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LDAP Session Notes
Our primary reference document for the tutorial is found at YoLinux - Titled Linux LDAP Tutorial: Deploying OpenLDAP - Directory Installation and configuration (V1.2 and 2.x) http://yolinux.com/TUTORIALS/LinuxTutorialLDAP.html
. This document provides all the instructions and sample files needed to bring up and test a working LDAP server on RedHat Linux. I have subsequently tested this same proceedure on SuSE 9.1 Professional and it worked without modification; the only thing that didn't work was the slapd -t configuration test command
as the slapd command is not available on the SuSE distrubution. Also found
on this page are tons of resources and tools in working with LDAP; it is a 23
page document when printed out. Copies of this document were handed out
to the SIG meeting attendees.
A couple of tripping points. First, be sure to follow the steps in the
"Quick Start Example and Test" explicity for OpenLDAP 2.x and
make sure the commands work without any errors. One tripping point, turned
out to be major one, is to make sure your .ldif data import file works and you
can test that with the ldapsearch -vLx -h 127.0.0.1 -b "o=stooges"
"(objectclass=*)" which will list all the entries in the stooges
database. Also, very important, is if you do need to reload any LDAP database
(ldif file or other means), besure you clean out the database directory in /var/lib/ldap/[database].
We will demonstrate this at our next meeting when we create our own addresss
database for the LDAP server.
ldap.conf - In attempting to trouble shoot our LDAP server at the meeting, we
made changes to this file but changes are not needed for the Quick Start. Incidentally,
there are two copies of this file, /etc/ldap.conf and /etc/openldap/ldap.conf.
Advanced LDAP server configurations provides for the base DN to be set
in these files as well as other global LDAP server settings.
You can use a number of e-mail clients to access an LDAP server. In the
meeting, we used Mozilla Mail's address book. When you create the name
of the LDAP database, it can be anything meaningful to you. For accessing the
local LDAP server, you can use either localhost, the loopback IP address (127.0.0.1)
or the actual IP address of the server.
Other LDP Resources .
Linux Planet Tutorials
http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/tutorials/5050/1/ - The Basics. A very good explanation of what LDAP is and what it can do and can't. (2003)
http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/tutorials/5074/1/ - Building & Configuring the LDAP server on Linux.
Linux Magazine (2002)
http://www.linux-mag.com/2002-01/guru_01.html - Part 1 - Basics
http://www.linux-mag.com/2002-02/guru_01.html - Part 2 - Exploring Linux
http://www.linux-mag.com/2002-03/guru_01.html - Part 3 - Advanced Topics
Other LDAP Resources
Kalamazoo Linux User Group - KLUG, This group has been doing a lot of work with LDAP as you can see in their meeting schedule and you can also download past presentations which include on LDAP101.
An Extensive LDAP Presentation, over 400 pages, almost everything you wanted to know and was afraid to ask. - Beware this link will start the download of a 14 megabyte PDF file.