Creating the CoS Template Entry From the Command Line

When using pointer CoS or classic CoS, the template entry contains the LDAPsubentry and cosTemplate object classes. This entry must be created specifically for the CoS definition. Making the CoS template entry an instance of the LDAPsubentry object class allows ordinary searches to be performed unhindered by the configuration entries.

The template of the indirect CoS mechanism is an arbitrary, existing entry in the directory. The target does not need to be identified ahead of time or given the LDAPsubentry object class, but the target must have the auxiliary cosTemplate object class. The indirect CoS template is accessed only when the CoS is evaluated to generate a computed attribute and its value.

In all cases, the CoS template entry must contain the attribute and the value that is generated by the CoS on the target entries. The attribute name is specified in the cosAttribute attribute of the CoS definition entry.

The following example shows a template entry of the highest priority for a pointer CoS that generates the postalCode attribute:

dn: cn=ZipTemplate,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com
objectclass: top
objectclass: LDAPsubentry
objectclass: extensibleobject
objectclass: cosTemplate
postalCode: 95054
cosPriority: 0

The following sections provide examples of template entries along with examples of each type of CoS definition entry.

Example of a Pointer CoS

The following command creates a pointer CoS definition entry that has the cosPointerDefinition object class. This definition entry uses the CoS template entry that is stated in the example in the previous section to share a common postal code among all entries in the ou=People,dc=example,dc=com tree.

$ ldapmodify -a -h host1 -p 1389 -D cn=admin,cn=Administrators,cn=config -w -
dn: cn=pointerCoS,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com
objectclass: top
objectclass: LDAPsubentry
objectclass: cosSuperDefinition
objectclass: cosPointerDefinition
cosTemplateDn: cn=ZipTemplate,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com
cosAttribute: postalCode

The CoS template entry (cn=ZipTemplate,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com ) supplies the value stored in its postalCode attribute to all entries located under the ou=People,dc=example,dc=com suffix. If you search for any entry that does not have a postal code in the same subtree, you will see the value of the generated attribute:

$ ldapsearch -h host1 -p 1389 -D cn=admin,cn=Administrators,cn=config -w - \
 -b "ou=People,dc=example,dc=com" -s sub "(cn=*Jensen)"
dn: cn=Babs Jensen,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com
cn: Babs Jensen
...
postalCode: 95054

Example of an Indirect CoS

Indirect CoS names an attribute in the cosIndirectSpecifier attribute to locate the template specific to each target. The template entry for indirect CoS may be any entry in the directory, including other user entries. This example indirect CoS uses the manager attribute of the target entry to identify the CoS template entry. The template entry is the manager’s user entry. The manager’s user entry contains the value of the attribute to generate. The value is that of departmentNumber in this case.

The following command creates the indirect CoS definition entry, which contains the cosIndirectDefinition object class:

$ ldapmodify -a -h host1 -p 1389 -D cn=admin,cn=Administrators,cn=config -w -
dn: cn=generateDeptNum,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com
objectclass: top
objectclass: LDAPsubentry
objectclass: cosSuperDefinition
objectclass: cosIndirectDefinition
cosIndirectSpecifier: manager
cosAttribute: departmentNumber

Next, add the cosTemplate object class to the template entries, and make sure that they define the attribute to be generated. In this example, all manager entries are templates:

$ ldapmodify -h host1 -p 1389 -D cn=admin,cn=Administrators,cn=config -w -
dn: cn=Carla Fuentes,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com
changetype: modify
add: objectclass
objectclass: cosTemplate
-
add: departmentNumber
departmentNumber: 318842

With this CoS, target entries (the entries under ou=People,dc=example,dc=com) that contain the manager attribute automatically have the department number of their manager. The departmentNumber attribute is computed on the target entries because it does not exist in the server. However, the departmentNumber attribute is returned as part of the target entry. For example, if Babs Jensen’s manager is defined to be Carla Fuentes, her department number is the following:

$ ldapsearch -h host1 -p 1389 -D cn=admin,cn=Administrators,cn=config -w - \
 -b "ou=People,dc=example,dc=com" -s sub "(cn=*Jensen)"
dn: cn=Babs Jensen,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com
cn: Babs Jensen
...
manager: cn=Carla Fuentes,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com
departmentNumber: 318842

Example of a Classic CoS

This example shows how to generate a postal address with a classic CoS. The generated value is specified in a template entry that is located by a combination of the cosTemplateDN in the CoS definition and the value of the cosSpecifier attribute in the target entry. The following command creates the definition entry by using the cosClassicDefinition object class:

$ ldapmodify -a -h host1 -p 1389 -D cn=admin,cn=Administrators,cn=config -w -
dn: cn=classicCoS,dc=example,dc=com
objectclass: top
objectclass: LDAPsubentry
objectclass: cosSuperDefinition
objectclass: cosClassicDefinition
cosTemplateDn: ou=People,dc=example,dc=com
cosSpecifier: building
cosAttribute: postalAddress

Using the same command, create the template entries that give the postal address for each building:

dn: cn=B07,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com
objectclass: top
objectclass: LDAPsubentry
objectclass: extensibleobject
objectclass: cosTemplate
postalAddres: 7 Old Oak Street, Anytown, CA 95054

With this CoS, target entries (the entries under ou=People,dc=example,dc=com) that contain the building attribute will automatically have the corresponding postal address. The CoS mechanism searches for a template entry that has the specifier attribute value in its RDN. In this example, if Babs Jensen is assigned to building B07, her postal address is generated as follows:

$ ldapsearch -h host1 -p 1389 -D cn=admin,cn=Administrators,cn=config -w - \
 -b "ou=People,dc=example,dc=com" -s sub "(cn=*Jensen)"
dn: cn=Babs Jensen,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com
cn: Babs Jensen
...
building: B07
postalAddress: 7 Old Oak Street, Anytown, CA 95054