The ABCs of LDAP: How to Install, Run, and Administer LDAP Services

At the time of this writing, the standardization process for LDAP remains a work in progress, with work is still under way in several different areas. In this section, we review the projects that are under way and describe each briefly. These projects are in the draft status, and you will find them on the IETF Web site (http://www.ietf.org) under "drafts." It is very probable that by the time you read this book many of the drafts will not exist any more because, of course, drafts expire. Every draft has an expiration time when it becomes obsolete. Once it is obsolete, work on it may continue or it may become RFC (entirely or in part combined with other drafts.)

You can find more information at the site of IETF at http://www.ietf.org, where you can search for "working groups."

LDAP Duplication/Replication/Update Protocols (LDUP)

There is a workgroup addressing the following problems associated with replication:

• The overall architecture describing the key components of replication and its interaction

• The replication information model responsible for maintaining the schema and data held by different LDAP (v3) servers. This contains the following points:

  • Replication agreements

  • Consistency models

  • Replication models

  • Managing deleted objects and their states

  • Administration and management

• Extended protocol specifications to allow replication of data

• Protocol specifications to allow administration of replication agreements

• Procedures for detection and resolution of replication conflicts

• Profiles

• Client update that enables the client to synchronize with the LDAP server

A list of available drafts can be found in Appendix B of this volume.

LDAP Extensions (LDAPext)

This working group is extending the LDAP protocol with a number of useful features:

• Server-side sorting of search results. Until now, sorting was the job of the client. This should enable the client to specify the sort order and retrieve a limited result list.

• Language tags, which will allow the full range of international characters to be represented

• Dynamic directories, which will allow refresh operations for frequently changing data

• Referral and knowledge maintenance. Until now, only referrals that are returned to the client have been standardized. The new standard will specify how referrals are to be held in the directory.

• LDAP server discovery, which should help the client to detect a suitable LDAP server

• LDAP APIs. Until now, the only API specification was for the C language. The API specified in RFC 1823 will be updated to include the latest features of LDAP (v3) and to accommodate a Java API.

• Signed directory information. The directory information provided by the directory server should be validated before delivery to the client. A standard is being developed with a mechanism to ensure the integrity of the information delivered.

For a list of available drafts, go to Appendix B. Work on this group has been closed recently because of a lack of consensus on remaining issues. However, the discussion list is still open and the proposed extensions are now handled as individual submissions.

LDAP (v3) Revision (LDAPbis)

This workgroup will deliver working standards from a series of drafts defined as RFCs 2251-2256 and 2829-2831. It will deliver an "applicability statement" defining LDAP (v3). For a list of available drafts, go to Appendix B.