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13 <a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/">Petter Reinholdtsen
</a>
19 <p>Entries tagged "ldap".
</p>
26 <a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Time_for_new__LDAP_schemas_replacing_RFC_2307_.html">Time for new LDAP schemas replacing RFC
2307?
</a>
34 <p>The state of standardized LDAP schemas on Linux is far from
35 optimal. There is RFC
2307 documenting one way to store NIS maps in
36 LDAP, and a modified version of this normally called RFC
2307bis, with
37 some modifications to be compatible with Active Directory. The RFC
38 specification handle the content of a lot of system databases, but do
39 not handle DNS zones and DHCP configuration.
</p>
41 <p>In
<a href=
"http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu/Skolelinux
</a>,
42 we would like to store information about users, SMB clients/hosts,
43 filegroups, netgroups (users and hosts), DHCP and DNS configuration,
44 and LTSP configuration in LDAP. These objects have a lot in common,
45 but with the current LDAP schemas it is not possible to have one
46 object per entity. For example, one need to have at least three LDAP
47 objects for a given computer, one with the SMB related stuff, one with
48 DNS information and another with DHCP information. The schemas
49 provided for DNS and DHCP are impossible to combine into one LDAP
50 object. In addition, it is impossible to implement quick queries for
51 netgroup membership, because of the way NIS triples are implemented.
52 It just do not scale. I believe it is time for a few RFC
53 specifications to cleam up this mess.
</p>
55 <p>I would like to have one LDAP object representing each computer in
56 the network, and this object can then keep the SMB (ie host key), DHCP
57 (mac address/name) and DNS (name/IP address) settings in one place.
58 It need to be efficently stored to make sure it scale well.
</p>
60 <p>I would also like to have a quick way to map from a user or
61 computer and to the net group this user or computer is a member.
</p>
63 <p>Active Directory have done a better job than unix heads like myself
64 in this regard, and the unix side need to catch up. Time to start a
65 new IETF work group?
</p>
72 Tags:
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian
</a>,
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu
</a>,
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english
</a>,
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/ldap">ldap
</a>,
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug
</a>.
76 <div class=
"padding"></div>
80 <a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Idea_for_a_change_to_LDAP_schemas_allowing_DNS_and_DHCP_info_to_be_combined_into_one_object.html">Idea for a change to LDAP schemas allowing DNS and DHCP info to be combined into one object
</a>
89 <a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Time_for_new__LDAP_schemas_replacing_RFC_2307_.html">complained
90 about the fact
</a> that it is not possible with the provided schemas
91 for storing DNS and DHCP information in LDAP to combine the two sets
92 of information into one LDAP object representing a computer.
</p>
94 <p>In the mean time, I discovered that a simple fix would be to make
95 the dhcpHost object class auxiliary, to allow it to be combined with
96 the dNSDomain object class, and thus forming one object for one
97 computer when storing both DHCP and DNS information in LDAP.
</p>
99 <p>If I understand this correctly, it is not safe to do this change
100 without also changing the assigned number for the object class, and I
101 do not know enough about LDAP schema design to do that properly for
104 <p>Anyway, for future reference, this is how I believe we could change
106 <a href=
"http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-ietf-dhc-ldap-schema-00">DHCP
107 schema
</a> to solve at least part of the problem with the LDAP schemas
108 available today from IETF.
</p>
111 --- dhcp.schema (revision
65192)
112 +++ dhcp.schema (working copy)
114 objectclass (
2.16.840.1.113719.1.203.6.6
116 DESC 'This represents information about a particular client'
120 MAY (dhcpLeaseDN $ dhcpHWAddress $ dhcpOptionsDN $ dhcpStatements $ dhcpComments $ dhcpOption)
121 X-NDS_CONTAINMENT ('dhcpService' 'dhcpSubnet' 'dhcpGroup') )
124 <p>I very much welcome clues on how to do this properly for Debian
125 Edu/Squeeze. We provide the DHCP schema in our debian-edu-config
126 package, and should thus be free to rewrite it as we see fit.
</p>
128 <p>If you want to help out with implementing this for Debian Edu,
129 please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.
</p>
136 Tags:
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian
</a>,
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu
</a>,
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english
</a>,
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/ldap">ldap
</a>,
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug
</a>.
140 <div class=
"padding"></div>
144 <a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/LUMA__a_very_nice_LDAP_GUI.html">LUMA, a very nice LDAP GUI
</a>
152 <p>The last few days I have been looking into the status of the LDAP
153 directory in Debian Edu, and in the process I started to miss a GUI
154 tool to browse the LDAP tree. The only one I was able to find in
155 Debian/Squeeze and Lenny is
156 <a href=
"http://luma.sourceforge.net/">LUMA
</a>, which has proved to
157 be a great tool to get a overview of the current LDAP directory
158 populated by default in Skolelinux. Thanks to it, I have been able to
159 find empty and obsolete subtrees, misplaced objects and duplicate
160 objects. It will be installed by default in Debian/Squeeze. If you
161 are working with LDAP, give it a go. :)
</p>
163 <p>I did notice one problem with it I have not had time to report to
164 the BTS yet. There is no .desktop file in the package, so the tool do
165 not show up in the Gnome and KDE menus, but only deep down in in the
166 Debian submenu in KDE. I hope that can be fixed before Squeeze is
169 <p>I have not yet been able to get it to modify the tree yet. I would
170 like to move objects and remove subtrees directly in the GUI, but have
171 not found a way to do that with LUMA yet. So in the mean time, I use
172 <a href=
"http://www.lichteblau.com/ldapvi/">ldapvi
</a> for that.
</p>
174 <p>If you have tips on other GUI tools for LDAP that might be useful
175 in Debian Edu, please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.
</p>
177 <p>Update
2010-
06-
29: Ross Reedstrom tipped us about the
178 <a href=
"http://packages.qa.debian.org/g/gq.html">gq
</a> package as a
179 useful GUI alternative. It seem like a good tool, but is unmaintained
180 in Debian and got a RC bug keeping it out of Squeeze. Unless that
181 changes, it will not be an option for Debian Edu based on Squeeze.
</p>
188 Tags:
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian
</a>,
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu
</a>,
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english
</a>,
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/ldap">ldap
</a>,
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug
</a>.
192 <div class=
"padding"></div>
196 <a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Caching_password__user_and_group_on_a_roaming_Debian_laptop.html">Caching password, user and group on a roaming Debian laptop
</a>
204 <p>For a laptop, centralized user directories and password checking is
205 a bit troubling. Laptops are typically used also when not connected
206 to the network, and it is vital for a user to be able to log in or
207 unlock the screen saver also when a central server is unavailable.
208 This is possible by caching passwords and directory information (user
209 and group attributes) locally, and the packages to do so are available
210 in Debian. Here follow two recipes to set this up in Debian/Squeeze.
211 It is also possible to set up in Debian/Lenny, but require more manual
212 setup there because pam-auth-update is missing in Lenny.
</p>
214 <h2>LDAP/Kerberos + nscd + libpam-ccreds + libpam-mklocaluser/pam_mkhomedir
</h2>
216 This is the traditional method with a twist. The password caching is
217 provided by libpam-ccreds (version
10-
4 or later is needed on
218 Squeeze), and the directory caching is done by nscd. The directory
219 lookup and password checking is done using LDAP. If one want to use
220 Kerberos for password checking the libpam-ldapd package can be
221 replaced with libpam-krb5 or libpam-heimdal. If one is happy having a
222 local home directory with the path listed in LDAP, one can use the
223 pam_mkhomedir module from pam-modules to make this happen instead of
224 using libpam-mklocaluser. A setup for pam-auth-update to enable
225 pam_mkhomedir will have to be written until a fix for
226 <a href=
"http://bugs.debian.org/568577">bug #
568577</a> is in the
227 archive. Because I believe it is a bad idea to have local home
228 directories using misleading paths like /site/server/partition/, I
229 prefer to create a local user with the home directory in /home/. This
230 is done using the libpam-mklocaluser package.
</p>
232 <p>These packages need to be installed and configured
</p>
235 libnss-ldapd libpam-ldapd nscd libpam-ccreds libpam-mklocaluser
238 <p>The ldapd packages will ask for LDAP connection information, and
239 one have to fill in the values that fits ones own site. Make sure the
240 PAM part uses encrypted connections, to make sure the password is not
241 sent in clear text to the LDAP server. I've been unable to get TLS
242 certificate checking for a self signed certificate working, which make
243 LDAP authentication unsafe for Debian Edu (nslcd is not checking if it
244 is talking to the correct LDAP server), and very much welcome feedback
245 on how to get this working.
</p>
247 <p>Because nscd do not have a default configuration fit for offline
248 caching until
<a href=
"http://bugs.debian.org/485282">bug #
485282</a>
249 is fixed, this configuration should be used instead of the one
250 currently in /etc/nscd.conf. The changes are in the fields
251 reload-count and positive-time-to-live, and is based on the
252 instructions I found in the
253 <a href=
"http://www.flyn.org/laptopldap/">LDAP for Mobile Laptops
</a>
254 instructions by Flyn Computing.
</p>
258 reload-count unlimited
261 enable-cache passwd yes
262 positive-time-to-live passwd
2592000
263 negative-time-to-live passwd
20
264 suggested-size passwd
211
265 check-files passwd yes
266 persistent passwd yes
268 max-db-size passwd
33554432
269 auto-propagate passwd yes
271 enable-cache group yes
272 positive-time-to-live group
2592000
273 negative-time-to-live group
20
274 suggested-size group
211
275 check-files group yes
278 max-db-size group
33554432
279 auto-propagate group yes
281 enable-cache hosts no
282 positive-time-to-live hosts
2592000
283 negative-time-to-live hosts
20
284 suggested-size hosts
211
285 check-files hosts yes
288 max-db-size hosts
33554432
290 enable-cache services yes
291 positive-time-to-live services
2592000
292 negative-time-to-live services
20
293 suggested-size services
211
294 check-files services yes
295 persistent services yes
297 max-db-size services
33554432
300 <p>While we wait for a mechanism to update /etc/nsswitch.conf
301 automatically like the one provided in
302 <a href=
"http://bugs.debian.org/496915">bug #
496915</a>, the file
303 content need to be manually replaced to ensure LDAP is used as the
304 directory service on the machine. /etc/nsswitch.conf should normally
311 hosts: files mdns4_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] dns mdns4
320 <p>The important parts are that ldap is listed last for passwd, group,
321 shadow and netgroup.
</p>
323 <p>With these changes in place, any user in LDAP will be able to log
324 in locally on the machine using for example kdm, get a local home
325 directory created and have the password as well as user and group
328 <h2>LDAP/Kerberos + nss-updatedb + libpam-ccreds +
329 libpam-mklocaluser/pam_mkhomedir
</h2>
331 <p>Because nscd have had its share of problems, and seem to have
332 problems doing proper caching, I've seen suggestions and recipes to
333 use nss-updatedb to copy parts of the LDAP database locally when the
334 LDAP database is available. I have not tested such setup, because I
337 <h2>LDAP/Kerberos + sssd + libpam-mklocaluser
</h2>
339 <p>A more flexible and robust setup than the nscd combination
340 mentioned earlier that has shown up recently, is the
341 <a href=
"https://fedorahosted.org/sssd/">sssd
</a> package from Redhat.
342 It is part of the
<a href=
"http://www.freeipa.org/">FreeIPA
</A> project
343 to provide a Active Directory like directory service for Linux
344 machines. The sssd system combines the caching of passwords and user
345 information into one package, and remove the need for nscd and
346 libpam-ccreds. It support LDAP and Kerberos, but not NIS. Version
347 1.2 do not support netgroups, but it is said that it will support this
348 in version
1.5 expected to show up later in
2010. Because the
349 <a href=
"http://packages.qa.debian.org/s/sssd.html">sssd package
</a>
350 was missing in Debian, I ended up co-maintaining it with Werner, and
351 version
1.2 is now in testing.
353 <p>These packages need to be installed and configured to get the
354 roaming setup I want
</p>
357 libpam-sss libnss-sss libpam-mklocaluser
360 The complete setup of sssd is done by editing/creating
361 <tt>/etc/sssd/sssd.conf
</tt>.
365 config_file_version =
2
366 reconnection_retries =
3
374 reconnection_retries =
3
377 reconnection_retries =
3
381 cache_credentials = true
385 chpass_provider = ldap
387 ldap_uri = ldap://ldap
388 ldap_search_base = dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
389 ldap_tls_reqcert = never
390 ldap_tls_cacert = /etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt
393 <p>I got the same problem here with certificate checking. Had to set
394 "ldap_tls_reqcert = never" to get it working.
</p>
396 <p>With the libnss-sss package in testing at the moment, the
397 nsswitch.conf file is update automatically, so there is no need to
398 modify it manually.
</p>
400 <p>If you want to help out with implementing this for Debian Edu,
401 please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.
</p>
408 Tags:
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu
</a>,
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english
</a>,
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/ldap">ldap
</a>,
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug
</a>.
412 <div class=
"padding"></div>
416 <a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/jXplorer__a_very_nice_LDAP_GUI.html">jXplorer, a very nice LDAP GUI
</a>
425 <a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/LUMA__a_very_nice_LDAP_GUI.html">my
426 last post
</a> about available LDAP tools in Debian, I was told about a
427 LDAP GUI that is even better than luma. The java application
428 <a href=
"http://jxplorer.org/">jXplorer
</a> is claimed to be capable of
429 moving LDAP objects and subtrees using drag-and-drop, and can
430 authenticate using Kerberos. I have only tested the Kerberos
431 authentication, but do not have a LDAP setup allowing me to rewrite
432 LDAP with my test user yet. It is
433 <a href=
"http://packages.qa.debian.org/j/jxplorer.html">available in
434 Debian
</a> testing and unstable at the moment. The only problem I
435 have with it is how it handle errors. If something go wrong, its
436 non-intuitive behaviour require me to go through some query work list
437 and remove the failing query. Nothing big, but very annoying.
</p>
444 Tags:
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian
</a>,
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu
</a>,
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english
</a>,
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/ldap">ldap
</a>,
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug
</a>.
448 <div class=
"padding"></div>
452 <a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Idea_for_storing_LTSP_configuration_in_LDAP.html">Idea for storing LTSP configuration in LDAP
</a>
460 <p>Vagrant mentioned on IRC today that ltsp_config now support
461 sourcing files from /usr/share/ltsp/ltsp_config.d/ on the thin
462 clients, and that this can be used to fetch configuration from LDAP if
463 Debian Edu choose to store configuration there.
</p>
465 <p>Armed with this information, I got inspired and wrote a test module
466 to get configuration from LDAP. The idea is to look up the MAC
467 address of the client in LDAP, and look for attributes on the form
468 ltspconfigsetting=value, and use this to export SETTING=value to the
471 <p>The goal is to be able to store the LTSP configuration attributes
472 in a "computer" LDAP object used by both DNS and DHCP, and thus
473 allowing us to store all information about a computer in one place.
</p>
475 <p>This is a untested draft implementation, and I welcome feedback on
476 this approach. A real LDAP schema for the ltspClientAux objectclass
477 need to be written. Comments, suggestions, etc?
</p>
480 # Store in /opt/ltsp/$arch/usr/share/ltsp/ltsp_config.d/ldap-config
482 # Fetch LTSP client settings from LDAP based on MAC address
484 # Uses ethernet address as stored in the dhcpHost objectclass using
485 # the dhcpHWAddress attribute or ethernet address stored in the
486 # ieee802Device objectclass with the macAddress attribute.
488 # This module is written to be schema agnostic, and only depend on the
489 # existence of attribute names.
491 # The LTSP configuration variables are saved directly using a
492 # ltspConfig prefix and uppercasing the rest of the attribute name.
493 # To set the SERVER variable, set the ltspConfigServer attribute.
495 # Some LDAP schema should be created with all the relevant
496 # configuration settings. Something like this should work:
498 # objectclass (
1.1.2.2 NAME 'ltspClientAux'
501 # MAY ( ltspConfigServer $ ltsConfigSound $ ... )
503 LDAPSERVER=$(debian-edu-ldapserver)
504 if [ "$LDAPSERVER" ] ; then
505 LDAPBASE=$(debian-edu-ldapserver -b)
506 for MAC in $(LANG=C ifconfig |grep -i hwaddr| awk '{print $
5}'|sort -u) ; do
507 filter="(|(dhcpHWAddress=ethernet $MAC)(macAddress=$MAC))"
508 ldapsearch -h "$LDAPSERVER" -b "$LDAPBASE" -v -x "$filter" | \
509 grep '^ltspConfig' | while read attr value ; do
510 # Remove prefix and convert to upper case
511 attr=$(echo $attr | sed 's/^ltspConfig//i' | tr a-z A-Z)
512 # bass value on to clients
513 eval "$attr=$value; export $attr"
519 <p>I'm not sure this shell construction will work, because I suspect
520 the while block might end up in a subshell causing the variables set
521 there to not show up in ltsp-config, but if that is the case I am sure
522 the code can be restructured to make sure the variables are passed on.
523 I expect that can be solved with some testing. :)
</p>
525 <p>If you want to help out with implementing this for Debian Edu,
526 please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.
</p>
533 Tags:
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian
</a>,
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu
</a>,
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english
</a>,
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/ldap">ldap
</a>,
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug
</a>.
537 <div class=
"padding"></div>
541 <a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Combining_PowerDNS_and_ISC_DHCP_LDAP_objects.html">Combining PowerDNS and ISC DHCP LDAP objects
</a>
549 <p>For a while now, I have wanted to find a way to change the DNS and
550 DHCP services in Debian Edu to use the same LDAP objects for a given
551 computer, to avoid the possibility of having a inconsistent state for
552 a computer in LDAP (as in DHCP but no DNS entry or the other way
553 around) and make it easier to add computers to LDAP.
</p>
555 <p>I've looked at how powerdns and dhcpd is using LDAP, and using this
556 information finally found a solution that seem to work.
</p>
558 <p>The old setup required three LDAP objects for a given computer.
559 One forward DNS entry, one reverse DNS entry and one DHCP entry. If
560 we switch powerdns to use its strict LDAP method (ldap-method=strict
561 in pdns-debian-edu.conf), the forward and reverse DNS entries are
562 merged into one while making it impossible to transfer the reverse map
563 to a slave DNS server.
</p>
565 <p>If we also replace the object class used to get the DNS related
566 attributes to one allowing these attributes to be combined with the
567 dhcphost object class, we can merge the DNS and DHCP entries into one.
568 I've written such object class in the dnsdomainaux.schema file (need
569 proper OIDs, but that is a minor issue), and tested the setup. It
572 <p>With this test setup in place, we can get away with one LDAP object
573 for both DNS and DHCP, and even the LTSP configuration I suggested in
574 an earlier email. The combined LDAP object will look something like
578 dn: cn=hostname,cn=group1,cn=THINCLIENTS,cn=DHCP Config,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
580 objectClass: dhcphost
581 objectclass: domainrelatedobject
582 objectclass: dnsdomainaux
583 associateddomain: hostname.intern
585 dhcphwaddress: ethernet
00:
00:
00:
00:
00:
00
586 dhcpstatements: fixed-address hostname
590 <p>The DNS server uses the associateddomain and arecord entries, while
591 the DHCP server uses the dhcphwaddress and dhcpstatements entries
592 before asking DNS to resolve the fixed-adddress. LTSP will use
593 dhcphwaddress or associateddomain and the ldapconfig* attributes.
</p>
595 <p>I am not yet sure if I can get the DHCP server to look for its
596 dhcphost in a different location, to allow us to put the objects
597 outside the "DHCP Config" subtree, but hope to figure out a way to do
598 that. If I can't figure out a way to do that, we can still get rid of
599 the hosts subtree and move all its content into the DHCP Config tree
600 (which probably should be renamed to be more related to the new
601 content. I suspect cn=dnsdhcp,ou=services or something like that
602 might be a good place to put it.
</p>
604 <p>If you want to help out with implementing this for Debian Edu,
605 please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.
</p>
612 Tags:
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian
</a>,
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu
</a>,
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english
</a>,
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/ldap">ldap
</a>,
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug
</a>.
616 <div class=
"padding"></div>
620 <a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/What_are_they_searching_for___PowerDNS_and_ISC_DHCP_in_LDAP.html">What are they searching for - PowerDNS and ISC DHCP in LDAP
</a>
629 <a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Time_for_new__LDAP_schemas_replacing_RFC_2307_.html">followup
</a>
631 <a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Idea_for_a_change_to_LDAP_schemas_allowing_DNS_and_DHCP_info_to_be_combined_into_one_object.html">previous
633 <a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Combining_PowerDNS_and_ISC_DHCP_LDAP_objects.html">merging
634 all
</a> the computer related LDAP objects in Debian Edu.
</p>
636 <p>As a step to try to see if it possible to merge the DNS and DHCP
637 LDAP objects, I have had a look at how the packages pdns-backend-ldap
638 and dhcp3-server-ldap in Debian use the LDAP server. The two
639 implementations are quite different in how they use LDAP.
</p>
641 To get this information, I started slapd with debugging enabled and
642 dumped the debug output to a file to get the LDAP searches performed
643 on a Debian Edu main-server. Here is a summary.
645 <p><strong>powerdns
</strong></p>
647 <a href=
"http://www.linuxnetworks.de/doc/index.php/PowerDNS_LDAP_Backend">Clues
648 on how to
</a> set up PowerDNS to use a LDAP backend is available on
651 <p>PowerDNS have two modes of operation using LDAP as its backend.
652 One "strict" mode where the forward and reverse DNS lookups are done
653 using the same LDAP objects, and a "tree" mode where the forward and
654 reverse entries are in two different subtrees in LDAP with a structure
655 based on the DNS names, as in tjener.intern and
656 2.2.0.10.in-addr.arpa.
</p>
658 <p>In tree mode, the server is set up to use a LDAP subtree as its
659 base, and uses a "base" scoped search for the DNS name by adding
660 "dc=tjener,dc=intern," to the base with a filter for
661 "(associateddomain=tjener.intern)" for the forward entry and
662 "dc=
2,dc=
2,dc=
0,dc=
10,dc=in-addr,dc=arpa," with a filter for
663 "(associateddomain=
2.2.0.10.in-addr.arpa)" for the reverse entry. For
664 forward entries, it is looking for attributes named dnsttl, arecord,
665 nsrecord, cnamerecord, soarecord, ptrrecord, hinforecord, mxrecord,
666 txtrecord, rprecord, afsdbrecord, keyrecord, aaaarecord, locrecord,
667 srvrecord, naptrrecord, kxrecord, certrecord, dsrecord, sshfprecord,
668 ipseckeyrecord, rrsigrecord, nsecrecord, dnskeyrecord, dhcidrecord,
669 spfrecord and modifytimestamp. For reverse entries it is looking for
670 the attributes dnsttl, arecord, nsrecord, cnamerecord, soarecord,
671 ptrrecord, hinforecord, mxrecord, txtrecord, rprecord, aaaarecord,
672 locrecord, srvrecord, naptrrecord and modifytimestamp. The equivalent
673 ldapsearch commands could look like this:
</p>
677 -b dc=tjener,dc=intern,ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no \
678 -s base -x '(associateddomain=tjener.intern)' dNSTTL aRecord nSRecord \
679 cNAMERecord sOARecord pTRRecord hInfoRecord mXRecord tXTRecord \
680 rPRecord aFSDBRecord KeyRecord aAAARecord lOCRecord sRVRecord \
681 nAPTRRecord kXRecord certRecord dSRecord sSHFPRecord iPSecKeyRecord \
682 rRSIGRecord nSECRecord dNSKeyRecord dHCIDRecord sPFRecord modifyTimestamp
685 -b dc=
2,dc=
2,dc=
0,dc=
10,dc=in-addr,dc=arpa,ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no \
686 -s base -x '(associateddomain=
2.2.0.10.in-addr.arpa)'
687 dnsttl, arecord, nsrecord, cnamerecord soarecord ptrrecord \
688 hinforecord mxrecord txtrecord rprecord aaaarecord locrecord \
689 srvrecord naptrrecord modifytimestamp
692 <p>In Debian Edu/Lenny, the PowerDNS tree mode is used with
693 ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no as the base, and these are two
694 example LDAP objects used there. In addition to these objects, the
695 parent objects all th way up to ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
699 dn: dc=tjener,dc=intern,ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
701 objectclass: dnsdomain
702 objectclass: domainrelatedobject
705 associateddomain: tjener.intern
707 dn: dc=
2,dc=
2,dc=
0,dc=
10,dc=in-addr,dc=arpa,ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
709 objectclass: dnsdomain2
710 objectclass: domainrelatedobject
712 ptrrecord: tjener.intern
713 associateddomain:
2.2.0.10.in-addr.arpa
716 <p>In strict mode, the server behaves differently. When looking for
717 forward DNS entries, it is doing a "subtree" scoped search with the
718 same base as in the tree mode for a object with filter
719 "(associateddomain=tjener.intern)" and requests the attributes dnsttl,
720 arecord, nsrecord, cnamerecord, soarecord, ptrrecord, hinforecord,
721 mxrecord, txtrecord, rprecord, aaaarecord, locrecord, srvrecord,
722 naptrrecord and modifytimestamp. For reverse entires it also do a
723 subtree scoped search but this time the filter is "(arecord=
10.0.2.2)"
724 and the requested attributes are associateddomain, dnsttl and
725 modifytimestamp. In short, in strict mode the objects with ptrrecord
726 go away, and the arecord attribute in the forward object is used
729 <p>The forward and reverse searches can be simulated using ldapsearch
733 ldapsearch -h ldap -b ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no -s sub -x \
734 '(associateddomain=tjener.intern)' dNSTTL aRecord nSRecord \
735 cNAMERecord sOARecord pTRRecord hInfoRecord mXRecord tXTRecord \
736 rPRecord aFSDBRecord KeyRecord aAAARecord lOCRecord sRVRecord \
737 nAPTRRecord kXRecord certRecord dSRecord sSHFPRecord iPSecKeyRecord \
738 rRSIGRecord nSECRecord dNSKeyRecord dHCIDRecord sPFRecord modifyTimestamp
740 ldapsearch -h ldap -b ou=hosts,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no -s sub -x \
741 '(arecord=
10.0.2.2)' associateddomain dnsttl modifytimestamp
744 <p>In addition to the forward and reverse searches , there is also a
745 search for SOA records, which behave similar to the forward and
748 <p>A thing to note with the PowerDNS behaviour is that it do not
749 specify any objectclass names, and instead look for the attributes it
750 need to generate a DNS reply. This make it able to work with any
751 objectclass that provide the needed attributes.
</p>
753 <p>The attributes are normally provided in the cosine (RFC
1274) and
754 dnsdomain2 schemas. The latter is used for reverse entries like
755 ptrrecord and recent DNS additions like aaaarecord and srvrecord.
</p>
757 <p>In Debian Edu, we have created DNS objects using the object classes
758 dcobject (for dc), dnsdomain or dnsdomain2 (structural, for the DNS
759 attributes) and domainrelatedobject (for associatedDomain). The use
760 of structural object classes make it impossible to combine these
761 classes with the object classes used by DHCP.
</p>
763 <p>There are other schemas that could be used too, for example the
764 dnszone structural object class used by Gosa and bind-sdb for the DNS
765 attributes combined with the domainrelatedobject object class, but in
766 this case some unused attributes would have to be included as well
767 (zonename and relativedomainname).
</p>
769 <p>My proposal for Debian Edu would be to switch PowerDNS to strict
770 mode and not use any of the existing objectclasses (dnsdomain,
771 dnsdomain2 and dnszone) when one want to combine the DNS information
772 with DHCP information, and instead create a auxiliary object class
773 defined something like this (using the attributes defined for
774 dnsdomain and dnsdomain2 or dnszone):
</p>
777 objectclass ( some-oid NAME 'dnsDomainAux'
780 MAY ( ARecord $ MDRecord $ MXRecord $ NSRecord $ SOARecord $ CNAMERecord $
781 DNSTTL $ DNSClass $ PTRRecord $ HINFORecord $ MINFORecord $
782 TXTRecord $ SIGRecord $ KEYRecord $ AAAARecord $ LOCRecord $
783 NXTRecord $ SRVRecord $ NAPTRRecord $ KXRecord $ CERTRecord $
784 A6Record $ DNAMERecord
788 <p>This will allow any object to become a DNS entry when combined with
789 the domainrelatedobject object class, and allow any entity to include
790 all the attributes PowerDNS wants. I've sent an email to the PowerDNS
791 developers asking for their view on this schema and if they are
792 interested in providing such schema with PowerDNS, and I hope my
793 message will be accepted into their mailing list soon.
</p>
795 <p><strong>ISC dhcp
</strong></p>
797 <p>The DHCP server searches for specific objectclass and requests all
798 the object attributes, and then uses the attributes it want. This
799 make it harder to figure out exactly what attributes are used, but
800 thanks to the working example in Debian Edu I can at least get an idea
801 what is needed without having to read the source code.
</p>
803 <p>In the DHCP server configuration, the LDAP base to use and the
804 search filter to use to locate the correct dhcpServer entity is
805 stored. These are the relevant entries from
806 /etc/dhcp3/dhcpd.conf:
</p>
809 ldap-base-dn "dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no";
810 ldap-dhcp-server-cn "dhcp";
813 <p>The DHCP server uses this information to nest all the DHCP
814 configuration it need. The cn "dhcp" is located using the given LDAP
815 base and the filter "(&(objectClass=dhcpServer)(cn=dhcp))". The
816 search result is this entry:
</p>
819 dn: cn=dhcp,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
822 objectClass: dhcpServer
823 dhcpServiceDN: cn=DHCP Config,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
826 <p>The content of the dhcpServiceDN attribute is next used to locate the
827 subtree with DHCP configuration. The DHCP configuration subtree base
828 is located using a base scope search with base "cn=DHCP
829 Config,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no" and filter
830 "(&(objectClass=dhcpService)(|(dhcpPrimaryDN=cn=dhcp,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no)(dhcpSecondaryDN=cn=dhcp,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no)))".
831 The search result is this entry:
</p>
834 dn: cn=DHCP Config,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
837 objectClass: dhcpService
838 objectClass: dhcpOptions
839 dhcpPrimaryDN: cn=dhcp, dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
840 dhcpStatements: ddns-update-style none
841 dhcpStatements: authoritative
842 dhcpOption: smtp-server code
69 = array of ip-address
843 dhcpOption: www-server code
72 = array of ip-address
844 dhcpOption: wpad-url code
252 = text
847 <p>Next, the entire subtree is processed, one level at the time. When
848 all the DHCP configuration is loaded, it is ready to receive requests.
849 The subtree in Debian Edu contain objects with object classes
850 top/dhcpService/dhcpOptions, top/dhcpSharedNetwork/dhcpOptions,
851 top/dhcpSubnet, top/dhcpGroup and top/dhcpHost. These provide options
852 and information about netmasks, dynamic range etc. Leaving out the
853 details here because it is not relevant for the focus of my
854 investigation, which is to see if it is possible to merge dns and dhcp
855 related computer objects.
</p>
857 <p>When a DHCP request come in, LDAP is searched for the MAC address
858 of the client (
00:
00:
00:
00:
00:
00 in this example), using a subtree
859 scoped search with "cn=DHCP Config,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no" as
860 the base and "(&(objectClass=dhcpHost)(dhcpHWAddress=ethernet
861 00:
00:
00:
00:
00:
00))" as the filter. This is what a host object look
865 dn: cn=hostname,cn=group1,cn=THINCLIENTS,cn=DHCP Config,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
868 objectClass: dhcpHost
869 dhcpHWAddress: ethernet
00:
00:
00:
00:
00:
00
870 dhcpStatements: fixed-address hostname
873 <p>There is less flexiblity in the way LDAP searches are done here.
874 The object classes need to have fixed names, and the configuration
875 need to be stored in a fairly specific LDAP structure. On the
876 positive side, the invidiual dhcpHost entires can be anywhere without
877 the DN pointed to by the dhcpServer entries. The latter should make
878 it possible to group all host entries in a subtree next to the
879 configuration entries, and this subtree can also be shared with the
880 DNS server if the schema proposed above is combined with the dhcpHost
881 structural object class.
883 <p><strong>Conclusion
</strong></p>
885 <p>The PowerDNS implementation seem to be very flexible when it come
886 to which LDAP schemas to use. While its "tree" mode is rigid when it
887 come to the the LDAP structure, the "strict" mode is very flexible,
888 allowing DNS objects to be stored anywhere under the base cn specified
889 in the configuration.
</p>
891 <p>The DHCP implementation on the other hand is very inflexible, both
892 regarding which LDAP schemas to use and which LDAP structure to use.
893 I guess one could implement ones own schema, as long as the
894 objectclasses and attributes have the names used, but this do not
895 really help when the DHCP subtree need to have a fairly fixed
898 <p>Based on the observed behaviour, I suspect a LDAP structure like
899 this might work for Debian Edu:
</p>
903 cn=machine-info (dhcpService) - dhcpServiceDN points here
905 cn=dhcp-internal (dhcpSharedNetwork/dhcpOptions)
906 cn=
10.0.2.0 (dhcpSubnet)
907 cn=group1 (dhcpGroup/dhcpOptions)
908 cn=dhcp-thinclients (dhcpSharedNetwork/dhcpOptions)
909 cn=
192.168.0.0 (dhcpSubnet)
910 cn=group1 (dhcpGroup/dhcpOptions)
911 ou=machines - PowerDNS base points here
912 cn=hostname (dhcpHost/domainrelatedobject/dnsDomainAux)
915 <P>This is not tested yet. If the DHCP server require the dhcpHost
916 entries to be in the dhcpGroup subtrees, the entries can be stored
917 there instead of a common machines subtree, and the PowerDNS base
918 would have to be moved one level up to the machine-info subtree.
</p>
920 <p>The combined object under the machines subtree would look something
924 dn: dc=hostname,ou=machines,cn=machine-info,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
927 objectClass: dhcpHost
928 objectclass: domainrelatedobject
929 objectclass: dnsDomainAux
930 associateddomain: hostname.intern
932 dhcpHWAddress: ethernet
00:
00:
00:
00:
00:
00
933 dhcpStatements: fixed-address hostname.intern
936 </p>One could even add the LTSP configuration associated with a given
937 machine, as long as the required attributes are available in a
938 auxiliary object class.
</p>
945 Tags:
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian
</a>,
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu
</a>,
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english
</a>,
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/ldap">ldap
</a>,
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug
</a>.
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