in Illinois, we have a company called Acme Services located in the city of Chicago, and another company named Acme Services located in the city of Springfield.

Simply knowing the company name alone is not sufficient information to isolate just one entry in the phone book. To do that, we would need some sort of unique name—a name that exists only once in the entire directory, and which can be used to refer to one specific entry.

A Unique Name: The DN

One way of distinguishing between two very similar records is to create a unique name for each record in the directory. This is the strategy adopted by LDAP; each record in the directory has a distinguished name. The distinguished name is an important LDAP term; usually it is abbreviated as DN.

In an LDAP directory, the directory designer is the one who decides what components will make up a DN, but typically the DN reflects where the record is in the directory (a concept we will examine in the next part), as well as some information that distinguishes this record from other near records.

A DN then, is composed of a combination of directory information, and looks something like this:

dn: o=Acme Services, l=Chicago, st=Illinois, c=US

This single identifier is sufficient to pick it out from the Springfield company by the same name. The DN of the Springfield company named Acme Services would, according to the previous scheme, look something like this:

dn: o=Acme Services, l=Springfield, st=Illinois, c=US

As may be evident from this example, when defining what fields will compose a DN, it is necessary to make sure that these fields will be fine-grained enough to distinguish between two different entries. In other words, all it takes to break the DN syntax is for another Acme Services to appear in Chicago.

Tip

DNs are not case sensitive

Some parts of LDAP records are case sensitive, and others are not. DNs, for example, are not case sensitive.

The DN is one important element in an LDAP entry. Next, we will take a closer look at the idea of an LDAP entry, and the components that make up an entry.

An Example LDAP Entry

Let's take a specific look at what an LDAP entry looks like.

An LDAP entry, or record, is the directory unit that stores information about an individual item in the directory. Again, drawing on ideas found in other directories is useful: an entry in a telephone directory describes a specific unit of information in that directory. Likewise, a record in an LDAP directory contains information about a specific unit, though (since LDAP is generic) the exact target of that unit is unspecified. It might be a person, or a company, or a rock, or some virtual entity like a Java object.

Note

Originally, the LDAP specification stated that an entry had to have a correlate in the real world. While this may have been the intention of early directory server developers, there is no reason why, in practice, a directory server entry must correlate with anything external to the directory—real or virtual.

An entry is composed of a DN and one or more attributes. The DN serves as a unique identifier within an LDAP directory information tree. Attributes provide information about that entry. Let's convert our previous telephone directory entry into an LDAP record:

dn: o=Acme Services, l=Chicago, st=Illinois, c=US

o: Acme Services

postalAddress: 123 West First Street

l: Chicago

st: Illinois

postalCode: 60616-1234

c: US

telephoneNumber: +1 773 555 8943

telephoneNumber: +1 800 555 9834

objectclass: organization

The first line is the DN. All other lines in this record represent attributes.

Note that the main difference between this example and the previous telephone directory examples we have examined is the names of each field in the entry; these are now compacted into a form that the directory can easily interpret.

Tip

These attribute names, like o and postalAddress, refer to well-defined attribute definitions contained in an LDAP schema. They cannot be invented on the fly, or made up as you go. Creating new attributes requires writing a schema. Schemas are covered in Chapter 6 of this book.

An attribute describes a specific type of information. There are eight attributes here in our example, representing the following:

Organization Name (o)

Mailing address (postalAddress)

Locality (l), which may be the name of a city, town, village, and so forth

State or Province (st)

Postal Code or ZIP Code (postalCode)

Country (c)